Construction Dream Team: Recent Episodes

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Number 1 in our Best of 2019 Countdown is Episode #11:Steve Jones, Trends Transforming Construction & the Impact on Our People. Steve’s episode is filled with insights he’s gained from his years in the industry and the research he has been involved with. He has such a unique perspective!

In this episode, Steve shares what he sees as the strategic trends in the industry. As you listen to this episode, think about what you or your company can do to use these trends to improve your project and maybe even your competitive advantage in 2020.

3 Emerging Construction Trends & Their Impact on Our People from Steve Jones

1) Industrialization. Projects and job sites will optimize towards the assembly of well-designed and pre-assembled components and less about construction. Expect an increase in modularization, prefabrication, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated decision making

2) Emerging Technology. Laser scanning, modeling technology, integrated IT solutions, etc. will become the new way business is done and it is important to embrace early rather than looking only at short-term ROI.

3) Hiring & Retention. There is a talent war taking place making hiring and retention top priorities for leaders and organizations pursuing success in the coming years. Train staff appropriately, provide them with the tools they need to succeed, communicate the mission, and consider making technology competency training a part of the formal job evaluation process.

Introduction

Welcome to Episode 11 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast with your host Sue Dyer! This episode features guest Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Research at Dodge Data & Analytics, where he focuses on emerging economic practice and technology trends that are transforming the global design and construction industry. Steve has given hundreds of speeches and writes many articles for industry publications including the popular Dodge Data & Analytics SmartMarket Reports. Steve is an expert in construction trends and has a unique vantage point towards the future of construction and how teams will continue evolving.

Steve Jones’ Career Journey

Steve’s career started in design in the mid-70s. By the mid-80s he was VP of a firm in Philadelphia and decided to attend the Executive MBA program at Wharton School of Business. Design was not known typically for its business acumen, but since everyone was working fulltime in the program, Steve appreciated the hard nose practical concepts as opposed to mere theory. This transformed his approach to dealing with prospects and clients and made him a knowledgeable advisor rather than treating projects as mere additions to his design portfolio. He asked important questions about what design meant for clients’ businesses – an exercise in constrained optimization which helped clients better understand design.

Jump forward to 1999, Steve was principal of a big AE firm when a buddy from Wharton called to inform Steve that he had taken a job at a software company called Primavera. Primavera’s headquarters were 8 minutes from Steve’s house and it was the perfect time to make a big change in the middle of the dot com boom. Primavera had some of the largest customers in the industry, quality control, exceptional developers, and a developed sales channel which made it an appealing fit. In 2001, they launched the first cloud collaboration platform for construction, which is now used by almost all large construction projects.

Steve now works for Dodge Data & Analytics where he focuses on emerging areas throughout the segmented and fragmented industry to glean valuable insights for optimization and forward momentum. His work tracks the work companies, projects, and teams are performing that reliably generates scalable, reliable, consistent benefits.

Strategic Trends in the Industry

Steve breaks strategic trends into two categories: projects, and the people/processes that support those projects.

Industrialization is expected to continue ramping up as job sites become more about the assembly of well-designed and pre-assembled components and less about construction. Expect an increase in modularization, prefabrication, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated decision making. There will be big business opportunities as product manufacturers and software companies explore tools and systems that help people make better decisions. Construction will begin to catch up with the other big capital industries out there such as aviation.

The Impact of Strategic Trends on Industry People

Strategic trends will move focus to integration and collaboration as teams pull together and take a fresh look at who ought to do something instead of who has always been doing it; shifting to partnership and teamwork over adversarial relationships. How can we as a team make the process better instead of players safeguarding process components at the expense of overall team success? Bringing more LEAN processes into construction will assist this new team paradigm.

Technology skills will continue to be important, although human communication will still be necessary for understanding critical nuances. Machines can replace some manual human efforts which optimistically enhance the use of wisdom, experience, etc. When the computer replaced the typewriter, many feared they would lose their jobs, but jobs actually increased, just in new applications.

One important human element to focus on is the idea of emotional intelligence so that we are empowered to make smart decisions while creating new cultural norms for collaboration; moving away from the traditional adversarial approach which inherently reduces trust, issue resolution, and decision making effectiveness. Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and important as industrialization replaces antiquated methodologies.

Defining Trends that will Impact How Teams Work together over the next Decade

How teams take advantage of amazing emerging resources to focus on how groups can better deal with the unavoidable and inherent risk/uncertainty of design and construction will be a huge deciding factor. Teams should consider strategies of risk mitigation that move away from the typical avoid-and-transfer approach to one of understand, embrace, and manage risk/uncertainty.

Predictive analytics will help teams make important decisions towards safety, risk, and development practices. There will be enough integration between technology solutions to support integrated IT workflows that take advantage of AI and machine learning to provide insightful input for decisions and process tweaks at the right times.

Teams will become collaborative units rather than groups of self-interested individuals. The basic tenants of LEAN can be used to articulate project goals leading to a shared culture and what is best for the project.

Examples of How Processes Might Play Out

Three studies came out about the best practices for managing risks; what contractors are doing in the field that helps. One of the top methods of identifying risk in advance, as demonstrated by the studies, is by hosting a specific-focused meeting with all key players to kick off a project that addresses risk. Individuals at this meeting have built projects before and come to the meeting with the top five things that they believe will create the most risk on the project. All people are heard, commonality and unique risks are shared, and after the meeting is over the team makes a commitment to addressing the risk elements brought to light and revisit their progress throughout the course of the entire project. This takes advantage of human interaction and collective knowledge; together we know more than any single individual.

Another study went out to 81 major owners (healthcare systems, corporations, government agencies) and asked them to look back over the last five years and identify the best project along with the most average project that took place. Questions such as how they contracted, organized teams, operated teams, etc., helped researched discover common threads. High team chemistry as a component on the project appeared in 72% of best projects but only 9% of typical projects. Team members committed to all of the same goals appeared on 83% of the best projects and only 16% of typical projects. Integration amongst team members (sharing information in a structured way) appeared on 59% of the best projects but only 9% on average ones. Timeliness of decision making appeared on 34% of the best projects and only 9% on typical ones.

These are specific areas that can be implemented on every project. On a company level, it is important not to hire anybody on the team that is not willing to collaborate or who can’t keep up technologically.

Advice for how teams can be more effective in the next decade

Become familiar with the principles of LEAN construction and how they apply. Host risk meetings and facilitate clear communication and concerns communicated across team members to understand diverse ideas/needs. Set a clear vision from owners of what success looks like; do not assume that on-time, on-budget is enough to make a project successful.

One study asked owners separate of delivery teams: how frequently are you satisfied with the performance of your team? Conversely, architects and contractors were asked: how frequently will your clients tell us they are satisfied?

There was a 3x factor between percentages that said owners were satisfied vs. teams delivering satisfaction. This demonstrates the disparity between perceptions and highlights the importance of defining what success is going to look like for a project upfront. Do not assume that success is equal across all stakeholders.

What can a leader (owner, designer, and contractor) do today to be ready for the trends coming?

Be ready to keep investing in technology. Laser scanning, modeling technology, etc. will become the new way business is done and it is important to embrace early rather than looking only at short-term ROI.

Actively and consciously invest in your people. There is a talent war going on that, in four different studies, shows the difficulty of hiring and retaining exceptional people. Hire well and invest to retain. Train staff appropriately, provide them with the tools they need to succeed, and consider making technology competency training a part of the formal job evaluation process. It is important to hold employees accountable for being able to function in our increasingly digital savvy universe.

Adopt a leadership culture that allows the organization to “fail successfully.” Create an environment where it is okay to take reasonably educated risks that can tolerate failure.

Practice LEAN principles: plan, do, check, adjust.

“Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.” – John Henry Newman. Go ugly early and try things, especially with young employees.

As a leader, set a clear mission. This is the best motivator for younger people. What makes your organization unique? What connects people to your organization and mission? Leaders must show this as a priority. How is your mission making the world a better place and how are your employees contributing and appreciating that mission in order to get to a deeper level of engagement?

Steve’s Biggest Challenge

Earlier in Steve’s career, he was recruited to Burt Hill, a large AE firm, to make the office profitable. Three associates jointly ran the office and didn’t know about his hiring until he walked through the door. Each had been independently lobbying for his new position which created a hostile work environment because they wanted the job. Steve needed to make his presence work with the team, or somehow get rid of them (called “driving out the ambivalence” at Wharton). He committed to making it work, participated in various team building exercises, and worked with each of the individuals to let them know that he admired them, was not there to tell them what to do, reinforced the fact the firm had great projects and capabilities, and that his job was to make each of them successful. This tactic worked and the office grew within 3 years, hiring great new employees and earning excellent new projects.

Best Advice

Steve’s first job in an architectural firm, H2L2, encountered a conflict where he wasn’t sure how to handle it. He asked the project manager what to do and she responded “This is a people business. Pick up the phone.” Within 10 minutes the situation was resolved and the client was thrilled. Never forget the importance of people in this industry.

Resource for Listeners

Steve has an amazing free resource for all listeners that focused on Managing Uncertainty and Expectations in Building Design and Construction. This project planning guide will help owners and project teams think about risks as they begin building projects and plan to mitigate the uncertainties that are part of the design and construction process.

• The guide is based on original industry research by Dodge Data & Analytics about the sources of uncertainty, recommendations for managing uncertainty and improvement strategies in building design and construction.
• It provides expert advice from owners, architects and contractors based on real data about their experiences.
• It includes a link to a Contingency Calculator that project teams can use to appropriately budget for risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Download the Project Planning Guide for Owners and Project Teams PDF

Additional resources are the SmartMarket Reports on Construction.com.

Contact Steve Jones

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevejones9/

Steve loves to connect people that can help each other.

Parting advice

Quoting Norbert Young, Steve’s employer at McGraw Hill earlier in his career, “The ideal is the enemy of the good.” Just keep trying things. It is okay if it doesn’t work out perfectly. If it is better than yesterday and is a good thing to do, do it, and make it better the next day. Relentlessly keep moving forward. Your ability to manifest this is reliant on you and your connections with other people.

Get more of Construction Dream Team

Remember Construction Nation, dream teams don’t just happen; they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your entire team so they can learn with you? The more people you have helping, the faster you can build your construction dream team. New episodes drop every Monday morning at 4 a.m. PST. If you want updates on the latest Construction Dream Team episodes, please subscribe to our newsletter, iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting platform.

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Number 2 in our Best of 2019 Countdown is Episode #18: Shane Snow, Dream Teams. Shane is the author of Dream Teams, a book written after years of researching the top dream teams.

3 Invaluable Lessons from Shane Snow

1. There are three “ingredients” to making a great team - cognitive diversity, cognitive friction, and intellectual humility.
2. The key to success is being able to engage in the friction without it getting personal.
3. Teamwork is about making people better together because they’re different.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Shane Snow about what it takes to make a Dream Team and the psychology great leaders use to get their teams working with each other instead of against each other.

About Guest Shane Snow

Shane is the author of Dream Teams, a book written after years of researching the top dream teams. Shane believes that the best teams are more than the sum of their parts, but collaboration often falls short. Shane looks at teams through the lenses of history, neuroscience, psychology, and business. Shane is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker, storyteller, Founder at Large in the media company Contently, board member of the Hatch Institute, and a Fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts.

Shane’s Journey to Becoming Author of Dream Teams

1. Shane’s parents led him to think differently in a wonderful way, spending time in the construction world and learning how things work
2. Shane’s mother was a teacher for deaf students and was all about reading and learning
3. Dream Teams was inspired by Shane’s challenges growing a company and building a team

What Shane Views as the Greatest Strengths of a Leader

1. We have an old idea of what a leader should do stemming from when we survived by banding together and the leader made us feel safe against physical dangers
2. Leaders later evolved into someone who knows what they are doing and is big and tall
3. The best kind of leader to solve today’s problems can persuade people, solve challenges, and create an environment where the team is smarter and greater than the leader or any individual

How to Create the Dream Team

Shane explains the three “ingredients” it takes to create a dream team:

1. You need cognitive diversity.
2. You need your team to engage in different ways of thinking and combine their skills.
3. You need intellectual humility – open mindedness (this sits between being too stubborn and being too gullible).

How The Three “Ingredients” for Creating a Dream Team Work on a Large Project

1. Think of team building like casting for a movie, you need those who bring out the best in the project and in each other
2. You need to trust people to do what they do best, but when there are snags the project leader engages
3. Everyone has to be on the same team, or they’re off the team

Shane’s Advice to Project Leaders Who Want to Create a Dream Team

Have a shared purpose, everyone needs to know what they’re doing and why they’re there. Allow people to work in a way that allows them to do their best work. People need to be on board with your purpose and understand the difference between a cult and culture – both have a shared devotion to something. In a cult, you have to behave and think in a certain way or you are not part of the group. In a culture, you are asked to contribute something to the team so everyone can move forward to their shared purpose.

The Barriers to Dream Teams That Keep Them From Seeing Results

1. Not talking about the important issues, having “organizational silence”
2. Too much tension - a little tension is good, too much is detrimental
3. Not having the toolkit to change your mind or talk about hard issues with humility and allowing people to “save face”

The Worst Challenge Shane Has Faced

Three challenging things happened to Shane at once - things at his company were getting hard, he was going through a divorce, and he got a cancer diagnosis. This time was humbling and made him realize that things in life will be hard and he needs to be more equipped to deal with them. He got through this time by letting other people help him.

The Best Advice Shane Has Ever Gotten

People are more important than stuff. His mother was always hitting things with the car, but his father would never say something mean, he would always worry about his mom. If people are the most important thing, you’ll think about teamwork differently.

A Little About Shane’s New Project

Shane has been traveling around the world for the last six months. He wants to live in other cultures to develop intellectual humility and to do new research for upcoming projects. He is exploring different immigrant communities in America for an upcoming television show.

Resources for Podcast Listeners

• Self-Assessment for Intellectual Humility
• Dream Teams Book (affiliate link) Kindle Audible Hardback
• Articles on Collaboration and Leadership
• Shane Snow’s Courses on LinkedIn Learning

Shane’s Parting Advice

Develop this habit for intellectual humility - express that you’re willing to change your mind if you want others to change their minds. Ben Franklin would say, “I could be wrong, but I really think …..” By admitting he could be wrong, it made it safe for people to disagree with him and allowed him to save face if he did change his mind.

Contact Shane

Shane’s Website shanesnow.com

Shane’s LinkedIn Profile

Collective Wisdom Use this episode as a tool, send it out to your entire team and have a dialogue. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Don’t forget, we have started a Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group. I know there are a lot of you out there on LinkedIn; please join Construction Dream Team LinkedIn. We are going to have conversations on there and invite our guests to answer questions and to listen to what you have to say and to listen and share concepts.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert about the people side of construction.

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Number 3 in our Best of 2019 Countdown is Episode #7: John Martin on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Leadership. In this episode, John Martin, the former Director at San Francisco International Airport shares about how meditation and mindfulness helped him to create an extraordinary organization.

3 Key Takeaways for Leaders from this Episode

1. Meditation and Mindfulness are exceptional tools for remaining present and aligned with intention while facing the various challenges of leadership within the construction and airline industries.
2. Leadership, dedication to partnering, and the values of kindness and caring help create a work environment that encourages and rewards creativity, open communication, trust, employee/customer satisfaction, and exceptional outcomes.
3. Leaders don’t do. Leaders lead.

About John L. Martin

John L. Martin was Airport Director at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) from 1995-2016. His leadership leaves a legacy that lives on today. John was present as SFO underwent massive changes including a $3.5 billion dollar capital plan, the iconic International Terminal, and the BART extension into SFO.

One of John’s colleagues describes his impact as “truly rare to find a visionary in the public sector.” John led his organization to become exceptional. John Martin and Sue Dyer have been friends working closely together for 20 years.

How Did John Get Into Meditation?

John started his meditation practice in 2001 a few months before 9/11 as a way to deal with the stress faced as CEO and for a more balanced life outside of work.

Meditation practice is one of present awareness. Due to the tragedy of 9/11, SFO lost 40% of their customers and had to lay off 15% of their staff. Meditation helped John focus on facing challenges together with his team during that difficult time.

Incorporating Meditation into Leadership

A big part of meditation is becoming aware of the intentions guiding one’s actions. John incorporated basic intentions such as letting go of the past and future to focus on the present; the intention of kindness towards oneself and others; and focusing on caring, compassion, and exceptional outcomes to guide his leadership philosophy and approach.

Meditation in Practice

John would meditate after breakfast and at the end of each workday which looked to others as merely sitting quietly. Most people probably had no idea but might have noticed the benefits. This involves a sensation of “being in the body,” being present for the emotions and feelings at that moment and staying focused on the intentions of letting go, kindness and caring. There is a careful analysis of one’s reactions as you focus on ensuring actions are rooted in positive intentions as often as possible.

Meditation in Action

For the first 10 years as director, John wanted to be in control of everything – kind of like a superhero able to get everything done. The intention of letting go in the workplace involved letting go of excessive control to trust the staff more.

John supported this intention by creating teams of staff members to look at best practices for serving guests, safety/security, environmental leadership, and creating a great place to work. The team began creating a vision with plans and goals. John realized that the greatest wisdom is with the collective; not from one individual leader. Great leaders recognize the greatest wisdom comes from the team overall. This insight helped create an environment of deeper trust where creativity could begin to flourish.

Kindness in the Workplace

Taking the time to connect with employees helped foster kindness in the workplace at SFO. John would walk around the airport and make personal connections with the 1800 employees from every field and background. This demonstrated that leadership cared about how they viewed SFO as a place to work. Kindness as a value began to crop up as a talking point in staff meetings. When kindness is present in the workplace, there is a deeper understanding of what people can do to work exceptionally within their jobs while supporting fellow teammates to be exceptional. Kindness goes hand in hand with transparency when sharing information and a willingness to bring forward challenges/problems. The team binds together as they work towards the vision they’ve created.

How to Remain Mindful Under Pressure

Acknowledge any emotions you’re experiencing. This does not mean shying away from direct communication or harsh realities, but understanding where you stand on the issue at hand and acting with appropriate intention. Sometimes work challenges elicit strong reactions. John would occasionally take a break or go on a walk to let the steam out and feel it.

Making Difficult Decisions with Compassion

SFO had to let 150 people (10% of workforce) go after 9/11. John and leadership were clear on the issues at hand and provided services to support those displaced individuals looking for new jobs or transfers wherever possible. For the first few months, John didn’t want to take those actions, but after receiving “wake up!” as advice from a trusted coworker, he found a way to make the difficult decision but in a way that was still kind and caring. This approach helped establish trust so people could tell the truth on issues moving forward.

Biggest Challenges and How Intentions Helped

Letting go means recognizing and accepting the present circumstance as it is. It is not useful to get caught up being angry or pointing fingers and blame. After 9/11, SFO was in a difficult position. United Airlines filed for bankruptcy and Southwest Airlines closed operations. The airport needed to cut costs and increase international travel. It was leaderships’ responsibility to communicate this vision to employees. As this vision became standard practice, it demonstrated that it was possible to cut costs and grow revenue which attracted new business such as Virgin Airline’s San Francisco headquarters. It also proved that it was possible to work towards a vision without knowing exactly how to get there.

People started enjoying coming to work. Individual organizations melded into a universal team which created a sense of collaboration. Problem-solving became fun and creative solutions began to emerge. SFO became the first airport to provide innovate seating arrangements and high-end restroom finishes. They were the most successful airport in the country for sales in restaurants and shops, featured extraordinary artwork, and even built a yoga and meditation room. When people feel supported, heard, and work for a place they take pride in, they perform better. People want to be part of something exceptional.

