Leadership in architecture is often treated as something people should simply grow into. In reality, communication, confidence, resilience and influence all need work.
Karen Fugle from SleepingGiant Consulting brings more than 25 years of construction industry experience into leadership and career coaching for architects, designers, construction professionals and organisations.
Listen: Karen Fugle on leadership and coaching
The audio conversation explores leadership, overwhelm, confidence, communication and career change in architecture and construction.
Useful source link
Karen’s website gives more detail on her coaching, workshops and sector background.
Where coaching can help
Coaching is not only for people who are struggling. It can help professionals handle responsibility, difficult transitions, communication pressure and the move from doing the work to leading others.
- Leadership skills and confidence.
- Employee engagement and communication.
- Time pressure and overwhelm.
- Influence inside teams and practices.
- Career transition, redundancy and outplacement.
Why practices should care
Technical skill does not automatically create good leadership. Practices that support managers properly are more likely to retain people, communicate clearly and avoid avoidable team friction.
Common mistakes
- Promoting people without leadership support.
- Treating overwhelm as a personal weakness.
- Ignoring communication until conflict appears.
- Leaving career transitions unsupported.
- Assuming confidence is the same as competence.
Architecture Social view
Stephen’s recruiter view is that leadership problems become hiring problems. If people do not feel supported, heard or developed, retention suffers and the market notices.
Check whether leadership is supported
Before blaming individuals, look at the system around them.
- Do managers know what is expected?
- Is communication trained or assumed?
- Is overwhelm discussed early?
- Do people have a route for career change or progression?
Next step
Visit SleepingGiant Consulting for Karen’s coaching work, then use Architecture Social resources if you are thinking about leadership, progression or your next role.
For related career support, compare the architecture salary guide, browse current architecture jobs, set up architecture job alerts or contact Architecture Social for a recruiter’s view.
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