Team leadership influences construction performance by shaping how project participants interpret priorities, coordinate work, resolve disagreement and respond to emerging risks. Technical plans and contractual controls remain essential, but their implementation depends on decisions made across temporary teams and organisational boundaries. This paper presents a critical narrative review of leadership and project-management literature, supported by a proposed framework for construction practice. It examines transformational, transactional, participative and shared leadership, connecting observable behaviours to communication, trust, accountability, learning and adaptation. The analysis treats project performance as multidimensional, encompassing cost, schedule, quality, safety and stakeholder outcomes. Selected construction studies support relationships between leadership and project success, while broader project research helps explain possible team mechanisms. However, survey-based associations and statistical mediation do not establish the size of a causal leadership effect. A performance-monitoring framework is therefore proposed to connect leadership interventions with independently recorded project outcomes. The paper concludes that effective team leadership requires both supportive relationships and disciplined delivery controls, adjusted to project phase, task uncertainty and decision authority. Future longitudinal research should test these relationships across comparable construction projects and distinguish leadership effects from resources, procurement arrangements and external disruption.