5 Leadership Lessons for Tradies from SMD Projects’ Dave Malone

Guest: Dave Malone

Episode: Season 1, Episode 13

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Dave Malone has over 20 years in construction, from apprentice carpenter to director of his own renovation and custom-home-building business and he's direct about the mistakes that taught him the most.

Here’s what he’s learned about leadership by transitioning from tradie to supervisor and now business owner.

Lesson 1: The Difference Between Managing and Leading

Dave draws a firm line between managing and leading, even though most tradies are expected to do both without ever being taught the difference.

"When you're managing, you're more like breaking down the task and getting into the nitty-gritty," he says. "The leader is someone that everyone looks up to," focused on bringing the whole team on the journey toward an end goal, not just ticking off the operational detail in front of them.

He sees this distinction as one of the more overlooked gaps in how trades businesses train the people they promote into leadership.

Lesson 2: Learning to Lead a Trade Team on the Job

Dave was pushed into a leadership role young, at a large building company willing to fast-track anyone keen to step up, and readily admits he made plenty of mistakes early on. He often assumed everyone shared his own drive to keep climbing, which wasn't always true.

Rather than any formal training, he learned by watching the people around him who consistently got the best out of their crews, borrowing small habits from each of them and testing what actually worked.

"I looked at the people who were getting the best out of other people... and took a few little tricks from each of them," he says. "Some days you just fail. You come back the next day and try again."

Lesson 3: Effective Communication Techniques on Site

Dave has learned not to trust a single instruction to land cleanly, no matter how clearly he thinks he's explained something.

His approach is to layer communication across several formats for anything important: a verbal discussion first, then a marked-up picture, followed by a text that repeats the instructions, and, for anything genuinely critical, an email on top of all of it.

"I try and go for as many points of communication as possible. Have a discussion, mark up a picture, send a text... and if it's super critical, maybe even an email on top of that," he says.

He also checks in with different crew members throughout the day, on the theory that some part of any verbal instruction tends to get missed.

Lesson 4: Why Admitting Mistakes Builds Trust

When Dave makes a mistake, whether operational or in how he's led a situation, he brings it to the whole crew rather than quietly patching it up.

"You need to own it, and then you can help use it to educate people," he says. "You need to be willing to be vulnerable in a situation like that."

He's found that sharing his own missteps openly actually strengthens the team rather than undermining his authority, and that anyone who thinks less of him for admitting a mistake probably wasn't the right fit for his crew anyway.

Mistakes get shared as lessons rather than hidden as shame.

Lesson 5: Avoiding Burnout as a Trade Business Leader

Dave is deliberate about protecting time for himself, treating his own wellbeing with the same discipline he'd apply to a job schedule.

"I try and have my week built around my calendar... because you need to have a balance," he says. "If you're just trying to be a leader all the time, you're gonna burn out."

He blocks out set time each week for surfing and the gym, treating it as non-negotiable rather than something that happens if there's time left over, a habit he says is essential given how much observation and energy leading a crew well actually demands.

Dave’s Advice on Everyday Leadership

"You just gotta show up and give it your best, and bring the best energy you can. You're always sort of gonna be someone that people look up to, no matter who it is." A title, he adds, isn't required to start being that person today.

Catch the full conversation with Dave Malone on Tradies Who Lead for more leadership lessons for tradies, out now wherever you listen to podcasts.