5 Leadership Lessons for Tradies from Landscaper and Supervisor Leigh Ryan

Guest: Leigh Ryan

Episode: Season 2, Episode 17

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Leigh Ryan is a landscaper and supervisor from Gippsland, Victoria, who most tradies online know as Tradie Dad. When Leigh started sharing his life online as a tradie, new father and supervisor, he started building a community that tuned in for the relatability of his lifestyle and challenges.

Here are the lessons he's learned about leadership, mistakes and fatherhood as a tradie.

Lesson 1: Leadership Starts with Caring

Asked what leadership means to him, Leigh came up with ten different answers before realising they all led back to the same place. Caring about the quality of the work, caring about how the crew are actually going, caring about the client, caring about the direction the whole team is headed.

"I think it all really bubbles down to caring, or just putting it in more simple ways, giving a shit," he says.

For Leigh, every other part of leading a crew builds on that one thing.

Lesson 2: How to Check-In Effectively Without Micromanaging Tradies

Leigh is candid about a mistake early in his supervisor role that cost his boss over ten grand. It happened after nearly three years as a leading hand without a hiccup, and it completely changed how he operates.

When Leigh used to take people's word at face value and not check in properly as a supervisor, he now knows to check in with his crew regularly, rather than assuming everyone's on the same page.

His fix was deceptively simple: "I set an hourly alarm on my phone, and the alarm just was checking on the guys, and then it just broached from there until it became a habit," he says.

The lesson wasn't to hover, it was learning the difference between staying close to a project without standing over someone's shoulder, instead of assuming everyone’s understood the job.

Lesson 3: Delegating Is the Hardest Part of Leading From the Tools

Still very hands-on as a leading hand, Leigh admits the hardest part of supervising is handing over jobs he’d rather do himself, not just the admin.

"With great power comes great responsibility," he says, on choosing who gets the satisfying tasks instead of keeping them for himself.

Finding the balance between staying on the tools and actually managing the project, he's found, is the real skill of the role, not just picking one side of it.

Lesson 4: Fatherhood Changes Safety Behaviour Onsite

Becoming a first-time dad shifted things for Leigh before he'd even consciously noticed: wearing his mask properly when cutting stone, changing filters on time, taking PPE seriously in a way he never had before.

"Now I've got this little guy at home who I need to be around for as long as I can," he says. "So the way I act on site, the way I portray myself, the way I do my tasks now, so much safer and more professional than everything that I used to be."

And his crew noticed the change before he did.

Lesson 5: "Are You Okay" Matters More Than People Realise

Leigh's become a trusted voice on mental health in the trades, and he's honest that even his own posts about burnout draw pushback, a chunk of comments telling him to "man up" or "grow up."

He doesn't think those reactions make the message any less necessary.

"People don't realise how powerful three little words, asking 'are you okay,' really is," he says. It's a habit he's built into his own crew, and one that's started coming back to him, unprompted, from the guys he leads.

Leigh’s Advice on Everyday Leadership

Leigh's advice is refreshingly unpolished: just give it a go. Try something, and if your crew doesn't take to it, move on and try something else, rather than assuming there's one right way to lead.

"I've been trying to work with my team to find what works for so long, and I know it's working because the other day I was a bit quiet when I rocked up to site, and one of the boys just came up to me and went, 'Are you okay? I'm just checking in,'" he says. "Those conversations never happened when I started here, and now they're doing me to me."

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