Mentored, But Not Moving Up?

Many women entering the construction industry can find mentors, training opportunities and professional networks. Reaching leadership positions is often a more complicated journey.

The problem is not a lack of ambition. Career advancement often depends on opportunities that are less visible than technical skills, strong performance or years of experience. Sponsorship, visibility and access to stretch opportunities can play a major role in determining who moves forward and who remains stuck in place. For women evaluating long term careers in construction, the ability to see a clear path to advancement can be especially important.

“I think there is an assumption that if we recruit people into the industry, they will naturally rise to leadership roles,” said Andrea Janzen, CEO of Ambition Theory. “But that’s not how it works. It actually takes intention to advance careers. The intention needs to happen on an organizational level, and it often takes the commitment of a leadership team that can actively create opportunities for people to stretch themselves.”

Advancing into leadership requires more than technical competence or a strong work ethic. “Hard work alone is often not enough to advance,” said Kimberly Martin, sustainability and innovation manager at Keller North America. She adds that leaders play an important role in creating visibility and advancement opportunities by introducing employees to their networks, providing access to larger opportunities and supporting their growth.

Greater transparency around advancement also helps employees understand where they stand, what skills they need to develop and how they can prepare for future opportunities.

Mentorship isn’t always enough

“Eighty-seven per cent of women in construction surveyed said that they want to grow in their careers,” Janzen said. “What’s interesting is that women can’t achieve this on their own, as there are very few of them in positions of power right now. I think there’s a misconception that women coming together can solve this. There just aren’t a lot of women in executive leadership roles, so women in junior positions or mid-level management positions come together. The onus is then put on them to advance their own careers, but it takes influence from the top down to actually move people into leadership roles.”

Mentorship, networking and emotional support are important but may not be enough to result in career advancement. “We did research on employee resource groups and what we found was they delivered emotional support, mentorship, networking, training and all of these great things,” said Janzen. “What they didn’t deliver on was career advancement and promotions.”

The power of sponsorship

The distinction between mentorship and sponsorship may help explain why some employees receive support but still struggle to advance. Sponsors can use their influence to help people access opportunities that they wouldn’t get on their own, says Janzen, adding that mentorship programs, although very well-intentioned, often fall flat.

“Mentorship is advice; sponsorship is opportunity,” she said. “The traditional mentorship model focuses on advice, so people spend a lot of time and energy downloading information to their mentee, but then the mentee is left on their own to apply it. Instead, training mentors on the value of sponsorship and holding them accountable to create opportunities and open doors for others is a better approach.” Sponsorship is the missing link for many employees in the industry, says Martin.

“Senior leaders need to recognize their influence. They should be intentional about whom they sponsor, whom they recommend for key opportunities and whether they consider a broad and diverse slate of future leaders. A mentor provides guidance, advice, perspective and sometimes technical support. A sponsor goes a step further by using their influence to put someone forward for opportunities, assignments or roles that may not have come through the traditional path. I think this type of senior leader recognition and backing can make a large, positive difference in advancing careers in this industry.”

Martin suggests the following as ways companies can intentionally create advancement pathways:

• Start by making sponsorship a more formal process. Senior leaders should be encouraged to identify people with leadership potential, explain why they are sponsoring them and speak with the sponsee’s manager to ensure the person is ready when an opportunity presents itself.
• Second, companies need strong succession planning. That means working with human resources and business leaders to identify future needs and ensure that leadership pipelines include a broad and diverse slate of candidates.
• Finally, make advancement criteria clear. Employees should understand what is expected at each level. Clear milestones help prevent the goalposts from moving and make progression in the company feel fairer and more attainable.

Samantha Ford, president of Monir Precision Monitoring Inc., agrees that advancement often depends on leaders who are willing to actively create opportunities for others. “I think leaders should take it upon themselves to help with career growth,” she said. “Our existing leadership groups need to be very mindful about bringing along younger professionals, whether it’s to a lunch meeting or an industry event. Having that person speak up for you and sponsor you helps build trust.”

Martin says she experienced the value of that kind of support early in her own career. She explains she was trusted with stretch assignments, which exposed her to many parts of the business and pushed her beyond what she learned in school, helping her better understand how projects, people, clients, risk and business decisions fit together.

