Sean Bowles – Keeping calm and building resilience in a frontline construction business

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast

Episode 54

Sean Bowles – Keeping calm and building resilience in a frontline construction business

SUMMARY

Sean Bowles – Keeping calm and building resilience in a frontline construction business

Sean Bowles is a Managing Director at construction company Morgan Sindall – an organisation that employs 3,000 staff and turns over one billion pounds every year.

His teams have built everything from city centre primary schools and university student blocks to salt barns for road gritters… and even a museum display case for a Spitfire.

In Episode 54 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Sean tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi about the importance of team building, networking, authenticity… and the need for leaders to stay calm.

INTRODUCTION

• Sean Bowles is MD at Morgan Sindall Construction – Central and West, which is one of nine companies in the Morgan Sindall Group

• Morgan Sindall Construction is a contractor that builds schools, universities, student accommodation, highways depots, hospitals and all aspects of the built environment

• Sean was born and brought up in Nottingham – and graduated from NTU in 1997, with a BSc in Quantity Surveying

• He has worked at Morgan Sindall since February 2016

KEY LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS FROM SEAN BOWLES

He tells Mike Sassi:

…how proud he is to be involved with new public buildings:

“We drive past somewhere, and I say: We built that! My wife always raises her eyebrows…”

…in his industry, communication is important:

“Construction is a real ‘people-business’. Your social skills can really come to the fore.”

…managing a sub-contracting business is an educational experience:

“You learn at an early age how to deal with conflict!”

…successful leaders are always making good contacts:

“Networking is important, but it has to be authentic. You can tell when it’s not – and that can be off-putting.”

…leaders need to put together high-performing teams:

“It’s important to surround yourself with talented people. Don’t be afraid of working with people who are better than you.”

…working environments are changing:

“Construction sites can still be a harsh environment. But the working environment is completely different [to when I started]. Now [it’s recognised] that the more diverse the workplace, the better the outcomes.”

…it’s important for leaders to have a plan:

“Have a career plan It helps you to recover from short term knocks.”

…successful leaders usually stay calm:

“I spend a lot of my time toning down my natural emotional responses to situations. A lot of leaders do the same. You must be calm. In the most difficult circumstances. The best leaders appear calm and clear-headed – despite what might be going on just under the surface!”

RELATED LINKS

• There’s more about Sean Bowles on his LinkedIn page

• The Morgan Sindall Construction website

• Morgan Sindall is a strategic partner of NTU

If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast with Sean Bowles, listen to previous shows with…

• The Chief Marketing Officer of Boots Pete Markey

• The CEO of transport technology Microlise, Nadeem Raza

• The CEO of Capital One Lucy-Marie Hagues MBE