Why John is a Believer in Partnering

John viewed attendance in Partnering sessions as a key role of being a leader. Leaders don’t do, leaders lead. By attending sessions as a leader, listening, supporting teamwork and open communication; these are key aspects of leadership. It sets the right tone, supports open communication and trust, shows a willingness to step in when there are problems, recognizes who is on board with the project, and by showing commitment and trust to the partnering process, others feel more supported.

Contractor organizations also began to have their top executives present at partnering sessions resulting in improved project outcomes. It is important to have every level of the organization involved in partnering.

John’s Most Challenging and Learning Opportunity

The crash of the Asiana was one of the most challenging times in John’s career as Airport Director. He recounts being home weeding his front yard when he received a text message about the crash. John changed clothes and drove down to the airport, seeing ambulances on the freeway. He felt great concern for what had happened. At the time, John knew little about what was going on. He expected to jump in immediately on an operational level but saw that the team was seamlessly working together to save lives and deal with the immediate crisis of that crash (not just operations staff but SF Police and Fire Departments, Federal Aviation Administration, TSA, FBI, Customs, Border Patrol, airline representatives, IT, finance, engineering, etc).

John felt deep gratitude and recognition of the great workplace that had been created to facilitate this trust and communication. His focus shifted to making sure pieces were in place to get the airport reopened as quickly as possible. John and airport officials had a press conference 4-5 hours after the wreck with 100+ reporters at the event. He didn’t know all the details, but knew being present and clear about what was going on would help all the viewers, concerned citizens, and passenger family members.

Afterward, SFO entered into a lessons learned phase. The aviation industry became safer and commercial crashes are now very rare in the U.S.

Listener Resources

Meditation: John suggests classes with hands-on learning from a teacher with supplemental reading is the best way to learn how to practice meditation. Just picking up a book and reading about meditation is not enough, a teacher is important.

Books:

Partner Your Project by Sue Dyer

Good To Great affiliate link) by Jim Collins (every member of management staff was required to read it at SFO) Kindle Audible Hardback

Award PDF

Magazine Cover PDF

John’s Parting Advice

Watch and pay attention to insights and aha moments! Let those in deeply and follow them.

Leaders don’t do, leaders lead – The less John did, he realized, the better things ran. John’s biggest mistakes came from acting on things not consistent with his own instinct.

Workplace environment really matters – Supporting a healthy workplace environment, open communication, and caring for employees is massively important.

Actions matter – Actions rooted in caring, kindness, and wisdom and that support creativity exceptional service/delivery, creating an exceptional airport for guests, passengers, environmental leadership, and workplace environment.

Beneath every action is an intention – Staying in touch with intentions, by checking and rechecking, builds a framework of understanding.

Partnering provides a model for understanding, behavior, bringing people together on construction projects, and as a leader leading the larger organization and airport community.

Be exceptional – Everyone wants to work for an organization that is exceptional.

Get in Contact with John Martin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-l-martin-0bb47b107/

Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. We hope you’ll join us next Monday at 4 A.M. PST for the Construction Dream Team Podcast Best of 2019 Countdown Episode Number 4! Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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Number 4 in our Best of 2019 Countdown is Episode #6: Tom Taylor. In this episode, Tom shares about how he didn’t believe in using a monthly Scorecard for projects but he was forced to do it on the projects he was working on. Then, after a few projects he saw that it was totally accurate and gave him a tool to steer his projects. Tom also shares how important measuring is to the success of any project

Tom Taylor’s Career Journey

Tom didn’t initially expect to end up in the construction industry. While pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree at Michigan State, he worked an internship at a large general contractor. At the end of the 10 weeks, he fell in love with the teamwork, sense of accomplishment, the variety of people, and has been hooked ever since.

Tom started early as a superintendent and moved into project management in the Detroit area. The work he and his team did at that time focused on building schools; a rewarding experience that gave a sense of community contribution. Tom moved to California in 2005 and took a step backward from his Director/PM role in Michigan to learn what it means to build in California including seismic bracing, digging 70-foot holes, and more. Tom spent 6 years on the San Francisco General Hospital project and from there moved into overseeing the northern California operations at Webcor the last 2 years.

About Webcor Builders

Webcor Builders has been around over 50 years, founded in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are a self-performing GC with 750 salaried employees and over 1,000 tradespeople. Webcor employs the largest group of carpenters in California. Webcor is a superregional company able to build most things. They are part of Obayashi Corporation, a large international firm stationed in Japan that provides financial backing among other things. Webcor’s biggest competitive advantage according to Tom is their extraordinary people! They are proud of who they are, what they do, and focus on being a positive force in the community.

Tom’s Favorite Part of the Job

Collaborating with people on challenges and opportunities to produce exceptional outcomes is Tom’s favorite part of his job. He loves the process of brainstorming, asking questions, and getting different perspectives in order to form solutions that no one individual would have come up with on their own.

Tom’s Leadership Strengths

Tom says his biggest strength as a leader is his ability to support people to draw out the best in them. Asking tough questions, encouraging and challenging people in a way they feel supported and comfortable so that trust can be established. The acronym S.A.M. stands for setting direction, aligning resources, and motivating/inspiring. Motivation is important along with feedback; showing the person they are appreciated and that they add value.

Monthly Construction Scorecard

Five projects Tom has worked with at SFO have used the Construction Scorecard aligned with the process of Structured Collaborative Partnering. The correlation between the scorecard’s ability to predict how a project is going to perform has been astonishing. The Construction Scorecard has worked effectively with 5 completely different projects with different stakeholders, variables, and teams.

Download the Sample Construction Scorecard

How does the Construction Scorecard work?

It provides the opportunity on a monthly basis for a large portion of the team and stakeholders to score how the project is going and provide feedback on critical issues. It identifies key challenges and opportunities on a regular basis and is transparent. It holds people accountable and offers the space for safe and honest input. It is meritocratic and values the best ideas across the team and stakeholders.

Lessons Learned Using the Scorecard

One project at SFO was not doing well in terms of the budget and schedule which was reflected on the scorecard. When Tom and his team embraced the feedback from the scorecard, they were able to collectively make changes that have up to this point produced positive results and gotten the project back on track.

How Accountability Positively Affects a Team

Accountability empowers employees. It emboldens them and gives them a sense that their voice is heard. Accountability embraces the key components of building trust such as talking directly, transparency, delivering on results, and keeping commitments. People’s energy shifts from challenging, questioning, and doubting others to support: how they can help the other person be successful. It has resulted in a profound shift where people place their time and effort.

What kind of Projects can Benefit from the Construction Scorecard?

Any project can benefit! Some less complex projects may require less executive engagement, timing, and depth, but it is always helpful to start off with a rigorous and detailed process to make sure you’re assessing how the team is performing early-on. If a project starts off well with a plan and trust, it generally will go well throughout. You can scale back the Scorecard as the project proceeds, but it is a good investment of time throughout!

The worst challenge Tom has faced in his career.

Tom’s worst challenge occurred more than 20 years ago. They were building a new high school at an incredibly fast pace in Michigan with a 16-month timeframe for a 400,000 sq ft. school. Three weeks before the school was opened (the schedule could not be shifted), an elevator tech fell two stories from a ladder and was permanently disabled. Tom remembers being in the elevator with the EMT helping this gentleman out. It was a dark moment in Tom’s career that he has not forgotten. Tom relates this experience back to the usefulness of a Scorecard and how had the team dynamics been a bit different, perhaps this event could have turned out more fortunately.

Best advice ever received

Tom’s best advice ever received comes from his dad which is that you must ALWAYS have a positive attitude. As a leader, you must be able to walk into every day no matter how bleak things are and see a positive path forward. You must set the vision, explain to people where you’re going, and create enthusiasm as to how you’re going to get there — all of which requires a positive attitude.

Resource for Listeners

Thank You For Being Late (affiliate link) by Thomas Freidman. This book is an optimist’s guide to dealing with the rapid pace of change and how the world is changing faster than our ability to completely adapt and understand the previous version. It shares insightful statistics and teaches how to see change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Get the book on Amazon! Kindle Audible Hardback

Tom Taylor’s contact info

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-taylor-8a232215/

Parting Advice

Be outstanding. The next time someone in the office asks you how your day is going, say OUTSTANDING! You’ll be shocked at the positive reaction you get.

Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. We hope you’ll join us next Monday at 4 A.M. PST for the Construction Dream Team Podcast Best of 2019 Countdown Episode Number 4! Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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Number 5 in our Best of 2019 Countdown is Episode #2: Ivar Satero. What Sue loves about this episode is how Ivar shows us how having strong organizational values has helped him be assured that all of his people are working and solving problems in a way that is consistent with these values.

In this Episode 2 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast, host Sue Dyer interviews Ivar Satero, the director at San Francisco International Airport. Ivar became a director in July of 2016 and is now overseeing a $7 billion dollar construction program. Ivar has also held positions as chief operating officer and as deputy of design and construction for a $3.5 billion dollar Master Plan. He has learned a lot throughout his various tenures and has a lot of lessons to share.

Ivar Satero’s Journey To Becoming Director

Ivar has been with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for over 24 years, the majority of that time involved with construction. He received work on a $3 billion dollar program in the 1990s to transform the airport. Ivar has worked on projects such as Air Train and the Regional Transit System.

After about 20 years in construction design, he got the job as Chief Operating Officer and has gained experience in a wide array of operational aspects at the SFO airport. Ivar has worked for a director named John Martin throughout his career which has opened up many doors and opportunities. John always thought of himself as a director and a developer, which prepared the airport for the future by putting together great teams even through hard times like the recession of 2007 and after 9/11 in 2001. Ivar also has a similar development background and looks towards the future to foresee continuous growth in preparing the facility. It has been a great journey.

On Airports Struggling With Large Programs

It helps to have a development background or a chief development officer – someone knowledgeable about development. It is important to build a team as a core success factor because it provides autonomous control and ownership over programs and their development/implementation. Anybody involved in team building needs leadership experience in order to maintain the determination to continue and push through, even when the economy changes and dips.

The best time to build things is during an economic downturn. During the Terminal 2 Project in 2007-2012, Ivar and his team were able to buy more capital – 30% more on a $400 million dollar project that otherwise would not have been available. This was a bold move considering the economic realities of the time period. Ivar believes it is critical to work hard to prepare for the future and the future needs of the facility or construction project. It places everything and everyone in a better place when the external variables change. A lot of other airports suspended their capital programs and have spent the last decade catching up and dealing with the rapid growth of air travel that they did not prepare for.

San Francisco International Airport’s Value-Driven Approach

Ivar states that partnering was a big help with the cultivation and implementation of SFO’s values. He and his team focused on developing a strong internal culture during the Terminal 2 Project. They had a 30-month time-frame to get it done, needed to do things differently, and had to keep together a core group of people who were able to prepare for the future.

When talking about what an exceptional project was like in the 90’s, we talked about delivery, budget, and schedule. We did not talk about exceptional outcomes. What makes a project outcome exceptional is that it factors in the stakeholders and other parts of the operation from success on Day 1 of opening to 40 years after opening. A cultural shift was needed for the Terminal 2 Project in order to move in a direction that fostered a partnering culture back in 2010. Collaboration, teamwork, and communication help build trust throughout an organization. We now have a well-defined organizational culture aligned with an extensive partnering program. This allows us to do great projects with exceptional outcomes.

SFO’s Core Values

SFO’s values align well with partnering. We are one team and need values each of us can get behind and act through our work. We treat all stakeholders with respect, communicate fully and openly, strive to be the best, are open to new ideas, committed to making SFO a great place to work, take pride in SFO, and all have the desire to contribute the SFO’s success and legacy.

We talk a lot about success and learn a lot from failures. We have found weaknesses which were liabilities initially that we were able to develop into strengths. SFO is a living organism that faces challenging incidences like the crash five years ago. We had no part in the cause of it but found an opportunity through this unfortunate incident to strengthen our safety operations. This added a core value of safety and security as the highest priority. We make sure our employees believe in our values and that their actions align with them – always reaching towards our number one initiative.

Worst Moments & How They Impacted Core Values

The aforementioned crash was the worst moment in our history, but at that time Ivar Satero was not acting director. As director, within the last 2-and-a-half years there was an incident where a worker lost his leg. This was a cause for action and a defining moment for our team which led to a new program around ground service equipment monitoring and maintenance.

We now have industry leading equipment and operations. The incident intensely refocused everyone’s attention on safety in every conceivable way. A partnership with a service provider stepped forward with a $12 million dollar investment to improve maintenance, staff training, and wages (due to high turnover prior). Our staff feels safer and more secure about all of our airfield operations and are proud of what we’ve accomplished and the role that they play. This incident brought us together and showed us that we are a team who can mutually solve problems rather than point blame and damage relationships. It’s not about punishment, but understanding and collaboration.

SFO’s values play out every day in the work we do.

What steps can project leaders take to create core values?

It all starts with communication; you need to get to know your partners and be transparent. Build trust, have difficult conversations. Work through solutions together, not on your own. Working through issues together builds trust and allows us to use our collective wisdom. A project solution might not be a stakeholder’s solution. Keep the stakeholders by your side during the process of formulating and implementing a solution. Sue Dyer has been a partnering facilitator at SFO which has helped us define aspects of this important process.

Structured Collaborative Partnering

You will not be successful with partnering if leadership does not see the importance of it. Ivar sits in partnering meets and lets his expectations be clear. The presidents and senior VPs are required to be present at these meetings to ensure that the values are acted out within their organizations. Leaders have a duty to bring the right people together under the right values for each project.

From a risk management perspective, the small investment in partnering has been instrumental in our outcomes. There are three levels of partnering: The CEO level, the core team (project management), and stakeholders. The results of partnering are undeniable. On a $7.2 billion dollar program, we are 65% bought-out and have $450 million left in reserves. We have not seen a slip in the schedule and have 0 claims-to-date.

International Partnering Institute

In order for partnering to work, it has to be broadly implemented and appreciated. Everyone can set up their programs for success through partnering; it has a great effect on big and small projects. International Partnering Institute (IPI) allows you to learn this process and starts by helping you understand your team. IPI is right for you no matter what, even when everything is stacked against you. It’s not just about a beautiful or functioning building/structure, it’s about the work put into it and the leadership. IPI is good for owners who want to implement significant projects effectively.

Ivar’s Best Advice Received

“Let your intellect gain supremacy over your emotions.” Move from punishment to partnership. It’s not about being angry because a timeline has slipped, it’s about getting together to do the hard work. Our hotel is a good example. It was 5 months behind schedule 8 months ago but is now opening on schedule.

Recommended Resources for Listeners

Good To Great (affiliate link) by Jim Collins Kindle Audible Hardback

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People (affiliate link) by Stephen Covey Kindle Audible Hardback

SFO Values Poster Download

Parting advice

Redefine program success in a different “big ideas” type of way. Look beyond the implementation team alone and get to know stakeholders. Have full engagement, collaboration, and partnership among stakeholders. Involve the community and help make contractors feel like they are a part of something bigger. Redefining success is instrumental in bringing things to a more manageable framework rather than just trying to get through it.

Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. We hope you’ll join us next Monday at 4 A.M. PST for the Construction Dream Team Podcast Best of 2019 Countdown Episode Number 4! Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Cliff Wong

1. Construction Managers need to be focused on integration and collaboration from multiple platforms.
2. Evolving technology is not the enemy it’s a tool to be used for efficiency
3. Strong leadership is built on continuous listening and learning, with a foundation in compassion and caring for individuals.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Cliff Wong, the President of PGH Wong Engineering. He has been around construction since his childhood. Cliff shares about his journey from that childhood in his den, working with the family business, to being a leader in the industry for project management.

Cliff’s Background and Journey to Becoming President of PGH Wong Engineering (02:29)

Growing up in the business, Cliff would work with his Dad and the rest of his family in what he calls the "den of excitement." He observed the engineering and construction business and worked from the ground up, from photocopying to design. Cliff had a number of opportunities to work in a variety of projects for the company.

Trends in Construction Management Services (06:45)

1. Contracting and Delivery Strategies
2. Collaboration: Need to be one integrated team
3. Implementation of Technology

The Shifting Role and Responsibilities of the CM (09:49)

1. Technology is a tool for efficiency and collaboration
2. Integrating multiple platforms into the "Common Data Environment"
3. Continuing a growing trend of Collaboration

Cliff’s Strength as a Leader (17:56)

1. Leading By Example
2. Accessibility to staff
3. Understanding complex issues
4. Sharing vision
5. Sharing strengths and weaknesses
6. Continuing to listen and learn
7. Compassion and Caring

The Biggest Thing Cliff Learned Through Listening (19:16)

Discussions of resource issues surrounding the industry Seeking ways to be attractive to the next generation of engineers. The goal is to share how rewarding building infrastructure and facilities projects can be.

Cliff’s Greatest Career Challenge and Learning Opportunity (20:39)

He worked for 3 months on utilizing the wrong design thesis on a rail transit system. Cliff learned that the basis of design is fundamental, the foundational aspects of the design are crucial, experience matters, and humility is key.

The Very Best Advice Cliff Has Ever Received (23:40)

Don't constrain yourself. We often put ourselves in boxes, but don't totally constrain yourself with assumptions and roadblocks that might not actually be true.

Cliff’s Favorite Piece of Technology (24:45)

• PGH Wong’s Internal Construction Management Software

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Books:

The Triumph of Experience Paperback | Audible

Shoe Dog Paperback | Audible | Kindle

• Recommended Ted Talk: What Makes a Good Life?

Contact Cliff

By Email

On LinkedIn

PGH Wong Engineering Website

Cliff’s Parting Advice (28:40)

Watch and observe traits from great construction managers in the industry. Look out for people that do things that you can't do, so you can build a complete team.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Ron Peckham

1. Your team is more important than individual and good leaders focus on building their team to be successful.
2. Always do your work from a foundation of gratitude.
3. Leaders need to be curious, flexible, and agile allowing themselves to be courageous as they move themselves and organizations forward.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Ron Peckham, the Aviation Practice Advisor for C&S Companies. Ron is a gifted leader. He has worked in the Aviation industry for 35 years, growing his practice from 9 people to 150. He's an incredible coach, mentor, and trainer helping people to build a foundation for commitment to a common vision and purpose. Join us as we talk about leadership in a time of disruption.

Ron’s Background and Journey to Leadership and an Advisory type role (03:19)

With a Civil Engineering background, he was focused on infrastructure projects. He was in charge of both design and construction management. He had numerous roles and opportunities for advancement into leadership and ultimately culminating becoming CEO/Chairman of the Board for the C&S Companies.

The Importance for Designers to Experience Construction (05:14)

1. It is essential for designers to have construction experience.
2. It is important to be results-oriented.
3. We must have a standard of quality to meet expectations of the owner while still "constructible" by the builder.
4. When you leave the design room and go out to the field to see what you are trying to do and see what the challenges are it makes you a better designer and leader

The Secret to Massive Company Growth (06:46)

It's really all about "Team" and the idea that "No one can do it alone." Must have a vision for buy-in and alignment that the team can get behind.

Ron’s Insight as a Leader in a Time of Disruption (07:39)

1. Make friends with reality.
2. Remind yourself what leadership is all about: “Make meaning for yourself” and “get from here to there.”
3. Build progress on a foundation of gratitude.

Current Disruptions in the Industry (12:49)

1. Disruption of Project Delivery and the evolution of that model.
2. Technology systems are changing rapidly.
3. Specialization and Competition expectations are increasing.

Leading Amidst Rapid Change (18:40)

1. It all comes back to the leader's "stance." Are we going to "create the future" or "live in the past?"
2. Leaders must be curious, flexible, and agile.
3. Systems are good, but people are better. Teamwork, alignment and energy trumps investment in the system.
4. Courage to move forward despite fears.

