Five Star Infrastructure Services

Tim Dexter

Leadership Growth Advocate

From Field Leadership to Developing People

Not everyone is aware of what success looks like in their day-to-day. We don’t know what we don’t know. Communicating regularly on the vision and the “why” behind initiatives helps influence positive behaviors and drive business results.

Feedback may be uncomfortable at times, but it’s a disservice to those we don’t offer it to. It’s also an opportunity to build stronger relationships by showing that you care about their development and long-term success. Over time, those conversations help strengthen our leadership pipeline as the organization continues to grow.

Turning Training into Practical Leadership Skills

Storytelling helps recreate the emotions and experiences someone may encounter in a particular situation. That emotional connection helps participants absorb the information and shapes how they respond when similar situations arise in the future.

Recreating a scenario through role play is also valuable. It gives leaders the repetitions they need and helps them feel prepared when the moment comes.

Preparing Employees for Greater Responsibility

Self-leadership is the cornerstone of leadership effectiveness. Our ability to inspire, influence, and lead others is directly connected to how well we manage ourselves. Confidence, resilience, and credibility are built through consistent self-leadership.

Emotional intelligence matters as well. The ability to receive different perspectives without becoming defensive, recognize your limitations, and remain open to learning helps build trust and credibility. Maintaining curiosity rather than assigning blame should also remain a priority.

Communicate and ask for help when needed. We cannot do this alone, and we cannot be experts in every aspect of the business. Strong leaders understand they don’t have all the answers and aren’t afraid to leverage the expertise of others. You build relationships through honest communication and a willingness to acknowledge what you don’t know. People are often more willing to help when they know you genuinely care about them beyond their job responsibilities.

Know what you want out of life personally and professionally. Understand what the next step requires and who you need to become to be effective in that role. If you aspire to a position that requires public speaking but don’t feel comfortable doing so yet, seek opportunities to practice, even outside the organization. Then seek feedback and continue refining your approach.

“ Leadership starts with self. If you aren’t taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, you are going to struggle to take care of others. “

When leaders take care of themselves first, that behavior becomes a model for everyone around them. That’s how wellbeing turns into performance and how performance turns into a stronger team.

Strengthening Leadership and Wellbeing in the Utility Workforce

For a long time, our industry promoted people into leadership because they were good in the field, not because anyone taught them how to lead, and that’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just how the industry grew up and we’ve noticed that gap ourselves. Someone becomes a foreman because they were the best crew member and then they’re handed a crew with no real training on how to manage people. Recognizing that gap is what led us to start building a real leadership pipeline, developing team members intentionally instead of promoting and hoping for the best.

At Five Star, we’re focused on creating leadership systems that develop team members before they need the next role. Through structured conversations, coaching opportunities, and leadership development experiences, we’re helping employees understand what success looks like, identify growth opportunities, and prepare for greater responsibility. Our goal is to create a sustainable leadership pipeline of people who are ready before the opportunity arrives, not after it does.

The other piece we’re working to connect is wellbeing. Most companies in this space have safety programs, and some have wellness perks, but very few connect wellbeing to leadership and performance directly. In my experience, leadership development and wellbeing are inseparable. If a leader is running on empty, physically or mentally, that shows up in how they lead their team. Building wellbeing into leadership development, not as an add-on but as part of how we prepare people for more responsibility, is something we’re putting an emphasis on.

Advice for Emerging Leaders

Seek mentorship from those who have skills and qualities that you admire, regardless of the environment you work in. A big misconception I see today is that a mentor searches for mentees. If you desire to be in a role similar to theirs or exhibit qualities that they seem to have, don’t be afraid to ask if you can meet on a monthly basis. It will accelerate your career more than any training can ever offer, in my opinion.