“Employees need people higher up in the company who recognize their work, understand their potential and are willing to put them forward for stretch assignments, especially in rooms where the employee, manager and/ or mentor may not be present,” she said. “I was also fortunate to have mentors and leaders who encouraged me to take training courses that helped me see beyond my technical role. Learning to think about what my manager, or my manager’s manager, needed helped me develop a broader business perspective. I have also stayed involved in professional organizations throughout my career, which has helped me stay current with technology and industry trends and build important, lasting friendships.”

Sponsorship can open doors, but employees still need to demonstrate the qualities that make leaders willing to invest in their growth. Ford says that employees shouldn’t be shy about speaking up when they have done something well or taken on a particularly challenging project. Getting out into the field and understanding project challenges – and proposing solutions to them – can help advance your career, she adds.

“The willingness to get dirty is a big piece,” said Ford. “Other factors are how you get along with your colleagues, critical thinking skills and having a strategic, open mindset. Lessening the burden of existing leadership and having a can-do spirit is important, as is personal accountability and being someone the team can rely on. Checking your ego at the door and working in teams has tremendous value.”

Making yourself visible

If mentorship is advice and sponsorship is opportunity, visibility is often what connects the two. “Most decisions about your career actually happen in rooms where you are not present,” said Janzen. “Being intentional, showing up and having people understand what your goals are and what you can contribute are so important.”

Visibility matters because advancement decisions are often shaped by people who may not work directly with an employee every day. Being known only by a direct supervisor may not be enough. Building relationships across teams, departments and organizations can help employees become known to a broader group of decision-makers and demonstrate their potential for future growth. In a relationship-driven industry, many opportunities to build trust and credibility happen through interactions that extend beyond day-to-day project work.

Employees can increase their visibility by getting involved beyond the responsibilities of their day-to day roles. Involvement in professional organizations, committees and initiatives can help employees build relationships and demonstrate leadership potential, says Martin. Carol Domitric, head of engineering at Isherwood Geostructural Engineers, agrees, adding that industry events and conferences provide opportunities to represent your company and connect with the wider industry.

“Volunteer for committees and contribute to internal initiatives that matter to the company,” said Martin. “That type of involvement, combined with doing your day job well, helps senior leaders see who is engaged, who can work across teams and who may be ready for future leadership opportunities.”

Rethinking leadership potential

Traditionally in construction, the main criteria for promotion to a leadership role is often years of doing the job, notes Janzen. “Many women find construction later in their careers, and the leadership skills they bring to the table are often overlooked because they may not have as many years doing the job,” she said.

Janzen also argues that one of the industry’s blind spots is a tendency to overlook transformational leadership – a management style focused on inspiring and motivating teams. Educating people within an organization about the benefits of transformational leadership not only opens opportunities for women but also opens opportunities for everyone, she says.

“All of Gen Z responds better to transformational leadership,” said Janzen. “People complain about Gen Z being lazy, but that is not the case at all. The narrative that previous generations followed of putting in your time, working hard and being rewarded is not relevant to Gen Z. They want to feel valued, see a path forward and connect on a human level. They respond to transformational leadership and do not respond to transactional leadership.

Creating pathways to leadership

Identifying leadership potential – and doing so more broadly than has traditionally been typical in the construction industry – is only part of the challenge. Employees also need opportunities to develop the skills and experiences that leadership roles require.

“It is best to truly learn about the work and not be afraid to spend time in the field to do so,” said Martin. “Also, it helps to have an area of expertise, whether that is a specific technology, contract type, client sector, operational skill or technical discipline. That expertise gives credibility. From there, broaden your perspective by learning about other parts of the organization, building relationships across teams and identifying ways to connect people, ideas and opportunities.”

Many construction companies have relatively flat structures, and although they may value an employee highly, there may not be an obvious next role available at the right time, notes Martin.

“That can be frustrating, especially for high-performing employees who are ready for more responsibility,” she said. “It is also important to recognize that growth does not always come with a title change. Sometimes growth comes through larger projects, broader responsibilities, client-facing roles, technical leadership or involvement in strategic initiatives. Employees can and should ask to be considered for these types of experiences, even when a new position is not available. However, companies need to be clear about what advancement looks like and have honest conversations with employees about what is realistic. If those conversations are not happening or if the pathway remains unclear, employees may need to consider whether their current organization is the right place for the career they want to build.”

Employees should know what skills and experiences they need for the next step of their careers, and managers should support them with access to training, stretch assignments and mentors or sponsors who can help them get there, says Martin.