Ron’s Strength as a Leader (20:37)

An authentic caring for others. “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

Ron’s Most Challenging Moments/Learning Opportunities (24:04)

1. Realizing that when people change, systems change. Fit and chemistry are critical to your success and your organization's success.
2. If you don't have a mentor, you're "flying blind."
3. If your system changes, don't ignore it.
4. You are never as good or as bad as people say you are.

The Very Best Advice Ron Has Ever Received (28:56)

Don't take yourself too seriously and have a sense of humor about yourself.

Resources for Listeners

Recommended Questions:

• Who Am I?
• What Am I Here For (personally and professionally)?
• Whom Shall I Serve?
• How Much is Enough?

Contact Ron

Contact Ron by Email

Contact Ron on LinkedIn

Ron’s Parting Advice (33:08)

The choice is ours. Will we choose to live in the future or will we live in the past and fight against the change that is inevitable. If we want to be relevant, then we have to make friends with change.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from David Hawkins

1. People’s definition of “collaboration” differ which makes collaborating difficult. Having a standard for collaboration helps everyone to be aligned in their expectations.
2. An Exit Strategy is one of the key parts to the collaborative process that often gets left out.
3. Collaborative Working is not for everyone and it is critical to have the buy-in of senior leadership and the partners at the table.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with David Hawkins, the COO for the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW). He was awarded the International Standards Marker Award in 2017 by the British Standards Institution. This award was given for his outstanding work and inclusive approach to the field of collaborative business relationships. The ICW is the thought leader for collaborative working following the development of the unique CRAFT methodology based on the collective experience of the Institute’s Executive Knowledge Network. As a totally self-financing, multi-tiered membership organization the Institute provides practical guidance from extensive experience gained from working across relationships within the commercial, Government and academic arenas.

David’s Background and Journey to the Institute for Collaborative Working (02:27)

David started his work with Bechtel in the 60's in commercial and project management. He always had an interest in "what makes” people tick." In the 90's he became part of an organization called Partnership Sourcing which later became ICW. He conducted extensive research into the "failings" of partnership. That led to the development of the "Craft Life-Cycle Model."

What is the Institute for Collaborative Working (04:38)

1. Originally set up in 1990 as a UK government initiative.
2. It was designed to promote the concepts of partnering.
3. It is now self-supporting as a not-for-profit membership organization.
4. Membership is from a broad church of industry professions.
5. ICW works with private, corporate and academia sectors.
6. The primary focus is on research knowledge transfer and skills development.

The Development of ISO 44001 for Collaboration (07:01)

1. The journey started with CRAFT methodology.
2. Evolved into Pass 11000.
3. Turned into a British Standard in 2010 as BS 11000.
4. Then became International Standard – ISO 44001.

The Purpose for Developing the Standard (08:16)

1. Collaboration was a common term, but with no common understanding of meaning.
2. Relationships generally were failing because collaboration was a "buzz-word."
3. Business was becoming more International and more interdependent.

The Process of the Collaborative ISO (09:48)

1. There is no quick process.
2. There are 29 different countries involved.
3. An International Committee was formed and mirrored in all of the participating countries.
4. The draft goes through drafting development, critique, voting, approval, to publish.
5. The process was three years long.

The Key Areas of Focus for ISO 44001 (11:27)

1. Focus on Relationship Management
2. Establishing appropriate Cultural Visions and Values
3. Collaborative Leadership
4. Competence and Behaviors
5. Developing Trust and Commitment
6. Information and Knowledge Sharing
7. Risk Management
8. Establishing an Exit Strategy

The Definition and Example of an Exit Strategy (17:04)

1. Establishing Joint objectives (yours, mine, and ours).
2. Establishing a sound approach to issue resolution (it is not the dispute that is the problem, it is the way it is handled).
3. Consider the Exit Strategy upfront.
4. "When people have clarity of what the roles of disengagement are, you get more effective engagement."

Who Do You Envision Using ISO 44001 (25:05)

1. Collaboration is not always the answer.
2. The first four stages of the eight-step model help decide if it's necessary.
3. Encourage people to move away from the hype.
4. Any organization where the desired outcome is predicated by the performance another.

Unique Differences Between Teams from Different Countries (31:17)

1. Very few differences
2. Languages
3. Cultures
4. Legal Systems

The Importance of Senior Leadership Buy-In (35:09)

It's a "No-Brainer." If your chief executive thinks collaboration is a waste of time, you are likely never able to get to a really fulfilling collaborative relationship.

David’s Greatest Career Challenge and Learning Opportunity (37:58)

The worst moment was working for a director who thought the only incentive for people was how much they got paid. "If a financial goal is the only reward, you get a distorted view of the world."

The Very Best Advice David Has Ever Received (40:23)

1. If you don't know the answer, don't pretend you do.
2. Whenever your boss got difficult my response was, "look boss, you can only fire me once, is this the right time?"

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Website: The Institute for Collaborative Working

David’s Favorite Piece of Technology (43:58)

• The “old-fashioned” fountain pen
• Mobile phone

Contact David

Contact David on LinkedIn

David’s Parting Advice (45:22)

Listen, don't talk so much. Most people want to share what they know, and if not, perhaps they aren't the best choice of partner.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Stuart Seiden

1. When selecting project teams, it is crucial to see how the team works together to solve problems.
2. During the selection process, it is important to see how project teams communicate within their team and within their own companies.
3. The need for specification writers is a growing trend in the construction industry.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Stuart Seiden, who is a Principal at Avila & Seiden Architects. For about 17 years he was Capital Projects Manager in the County of Fresno. Stuart has a vast knowledge from a variety of projects and you won't want to miss his insight on the process of building a collaborative team.

Stuart’s Background and Career Journey (01:28)

Stuart's journey involved numerous events involving collaboration beginning when Stuart was four-years-old. His brother was born developmentally disabled and that inspired his collaborative nature of helping in the learning process with his brother. In college, he was intrigued by all the disciplines within the construction industry. He and his wife had diverse backgrounds and had to learn to meld those aspects. He has worked in a number of different industries over the years, each having informed his skill-set and knowledge for a variety of projects.

An Overview of Stuart’s Collaborative Selection Approach (09:35)

1. They changed the format of the interviews (no electronic presentations).
2. The day-to-day Project Lead gives the presentation.
3. They banned the marketing team from participating in the presentation except as observers.
4. They held three problem-solving sessions, that lasted about 20 minutes each, led by day-to-day lead.
5. The evaluated how the presenters interacted by observation.

How Was the Collaborative Process Different from the Typical Process? (14:04)

A typical process is a regurgitation of what was provided in their proposal (project pictures, qualifications, how they are nice people), but didn't show who had the ability to use their creative knowledge for the particular project.

The Evaluation Criteria (15:15)

1. Weighted the team on scenarios.
2. Asking further questions.
3. Fifteen-minute wrap-up.

Results of the Evaluation Process (16:44)

1. Easier to determine the knowledge base of the teams.
2. Able to see their level of communication.
3. Communication with their sub-contractors.
4. Could see creative problem-solving skills.
5. They picked a higher performing team.

Advice to Owners for Using the Scenario Approach (19:18)

1. Problem-Solving needs to be difficult enough to obtain meaningful dialogue, but simple enough for the time-frame.
2. Make sure you have proper objectives for the results you want.

Trends in Construction Specifications (21:30)

1. Need for more involvement of architects from the beginning of projects.
2. A trend toward more technically complex structures and materials.
3. Greater need for specification writers.

Advice for Engaging Specification Writers (23:31)

"Rely on them and get them involved early on in the project, so they can provide advice in a timely manner." They need to be a continuing member of the team.

Stuart’s Greatest Career Challenge and Learning Opportunity (24:45)

The worst moment was on a project moving a 911 system. There was a major problem with payments to the sub-contractors. Stuart learned that a partner on the project was diverting funds from the project for personal use.

The Very Best Advice Stuart Has Ever Received (29:22)

You really shouldn't put your nose in someone's business unless you know all sides of the story.

Resources for Listeners

• The Project Delivery Practice Guide

• Recommended Website: The Leadership Freak Blog Website and The Leadership Freak on Facebook

Contact Stuart

Contact Stuart on LinkedIn

Stuart’s Parting Advice (33:18)

From the Leadership Freak Website:

• Don't wait to feel humble to practice humility.
• Seek the best in others.
• Avoid presenting a false or inflated appearance.
• Work to understand and promote the goals of others.
• Explore how personal strengths, experience, and values might be useful to others.
• Risk being more authentic.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Andrea Hoban

1. Emotions Matter.
2. It is important to recognize what you are feeling when we are feeling it because emotions are contagious.
3. When leaders practice emotional intelligence, team members feel seen and heard and respond in a way that moves the business forward.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Andrea Hoban, who is the Co-Founder and Head of Learning at Oji Life Lab. Andrea, with over 20 years of experience in leading large teams and building businesses. Her focus is on how you can use emotional intelligence to improve how you deal with your team. Join us today to learn about Andrea’s unique model in emotional intelligence.

Andrea’s Journey into Emotional Intelligence (02:10)

Andrea’s early career was spent managing teams and learning all the wrong lessons from leaders that possess certain skills or lack thereof. She had the opportunity to lead a function around enterprise training skills, and ultimately into mentoring and coaching where she learned that, “how we experience our own emotions really colors how we see the world."

A Brief Overview of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) (04:38)

EQ helps us recognize what we are feeling when we are feeling it because most of us have lost contact with a large variety of feelings. For example, recognizing the difference between disappointment and anger. EQ helps us understand the root causes of emotions by providing steps to understand emotions.

How Can Construction Teams Use Emotional Intelligence (12:57)

1. Emotions are contagious.
2. Think about, “Is what I’m feeling what I want people to catch from me?”
3. Use EQ to discover a thoughtful approach to addressing teams and situations.

Andreas “Unique Model” for EQ (15:55)

1. Provides two big skills to focus on for regulating emotions.
2. First, become more aware of what you are feeling.
3. Use the Mood Mirror tool to measure your emotions.
4. Second, figure out what emotional state you want.
5. Use the toolkit of strategies: thinking strategies, action strategies.

How to Develop a “Toolkit of Strategies” (20:31)

Focus on the strategies that make us feel good and avoid those that we know don't work. Tune-in to what supports a shift to where we want to go. Whether it's positive self-talk or a reframing tool, it will help break the cycle of feelings.

What Happens When Your Entire Team Practices These Techniques? (22:20)

1. Leaders can enhance teams and issue resolution.
2. Team members respond in ways that moves the business forward.
3. Allows work to be frictionless.
4. People feel seen and heard.

Advice on Learning More About EQ (26:16)

1. Get and read the book, Permission to Feel.
2. Check out Emotion Life Lab App.

Why/How Andrea Became Involved with Emotional Intelligence (28:10)

Andrea had the opportunity to develop a strategy of training for a large corporation and that led to mentoring and coaching. When learning to be a coach for others, she discovered that you have to unpack your own baggage. The journey came from Andrea asking, "How do I help people build skills that make a large difference in the quality of their lives."

The Very Best Advice Andrea Has Ever Received (29:55)

Emotions matter. Understanding that emotions are information allows us to explore them with curiosity. We are less likely to judge ourselves or judge the emotions other people feel.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Book: Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett, Ph.D.
• The Mood Meter App

Contact Andrea

By Email

On LinkedIn

Oji Life Lab Website

Andrea’s Parting Advice (34:41)

Name it to tame it! Write down the things we are feeling, several times a day. The more we start recognizing what we are feeling, the more we are able to deal with the emotions involved.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Larry Eisenberg

1. Building sustainably is not only environmentally friendly, it's extremely cost-effective.
2. Tapping into new technologies is critical for creating sustainable and net-zero buildings.
3. It's time to stop talking and start doing! Build sustainably and pursue net-zero energy on new and existing buildings.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Larry Eisenberg, who is the Principal at Ovus Partners 360. He has served as the Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Development for the LA Community College District (LACCD). He directed the district's award-winning, $16 Billion Sustainable Building Program.

Larry’s Journey Into Sustainability and Starting Ovus Partners 360 (02:26)

Growing up in Los Angeles, there were days of just too much smog to go outside. That prompted Larry to think about what he could do about the bad environment. He went to MIT to study city planning, and then to work for the University of Wisconsin system where he got into sustainability. From there, moved to LA, where he worked for a board of trustees that was committed to making the largest green building program in the world. Ultimately, he created Ovus Partners 360 to carry those ideas into the private sector, specifically focused on "net-zero" energy (creating as much energy as you use in a year).

Achieving the Sustainability Goal at LACCD (05:07)

1. Larry mandated that architects working on designing the buildings for LACCD be LEED certified
2. Of the 85 buildings built, 20 were LEED Platinum
3. During the projects, LACCD and Larry learned that LEED Platinum building is actually cheaper
4. The rest of the buildings were Gold certified
5. Two buildings were "net-zero" and two complexes were "net-zero"

Why/How is Platinum Certification Cheaper? (07:10)

1. Building LEED Platinum calls for certain things that are automatically cheaper (e.g., no drop ceilings, using concrete instead of flooring, etc.)
2. Critical thinking and innovations that lead to cost savings

Cost Savings Leading to Lower Maintenance Costs (08:40)

1. Able to improve facilities management
2. Used sophisticated management solutions and software
3. Strategic materials choices to reduce ongoing costs

Technology Changes to Improve Sustainability (09:52)

1. Windows that make electricity
2. Rooftop Wind Turbines
3. Lighting Design – DC Electric service throughout buildings
4. Inexpensive Control Systems

What’s New in Photovoltaics (11:20)

1. Photovoltaics are becoming more efficient and much cheaper, from $8/watt installation initially to $1.70 today
2. Sustainability is cheaper not just environmentally friendly
3. There are technical advances in installations

Advice on Creating and Implementing a Sustainability Strategy (13:10)

1. Understanding it's about economics: sustainability leads to lower operational costs
2. Financing mechanisms available to spread costs over time
3. Net-Zero energy outcomes leading to no bills

Payment Mechanisms Available (14:14)

1. Power purchase agreements
2. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)
3. Net-Zero energy outcomes leading to no bills

Larry’s Other Sustainability Projects (15:40)

1. Waste Management: Waste-to-Energy using Plasma gasification
2. Net-Zero Energy projects, building projects net zero from the beginning
3. Plastics Recycling

What Makes Larry a Successful Leader? (19:08)

1. Supporting innovation and out-of-the-box thinking
2. Surrounding yourself with bright people
3. Communication and Feedback

Larry’s Biggest Mistake/Learning Opportunity (21:09)

Leaving LACCD and the events that led up to that: a series of LA Times articles that had negative things to say about the program. "The trauma and process were daunting, but the idea that one door closes, another one opens led me to create Ovus Partners 360."

The Very Best Advice Larry Has Ever Received (24:11)

A statement from the former Governor of Wisconsin, Lee Dreyfus: "The thing you need to realize is that our democracy is governed by the exact reflection of our population." There are bright people and not so bright. You need to deal with people on an equal level the best you can.

Larry’s Favorite Piece of Tech (25:54)

• His laptop

Resources for Listeners (26:39)

• Recommended Reading: MIT Technology Review Magazine May/June 2019

Contact Larry

• Contact Larry on LinkedIn

Larry’s Parting Advice (29:42)

It's time to stop talking about sustainability and start doing. We need to make the decision to build sustainably, pursue net-zero energy on new and existing buildings. Just do it!

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Mark Breslin

1. The construction industry needs a major paradigm shift to be innovative and appealing as an industry into the future.
2. The focus of construction companies needs to be on the development of teams and shifting from the mindset of “blue-collar” to “professional.”
3. Need to emphasize the importance of seeing the workforce as people and not as just workers or assets.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Mark Breslin, the Executive Director of the United Contractors Association, author, speaker, and influencer. He's spent decades advising CEOs and senior leaders in business, government, labor, and non-profit arenas in North America. A top-rated public speaker and strategist who has a perspective to share with us that perhaps no one else in the world does. We discuss his extensive work with the labor unions, what's worked, what doesn't, and how they are evolving.

The Current “Happenings” in the Labor Unions of North America (02:34)

There is a significant man-power shortage in all areas of North America. Baby Boomers are retiring and the construction industry is not looked at as a "destination" career. Unions are scrambling to recruit and onboard new people.

Union Contractor Role in Combating the Man-Power Shortage (03:42)

1. Contractors need to look at Union relationships as partnerships and get involved in direct recruiting.
2. Put yourself in a place to be a destination workplace.
3. Shift in mindset to help growth and career planning.
4. Aggressively fund a Learning and Development Department.
5. Tell a different story about upward mobility through apprenticeship.
6. Better communication with teachers, school counselors, etc.

Thoughts on Women in Construction (09:13)

We need a paradigm shift because we are ignoring 50% of the population. We need to evolve mindsets and job-site behaviors to match the rest of society.

The Unique Industry Shifts with Union Leaders (10:36)

1. A focus on the development of leadership capabilities.
2. Field-level and apprenticeship enhancements.
3. Transformation in the mindset of the workforce.

Description Of and Development Process for the Mindset Shift (12:35)

1. Construction companies need to be as innovative as their clients.
2. Need to be on the edge of "Change-Management."
3. Have an integrated leadership curriculum training and resources from top to bottom.
4. Look at leadership development as a profit center, not as overhead or something to be one casually.
5. Field Leader’s mindset needs to move from "Blue-Collar" to "Professional."

What Unions Can “Bring to the Table” (15:10)

1. Their ability to use their training infrastructure to accelerate development.
2. They bring workforce stability.
3. Workforce generation.
4. Upgrading of workforce.

New Technology and Workforce Deliver (16:30)

1. The pre-Fabrication revolution with modularization mixed with BIM.
2. Labor Cost reduction.
3. Skills and technology gap between generations.

Current Construction Trends (19:11)

1. Moving past a "hard-dollar bid" business, it's more relational.
2. Upcoming generations are less willing to travel to do the work.
3. Safety culture is becoming tighter – there is an expectation of zero accidents.

Addressing High Suicide Rates in Construction (21:32)

1. Wellness is Not Weak article.
2. We have obligations to the workforce as people.
3. Give more help and less tolerance of people’s challenges.
4. One idea, a company is giving a Mental Health app to each of their employees.

Mark’s Strengths as a Leader (24:47)

1. Mark has screwed up everything, and now he knows better.
2. You really need to be self-aware – learn that failures are your "GPS."
3. He learned that “it is not about him.”
4. Spend the time coaching and growing your team.
5. Fail often and fail well.
6. Learn to collaborate, say what you need to say, and always have a mentor.

Mark’s Greatest Career Challenge and Learning Opportunity (28:26)

He was in the middle of a delicate negotiation and someone successfully provoked him, and he blew it by succumbing to emotions. Also, hiring from opportunism instead of strategy.

The Very Best Advice Mark Has Ever Received (30:04)

Favorite saying: "Men, at some times, are masters of their fate." All of us, no matter how important we, are all "at some times" masters of our fate. The key is knowing the difference of when we need to embrace our fate and when we need to accept our fate.

Resources for Listeners

• Mark’s Article: Wellness is Not Weak
• Recommended : The Trillion-Dollar Coach Audible | Hardback | Kindle

Contact Mark

Mark Breslin Website

Contact Mark on LinkedIn

Mark’s Parting Advice (34:41)

As Leaders, "Ask, don't tell". You need to be incredibly curious and relentless in asking what needs to be done better.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Mike Paton 1. It is important that the leadership in your organization is aligned on what the vision is and works together to achieve it. 2. It’s critical to put the “right people” in the “right seats” for your team to be successful. 3. It is important to have a healthy cohesive, functional, open and honest leadership team.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Mike Paton, who is the Visionary at EOS Worldwide. He has spent his life working with Entrepreneurs and what he has to teach us from the project level, the organizations level, and personal level is invaluable.

