Building People, Not Just Platforms: A Q&A with Marco Renai

Buildsafe: Marco, you’ve spent nearly a decade as a “founding father” and charity partner with Buildsafe. Now, you’re stepping into the business in a new capacity to help design the “First Lift” program. Why now, and what’s the “why” behind this initiative?

Marco Renai: It really comes down to a shared history. About nine years ago, when the Men of Business (MOB) was just starting, Buildsafe came on as a founding partner. They didn’t just give a handshake; they donated $100,000 to help get the initiative off the ground.

 

Back then, I’d drive out to the sheds every quarter and do wellness connection programs with the boys -health, wealth, and stretching. We’ve always had that connection. Now, Buildsafe is at a point where they’ve built an amazing product and a massive business, but we want to make sure the “heart” of the company stays front and center. This is about showing that while you come here for a job and technical skills, we actually care about the human behind the harness.

Buildsafe: You’ve coined the term “First Lift” for this new 12-week program. In scaffolding, that’s a technical term, but you’re using it as a bit of a pun, aren’t you?

Marco Renai: (Laughs) Guilty as charged. In scaffolding, if your first lift – your first platform – isn’t right, the whole structure is compromised. It’s the same with a career and a life. The First Lift program is about lifting the human, not just the skill set. We want to invest in people from day one so they don’t just build a career; they build a better version of themselves.

Buildsafe: Buildsafe is a scaling business with high efficiency targets. How do you design a “human-first” program that actually works in a high-pressure, operational environment?

Marco Renai: That’s the challenge we’re tackling in the design phase. We’re moving away from “corporate-speak” and “cave days” where people sit in a room for eight hours. Our audience doesn’t want that.

 

We’re implementing “Training Trucks” and 30-minute morning “scrums.” It’s purposeful micro-learning. Half the session is a “heart topic” – things like personal reputation, speaking up for your mates, or fitness for work – and the other half is a technical deep-dive into the challenges the crew faced on-site the day before. It’s raw, it’s real, and it happens on the job.

Buildsafe: You’ve talked about the “Be One, Grow One” philosophy. How does this program support the leading hands and managers who are already in the thick o

Marco Renai: Right now, we have leading hands who are brilliant at their jobs, but they’ve been propelled into leadership so quickly because the business is growing. They’re running at efficiency targets, but they might be missing that second and third layer of developing their crew.

 

My role is to help in laying the initial framework for the program to bridge this gap. Buildsafe’s new People & Capability Coach,  Aubrey Stothers, core focus will be help embed this within the business to grow the leadership capabilities of its people. We want to give the company’s leaders the tools to pour into others. We want a guy who’s been with us for ten years to look at a new starter and see a pathway, not just a number.

Buildsafe: You’re bringing the “Men of Business” DNA into a construction setting. What is the one thing you want a new Buildsafe employee to feel when they enter this program?

Marco Renai: Connection. We’ve lost a lot of connection in the modern workforce. Everyone wants to belong to a family; everyone wants trust and respect. If we can make a scaffolder feel that this isn’t just a place where they chase a dollar, but a place where they are “well looked after,” we win.

 

If a bloke says, “Buildsafe looked after me when I had my first kid,” or “They taught me how to manage my books and build my career,” he’s going to be invested in the success of the business across the short, medium and long term.

Buildsafe: What does success look like for the Buildsafe Foundation 12 months from now?

Marco Renai: Success is seeing its own “poster children” – guys like Logan who started on the trucks 12 years ago and are now running regional operations – multiplied across the business. It’s about having a “connection web” where we truly know our people. If we build great humans, the great business results will follow naturally.