“If people only see promotions happen through informal relationships, the pathway will not feel attainable,” she said. “Companies should be transparent about how opportunities are filled. Posting opportunities internally, explaining selection criteria and actively developing a broad slate of candidates can make advancement feel much more real.

Building a future people want

Employees are paying attention to whether a company’s actions align with its stated commitments, says Martin.

“It is easy to go to a company’s website and see who they have promoted to senior positions and who is in the pipeline to take the helm over the next three to five years,” said Martin. “Another important signal to employees is accountability. If a company says advancement is important, leaders should be able to explain how they are developing future leaders and whether the pipeline reflects the workplace they want to build. Companies can create advancement tracks, not only for those who want to become CEO, but also for those who want to grow as technical, operations or project management leaders.”

Companies also need to ensure that inclusion and leadership development remain active priorities. A lot of companies have inclusivity policies, but how often they are reviewed and discussed matters, says Ford. “It’s more than just having a policy,” she said. “Putting intention into it is far more important than just creating the document. We are seeing more women and underrepresented groups in smaller roles within leadership teams, but the large majority of leadership in construction companies is traditionally still a male environment.”

Creating a leadership culture also requires companies to actively develop future leaders rather than simply waiting for talent to emerge. Meaningful support means providing clear expectations, useful feedback, access to training and leaders who are willing to sponsor employees when opportunities arise, says Martin.

“In construction, it means giving a junior employee the chance to lead part of a project, attend a client meeting, participate in a pursuit, join a strategic initiative or present to senior leadership,” she said. “It also means checking in and providing resources to employees when they take on those stretch opportunities rather than simply giving them more work and hoping they figure it out.”

Creating future leaders is not just about providing opportunities. It is also about ensuring leadership roles are sustainable and rewarding once employees step into them.

“I hear more people saying that they are unsure whether they want to become managers,” said Martin. “I do not think that always means they lack ambition. In some cases, it may mean they have not seen management modelled in a way that looks healthy, supported or rewarding. If companies want the next generation to step into leadership roles, they need to make those roles sustainable and provide better support, training and coaching for new managers.”

And if companies want the next generation to step into leadership roles, those roles need to feel sustainable. Leadership development does not happen in isolation from the realities of employees’ lives, and many younger professionals are looking for workplaces that support long-term career sustainability. Workplace flexibility can benefit employees who are managing many different personal responsibilities outside of work, states Martin.

“On a job site, flexibility can be harder to provide, but it is not impossible,” she said. “It may mean adjusting start times, planning coverage differently or finding practical ways to support employees when life and work conflict. When companies approach these issues creatively, everyone benefits.”

Creating a future in the industry

We continue to hear that the industry needs more people, yet companies struggle to find enough qualified candidates to hire, notes Martin.

“Automation and robotics may help over time, but especially in geotechnical construction, that future is still a long way off so people will remain central to how we work,” she said. “That means we need to keep the people we have, and we cannot afford to draw from only part of the population when we fill roles. Companies need to ensure their recruiting pipelines reach a broad range of candidates, which means looking beyond the same schools, networks and traditional sources of talent. If we want the best people, we need to ensure we reach all potential candidates and create a workplace where they can see a future for themselves.”

Creating a workplace where people can see a future for themselves requires more than recruiting. Employees also need a clear understanding of what opportunities exist and how they can prepare for them. Speaking with your employer and others can help move your career in the direction that you want to take, says Domitric.

“Try to figure out what you want from your career,” she said. “Is it more in the field or more focused on design, or maybe you want to get a sense of how the business works and move into project management or finance. I wanted to be a designer, but I really appreciated the opportunities to be in the field, too. I was always very good at being prepared before I would go to a site so I could make the most of the experience. I used to keep a notepad where I wrote down questions, so I was prepared when an opportunity came up to ask those questions.”

Isherwood Geostructural Engineers provides a self-survey that has been well received by employees, says Domitric.

“We list all the competencies we can think of and let people rate themselves from one to five,” she said. “We publish the results and we can all see where we have gaps, which helps people find areas they can specialize in that are needed in the organization. We also created what we call a clarity chart of the scopes within the company so people can see where there is opportunity to grow.”

The construction industry has invested heavily in mentorship, and for good reason. But if the goal is to develop the next generation of leaders, mentorship cannot be the finish line. Advancement depends on opportunity, visibility and sponsorship, but it also depends on organizations that make leadership attainable, transparent and worth pursuing. The companies that succeed in developing future leaders will be those that create pathways to advancement and a workplace where talented people can see a future for themselves.