Paton’s Journey to Becoming a Visionary for EOS (03:32) He grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, but ended up working in the traditional banking arena for a number of years. He ventured out on four endeavors as an entrepreneur: two successes and two "train wrecks." Paton found out he learned a lot more about himself through the train wrecks than the successes.

What is the EOS Model? (06:07) 1. EOS is a simple way of operating an entrepreneurial company. 2. The major pieces are Vision, Traction, and Healthy. 3. Provides a framework for working cohesively through all levels of the team.

A Holistic Overview of EOS (08:05)

In EOS, every company that takes a journey through six key components: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. There a number of tools and disciplines for leadership teams to strengthen all six of these key components of the EOS model.

Discussing “Vision”, the 1st Key Component to EOS (08:59) 1. Making sure we get the vision out of the head of the owner, entrepreneur, or founder and aligned with the plan of the leadership team. 2. Often there is "too much vision.” 3. Allows for the sharing of each person’s vision followed by healthy productive conflict to implement the shared vision.

The Role of the Visionary and Other Leaders “At the Top” (10:16) 1. The first thing we do is "fire" everyone in the organization. 2. Focus on asking questions that best benefit the organization, not your needs – look at things from a structure first, people second viewpoint. 3. Discuss the three major functions of every business: Marketing/Sales, Operations, and Finance/Admin. 4. The Integrator is the fourth major function of business – the person who drives the day-to-day process and drives accountability among the other leadership team members. 5. About half the time there is a fifth major function, the Visionary (often the founding entrepreneur).

Getting the “Right People” and Improving Your Team (16:06) 1. Helping define what a "right" person is for your unique organization. 2. Focus on placing the "right person" in the "right seat." 3. The People Analyzer Tool helps align the right people to the values of the organization.

Dealing With the “Issues” Component (21:26) 1. Strengthening the issues solving ability of everyone in the organization. 2. Both, being able to Recognize an issue with the courage to voice it and have the skills to solve the issues. 3. Utilizing the "issues list" and "IDS: issue-solving track." 4. Change the culture from a “don’t shoot the messenger” mindset to a culture where people feel safe bringing up issues. 5. Nothing defines a construction project better than the existence of, and need to, resolve issues.

The Most Common Errors with Teams and Organizations (24:43) 1. The perception at "the top" is the acceptance of losing passion for the business. 2. The assumption that everyone in the organization is "crystal clear" on vision and plan. 3. The assumption that if people don't get it immediately, it's their fault.

What Makes Paton a Successful Leader? (26:35) 1. He is passionate and driven to helping entrepreneurs. 2. He focuses on EOS purity. 3. His workmates who help and support him.

Paton’s Biggest Mistake/Learning Opportunity (29:09) Moving his young family to place for an entrepreneurial venture that he hadn't fully vetted the culture fit and leadership approach. I evaluated strictly on career move vs. culture fit and philosophy. It was the worst thing that could happen but it was also the best thing because it led Paton to EOS.

The Very Best Advice Paton Has Ever Received (31:18) It's more important to be effective than right. Get aligned and execute, while fixing mistakes together with your team.

Resources for Listeners

• The EOS Worldwide Website: the books (discounted), free tools, blogs, and Implementors.
• Book Recommendations:
  • Traction Audible | Paperback | Hardback
  • Get A Grip Audible | Paperback | Hardback

Contact Paton Contact Paton through the EOS Worldwide Directory

Contact Paton by Email

Paton’s Parting Advice (35:00) Never lose sight of what it is precisely what you want from your business. Never lose faith that it is possible. If you have loss sight or lost faith, write down what you want, clearly and explicitly, and use that to better manage your time and energy and your organization's time and energy.

Visit the ConstructionDreamTeam.com/resources page to see all of our guests’ recommended books, websites, etc.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Alex Barthet

1. It's extremely important to hire a lawyer that specializes in construction law.
2. Have your "Core 4" and build relationships with them so you see the trends in the industry.
3. You are going to need a lawyer on your team at some point, so find one now, and get to know them. You won't regret it.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Alex Barthet, Principal at the Barthet Firm. He joins us to share his universal legal expertise. Join us as we dive into his journey into law through engineering and how to pick the right construction lawyer.

Alex’s Journey to Becoming a Legal Expert (02:11)

Starting in Mechanical Engineering with an interest in construction and designing cars, but got near the end, and abruptly changed directions and went to work full time at his father's law firm and went to law school while working.

Mistakes We Make When Picking The Right Lawyer (05:05)

1. Hiring a lawyer based on who you know or price, and not specialty.
2. Not hiring someone that is board certified in their specialty.
3. Not finding someone that fits into the team.

How to Select the Best Attorney for a Specific Issue (07:46)

1. Find someone that's a specialist in the field.
2. Search for the good and the bad on Google, and read reviews.
3. Ask who specifically would be working on your project, and meet them.

Managing Expectations (10:27)

1. Cost: make sure everyone is upfront with cost expectations.
2. Develop small interim budgets to manage any surprises.
3. The legal system takes lots of time – be patient with the process.

Examples of the Good and the Bad (15:31)

1. Clients that think they can beat the odds, typically have worse results than those who work with an experienced lawyer.
2. A client that hired a lawyer that was a solo practitioner that did a little bit of everything. The lawyer did not have specialist experience in construction and the client lost $350,000.
3. Most successful clients create their own dream team with a Construction Lawyer, a Construction Insurance Company, a Bonding Agent and a Construction CPA – the "Core 4." Clients should socialize (i.e., lunch or drinks) to keep their ear to the ground.

Alex’s “Magic Juice” for Being a Great Leader (22:17)

1. Listening to a variety of great podcasts.
2. Learning from the "best of the best."
3. Being Humble and Showing Gratitude to your team.

All About Alex’s Podcast: “The Lien Zone” (24:44)

1. Started by using videos that we created.
2. 4,500 Listeners per month
3. Quick bullet points on a variety of legal issues.
4. Often, the mundane things tend to cause the most trouble.

The Very Best Advice Alex Has Ever Gotten (27:14)

Always Forward. It doesn't have to be the best, but make sure there is incremental progress.

Resources for Listeners

• The Lien Zone Podcast with Alex Barthet
• Alex’s Recommendations: “The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value”

Contact Alex

Contact Alex by Email

Contact Alex on LinkedIn

The Lien Zone on Instagram

Alex’s Parting Advice (37:57)

If you have a lawyer that you know, like, and trust, invite him/her out to lunch. Get to know them better. If you don't have a lawyer, find one, and put that person on your team. You will need them at some point.

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Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Zig Rubel

1. Curiosity allows you to see the world differently and solve both complex and mundane issues more effectively.
2. We need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
3. We have to be willing to take risks and approach the world with a "what's possible attitude.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Zigmund Rubel, the President and CEO of A Design+ Consulting. As an architectural design and consultancy firm, they specialize in data-driven processes focused on planning that integrates the healing, learning, and discovering of buildings. Join us as we dive into the idea of curiosity and integrating a culture of curiosity into teams.

Defining Curiosity and Its Importance in our Teams (02:48)

Curiosity is the journey to understand "what else is out there" and what could be done differently. It requires developing a unique solution for a need or a problem. Curiosity forces someone to be engaged and committed to a specific outcome. Sometimes curiosity may not yield anything valuable, and that's ok. The benefit is to learn and define your boundaries of what the question should be, and the outcome directs you or the team to become more of a learning-based type of group.

A Practical Approach to Curiosity (04:09)

1. Realizing the importance of seeing our surroundings.
2. Having the ability to question whether what we are doing makes sense.
3. Could there possibly be a better way to approach the situation we are in.

Building a “Culture of Curiosity” (05:11)

1. Assume that there is a better way of doing something – rejecting the status quo.
2. Curiosity requires us to be uncomfortable with our internal biases and question whether there is something better.
3. Curiosity should more of a bunch of data points you put together to make the best decision going forward.
4. Leaders need patience and forgiveness with their team because a curious team is going to take longer because they aren’t going to use a “tried and true” method.
5. Curiosity is built on mundane things.

Examples of Curiosity’s Role in a Project Setting (07:04)

1. Partnering projects: Ultimately making their needs, your needs.
2. Funding Availability: Approaching from a "what's possible" perspective.
3. You need to both, have the drive and the interest to see what is out there, and be willing to change.
4. Education is a responsibility of curiosity – if you have a great idea, you need to get people on board otherwise people are going to just do the same thing they always do.

Melding Curiosity and Creativity (12:11)

1. Creativity is more about the investigation and the outcome of a specific task.
2. Creativity requires Curiosity.
3. The key is asking questions about what could be different.

The Biggest Barriers to Curiosity (13:26)

1. Our Internal Bias prevents from being curious.
2. The most creative students are kindergartners, because they have no bias.
3. Our own impatience keeps us from fully realizing potential.
4. We must be willing to be incorrect – we need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Focusing on the Mundane (16:04)

1. The matrix of urgent, non-urgent, important, not important.
2. We often focus on the “urgent, not important" tasks as opposed to the "important, non-urgent" tasks.
3. We need to focus on addressing the right issues, even when they aren't urgent.
4. Unfortunately, the mundane things tend to cause the most trouble.

More About A Design + Consulting (20:22)

1. They are a small design and consulting practice of mostly healthcare architects.
2. We all know there's a better way to do our job, and that's what unites us as a team.
3. They are located in San Francisco and they are considering having more of a presence in China and India (these countries have really challenging project needs and they are more open to curiosity and unique solutions).
4. When consulting, they focus on building the right building and sizing the building.

Zig’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (24:37)

Zig’s greatest strength as a leader is his curiosity. He has always felt that there could be a better way of doing things. He likes to get the group’s opinion and buy-in. He engages the team in a manner that they move along, and he knows that sometimes someone on the team is going to point out something that no one had thought of that will change the outcome.

Zig’s Greatest Career Challenge (27:03)

Starting a new company and finding clients to work with that are willing to be patient with a new company. Curiosity comes with risk. You need to be persistently consistent, and consistently persistent. You need to have your share of resilience with curiosity because you are going to have disappointment.

The Very Best Advice Zig Has Ever Gotten (30:12)

Be confident. Trust that your assumptions and desires are right. Be confident in your beliefs.

Zig’s Favorite Piece of Technology (31:40)

His phone: It allows him to do just about anything he needs to do.

Resources for Listeners

• Operational Tool from A Design + Consulting
• Book Recommendations: “A More Beautiful Question”

"Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation"

“Creativity Inc.”

Contact Zig

Contact Zig by Email

Contact Zig on LinkedIn

A Design + Consulting Website

Zig’s Parting Advice (35:33)

You need to wake up feeling uncomfortable and wanting to change the world. If you're curious, you believe something can be better.

Email Sue Dyer at sue@constructiondreamteam.com if you are interested in participating in our Construction Scorecard beta-test.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The faster you can build your dream team, the faster you can build your success.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on Tunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Eric Sanderson

1. Realize how critical how important relationships and partnering are for projects.
2. Understand the unique challenges of the water sector and how partnering can help in that process.
3. The importance of listening to understand, as opposed to listening to reply. Focus on solving the problem.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Eric Sanderson, the Founder and President of Red Rocks Advisors, LLC. They provide consulting and facilitation services in the utility and infrastructure sectors. Eric is an IPI-Certified Master-Level Facilitator and is here to help us learn more about the water sector.

Becoming a “Master-Level Facilitator” (02:29)

Being around the construction since he was a kid, the journey has been a long one. Eric spent some time in the trades, sub-contracting and learning the dynamics of a job site. Eric went on to get an MBA and joined a construction management consultant firm. He learned to understand the importance of relationships on a project and began to facilitate partnering. He has been working as a Partnering Facilitator in the water sector for ~19 years.

Eric’s First Project as a Facilitator (07:32)

1. Upgrades to the City of Atlanta pump stations for wastewater.
2. Some challenging elements around working with 14 sites.
3. Winning a Marvin M. Black Award for "Excellence in Partnering."

The Uniqueness of Working in the Water Sector (10:14)

1. The challenge of working with 2 owners: Engineering and Operators – you need internal alignment.
2. Permit requirements and compliance are extremely important (local, state and federal levels).
3. Numerous stakeholders involved from city, county, and state entities.

Delivery Systems in the Water Sector (13:19)

1. The traditional model has been Design/Bid/Build, there is a move to Design-Build, and now we are seeing more CMAR projects (Construction Management At Risk).
2. The contractor is working in an operating facility and has to maintain the operations while working on the project.
3. Contractor engagement is critical to have a live cost estimate.
4. Facilitation involved throughout the process.

Examples of Interesting Projects (16:44)

1. City of Las Angeles Department of Water and Power: upgrading systems for UV treatment, unique technical equipment.
2. Vale, Colorado: more capacity and location challenges.

Advantages to Partnering and Facilitation (19:49)

1. Aligning beyond certain goals.
2. Being great "neighbors" to surrounding communities.
3. Collaborating on owning problems and solutions.

Eric’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (20:48)

Understanding the perspectives of the individuals involved in a project. Everyone has different goals and aligning the goals around the project is critical. Being able to understand what drives people is crucial in partnering on projects.

Eric’s Most Challenging Project (23:18)

1. New to partnering and lacked the confidence for control.
2. A substantial project with "heavyweight" contractors.
3. Admitting mistakes and learning to overcome your own fears.

Greatest Advice Eric Has Received (27:30)

The idea of "don't take it personally." You are going to offer things and people are going to choose to follow or not. You can't take personally whether someone chooses to implement.

Eric’s Favorite Piece of Technology (30:28)

Phone and travel apps specifically. Recently upgraded to Microsoft Surface Pro. Able to carry it and pretty much nothing else.

Resources for Listeners

Audible for Audiobooks: specifically business and history

Contact Eric

Contact Eric on LinkedIn

Eric’s Parting Advice (35:56)

1. Definitely check out the Water Design-Build Council. It advocates for collaborative delivery processes in the water sector.
2. Listen to understand, not to reply. Listen to solve, not defend. Solve the problem and the dispute will go away.

Visit the ConstructionDreamTeam.com/resources page to see all of our guests’ recommended books, websites, etc.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The faster you can build your dream team, the faster you can build your success.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Rob Smedley

1. It's absolutely critical to invest in people and focus as much time on building relationships as you do projects.
2. It is essential to collaborate with the Owner from day one.
3. Communicating effectively with the entire team is key to the success of any collaborative project.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Rob Smedley, the Design-Build Manager Buildings for RS&H. Rob is an AIA, DBIA, and has more than 30 years of experience on a variety of projects. Rob shares about the importance of using Design-Build concepts on projects and communicating effectively with your teams.

Rob’s Journey into Design-Build (02:49)

Rob's path was fairly typical, from school to intern, and then as a designer, moving into project manager, then project architect, and ultimately to principle. The shift came from an acquisition by an AE firm and Rob was introduced to new technologies in design and it spurred him into a whole new direction.

The Biggest Challenges with Design (09:45)

1. The keyword is People – staffing resources and finding quality people is difficult
2. Evolving Technology: "Technology is great, but it's evolving daily”
3. Generational workplace expectations and communication skills

Opportunities for Design and Construction Collaboration (14:58)

1. Progressive Design-Build Method
2. The importance of the Owner in the collaboration of "the trinity" (design, construction, integration)
3. Partnering – it is critical and one of the Best Practices identified by DBIA
4. Utilization of new technologies

The Barriers to Design, Construction, and Owner Integration (19:59)

1. "People" are the greatest challenge
2. Being comfortable with change
3. The pressure of time: "Slow down and move with some purpose”

Having Better Project Integration (25:53)

1. Invest in relationships and doing the "off-season work"
2. Rehearsals – practice standard protocols
3. Partnering: "raising the bar" in communication efforts
4. Communication and "melting away" complexity

Rob’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (33:55)

Rob cares about the people, the organization, and the projects. One of Rob’s favorite quotes is, "People don't care about what you know until they know you care." - John Maxwell.

Rob’s Greatest Career Challenge (35:30)

Being fired by a client. In retrospect, learning from the fatal flaw of not being focused on the motives of the client, changed the whole perspective.

The Very Best Advice Rob Has Ever Gotten (37:30)

Think boldly, act boldly, but not blindly.

Resources for Listeners (38:42)

• DBIA “Progressive Design-Build Best Practices”
• International Partnering Institute
• Construction Dive
• Podcasts: “By Example” with Carli Fiorina and The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast
• Book Recommendations: “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

Contact Rob

Contact Rob by Email

Rob’s Parting Advice (41:33)

If you are in this industry, Rob highly recommends getting familiar with 2 organizations: Design-Build Institute of America and the International Partnering Institute. Don't just become a member, get involved. Also, be sure to invest in yourself.

Visit the ConstructionDreamTeam.com/resources page to see all of our guests’ recommended books, websites, etc.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The faster you can build your dream team, the faster you can build your success.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Reese Tisdale

1. Water has an impact on every aspect of our lives, so researching this incredible resource is critical.
2. Water market regulation has been soft, but it is changing.
3. Forecasts show, over the next 15 years, it will cost upwards of $15B for water infrastructure repairs and rehabilitation.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Reese Tisdale, the President of Blue Field Research. Reese is an expert on water and its effect on the market and the world around. He shares the politics of how development occurs and water's role in project development.

Reese's Water Journey (01:53)

Blue Field Research was founded in 2012. They started the company with the realization that water touches all aspects of our lives from business to personal. They do market research on water for supply companies, investors, and regulators who need more information and insight into what's happening in the water space.

Defining the Water Market (03:58)

1. The water market incorporates all aspects of water (water, wastewater, and stormwater) from supply to discharge.
2. We look at the water market Globally (outside the US), in the US/North America, and Industrial vs. Municipal.
3. When starting the company, we thought most of the work would be outside the US but they were wrong.
4. Demand in the US: There are 75,000 water/wastewater systems in the US and over 3 million miles of pipe in the ground.

The Trends in Helping with Infrastructure (06:33)

1. Systems are old and mapping isn't good -but companies are getting better at that.
2. Forecasts show, over the next 15 years, it will cost upwards of $15 billion for repairs and rehabilitation.
3. The key is rehabilitating more efficiently utilizing technologies in place.
4. Using different material types will help in building and re-building.
5. Focusing on workforce management: the aging of the baby boomers, etc.

Meaningful Predictability of Resources (09:43)

1. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence to make the workforce smarter so they can do other things.
2. The simple need for remote monitoring.

What the Research is Showing (12:30)

1. We are starting to see emerging contaminants (algae blooms, etc.).
2. Impacts on the daily water supply, such as drought.
3. Utilities are trying to understand what's real and what's not.

The Most Insightful Research Bluefield Research Has Done To Date (16:06)

1. Water market regulation has been soft, but it's changing.
2. States are regulating the water market, not the Federal government.

What Bluefield Research Does (19:45)

1. Help companies understand the market landscape (challenges in the market, opportunities to provide treatment or management).
2. Provide off the shelf reports, annuals, inside agreements with clients or bespoke research for clients.

The Difference in the “Water Side” of the Water Market (23:00)

1. They must have enough capacity for new development.

2. The role of industry and commercial business are treating their own water and becoming more self-sufficient.

3. Water rates rose 3.5% last year.
4. Their focus is on how to "reign in" the expenditures of water procurement and discharge.
5. Utilities need to see the trends so they are acting, not reacting.

