The Exchange

JP Page

Collaborative Leadership Champion

Here are just a few random thoughts from an old guy who's been in construction for a little over 42 years.  

Delivering a successful project? the key is that it's all about the team! This should not be new news to any of us in the construction industry, especially for those of us overseeing design and construction in the Federal Government or on Military Installations.  From the very start, defining a clear requirement, selecting the General Contractor, getting the GC's subcontractors onto the installation and ensuring furnished materials and equipment arrive at the job site on time it’s all about the team!

We all know a Project Team is really a series of teams within a team.  Each team has its own purpose, operation, contribution in achieving success and that doesn’t happen if one of these entities is missing.  Surrounding yourself with good people, creating positive chemistry/energy, operating an encouraging atmosphere and following common sense approaches will all add to the success of a project and allow your Project Team to thrive. Keep in mind, attitude drives performance.  None of us can do this by ourselves, it takes a team.

It starts in the Planning/Development stage of a project where identifying clear, achievable requirements are outlined to all key stakeholders and the overall goals/objectives of the project are essentially agreed to or at least acknowledged at all levels.  To ensure a project stays on track, smart teams will establish “value added” metrics measuring success or alarming the team early on to take action to get back on the right path.  Stakeholders have high expectations and successful teams should and do too.  Project managers and maybe even more importantly, your Superintendent, needs to clearly outline and highlight those high expectations.  It’s something as simple as I expect a clean, organized job site.

As a project takes off, proactive communication, coordination and collaboration within the team creates an environment where timely decisions are made and procrastination doesn’t exist.  Authority, accountability and responsibility are at the same level, allowing and entrusting each team member to make decisions.  This limits indecision which costs projects time and money and also prevents disconnected results. The team consistently and perpetually moves the project forward, hurdling any block put in their way to prevent success.

A successful project Team plans for contingencies upfront, is flexible and agile; adapting to the ever-changing needs as the project progresses.  Every project will see curveballs and run into challenges.  Success is driven by how the Team reacts.  When bad things happen, because they will; that news doesn’t get any better with time and those teams that deal with this head on set themselves up to succeed. Good Project Teams can virtually overcome any project challenge because they work for solutions versus looking for blame and they institute what they’ve learned so it doesn’t happen again.  They do what’s right, not what’s easy. Can’t is not a word in their vocabulary.  In essence, the Team is all about driving success forward.

Teams that are laser focused at the beginning and end of every project seem to have more success. I’ve never seen a project that started late, finished early.  We all know the first 10%, getting the project out of the ground and the last 10%, closing out the punch lists and the facility buttoned up tend to be the most challenging in a project’s lifecycle.

At the end of the day, if you want to deliver a successful project, it’s all about the team!