Great leadership is not measured by business targets alone. Amir H. Greiss, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SharpMinds Consulting Engineers, explains why employee wellbeing, trust and supportive working environments are essential to achieving sustainable organisational success.
Every leader knows the feeling of a project review where the conversation begins and ends with numbers. Was it on time? Within budget? Did we hit the target? These questions matter. In my field, a hospital that opens late or a building that misses its brief has real consequences for real people.
But after more than two decades in architecture and project delivery, I have come to believe that the results we celebrate are only one part of the story. Behind them lies a process shaped by collaboration, problem-solving and, at times, long nights, pressure and fatigue. How we navigate these moments often determines whether success can be sustained and repeated.
The hidden cost of chasing numbers
Performance-driven leadership has an obvious appeal. It is measurable, easy to communicate and rewarding in the short term. Set ambitious goals, track them closely and push hard, and you will often get what you asked for.
The trouble is what you don’t see on the dashboard. A team can deliver an excellent quarter while burning through its goodwill, its health and its appetite for the next challenge. People stop raising concerns because there is never time. Talented colleagues leave, taking years of knowledge with them. Mistakes creep in, not through carelessness, but through exhaustion.
The numbers look strong until, suddenly, they don’t. Output achieved at the expense of the people producing it is not really performance. It is borrowing against the future.
Asking a different question
So what would a fuller view of leadership look like? For me, it starts with a simple shift in the question we ask. Instead of only asking what a team has delivered, we should also ask what that team needs in order to deliver well, again and again.
That question opens the door to things traditional management often dismisses as soft, wellbeing, trust, and a culture where people feel safe enough to say “I’m stuck” or “what about a potential solution.” None of these are distractions from results. They are the conditions that make results possible.
A team that is rested, supported and genuinely heard tends to spot problems earlier, collaborate more honestly and stay together longer. That continuity is worth more than any single deadline met.
Leaders as designers of environments
My work has taught me that environment shapes behaviour far more than we like to admit. When designing a healthcare facility, we think carefully about light, noise, circulation and privacy, because these things affect how patients recover and how staff cope with demanding shifts. A poorly planned ward wears down the people working in it, no matter how dedicated they are.
Organisations are no different. The physical workspace, the rhythm of meetings, the way information flows and the tone set from the top together form an environment. If that environment is chaotic or unforgiving, asking people to perform better is like asking them to run faster on sand. Leaders are, in a very real sense, the designers of the conditions their teams work in.
Small changes that make a real difference
None of this requires grand programmes. Some of the most meaningful changes are small and practical.
- Make workloads visible. Be honest about trade-offs, rather than quietly stacking one priority on top of another.
- Protect time for recovery. After an intense delivery period, give people room to breathe instead of rolling straight into the next push.
- Listen more than you speak. In reviews, treat bad news shared early as a gift rather than a failure.
- Pay attention to the workspace. From natural light to quiet corners for focused thinking, the setting shapes how people feel and work.
- Recognise more than outcomes. Acknowledge effort, learning and growth, not only the final result.
Above all, they can model the behaviour they hope to see. A leader who never switches off sends a louder message than any wellbeing policy ever will.
Rethinking what success looks like
Industries like ours, where buildings serve communities for generations, standards must stay high. But the true test of leadership is not one exceptional project or one record year. It is whether a team can keep delivering at that level, year after year, without losing the very people who make it possible.
Perhaps great leadership is less about driving performance, and more about creating the conditions in which good performance becomes natural.
This opinion piece is contributed by Amir H. Greiss, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SharpMinds Consulting Engineers
Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in The Brew Opinion – our opinion section – are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TheBrewNews.com, the company, or any of its members.