The Most Difficult Aspects of Water Research (26:23)

1. Being true to the data that's collected.
2. Staying true to our research methodology.
3. Clients challenging results based on their own perspective.

The Very Best Advice Reese Has Ever Gotten (29:42)

Look at other companies not from where they are, but from where they started, and measure yourself in the same way.

Reese’s Favorite Piece of Technology (31:21)

The Podcast app in his phone. There’s so much to learn, but some of it is just “waves on the ocean” as well.

Resources for Listeners (32:21)

Book Recommendation: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

Contact Reese (33:20)

Contact Reese on LinkedIn

Blue Field Research Website

Reese’s Parting Advice (34:16)

Truly think about the cost of the glass of water in your hand and all the assets that go into it. Realize how much of an impact water has on our lives.

Check out our Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group!

Visit the ConstructionDreamTeam.com/resources page to see all of our guests’ recommended books, websites, etc.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4am PST. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Gregory Grabowski

1. Without collaboration, you can have a perfect environment and circumstances and still fail.
2. A team can do amazing things if they are high-performing and self-correcting with a culture of trust.
3. Ask, “What can I do better?” The answer you receive will be the most important thing – do that thing.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Gregory Grabowski about Partnering in other countries.

About Guest Gregory Grabowski (1:00)

Gregory Grabowski is the President of GCC & Associates LLC and has gone from being a contractor to a professional partnering facilitator. A lot of Greg’s journey has been on very large projects outside of the United States. GCC provides project controls and partnering consulting services.

Greg’s Journey to Becoming a Professional Partnering Facilitator (2:28)

1. Greg started his career in the U.S. Navy and picked up mechanical engineering licenses and a general contractor license
2. Greg has done projects on every continent except Europe and Antarctica
3. Greg helps teams find the sweet spot for themselves in communication and collaboration

Greg’s Career Working as an Overseas Project Executive (4:55)

1. If you have great funding and a great environment and jurisdiction and community, but the wrong team, you can pull defeat out of the jaws of victory
2. It’s also possible to have a restrictive and difficult environment and with the right team, culture, and local support, you can have success
3. The biggest lesson Greg learned was to nurture the culture and the team wherever they’re at and nurture the team within the context of the culture

How Greg Became an Internal Partnering Facilitator (8:50)

Greg’s initial job was to go places and replace someone who not producing results, but he didn’t like it. He asked if he could go and turn around teams and projects instead. After many successes, he became known as the internal partnering facilitator.

What is the Difference Between Being Third-Party Neutral and an Inside Facilitator? (11:50)

1. It comes down to perceived bias
2. It’s most ideal to use a third-party facilitator who is truly neutral
3. You can still do good work internally but it’s easier with external

What Greg Wishes Most Project Managers Would Do That They Don’t Do (13:45)

Build a professional and personal rapport with the key stakeholders and contractors. You need to know one or two things that keep a client up at night. There are unwritten requirements that are in every single contract. Bring all of the Stakeholders into a room (Owner, Prime Contractor, Prime Sub-Contractors, Major Sub-Contractors, and the end users) with some coffee and ask, “What is the most important thing for you?”

Greg’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (15:35)

1. Building a high-performing, cohesive, self-correcting team that has trust and collaboration built into the fiber
2. The ability to help the team find its own sweet spot
3. Assess a team, talk to them, help them to find collaboration, and then nurture them
4. He provides the team with a safe place to have open, confidential communication and helps them deal with friction points before they become issues

Greg’s Worst Moment of His Career (17:15)

He was an internal facilitator in a challenging area overseas. Greg came in after the kickoff when there had already been some issues with the client. There was a little traction on schedule and materials, then a hurricane came and flooded the job site. As a facilitator, Greg was unable to bring down the walls of anxiety between some strong personalities. He was unable to be seen as a neutral facilitator.

The Very Best Advice Greg Has Ever Gotten (19:53)

Thor Erikson, a Navy SEAL, told Greg - take care of the team and the team will take care of the mission. A team needs to say what needs to be said without anxiety. A good team can take care of a challenging project and still have fun as they rise to the challenge.

Greg’s Favorite Piece of Technology (21:07)

Zoom’s ability to reconcile time zones and to do video teleconferencing on a mobile device. He can see the job site and do things face to face overseas.

Resources for Listeners

• Book Recommendation: Make Your Bed by William McRaven

Contact Greg

Contact Greg on his http://www.grabowskicc.com/

Call Greg at 949-636-0461

Greg’s Parting Advice (25:17

Understand the five greatest words of any relationship: What can I do better? When people say this to one another and then listen to the response. Whatever that person says, that’s the most important thing.

Construction Nation, ask that question and tell us how things go on LinkedIn.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from David Niese

1. You can help other people out and get what you need at the same time.
2. If your project staff is happy, everything starts falling into place.
3. It’s not enough to just be right – you need to spend more time on collaboration and listen to what people are saying and what is going on.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with David Niese about effectively implementing partnering within your team and organization and why taking the hardline when it comes to managing projects doesn’t always yield a positive outcome.

About Guest David Niese (1:16)

David Niese was one of the trainers for the Caltrans Fundamentals of Partnering. David helped train over 4,000 different project professionals on the fundamentals of making Partnering work on Caltrans projects. David is a Project Executive at Granite Construction in their large project group.

David’s Journey to Becoming Project Executive at Granite Construction (2:50)

1. David grew up in the industry and did a lot of surveying with his dad
2. He got a job at a small engineering firm in San Bernadino, CA
3. He worked with Caltrans for 15 years and then jumped to the private industry
4. For the last five years, David has been at Granite Construction

How David Went from SOB to Collaborative Leader (5:50)

In his first job as a Resident Engineer, David was a hardliner. He expected his contractor to know what he was supposed to do, and David stuck to the contract. In the end, his contractor went bankrupt and in stepped a new company.

David learned that you can hold a contractor to the contract, but it is bad for business; but all the contractors start spending more money. It costs the owner more money if they have to deal with a lot of claims. There are always things we can do to help each other on the contract.

If the project staff is happy on both sides, everything just falls into place. Your quality is better, your safety is better, your production rates are better because everyone is happy coming to work. Everyone is working toward the common goal of finishing the project.

David’s Advice to Someone Who’s Just Starting Their Career (15:15)

1. Don’t let the daily grind keep you from seeing the big picture
2. When you focus on the little things only, you don’t fully understand what the ramifications might be
3. A mentor is extremely important to have the right perspective

How to Lead Your Team When There’s Conflict (17:30)

1. Have your partnering process in place, be sure that you listen and understand the position of other people
2. You can help other people out and get what you need at the same time
3. Listen to see where the conflict might be coming from and to figure out how you can avoid it
4. Using a facilitator can really help

What People Can Do to Lead Their Team When It’s Struggling (19:45)

1. The Escalation Ladder can be a huge help with things - go up the chain so you can relieve yourself and others from having to worry about the issue
2. The person at the next level of escalation will probably have a different view on the problem
3. Don’t take things personally, there will always be contract disputes
4. Don’t let conflict affect the work going on in the field
5. Looking for a fair and equitable resolution to the problem is doing your job

David’s Approach to His Projects with Alternative Processes (25:23)

In the bid/build world there is no qualification process, but in the alternative delivery world, your past performances will affect you getting future work. If you’re going up a company that had no claims and you did, that will put you at a disadvantage. Your ability to successfully complete a contract becomes important in alternative delivery.

What David Would Do if He Had an Owner Who Was Not Going to Be Fair and Equitable (27:48)

If there is an owner with a reputation for not resolving disputes, they choose not to work with those owners. There’s so much work out there, they get to pick and choose who they do and don’t want to work with. You need to look for an owner who will match your core values.

How David Overcame the Very Worst Moment He Faced (29:07)

The worst moment was also his worst Partnering ever. There were many disputes, but he didn’t let the contract disputes affect the quality of the work they were doing in the field. In the next project they understood what to do and not do to never let that happen again. He tries not to override subordinates in the escalation ladder and resolve at the lowest level possible.

David’s Zone of Genius (31:49)

A manager should not be judged on how they manage the “A” players. A true manager can take the “C” players and turn them into “B” players and take the “B” players and turn them into “A” players. You have to keep things from becoming a stumbling block. David is good at looking for future problems down the road and letting employees know before they get there. Always have a contingency plan in place.

The Best Advice David’s Ever Received (35:19)

It’s not enough to just be right. If not everyone’s on board with what you think is right, it’s not enough. You need to spend more time on collaboration and listen to what people are saying and what is going on.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Book: Living the 7 Habits
• Recommended Book: The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun

Contact David

Contact David on LinkedIn

David’s Parting Advice (37:58)

Work on expanding your sphere of influence – what you can affect to happen. Listen to others, come up with a good solution that everyone is happy with and enjoy having a bigger impact.

We are beta-testing our Project Scorecard between now and September 17th. Any project team who wants to be a part of the beta-test the Scorecard contact Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Tracy Thomas

1. Hands-on training is how you get projects overseas to run smoothly.
2. It’s important to discover and capitalize on shared values.
3. As a leader, what you say in a meeting people will take action on, so curate what you say.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Tracy Thomas about project management overseas and in challenging environments. Tracy talks about how her leadership style has changed and how she’s championing partnering in her overseas work.

About Guest Sean Tracy Thomas (1:35)

Tracy Thomas is the Director of Construction Operations for the U.S. State Department Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO). Tracy is a career member of the Senior Foreign Services of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations where she currently directs the construction operations for all new U.S. Embassy and consulate projects worldwide. Tracy is also championing the OBO Partnering Program which is currently in the pilot process.

Tracy’s Journey to Becoming the Director of Construction Operations for the U.S State Department OBO (3:02)

1. Tracy joined OBO as a foreign service construction engineer 16 years ago.
2. She started on a project in West Africa as the Deputy Project Director under a very seasoned project director.
3. It was a natural progression for her to lead projects worldwide.
4. They have $20B dollars in projects all over the globe.

About the State Department’s OBO Office (4:12)

1. OBO is the real property manager for all U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.
2. They manage a portfolio of properties in nearly 300 locations valued at over $80B.
3. Most projects are done by American contractors.
4. They find American talent and then source local talent from other countries.

About the OBO Partnering Program (5:43)

1. They’re getting started setting up a new partnering program which is growing fast.
2. Partnering will help bridge the experience gap in the field offices.
3. OBO has selected two projects to pilot, one in Uganda and one in Moscow, both are similar in size and scope ($100M - $200M and two to three years in duration).
4. They hired a consultant to observe the steps they are taking to develop the Partnering program.
5. They are also developing Best Practices to facilitate solutions to security challenges, logistics, commissioning, etc.

How OBO Selects a Contractor (10:56)

The pool comes from contractors who want to have a presence in worldwide construction and who share the mission to do diplomacy worldwide. The work is governed by federal contracting and comes from a different bureau than OBO. They plan their projects according to a list of priority missions overseas, funding, and real estate. The prequalification is the limiting factor.

Some of the Key Challenges Faced Leading Projects Overseas (13:17)

1. They build state of the art facilities to U.S. codes under rigorous security standards in remote locations or austere environments.
2. They use local labor that may not be aware of U.S. codes or standards.
3. They do the work within a diplomatic context and a difficult business climate.
4. The U.S. contractors hire local labor and train them to do the work.

How Tracy Envisions the Partnering Program Helping Overall with the Mission (16:10)

It’s their opportunity to foster trust in a structured environment with inexperienced team members. When construction is booming in the U.S. there’s less skilled labor that wants to go overseas, so to have a structure of trust is one of the primary benefits of Partnering. The risk to the work is an order of magnitude higher for contractors. The cost of delay is too high, you need solutions right away.

What Else Has Been Built into the Partnering Program (19:50)

1. Setting up communication protocols.
2. Identifying key indicators and surveying on a monthly basis.
3. It will be led by an IPI facilitator.

Tracy’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (20:25)

1. Pulling the team together. It’s important to discover and capitalize on shared values. Tracy got her team together and asked them what their values were.
2. A key to empowering teams is making sure everyone understands their authority and the basis of their authority.

The Biggest Challenge Tracy Has Ever Faced (24:20)

She was working in Yemen during the Arab Spring uprising. She didn’t feel like she had the full support of her team in Washington. She had missed some cultural cues and made some missteps. She had to do a reset on her leadership style and teamwork approach.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Book: The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander

The Best Advice Tracy Has Ever Gotten (28:51)

Be careful what you highlight as a leader in meetings, you could wear people out with action. Measure what you say in a meeting because, as a leader, people will pay attention to what you say.

What is Tracy’s Favorite Piece of Tech (30:03)

Her cell phone and software programs that help with data mining to see where potential risks are located.

Contact Tracy

Email Tracy: thomastj2@state.gov

Visit the OBO website

Tracy’s Parting Advice (33:14)

If something isn’t working, it’s okay to make a change. Processes and standard practices are helpful, but if something isn’t working it’s important to recognize the gap and make an adjustment.

We are beta-testing our Project Scorecard between now and September 17th. Any project team who wants to be a part of the beta-test the Scorecard contact Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Kristin Allen

1. A collaborative work environment is key to any project but especially big ones.
2. A good leader leads by example.
3. Meetings with purpose are incredibly important. We need to know what the purpose, objective, action items, and deadlines are for the meeting.

For the first time ever, we are offering a beta-test of the Project Scorecard for everyone to use on their project, not just our clients. If you are interested in being a part of this beta test, contact Sue Dyer, suedyer@constructiondreamteam.com.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Kristin Allen about GMP and the importance of collaboration, meetings with purpose, and coming up with a plan.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

About Guest Kristin Allen (1:21)

Kristin Allen is a project manager for a $2.4 billion project that is coming close to having its first big milestone. Kristin is the Project Manager for Terminal 1 – Boarding Area B at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The airport will have its first opening of nine gates this summer. The focus of the project is elevating the guest experience while providing a facility that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Kristin’s Journey to Becoming a Project Manager at SFO (3:20)

1. Kristin always had an affinity for math and problem solving
2. Kristin started as a designer and then obtained her professional license and experienced many parts of the airport
3. She has worked at SFO for the last 20 years
4. In 2013 she was asked to work on the Terminal 1 program

Kristin’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (7:04)

1. When the SFO project began they knew they’d need to foster and encourage a collaborative environment
2. Interacting with the team and getting to know everyone allows her to set the tone
3. She leads by example

How Do They Work on Both Projects, Terminal 1 Center and Boarding Area B, at the Same Time (9:15)

1. Each project has a different Design-Builder
2. The Project Management teams from the two projects integrated into one team
3. Boarding Area B has the majority the boarding areas and Terminal 1 Center has the majority of the terminal but there are so many touchpoints throughout
4. They touch physically, with infrastructure, with schedule, logistics, and site access
5. They have “One Building, One Team” philosophy
6. They use a Big Room where everyone involved on the two projects are co-located
7. There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the two teams regarding the infrastructure needed for their upcoming 9-Gate Opening
8. Problems are being resolved from the field up

An Overview of the Two SFO Projects: Terminal 1 Center and Boarding Area B (14:00)

Overview

1. The two projects cover about 1.2 million sq. ft.
2. There are a robust variety of retail, and food and beverage offerings
3. There is a brand new baggage handling system that’s containerized and more efficient
4. There are consolidated checkpoints
5. Very sustainable practices and uses about ⅓ of the power of a traditional build of its size

How Kristin Successfully Negotiated the GMP for Both Projects (16:14)

They have a progressive GMP program in San Francisco and typically start the process when they’re around 90% bought out. The most important thing they did at the beginning was to come up with a plan. They knew what they wanted to accomplish week over week and there were things they weren’t in alignment on at the end so they sat together in the room, they were empowered to make decisions and they hammered it out.

How to Figure Out the Budget and Contingencies (21:00)

1. Look at history and what has happened along the way
2. Look at other projects and see what they did
3. Look at the history of your own project to predict out for the remaining scope
4. Build a strong relationship with design/build teams
5. Lean on other people’s expertise and understand their knowledge base

How the Target Budget Process Helps Get to the GMP (22:43)

When they started, they had a “barn raising” with Stakeholders and the Design team to come up with big and crazy ideas. When they left their Programming Phase, they were designing things with a budget that they couldn’t afford. They had a series of budget reconciliation exercises over a year and half and settled on what is and is not in the scope. SFO has created a “below-the-line” list with items they’d like to have in the process that wasn’t vital to it. They prepare for those items, and as they move through the project they check to see if they can fit the item into the budget and move it “above-the-line.”

What Can Others Do to Make Sure Their Projects Complete Within Their GMP and What Role Does the Team Play (27:22)

1. You need to make sure you have the proper contingencies and reserves to deal with things when they come up along the way
2. The problems are the project’s problems
3. Create an environment where everyone involved in the project is comfortable sharing their ideas

How Do You Create an Integrated Team for This Size of Project With This Complexity (28:46)

1. You have to keep your eyes open to things that are getting out of alignment
2. You have to take a step back and make sure everyone is on the same page
3. The best part about a team is that you work to put things back together as a group
4. They couldn’t successfully complete the project without Collaborative Structured Partnering

A Big Challenge Kristin Has Had and How She Overcame (32:55)

Kristin was asked to help with a runway closure and compliance project, she felt she was taking a step backward. It ended up being the most partnering-intensive project with 24-hour construction for the entire summer. It was an amazing experience. Things you think are bad in your life sometimes turn out to be good.

The Very Best Advice Kristin Has Ever Gotten (36:30)

Surround yourself with people who know more about specific things than you do. There is no one single person that knows everything and you have to allow others around you to provide a framework for success.

Kristin’s Favorite Piece of Tech (38:09)

Bluebeam

A Microsoft Surface Tablet

Resources for Listeners (39:50)

Recommended Application: Flipboard

Contact Kristin

Reach out to Sue Dyer to get a hold of Kristin at Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com

Kristin’s Parting Advice for Construction Nation (41:10)

Meetings with purpose are incredibly important. We need to know what the purpose, objective, action items, and deadlines are for the meeting and that’s critically important for GMP as well. The person who facilitates the meeting shouldn’t be the same person who’s trying to get the answers. Action items are the most important thing.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Find all of the resources that have been recommended by our guests on our website on the Resources page, https://constructiondreamteam.com/resources/

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Sean Graystone

1. Lean construction principles and methodologies are some of the most effective methods to resolve and help streamline several of the most standard disconnects in the construction industry.
2. Getting legacy companies to become okay with even the concept of change can be a big undertaking.
3. You need Partnering to get collaboration and buy-in to make the LEAN paradigm shift.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Sean Graystone about how Lean methodologies and Partnering are inseparable and how to implement these concepts in your organization for better teams and higher rates of project success.

Welcome Construction Nation! Sue Dyer, the host of Construction Dream Team, interviews industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. The shortest way to success, is to learn from others who have already been there and done that! If you go to ConstructionDreamTeam.com/Resources, you will find every guest’s favorite resources – truly the collective wisdom of all of our guests at your fingertips. Check it out!

About Guest Sean Graystone (1:32)

Sean Graystone is the owner of Project Leadership & Delivery LLC. Sean has been a leader in the construction industry since the late 1980s. He discovered LEAN Construction and became a big proponent of the Lean Construction methodology. Sean has used LEAN methods on his projects and has become an expert on how to teach and apply these methods.

