Building Legends Session #2: Building Smarter: Leading and Delivering Under Pressure: Lessons from Sport and Construction

Description

Construction projects are complex, fast moving and high pressure. Success depends on strong leadership and the ability to deliver in the face of constant change, risk and competing priorities.

In this session, Kieran Nally and Nat Chapman will explore what high performance looks like in practice, drawing on lessons from elite sport and applying them to the realities of leading teams and managing complex construction projects.

Kieran brings the perspective of a leader who has guided teams and organisations through growth, challenge and change. Natalie adds a people and performance lens, grounded in her experience developing leaders and high performing environments, with insights drawn from sport, teamwork and wellbeing. Together, they will unpack how to lead with clarity, build teams that perform under pressure, and improve decision making and communication across project teams.

Learning Outcomes: 

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify leadership and team behaviours that improve performance on complex projects
• Translate lessons from sport into practical approaches for managing risk, change and pressure
• Use mindset, habits and emotional control to support better decisions under stress
• Strengthen relationships and communication across clients, consultants, contractors and teams
• Apply practical tools to improve alignment, accountability and delivery on site and in the office
• Take away specific actions to use immediately in their own leadership and project work

Suitable For: 

This workshop is ideal for:

• Project Managers, Construction Managers and Client Side Project Managers
• Property and Infrastructure Clients
• Consultants, Engineers and Design Professionals
• Contractors, Subcontractors and Commercial Managers
• Quantity Surveyors, Development Managers, Asset and Portfolio Managers
• Anyone involved in planning, procuring, designing or delivering construction and infrastructure projects
• Emerging and aspiring leaders in construction

Speakers:

Kieran Nally is a construction industry leader with more than 20 years’ experience across New Zealand and Australia, spanning building, manufacturing, and related sectors. He joined Livingstone Building as Chief Executive in 2022, leading a period of significant growth, cultural development, and market expansion for the Hamilton-based contractor. In early 2026, he stepped away from the CEO role after three and a half years, having helped position Livingstone as a major player in the upper North Island commercial construction market.

Sport has been a constant theme in Kieran’s life. As a schoolboy, he was selected in the New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team alongside future All Blacks, an experience he credits with teaching him resilience and team-first leadership. More recently, he has taken on endurance challenges including attempts at Ironman events, applying the same discipline and persistence to training and recovery as he does to business. That blend of on-field grit and long-distance endurance now underpins his approach to governance, transformation, and people-focused leadership in the construction sector.

Nat Chapman is People and Performance Manager at Cook Brothers Construction, where she leads the company’s work on culture, leadership, and high-performance team development across its five regions. In this role, she helps project teams understand how mindset, clarity, and connection drive results in complex, fast-moving construction environments. Nat is known for translating high-performance principles into practical tools that support leaders and frontline teams to deliver consistently under pressure.

Before moving into construction, Nat spent more than a decade in high-performance sport, working with organisations including Otago Cricket and the Highlanders rugby franchise. She has worked as a mental skills coach and athlete life advisor, supporting players and staff to perform at their best on and off the field. That sporting foundation shapes her approach today: she treats construction as an even more complex performance environment than elite sport, and uses that perspective to build resilient, values-driven teams across Cook Brothers’ national operations.

Andrew Rampton is Industry Transformation Leader, APAC at Procore, bringing more than 35 years’ experience across real estate, infrastructure, construction and complex programme management. A mechanical engineer by training, Andrew began his career working on major UK defence programmes before moving into public-private partnerships, large-scale healthcare and education programmes, and business transformation with Lendlease. He has held senior leadership roles on major, high-pressure initiatives including the London 2012 Olympic Games Athletes’ Village and NEOM’s The LINE, where he was Director of Operations.

Throughout his career, Andrew has led diverse teams through complex environments where delivery, change and people leadership have been critical to success. His experience spans large-scale transformation, operational leadership and developing new ways of working, giving him a practical perspective on how leaders can keep people focused, engaged and performing when pressure is high. At Procore, Andrew works across the construction industry to drive transformation, innovation and shared learning, and regularly facilitates conversations with industry leaders on the future of construction, productivity and the workforce.

Pricing Structure: 

• Individual Member - $239 + GST per session
• Individual Non-Member - $289 + GST per session 
  
  
• Individual Member (Series Booking) - $645 + GST for series booking
• Individual Non-Member (Series Booking) - $780 + GST for series booking
  
  
• Group Booking – 5 Seats at all three sessions - $3,150 + GST (Member pricing + 12.5% discount)
• Group Booking – 10 seats at all three sessions = $6,275 + GST (Member pricing + 12.5% discount)