Sean’s Journey to Becoming the Founder of Project Leadership and Delivery LLC (3:00)

1. Sean came upon the construction side and was recruited into a specialty group
2. Sean began to question the methods that were engaged in and how the company was operated, so he formed his own group in 1988
3. Around 2009 he moved into owner’s representation and was recruited to do a historic conservation project in Washington D.C.
4. He became more heavily involved in the AGC Group and LEAN Construction as time went on
5. He opened up Project Leadership and Delivery at the end of 2017

Sean’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (11:20)

1. His ability to think strategically
2. He has studied and understands how human beings relate to one another – Construction is a human engagement and involves people
3. Sean believes you have to figure out what motivates people and how to help augment the changes in behavioral understandings

How Can We Marry Collaborative Partnering Structure with Lean? (18:30)

1. You must create opportunity out of adversity – there is a formula: adversity leads to opportunity and opportunity leads to advantage
2. LEAN theory says that every mistake is a learning opportunity
3. In Partnering, you need diversity of types of points of view and people to realize that problems are all interconnected
4. In LEAN, you Optimize the project, not the parts
5. Partnering has structure, accountability tools, and its goal is to create a culture of collaboration and to hold everyone accountable to its norms (or buy-in)
6. Partnering is a part of LEAN assembly – without the Partnering concept, you don’t have a LEAN assembly
7. Formal Partnering has a place in all high-performance efforts; LEAN takes a whole bunch of other operational changes besides Partnering to create a paradigm shift
8. Partnering takes training, LEAN takes a lot of training, and both have slightly different paths

Advice for a Project Manager Who’s Interested in Applying Lean (32:30)

You have to educate people and find out how to make people more openminded. Give people valuable information via the LEAN Construction Institute and the Associated General Contractors LEAN Construction Education Program. Provide the advantages to projects which have used LEAN methods. The key to a LEAN environment is continuous improvement.

What Sean is Doing with Project Leadership and Delivery LLC (37:09)

1. Sean is a Certified Improvement Instructor for the Lean Construction Institute and the AGC’s LCEP Program - he does a lot of teaching and consulting
2. Sean teaches collaboration, how to drop defensiveness, and how to engage
3. Sean walks into a broken situation and helps everyone understand and get out of it

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Book: Transforming Design & Construction by William R. Seed
• Recommended TV Show: Brene brown Netflix Special - The Call To Courage

Something a Project Leader Could Do Starting Tomorrow (43:37)

Devote yourself to learning and start a project library with some of your favorite books and resources. Ask the people around you for some of their favorite books and discuss the learnings. Remember that construction is a human engagement.

Contact Sean

Website: Project Leadership & Delivery LLC

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-graystone-cm-lean-75201b4/

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Send this episode out to your team members. Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Sinem Mollaoglu

1. The higher the risk, the higher the frequency of use partnering tools is needed, and the higher the benefit.
2. Collaborative partnering gives you the tools and process to achieve great outcomes.
3. Just do it.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Sinem Mollaoglu about the latest partnering research project she has worked on - ACRP Research on collaborative partnering.

About Guest Sinem Mollaoglu (1:49)

Sinem Mollaoglu is the Program Director of Construction Management and Associate Professor of the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University. Sinem is LEED accredited and a CGP Designated Professional. She received her Ph.D. from Penn State in Architectural Engineering in 2007 and her dissertation was on high-performance green building delivery. Sinem looks at the technical side and the people side and pulls it all together.

Sinem’s Journey to Becoming the Program Director of Construction Management (2:55)

1. She went to school for architecture in Turkey where she was brought up and was amazed by all the construction going on at all times in Istanbul.
2. She began to work for an architectural office doing design/build for historical buildings.
3. She decided to pursue her Master’s in Construction Management.
4. She worked on high-performance, sustainable building for her dissertation and now works on how project teams collaborate and exchange information.

About the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State (7:15)

1. There are four separately accredited programs in the school: Construction Management, Urban and Regional Planning, Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture; in addition to the National Charrette Institute.
2. The Construction Management program has Bachelor’s, Master of Science, and Ph.D. programs.
3. The environment is dynamic and unique and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration.

About the ACRP Research Program on Collaborative Partnering (8:25)

1. ACRP was established in 2005 by the FAA.
2. Each year ACRP receives funding from the FAA and the governing board meets and decides on the budget and approved projects.
3. Teams from across the nation put in proposals about how they would attack the research problem and are competitively selected.
4. For the airport, Sinem’s team put in a research bid and became the main two researchers on the team.

Some of the Findings from the ACRP Research Project (12:35)

1. The research was a 14-month project and followed a rigorous process.
2. They surveyed close to 100 people in the nation followed by case studies.
3. The findings:
4. Collaborative partnering is suitable for any delivery method.
5. Collaborative partnering is scalable to most project types.
6. Partnering is suitable for any size and type of airports and the payback increases with scale and complexity.
7. There was a reduction in the cost of change orders and costs associated with claims.
8. Projects were delivered ahead of schedule and reduced liquidated damages.
9. They saw improved productivity, and the cost of Partnering was less than .2% of the overall project budget.
10. The higher the risk, the higher the frequency of use partnering tools is needed, and the higher the benefit.

About the ACRP Guidebook (17:25)

1. The guidebook has two sections: How to implement collaborative partnering effectively at the project level and Optimizing implementation at an organization.
2. Chapter one talks about collaborative partnering and its benefits and obtaining leadership buy-in.
3. Chapter two talks about the detailed tools of collaborative partnering.
4. Chapter three talks about how to select tools based on the level or risk in projects and how to use them at the right time.
5. Chapter four talks about managing tools effectively to optimize implementation, select the right facilitator, and engage stakeholders.
6. Chapter five talks about assessments for organizations and improving readiness to use collaborative partnering.

Other Partnering Research Sinem Has Done (23:05)

1. In 2014 the first research project she did was to look at barriers to partnering the Architectural and Construction industry as an underutilized best-practice.
2. In 2015 they looked at the academic and industry-based literature and combined the lessons learned.
3. In 2017 they did an in-depth case study of a partnered project from the aviation industry showing how communication changes over time in project delivery.
4. Next was the ACRP project.
5. In Spring 2019, one of their project reports came out, Goal Alignment Transactive Memory Systems and Performance in Partnered Projects (there is a positive impact when the collective wisdom of the team is aligned in their goals on both individual and project team performance).
6. The research team is now working on an ongoing report using a large amount of quantitative project data from over 120 partnered projects.

Sinem’s Worst Moment (29:20)

The first couple of years as a professor are very challenging and feels like a lot of rejection. What Sinem learned is that if you’re really passionate and hard-working you won’t get as caught up in how devastating it is to feel shot down. Listen to feedback and never give up.

Sinem’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (31:55)

Resilience and perseverance are important because you have people who look up to you. You have to catalyze everyone’s energy. You also need the ability to connect with people and use their strengths. People bloom if they work in the areas that they’re passionate about.

The Best Advice Sinem Has Ever Been Given (34:00)

Just do it. Just get started with something and don’t linger around too much.

Sinem ‘s Favorite Piece of Tech (35:20)

Voice recognition in the Notes section on her cell phone.

Resources for Listeners

• Get the ACRP Partnering Report
• Find Sinem’s research reports on the International Partnering Institute’s webpage
• Originals: How Non-Conformists Change the World by Adam Grant

Contact Sinem

Project Team Website: https://iopt4.msu.edu/

Sinem’s Parting Advice (39:12)

In today’s construction, integrated project delivery is a focus. Collaborative partnering gives you the tools and process to achieve great outcomes. Go to pages 1-6 of the guidebook for a list of benefits and tools.

We are beta-testing our Project Scorecard between now and September 17th. Any project team who wants to be a part of the beta-test the Scorecard contact Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Kristin Scroggin

1. You’ve got to have a plan for attracting and retaining top Millennial talent.
2. The people with the most influence are those that have the money and those that have the power - Millennials have the power right now in sheer numbers.
3. If you’re not willing to adapt and spend money on training to work with Millennials you will be dealing with high turnover.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Kristin Scroggin the differences between the generations and the key differences between millennials and other generations. Learn how to engage the millennials on your team and to retain them and mitigate turnover.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

For the first time ever, we are offering a beta-test of the Project Scorecard for everyone to use on their project, not just our clients. If you are interested in being a part of this beta test, contact Sue Dyer, suedyer@constructiondreamteam.com.

About Guest Kristin Scroggin (1:40)

Kristin Scroggin will be the keynote speaker at the Collaboration 2019 International Partnering Institute Conference. Kristin started a company called GenY Communication Strategies. Kristin has her Master’s in Communication Studies, her Bachelor’s in Communication Arts and has been a communications lecturer at the University of Alabama for the last eleven years. Her passion is generational diversity.

Kristin’s Journey to Becoming the Founder of GenY Communication Strategies (3:25)

1. Kristin was originally a communications lecturer and she wanted to make all of her students love her so they would want to get the best performance out of them – it didn’t work
2. She wanted to figure out how to get her millennial students to reach their maximum capacity and started researching Millennials, then moved on to other generations to explain generational differences
3. She’s worked with all the branches of NASA, military defense, hospitals, construction, Alabama linemen, and Solid waste

The Definition of Millennials and Other Generations (6:45)

1. Millennials are anyone born between 1985 and 2005
2. Kristin’s company looks at “micro-generations” in 5- to 7-year increments because things change rapidly
3. They look at how kids are raised to see why they are how they are
4. Millennials were raised by Flower Children (the hippies of the 60’s and 70’s), the iGen generation was raised by GenX
5. The iGen are the first group since the GI Bill with an interest in returning to trade so we need to start focusing on high-school kids

Why Should We Focus on Millennials? (10:30)

1. About 46% of the American population is under 33 years of age
2. Companies are alienating the new generation that’s coming in, but to stay afloat, you need to attract the top of the generation
3. The Millennial generation is 86 million - the largest generation we’ve ever had
4. There will be a massive flip in the way work is done when Millennials get fiscal power
5. 2030 is the year where things will flip dramatically to Millennial power
6. Millennials will stay in power for pretty much their entire career

How Millennials Became So Different? (15:25)

Almost everything that we hate about the Millennials is what we as a culture put in place. We pushed self-esteem on this generation and now their rates and standards are extremely high, they won’t just put up with things. Millennials have taken to hear the complaints from their parents that they heard as children and have responded accordingly. For instance, the parents of the Millennials had an extremely high divorce rate so many Millennials don’t marry until later or have kids. We’ve watered down what it means to be excellent, the parents of Millennials decided to give participation trophies, not the Millennials themselves.

What is an Action Plan to Take to be More Effective with Millennials? (20:24)

1. The younger generation has not been refined or polished because we’ve removed the tribal style of learning and refining and disempowered refiners
2. We need to mentor/be a Coach to the Millennials
3. You have to train people on soft skills - the Millennial generation is great at knowledge, but they’re missing wisdom

How to Approach Learning with Millennials (24:25)

We have to build rapport and relationships with our employees. You have to get people to respect you before you put a lot of commands on them. “Just because I said so” doesn’t work for this generation because that’s not what their parents said to them. A lot of why we make people wait is because we went through the same thing - the waiting game. Millennials walk away from jobs with a lot less threat because the nest they land back in is very soft. If we don’t modify in order to attract and maintain the top, we will have to deal with the bottom of the barrel. We are going to have to provide more training, continuous feedback, and catch them doing right as often as we catch them doing wrong.

What it Looks Like to Mentor a Millennial (31:10)

Millennials work really hard for two characteristics:

1. Someone they respect that’s consistent, even-tempered, and authentic.
2. They need to be a little bit afraid of you, there has to be a respect line that has been drawn.

The Challenges Kristin Has Faced and How She Improved (33:02)

Her original idea was to bring in some of her former students, train them, and then farm them out. All of those people were Millennials and both of the people managing them had very different management styles. The Millennials were not working well for the more rigid manager, and Kristin had to have a conversation with the other manager. Kristin was frustrated on both ends: with the hyper-office mindset and also with the Millennial side - you have to find the happy medium that works the best for your corporate culture.

What Are the Differences Between the Generations? (40:40)

• First ½ Baby Boomers (64 – 74 years old): Raised by traditionalists, the older ones went off to WWII. They were pressured to get a job. Their job and identity are intertwined, and competition is huge for them.
• Second ½ Baby Boomers (54 – 64 years old): Raised by hippies and HR emerges from this generation - they appeal to the whole self and building rapport. This generation would love to retire but can’t. They got hit hard in the recession.
• GenX (44 – 54 years old): The least collectivistic of all of the groups of people. Most want to come in, do their work and go home.
• Xennials (34 – 44 years old): Latchkey children, won’t tolerate micro-managing. They don’t need social elements of generations.
• iGen’s (23-13-year-olds): They’re a boomerang. They don’t want to be like the older millennials and are completely addicted to their cell phones.
• GenZ (13-year-olds and below): They’ve experienced life post-9/11. Parents want them to be super independent. If that child was born to people later in life, they’ll still be bubble wrapped vs. children coming in now who will have more freedom.

Contact Kristin

Website: https://www.genwhycommunications.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genwhycommunications/

Instagram: @genwhycommunications

Twitter: twitter.com/genwhytraining

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Podcast: genTHEM Podcast
• Now What Workbook

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Find all of the resources that have been recommended by our guests on our website on the Resources page, https://constructiondreamteam.com/resources/

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Jeanne Kuttel

1. Bringing together a strong team is one of the most rewarding things you can do.
2. You need to have a holistic and broader view while also providing details.
3. Keep succession planning in mind and start thinking about who a good candidate could be to take your place one day.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Jeanne Kuttel about The Oroville Dam Project, how to partner on a complex project with a tight deadline, and why succession planning is so important.

About Guest Jeanne Kuttel (1:08)

Jeanne Kuttel is the Chief of the Division of Engineering for the California Department of Water Resources. Jeanne has a BS and an MS from UC Davis and is a licensed Civil Engineer. She’s been in her current position for the last six years.

Jeanne’s Journey to Becoming the Chief of the Division of Engineering for the CA Department of Water Resources (2:15)

1. She started working at the DWR straight out of school
2. She started as a designer doing different types of projects including restoration
3. She became more focused on overall project delivery and building good teams
4. She was selected to lead the Division of Engineering and has about 350 staff that reports to her in a broad spectrum of positions

About the CA Department of Water Resources and the Global Outlook (4:40)

1. The department is diverse with a lot of amazing opportunities
2. With water there is generally too much or too little, so the department oversees all water resource functions for the State of California
3. They have one of the largest water projects in the world
4. The department does both drought and flood work

About Winning the International Partner Project of the Year Award (8:40)

1. They got significant rainfall in Oroville, CA and the spillway was used
2. They discovered a huge crater in the spillway and they had a short amount of time to fix it
3. Jeanne kicked off a team and brought people from all over to get the spillway functional for the next year
4. They shut the spillway off for the 2017 season and began to demolish it
5. The Executive team partnered every two weeks
6. The teams worked 24/7 and completed the project at 10:00 am on the deadline day
7. In the winter they came up with more plans and in the Spring of 2018, they worked to complete the rest of the projects

About Jeanne’s Partnering Steering Committee (16:30)

For most of 2017, she was working almost exclusively on running the Oroville program. Prior to that, she was developing plans to start a robust Partnering Program. They started a Steering Committee to better understand the perspective of the industry and change the culture internally.

About the CA Department of Water Field Guide (21:00)

1. The Field Guide includes many best practices and how to train staff
2. The Guide helps get the word out to Partnering Facilitators and set a baseline for what is expected for partnering at DWR
3. Having the Guide allows the staff at DWR and the contractor staff all have a consistent Field Guide
4. The Field Guide is always a work in progress and being improved

The Role that Partnering Played in the Oroville Spillway Dam Project (24:03)

The commitment to partnering goes on the department side, with the contractor, and regulatory agencies. Having everyone be a participating in their partnering meetings allowed the fast-paced project to be a success. Having the Facilitator kept everyone accountable to their commitments. Partnering allowed them to focus on what was in the best interest of the project.

What Will Change on Other Projects Based on What Jeanne Has Learned on the Oroville Spillway Project (26:55)

1. Failure is not an option
2. Have robust contingency plans
3. Contingency planning can be applied to nearly every project and partnering meetings are a big part of that

The Biggest Challenge Jeanne Has Ever Faced (29:12)

The biggest challenge was tied to Oroville because they had such a huge list. Throughout the state of California, there was a lot of other flooding at the same time. Bringing together an amazing team was extremely rewarding.

Jeanne’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (32:22)

She has a diverse amount of project experience and the people who work for her appreciate that she understands all the facets of the work. She has a sense of compassion for all the challenges that people may face in a project.

The Best Advice Jeanne Has Ever Gotten (34:30)

Plan for your retirement. Make an investment in yourself so that you have options when the time comes.

Jeanne’s Favorite Piece of Tech (36:34)

Jeanne uses her cell phone and always has Bluetooth in her car.

Resources for Listeners (37:47)

Recommended Video: Oroville Dam Spillways Fast Facts

Contact Jeanne

• Connect on LinkedIn

Jeanne’s Parting Advice (41:13)

Take a long and hard look at succession planning and start recruiting people now. Educate people about what you do and create interest. Figure out who your successor will be and then teach people and mentor them.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Check out Constructiondreamteam.com/Resources to see all of the books, websites, etc. that our guests have recommended.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Brian Polkinghorn

1. Conflict prevention should be the first line of defense, then conflict resolution.
2. When you’re emotionally drawn into something you’re more personally invested in its success.
3. Know the conflict resolution process: perspective, language, translate, moderator, referee.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Brian Polkinghorn about conflict resolution both domestically and overseas. Brian elaborates on high-stakes conflict resolution in some of the most conflict-driven nations in the world.

About Guest Brian Polkinghorn (1:35)

Brian Polkinghorn is a Distinguished Professor, Program Director and Department Head of Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution at Salisbury University, and also the Executive Director of the Bosserman Center for Conflict Resolution at Salisbury University. Brian is accomplished at all different types of conflict resolution and works domestically and internationally. Brian works in the areas of the world that have the highest conflict and is still able to create agreements. Brian is involved in state and federal conflict and has done a lot of research in conflict resolution.

How the Center at Salisbury Came About and What a Distinguished Professor Is (3:38)

1. A Distinguished Professor is a designation stating you’ve distinguished yourself in contributions to the advancement of skills and knowledge in your field.
2. The Bosserman Center for Conflict Resolution has both a practice and a research side to it.
3. The Center is broken into three teams: workshops, research, and academic.
4. At the Center, people put into practice what they learn and research - it’s a career launcher.

Brian’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (13:45)

1. Brian would rather know the person rather than the project.
2. Brian often puts the students first.
3. It doesn’t matter who takes the credit as long as you do good work and get the job done.

Some Examples of Projects Brian Has Worked on in Conflict Zones (14:98)

1. South Africa: The transition from apartheid to democracy has not been smooth and simple things are difficult.
2. The humanity of conflict zones is the most important thing.
3. Middle East: The world’s leading people on water and desert research are in the middle east, but they can’t look like they’re collaborating because of the politics.
4. When you’re emotionally drawn into something you will take ownership.

How Water Agreements Come to Fruition (23:00)

People come from around the world to make water available in the desert. Because water is so essential it’s possible to use it to bring people together.

What Brian Has Done in Nepal (26:07)

1. Brian has worked on the peace process in Nepal.
2. Things looked good on paper, but people had different interpretations about what they were supposed to do.
3. It’s taken over eight years for the process to get underway.
4. When you’re working with international organizations, some are state actors and they have to follow the law, some are not, and they can change their mind.
5. You want adversaries to have about the same amount of.

Advice to Construction Leaders Who Must Deal with Conflict in Their Teams (33:45)

1. People speak different languages, so collaboration has multiple meanings depending on where you use it.
2. You need to know how to deal with the angry public.
3. You sometimes have to translate from one language to another and people need to think about being a moderator in language and demeanor.
4. When things are really rough make people consider the best-case scenario.
5. Perspective, Language, Translate, Moderator, Referee.

How to Better Implement Partnering on Projects (38:19)

1. You need to know that there is a framework for partnering.
2. Be educated in the process.
3. Take what you know works well and then line it up in a formula and make it your own.

The Worst Moment Brian Has Ever Faced (40:30)

When Brian has worked on a project and someone who should have been at the table and wasn’t, or vice versa. Or, when an agreement was signed prematurely, and he realized quickly a mistake was made.

The Best Advice Brian Has Ever Gotten (44:00)

Do what makes you happy. When you enjoy it it’s not a job. When you do something you love and are good at, you are legitimately helping people.

Brian’s Favorite Piece of Tech

Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

Contact Brian

Visit Conflict-resolution.org

Brian’s Parting Advice (47:29)

Do no harm, do something non-contractual to make things easier for others. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Be the person your colleagues want to grow old with.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Website: Bosserman Center for Conflict Resolution
• Recommended Book: The Gift of Anger: And Other Lessons from My Grandfather Mahatma Gandhi by Arun Gandhi

We are beta-testing our Project Scorecard between now and September 17th. Any project team who wants to be a part of the beta-test the Scorecard contact Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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Welcome Construction Nation! Sue Dyer, the host of Construction Dream Team, interviews industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. The shortest way to success, is to learn from others who have already been there and done that!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Donna Laquidara-Carr

1. If you can get your team working as a cohesive unit, then the delivery method is not essential to make sure you have integration.
2. You need to be able to have a real conversation instead of just having things passed down to you.
3. Set aside time to do market research because construction is evolving quickly.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Donna Laquidara-Carr from Dodge Data & Analytics about the research surrounding construction trends and the barriers to building successful teams.

About Guest Donna Laquidara-Carr (1:30)

Donna Laquidara-Carr is the Director of Industry Insights and Research at Dodge Data and Analytics. Donna has worked with Dodge for over 20 years and has seen the industry over a long period of time, through lots of changes and has seen the research over time. Donna is also the managing editor for the SmartMarket Report and has been in that post since 2010.

Donna’s Journey to Becoming the Director of Industry Insights and Research at Dodge Data and Analytics (3:10)

1. Donna’s father was a contractor and she worked in his office while in school
2. Donna joined Dodge in the communications capacity and then went on to get her PhD in English
3. After getting her PhD, Donna went back to Dodge to become the Training and Policy Manager
4. Donna ended up working with sustainability experts in her organization
5. After looking at the research, she moved over to her current position when a job opening came up

Donna’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (6:10)

1. After leaving news gathering she hasn’t had people reporting to her, so she’s had to learn how to lead peers
2. You have to find ways to think of yourselves as collaborators
3. The ways that she’s able to support others encourages others to support her

About Donna’s Research on Collaboration (8:00)

1. Collaboration is at the heart of positive project outcomes
2. Everyone who participated in the study had to pick two different projects they had done in the last five years - the best project, and a more typical one
3. The study focused on budget, schedule, quality, and safety
4. For most owners, 79% of the owners said their best project finished on schedule or early while a typical project experience did not finish on schedule
5. 83% of owners said their best projects finished on budget compared with 51% of typical projects; Quality was similar to budget
6. On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest), 56% gave their best projects a 4-rating, only 28% of the typical projects achieved a 4-rating for Safety
7. There’s a big gap between how owners feel on their best project and how they feel about typical projects
8. Team chemistry and integration are directly correlated with high levels of performance
9. On best projects, 76% of the owners engaged key stakeholders before schematic design
10. Delivery methods didn’t have a big correlation to best vs. typical project outcomes

What is the Commercial Construction Index (CCI) and How That Can Help Teams (17:20)

1. Dodge Data & Analytics does a quarterly survey of general and trade contractors, the goal is to get a snapshot on a quarterly basis of how contractors think the industry is doing based on real experiences
2. The index number is based on whether the market will give them work, the revenue they expect next year, and their backlog going into next year
3. To understand the market better they look at how difficult the contractors are having finding skilled workforce, the ability for contractors and owner to get financing, material prices, and important trends
4. Contractors and Owners can look at what their peers are experiencing and use the information to plan

What Donna Learned in the Managing Uncertainty Study (24:25)

The study was about understanding the causes of uncertainty in construction. They surveyed about 4,000 people in the industry which narrowed them down to seven causes. They then did a more focused study on those causes such as: unforeseen site conditions, owner driven changes, acceleration of the schedule by the owner, design errors and omissions, and construction coordination issues and contractor caused delays. People tended to underestimate the issues that they caused and overestimated the issues that others caused. At the end of the study, they discussed what was the best strategy that mitigated each problem. Better communication was always ranked higher than any other mitigation factor.

In the Lean study, the Big Room concept (everyone located in one room working together) was the one thing that correlated to highest project success.

The Biggest Gap Between Performance and Proficiency (34:00)

Communication skills was considered to be the biggest gap between performance and communication skills. 70% of Contractors found communication skills to be important but only 39% felt that their workers had strong skills in this area. Contractors need to figure out how to improve communication skills amongst teams. You can’t know what the core problem is until you communicate effectively

About Dodge Data and Analytics (35:25)

Dodge Data and Analytics was founded in the 1890’s by Fred Dodge. They have the most comprehensive database on projects tracked from pre-design to project completion. They have the ability to use their database for forecasting purposes. They do custom and private market research for clients, and research on trends with partners in the industry. One upcoming study will be looking at prefabrication and how it will affect the construction industry. The results will be out in the Fall.

The Biggest Challenge Donna Has Faced in Her Career (40:30)

After applying to schools for her PhD she got rejected for every school she applied to. Donna called every school that rejected her and found out why they rejected her. Donna figured out what her gaps were, took some master level classes and got accepted into Tulane University

The Best Advice Donna Has Ever Gotten (42:40)

More than advice, she’s found it helpful to have people to model herself after. Her was a role model. Her mother was raising a family of five and helping her father run the business side of his company. Another person she modeled herself after was one of the first people she worked for, who taught her to look at how to “raiser her game.”

Contact Donna on LinkedIn

Donna’s Parting Advice (44:47)

Construction is evolving so dramatically; you need to set aside a small amount of time to expose yourself to the trends that are going on, sign up for newsletters like what they have at Dodge Data & Analytics. This will allow you to see the larger industry that you are so deeply engaged in and see how it is changing.

Resources for Listeners

• Find the Commercial Construction Index and other research

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Stay current with what is happening in Construction by joining our LinkedIn group. Just go to cdtlinkedin.com to join.

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Gregory Mantz

1. There’s a continuous dialogue that needs to happen between designer and contractor.
2. It isn’t about the number of people you have or the budget you have, it’s how the team works together that makes a project successful.
3. Find time to take your Architect out for lunch – learning what has motivated them, understanding their background, etc., changes people’s attitude around a project.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Gregory Mantz about the interface between design and construction and how they can work together smoothly. Greg also talks about DPR Construction’s Design Management Academy and the success it continues to see.

About Guest Gregory Mantz

Gregory Mantz is the Project Executive at DPR Construction. DPR is always doing innovative things and Greg talks about the projects he’s championed and what DPR is up to right now.

Greg’s Journey to Becoming the Project Executive at DPR Construction (3:23)

1. Greg joined DPR about 9 years ago but comes from about 35 years in the design business.
2. Greg is a registered Architect in California and has worked with some of the recognizable firms in the Bay Area
3. Greg’s journey with DPR goes back about 28 years – Greg worked with many of the principles of DPR as an Architect on the projects they were building
4. Greg discovered that a design management role was important to project management and lifecycle

Gregory’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (6:18)

Greg’s role and greatest strength is his ability to rally the troops, focus on the mission, and trying to deliver effectively. Greg gets excited to bring people together and get them motivated to succeed.

Greg’s Tricks for Rallying People (7:20)

1. Be open in your communication
2. Get everyone to understand the drivers and key success factors on a job
3. Get everyone to contribute to developing a mission statement for any particular project
4. Be open and transparent and get everyone moving in the same direction

About Design Management and the Design Management Academy (8:37)

It is often the communication link between designers and contractors that breaks down and one of Greg’s fundamental role in the design management position is to be able to break down those barriers and communicate with an architect. Bringing his experience and 35 years to the table helps to put the architects at ease. Knowing someone has been there and done that helps set the stage for successful design management.

In the last three or four years, DPR realized that the issues surrounding design management go beyond their design/build projects, it is on every project they have. Regardless of the contract methodology there is a continuous dialogue between the designer and the contractor.

What DPR is trying to do with the Design Management Academy is to bring exposure of the functions of design management to a wider variety of people internally (i.e., project engineers, project managers, etc.). People who don’t necessarily have any exposure to design but are interfacing with designers on a daily basis.

The objective of the academy is to understand how to most effectively work with architectural partners.

Why Greg Decided to Create the Design Academy Now (15:30)

1. DPR is a large firm that needs to be mobilized quickly
2. The integrated structure of DPR’s projects necessitated the academy
3. “Cluster Leaders” are playing a design management role and they need to have information

The Results and Lessons Learned from the Academy (17:00)

The focus is to get better and more predictable outcomes on projects and minimize DPR’s risks. Greg uses the Fee Erosions metrics and has discovered that 50% of contractor’s fee erosions tend to happen in the design process. It’s all about mitigating risks early on.

What is the Future of the Design Academy (22:25)

1. The academy modules are now online as a reverse classroom program
2. The group gets together once a month to revisiting information
3. There are a number of “captains” around the country taking responsibility for modules

Will Trade Partners Ever Be a Part of the Design Academy? (25:30)

Trade partners have helped develop some of the content for the Academy and will continue to play a role in the future.

More About DPR and its Innovations (26:40)

Internally DPR has been a firm that’s always focused on “ever forward.” They have a team that focuses purely on innovation and casts a wide net within the company. They have an operation called ViewOpps that takes data from the design/construction process and appropriately documents it to make it useful. They’ve implemented a sister firm called DBC (Digital Building Components) that works on pre-fabrication.

The Biggest Challenge Greg Has Ever Faced in His Career (30:33)

Any time you end up with a client that’s unsatisfied it’s disappointing. There was a job in the last few years at DPR which had a fantastic A+ team that was going full-tilt. The one problem was the client who could not make decisions and the whole project blew up because the client couldn’t get out of his own way.

The Best Advice Greg Has Ever Gotten (33:40)

If your boss ever asks you out for a drink, you go. The best conversations will be had off hours and not in the work environment.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Podcast: DBIA Podcast
• Recommended Podcast: The Built Revolution Podcast
• Recommended Book: Integrating Project Delivery

Contact Greg

DPR Construction: https://www.dpr.com/

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn

Greg’s Parting Advice (38:21)

Find time to take your Architect out for lunch. Socializing with partners and learning what has motivated them, understanding their background, etc. changes people’s attitude around a project.

Are you ever surprised by what is happening on your projects? We use a tool called Construction Scorecard – it is a very accurate measure what is happening on your project. This tool allows you to see what is happening on your project so you can catch things that are going wrong before they get too far.

We are beta-testing the Scorecard on other projects. We are having a special for the next 90 days (between now and September 17th) sign up for the Scorecard program and see how it works for your project. Email SueDyer@orgmet.com if you are interested.

Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com/Resources for to access all of the resources each of our guests has shared in their episode.

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Sue Dyer at the 2019 IPI Conference

1. Attending the IPI Conference is worthwhile both for the knowledge and the connections.

2. Conferences are a great way to learn and grow, to see different perspectives, and learn from one another. Make it a point to go to a conference or two this year.

3. Partner your project for project success!

This week, host Sue Dyer talks about the Collaboration 2019 event, the 10th Annual Conference Expo and Awards for the International Partnering Institute. In this episode, Sue shares the top 10 things she walked away with after attending this event.

Sue’s Top 10 Takeaways from the International Partnering Institute-

1. The Number of Challenges the U.S. State Department Faces to Build an Embassy or Consulate Overseas (00:55)
2. There are rigorous security requirements
3. You must use and train local labor
4. Almost all materials have to come in diplomatic containers
5. These projects become diplomatic missions

6. These complex projects make domestic projects look much more doable

7. The New ACRP Collaborative Partnering Research (2:50)

8. The Airport Cooperative Research Program funded research focused on aviation projects
9. There is $100B of construction occurring in aviation
10. Collaborative partnering can yield a 10% cost savings along with other benefits
11. The research includes a partnering guidebook on how to implement collaborative partnering for maximum results

12. Learn more about the research being conducted by Sinem Mollaoglu, Associate Professor at the Construction Management Program in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University in Episode #32 which will be released on July 22nd

13. LEAN and Collaborative Partnering (4:05)

14. There is a “marriage” happening between the International Partnering Institute (IPI) and Lean Construction Institute (LCI)
15. The LEAN experts have a lot of tools and to implement well it takes collaborative culture and buy-in

16. LEAN and IPI could come together to help project management teams

17. Young Professionals (5:10)

18. Kristin Scroggin, Owner and Lead Trainer of genWHY Communication Strategies, gave a Keynote address about the differences between the generations in the workplace
19. Kristin will be featured in Episode #31 on August 5th
20. We need to learn how to work with young professionals as they’ll be the largest living working group for the next 50 years
21. IPI’s Young Professionals Group completed a project and presented their solution to a barrier to partnering as a competition

22. The IPI Young Professionals Group is on fire and if you’re under 35 you should join the group

23. Chats in the Hallways (7:00)

24. An important part of any conference is learning from one another and catching up on what’s happening all over the world

25. Learning from Each Other and the Spirit of Camaraderie (7:30)

26. At the IPI Conference, people are so excited about they’re learning and doing and they’re all open to what’s possible

27. Watching the Teams Be Honored with the Partner of the Year Award (8:15)

28. Nineteen teams from all over the world won awards of recognition this year
29. The awards are not easy to win and the teams who were awarded should be honored

30. One of Sue’s projects was awarded this year

31. Watching Jeanne Kuttel Receive the IPI Chairman’s Award (9:05)

32. Jeanne has been an industry leader and helped the industry in the water sector to become more collaborative
33. Jeanne has developed a whole partnering program

34. Check out Episode #38 on July 8th to hear more from Jeanne Kuttel and the CA Department of Water Resources’ new partnering program

35. Being Recognized as a Partnering Visionary and Groundbreaker in the Industry (9:55)

36. Sue was shocked and humbled by the recognition and thankful for the kind words

What People Like Most About the IPI Conference-

Larry Jackson - Urban Transportation Planner (10:50)

• Larry likes the camaraderie of the event and learning new ways to collaborate
• People are sharing their real-world experiences

Sean Graystone - Project Leadership and Delivery and Practitioner of LEAN (11:26)

• Shawn is walking away wondering why LEAN and structured collaborative and partnering haven’t been working together
• Both practices are on parallel tracks and can complement and augment one another
• Change in construction in the U.S. is a long overdue need

Gregory Grabowski - Partnering Facilitator at GCC & Associates (12:40)

• Seeing the best tools and processes of his peers are using in the industry
• He wants everyone to benefit from the great work that’s happening across the country and world
• Get in touch with Greg at www.grabowskicc.com

Brad White - Project Manager with Gensler (13:32)

• He found the topics very engaging and he’ll be walking away with more knowledge around partnering and IPI
• He’s looking forward to developing relationships within the industry

Mary-Alice Avila with Avila and Seiden Architects and Planners (14:15)

• She’s walking away with a better understanding of how partnering works

Stewart Seiden of Avila and Seiden Architects and Planners (14:40)

• Walking away with new partnering skills and new friends

Kevin Soiland with Campbell Grading (15:08)

• Collaboration is important and hopefully an award

Wayne Campbell with WEBCOR Builders (15:25)

• The most important thing in any collaboration is trust
• You must communicate and establish trust to have a high performing team

Devin Porr Partnering Program Manager with Caltrans (16:05)

• Walking away with a lot of knowledge and information
• He has a better sense of himself and his place moving forward and how to evolve and improve processes

Aaron Rambo with WSP (16:45)

• Had a great experience with the Young Professional's group and looking forward to continuing that involvement for the next year

Paul Crotty with Ventura Consulting Group (17:05)

• A better understanding of how technology works in a collaboration
• He wants to know how to implement technology to provide structure and support

Jim Pappas with Hensel Phelps (17:49)

• He understands the amount of potential that exists
• The amount of information and connections that could be made is limitless

Judy Ross from San Jose International Airports (18:30)

• You have to partner your project for project success

Conferences are a great way to learn and grow, to see different perspectives, and learn from one another. Make it a point to go to a conference or two this year. Let me know what you’ve learned when you’ve gone to your next conference – email sue@constructiondreamteam.com.

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Henrik Cort

1. The extra time you spend up front you will get threefold back at the end.
2. If you have a pricing agreement on equipment, then you have an agreement that’s no different than a bid/build - but the end result is better.
3. Being transparent with stakeholders when coming up with solutions will make project challenges go smoother.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Henrik Cort about implementing ICS systems in North America and overcoming project challenges.

About Guest Henrik Cort (1:55)

Henrik Cort is the Director of Airport Sales for North America for Beumer Corporation.

Henrik spent time in the early ’90s in San Francisco working for Levi Strauss where he moved from Project Management to Sales. In 1997 he moved to Hong Kong to work in baggage handling systems, and in 2001 Henrik moved back to Denmark to head a Global Sales and Systems Department. Henrik moved to the U.S. in January 2011 to become Head of Sales of Baggage Handling for Beumer.

About Beumer Group (5:30)

Beumer Group is a third-generation family-owned company that was founded in 1935 in Germany. There are several major segments: Logistics - Warehouse distribution and parcel sorting; airport baggage handling; conveyor loading; and palletizing and packaging. The company is 4,400 employees and $1 billion+ U.S. turnover a year. The company is represented in 35 companies and the philosophy of the company is to look at long-term success – we do not want to be the biggest, we want to be the best.

What Henrik Found Bringing an ICS System to America (7:44)

1. Everything was based on conventional conveyors and that would take time to change
2. Denver had tried an ICS system 20 years ago and it didn’t work out and that soured a lot of people toward the system
3. The U.S. has fairly extensive contracts and, for the privately-owned company, the family was not willing to sign their company away for one contract
4. There are airports that are willing to try and look at new ideas, such as San Francisco

The Journey in Making the ICS Project Happen (10:40)

1. In San Francisco that airport was very willing to look at ICS as an option
2. San Francisco encouraged an early involvement of the package handling supplier
3. In parallel to SFO preparing for T1 they put in a test system with TSA – While TSA would talk about it, they wouldn’t move ahead without an airport

The Benefits of Using an ICS System Over Other Systems (13:20)

1. The ICS System is not right for every airport, but it fit San Francisco because it was partly a new construction
2. ICS shuts down as soon as there’s nothing and uses about 50% less power and causes less wear and tear
3. You don’t lose track of a bag, there is 100% tracking and much less jam, and the system is much lighter

The Journey of Getting ICS into SFO (15:30)

There was a team of five working to implement ICS at SFO. At first they were comparing a conventional system with an ICS. The choice at the end of the day came down to Return On Investment. ICS is slightly more expensive up front but cheaper to run along the way.

What Henrik Has Learned From This Journey (16:48)

1. By getting in on a project early, they were able to use the benefits of the ICS 100%
2. It’s important to work together with stakeholders early and take their feedback to make changes
3. The benefits of early development allowed the design to be implemented in the building – for example, they could put their precast into the concrete columns in the ceiling

What it’s Like Working in the United States Now (19:54)

The ICS is getting into the mind of a lot of airports and many are implementing it in the design process. The San Francisco partnering model has gotten out there and made its way into other projects.

About the Collaborative Partnering Model from Henrik’s Experience (21:30)

1. Early stakeholder involvement is key to achieving the right design
2. The progressive Design/Build model allows for innovation without contractors feeling largely at risk
3. The time and money spent achieving the design is coming back in less hassle at the end

What Makes a Good Leader in Other Parts of the World (24:30)

You need the flexibility to deal with the situation you’re in wherever you are in the world. A leader that is more of a coach that sets out direction while leaving it up to employees to get there and make their own decisions succeeds more long-term. This creates more of an environment of teamwork instead of giving specific instructions to do that job.

The Biggest Challenge Henrik Has Ever Faced in His Career (27:53)

They replaced an existing conveyor system while needing to accommodate and go live. Within the first two days, they found that the system was simply not ready. They found that the staff was not educated enough at launch. Henrik learned that you must own the problem and be clear with stakeholders about what will happen to correct the problem.

The Best Advice Henrik Has Ever Received (32:05)

A personal relationship is the key to everything and building personal trust enables a lot of other issues to go away. Projects are more between people than between companies.

Resources for Listeners (33:20)

• Book Recommendation: Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

Contact Henrik

Contact Henrik on LinkedIn

Henrik’s Parting Advice (34:55)

1. It’s not dangerous to involve your vendors early in a project
2. If you make the right arrangements early you might pay a bit more but you will earn it tenfold back

Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and view our guest recommended Resources. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify! And join the Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group, CDTLinkedin.com.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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Welcome to episode 25 Construction Nation! This is Sue Dyer, your host of Construction Dream Team; where I interview industry leaders and experts, so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE, Oher people’s experiences. And you can accelerate your success by learning from others who have already been there and done that.

There are two places you can go to interact with us and share your ideas and thoughts. The first place is the Show Notes page for each podcast episode where you can write a comment and share your thoughts. The second place is our LinkedIn Group, CDTLinkedIn.com, where you can ask your questions, make comments, and we can have a dialogue. Let us know who you want to hear from and what you want to hear about.

Episode 25: 3 Invaluable Lessons from Jeffrey Sims

1. One way you’re guaranteed to fail as a leader is if you have a lot of blind spots.
2. A leader has to know how to leverage people’s strengths and align them to the tasks that have to be done.
3. The most important part of a project is to create an environment of safety culture.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Jeffrey Sims about the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Project Leadership Institute.

About Guest Jeffrey Simms (1:33)

Jeff is the Project Director at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Jeff heads up a program for the Department of Energy and has partnered with your host Sue Dyer.

Jeff’s Journey to Becoming the Project Director at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2:38)

1. Jeff grew up the son of a contractor and got a bachelor’s degree in structural engineering
2. Jeff spent his early career working for engineering firms designing buildings and bridges
3. After spending some time at a few national laboratories in the Midwest he transitioned to SLAC National Laboratory in Menlo Park, CA.

About SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (5:40)

1. SLAC is funded by the Department of Energy
2. There are about 1,500 people focused on various research disciplines
3. SLAC is adjacent to the Stanford campus and uses a linear accelerator that focuses on certain missions

How Jeff Has Helped Spread the Idea of Collaboration Through the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories (8:00)

1. Jeff is working to create an environment that’s more attractive to contractors
2. Owners need to put the contractor at their same level and integrate them with the team
3. A healthy partnering environment is key
4. Bringing the stakeholders into the process is important
5. You have to create a strong relationship between the leadership of the owners and the leadership of a construction company
6. The larger a project gets, the complexity isn’t only in the tech, it’s in the people

Jeff’s Journey with the Project Leadership Institute (13:47)

1. The vision of the institute is a year-long development program with week-long events that have learnings from Stanford and experienced leaders from the Department of Energy
2. A group of 25 people is accepted for the year-long program, which is a mix of graduate-level training and experiential training
3. The institute wants to create a culture of project leadership across the complex that understands how to manage large, complex projects
4. The Project Leadership Institute is trying to raise the bar for project leadership culture across the bar for the Department of Energy and it is about creating a network that people can leverage going forward

What Jeff has Learned from Running the Project Leadership Institute (18:10)

While easily defined by the Project Management Institute, in complex projects the people component makes it a Sociological experiment that is occasionally interrupted by technical progress. One way you’re guaranteed to fail as a leader is if you have a lot of blind spots. Developing trust in our team and facilitating the development of trust helps you develop communication in a way that gets rid of blind spots.

Why Emotional Intelligence is Important (20:15)

1. You need to understand how to have crucial conversations, balancing empathy and accountability
2. We listen as leaders and understand challenges, but you can’t let up on requirements or accountability to delivery
3. When we know our strengths and weaknesses, we can allow others to help us

How Jeff is Applying PLI Knowledge to the $1 Billion X-Ray Accelerator Project (22:35)

A leader has to know how to leverage people’s strengths and align them to the tasks that have to be done. You have to understand how to adapt when people’s skillsets change over the years. It’s difficult to stay focused when you don’t know your individual triggers.

What PLI’s Graduates Have Learned and How They Apply It (25:00)

1. Preparing to lead daily projects - negotiations, etc.
2. Becoming a highly effective leader - emotional intelligence, and self-awareness
3. Positioning your project for success - risk and safety
4. Delivering high-risk complex projects - making quality decisions
5. The Graduation - crisis communications/management

Jeff’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (27:40)

Jeff is a fan of the Strengths Finder 2.0 tool - his strengths are focus, strategy, and being analytical. Jeff is constantly thinking about analyzing data to improve things on projects.

A Big Challenge Jeff Has Faced in His Career (29:14)

Jeff has experienced a lot of scope, cost, or schedule challenges, but the biggest challenges have been about safety. He talks about a time when a safety precaution was being breached and how he lost his temper when the situation wasn’t taken seriously.

The Best Advice Jeff Has Ever Gotten (35:21)

On a team, everybody gets the ball regardless of whether you like everyone on the team or not. You have to stay focused on being successful and minimizing emotions.

Resources for Listeners

• Recommended Book: Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts, by Annie Duke
• Try out the Gallup Strength Finder
• Learn more about Jeff’s current project

Contact Jeff

Contact Jeff on LinkedIn

Reach Jeff at https://pli-slac.stanford.edu

Jeff’s Parting Advice (42:00)

Try to understand someone else’s perspective. Listening rather than speaking should be your focus - this is a skill you should actively try to develop.

Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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Welcome Construction Nation! Sue Dyer, the host of Construction Dream Team, interviews industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. The shortest way to success, is to learn from others who have been there and done that!

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Jim Linthicum from SANDAG about what successful mediation looks like and what it’s like to manage a multi-billion dollar project.

3 Invaluable Lessons from Jim Linthicum

1. Make sure you understand the other guy’s side even if you don’t fully understand your own.
2. Mediation skills are important for anyone who wants to create a culture that breeds success.
3. Really listen to people, don’t think about what you are going to say next.

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The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 24 audio interview between Sue and Jim. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Guest Jim Linthicum (1:00)

Jim Linthicum is the Director of Mobility Management and Project Implementation for SANDAG. He is heading up a $9 billion dollar capital program with many different transportation programs in it and he has been 40 years in the industry this August. Jim worked for 23 years with Caltrans and has now been with SANDAG for 17 years.

Jim’s Journey to Becoming the Director of Mobility Management at SANDAG (1:50)

It’s been a quick 40 years for Jim. He started at Caltrans working in a construction management position to construction inspector, resident engineer, project manager, and head of construction and now Jim is the head of the capital program at SANDAG.

What Has Made Jim an Effective Leader (2:50)

1. Construction management and resident engineer skills prepared him well to be a great leader (3:00)
2. When decisions have to be made quickly and you have to work with people day after day, you learn to develop leadership skills (3:20)
3. When he was young he kept his eyes open and watched a lot of what was going on around him he developed skills that he kept with him his entire career (3:40)

How Community Mediation Has Helped Jim (4:30)

1. Construction is fast-paced with thin profit margins, and that causes a lot of conflicts
2. To be able to come in with a mediator background and skills helps make conversations easier

The Skills Jim Has Learned and How to Apply Them (5:44)

1. The model of mediation that Jim uses preserves the relationship by making sure the conflict isn’t personalized by each of the parties
2. In mediation, you learn the importance of fully vetting and understanding the other side’s position
3. You do this by spending less time making your own case and more time understanding what the people you’re negotiating with want or need
4. You have to agree on the problem before you can reach a solution
5. What is the value of good will on a project? When you create good will you increase trust

Where and How Jim Implements His Skills Within His Own Program (14:15)

There are a few layers between Jim and a Resident Engineer, but he is a volunteer mediator on the side. Jim has a good relationship with those he works with and does mediate with them. When you work together, the job is more successful and it’s more fun.

Where Someone Might Go to Get Mediation Skills (16:40)

1. Jim went to the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC), they provide training nationally and internationally and you can find more information on their website com
2. Some states have community-based mediation training, as well as some universities
3. Jim learned mediation in small claims court in San Diego, about 20 years ago

About SANDAG and Jim’s Construction Project (19:15)

The program is $9 billion and multi-year, both light rail and heavy rail. The project also includes bus rapid transit and freeway projects. About two years ago, SANDAG completed their first Design/Build projects and now SANDAG is doing its first CM/GC (or CM at Risk) job. The vast majority of projects are low bid, but the majority of dollars are alternative procurement.

About Jim’s $2.2 Billion Light Rail Project (21:58)

1. The project is the biggest transportation project ever done in San Diego done and the first project SANDAG has done as CM/GC
2. The job is going smoothly and it’s the highest performing team Jim’s ever been associated with
3. The job is halfway done, on a typical day there are about 600 workers on that job (an 11-mile long project)
4. They just celebrated and they just had a “topping out ceremony” with the last pre-cast girder (out of 144) that got set at 2:00 am

What’s Making Jim’s Light Rail Project So Successful (23:57)

They brought the contractor on board for preconstruction services about a year and a half ahead of time. They brought in experts and had joint training sessions with the contractor. They had day-long classes such as CM/GC 101 and CM/GC 202. They set a minimum profit margin at 5% and had regular sessions with the team executives to ensure their buy-in. They sent their staff to a few transit agencies that had done CM/GC successfully to talk to their counterparts to get best practices and make connections.

The Biggest Challenge Jim’s Faced in His Career (29:45)

The job was to retrofit a freeway-to-freeway interchange and viaduct for earthquakes. About halfway through the project having completed ~80,000 rebar welds which were all encased in concrete, and then they found out that their rebar welds were not sufficient. They had to start over; blast out all of the concrete, take off all of the rebar and re-weld them. The FBI, the state Department of Transportation, and the Federal Department of Transportation Inspector General all got involved. This ended in a multi-million-dollar dispute.

The Best Advice Jim Has Gotten (35:50)

Be as flexible as possible and as nimble with your resources and your processes as you can. Take advantage of the talent of the team (the resources) and set up processes that suit the project. If you have a good history with the contractors, engineers and/or project managers you can do things concurrently on a construction project and you will be nimbler. You will improve the project and your relationships.

How to Develop Your Leadership Style (38:30)

1. Observe what leaders do and don’t do that you find particularly effective, take notes and see if it fits into your style – it’s important for something to fit within your personality and style
2. Watch what people do that is not effective and figure out why

Resources for our Listeners (39:51)

• Read the Partner Your Project Book by Sue Dyer
• Check Out Leadership is an Art by Max Depree

Jim’s Favorite Piece of Tech (41:20)

The Headspace app for meditation and mindfulness. And drones – drones are the best thing to happen for a construction site ever, because you can see up and around jobs almost in real time.

Contact Jim on LinkedIn

Jim’s Parting Advice for Construction Nation (43:44)

Really listen to people. Don’t think about what you’re going to say next. Practice active listening. Let people know that you understand what they’re saying.

Construction Nation, Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you.

If you go to ConstructionDreamTeam.com/Resources, you will find every guest’s favorite resources – truly the collective wisdom of all of our guests at your fingertips. Check it out! And if you aren’t already a member of Audible, click the link and you will get a free book.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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Welcome Construction Nation! Sue Dyer, the host of Construction Dream Team, interviews industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. The shortest way to success, is to learn from others who have already been there and done that!

We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

3 Invaluable Lessons from Sue Dyer

1. Megaprojects are very chaotic.
2. Sue and her team at OrgMetrics LLC discovered patterns in megaprojects – eleven megaproject success factors.
3. Your team can use the Mega Project Success Factors Assessment to identify where there are strengths and weaknesses in your project.

This week, host Sue Dyer talks about megaprojects - how to keep them on track and identify project weaknesses and strengths.

About Megaprojects (1:58)

Very large megaprojects have a lot of opportunities for chaos to break out, and they often finish significantly over budget and behind schedule. Congress passed new requirements for managing and overseeing megaprojects (defined projects costing $250 million and above). You begin to see patterns in megaprojects, and it begs the question - what does it take to make one of these projects successful? Trying to manage a large project is often like trying to manage the weather.

The Eleven Megaproject Success Factors (5:00)

Your

1. There is a Leader or Owner as the visionary and decision-maker of the project or program (5:22)
2. Megaproject Expert - There is someone on the project with several successful megaprojects under their belt (7:03)
3. A committed and integrated team that is personally committed to the success of the project and hand-picked for their leadership experience and expertise and their willingness to do whatever it takes (8:40)
4. Run by project managers, not politicians - Let the experts use their expertise (10:00)
5. Unique structure and culture - You need new norms, new policies, new procedures to support the size, complexity, and culture required for a high performing, integrated team (11:33)
6. A program approach - You need new systems, procedures and tools that allow you to manage a program of projects all together, rather than managing project by project (13:28)
7. An atmosphere of partnership - Everyone must work together toward the common end: a successful project (15:16)
8. Expect chaos - The team and the team leader assure that the focus stays on the success of the project; you need the right people to tell you when the project is off course, then you must have a system in place that allows a “course correction” (16:53)
9. Provide accountability - Provide the ability to be accountable to one another and to the goals of the project, using a feedback system such as a scorecard (19:25)
10. Integrated activation team - For facilities where you have an activation process (20:48)
11. Integrated passive and active technology - Our buildings are getting smarter and much more technology is being integrated into the building, bring IT in early in the planning and stay on top of what the current technology is as it changes (22:22)

Resources for Listeners

• Download the Mega Project Success Factors Assessment Tool

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Construction Dream Team allows you to tap into the collective wisdom of the industry so you can accelerate you success. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

We have created a Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group. May of our guests will be joining me in the group to interact with all of you. To make it easy to join, you can join at CDTLinkedIn.com!

Contact Sue

Visit Linkedin to send Sue a message!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from John Thorsson

1. A lack of communication and wanting to understand each other drives us apart.
2. Most conflicts on a project start with financials and economical situations.
3. Put in as few barriers as possible so you can spend your energy moving forward.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with John Thorsson about partnering and what you could do to improve your projects and the way that we collaborate.

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Welcome to episode 23 Construction Nation! This is Sue Dyer, your host of Construction Dream Team; where I interview industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. Accelerate your success by learning from those who have been there and done that!

We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Guest John Thorsson (1:20)

John Thorsson was the Partnering Manager and now the Business Manager for the second largest construction firm in Sweden. John has taken partnering not only in NCC but in other parts of the world to help others learn to improve their projects.

John’s Journey to Becoming the Business Manager at NCC in Sweden (2:30)

1. How a teambuilding exercise changed John’s mind around partnering forever (3:45)
2. John began to study social psychology and interaction with language and between people (6:20)
3. The construction industry got a hold of him to help implement partnering (7:10)

John’s Strengths as a Leader (10:35)

1. He’s never had leadership through mandate, he’s always lead through influence (10:50)
2. He’s never been viewed as a threat – he doesn’t yell, he listens and inspires (11:15)
3. In every situation try to find how people are viewing the project differently and make sure that everyone gets what they need (12:00)

What Excites John Most About Partnering on Projects (13:30)

1. It’s amazing to get a client, contractor and subcontractor to work together on a project (13:30)
2. He wants to help contribute to projects getting completed every day (13:45)
3. It’s about getting people to work together in a more productive way (14:00)

What’s Different in the Way Partnering Occurs in Sweden vs. The United States (14:30)

1. In Sweden, Partnering has been pushed on the market from a contractor perspective (15:40)
2. It’s important to develop things from one joint economy for the project (16:00)
3. We work together as one team; a common organization working toward common goals (16:15)
4. 90% or more of construction projects in Sweden use one of two standard contracts: AB or ABT (Design/Build and Design-Bid-Build). The contracts are used as a base agreement, and then you go in and add the concept of open books and workshops, building the culture (16:30)
5. Working on cost plus overhead and profit takes the question of whether someone is trying to earn more than necessary off the table will allow us to focus more on the project and less on the contract administration side (18:00)

The Situation That John Encountered in Building a Railway (20:30)

The team learned that the contractor is responsible for the design, but everyone is in the room to contribute, not to silently correct mistakes. People’s belief in what their roles are often create friction points.

Partnering in the United States is about the culture, not as much about the contract or method of building. We are working to build one team. In Sweden, John is trying to get his teams to not collaborate on a fixed price, instead keep their books open and build trust in your team that is necessary, then you will get more value on your project.

How Internal Partnering Can Help Change the Inside of the Organization (26:00)

When a team comes to an organization that has done internal partnering it helps mitigate culture clash and promotes congruence across organizations.

What’s Happening with Partnering in Other Parts of the World (27:25)

1. The definition and execution of partnering varies in different areas of the world (27:40)
2. Over time, the teams would say they were partnering but they were just following the same old approach (28:25)
3. In the UK they stopped calling it Partnering and started calling it Collaborative Working and in Denmark they abandoned the notion of Partnering and started focusing on Private-Public Partnerships (28:40)
4. Later, in the UK later, there was a drive to do real Collaborative Working (29:00)
5. ISO 44001 has a big following in Italy and some other parts of Europe but partnering is largely in part of Europe, Sweden, and the U.K. (30:20)
6. In Malaysia they are following ISO 44001 in Production and Hong Kong is using what is happening in the U.K. (Collaborative Working) (31:48)
7. Australia and New Zealand have their Alliancing Models (33:00)

What are Some of the Barriers to Creating Strong Teams (34:20)

When a client takes an initiative for a partnering project it’s too often because one project leader advocated for the idea. Partnering doesn’t resonate with management or politicians, so it’s time to get this way of thinking higher up in the value chain. It needs to be in the culture of the organization so that, if someone leaves, the process remains the same.

The Reality of Collaborative Partnering (39:00)

The reality of collaborative partnering is that it’s really hard and you should only do it if you believe collaboration will really provide a big benefit. There is a lot of education that has to happen amongst leadership to make it work. A lot of people lack the tools that they need, but everyone will benefit when collaborative partnering is done right.

Resources for Listeners

• Book Recommendation - Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
• Dan Pink TEDTalk

Contact John

Website: https://www.ncc.group/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-thorsson-8a32b72/

John’s Parting Advice (51:10)

In the lifecycle of a business relationship you always exit at some point but don’t wait until the end to discuss how to disengage

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. Join our Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group. Go to CDTLinkedin.com to join. You can’t have your dream until you build your team!

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Judy Ross

1. You have to take every situation as a learning experience so you can evolve over time.
2. Everyone in the department should have a role, and the department should be inclusive.
3. Partnering is a great way to get or keep a project on track and meet goals.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Judy Ross about how to make a project successful and develop the strengths of your team.

Welcome to episode 22 Construction Nation! This is Sue Dyer, your host of Construction Dream Team; where I interview industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE – Other People’s Experiences. Accelerate your success by learning from those who have already been there and done that!

I’m so excited because now Construction Dream Team has a LinkedIn Group. I’ve been doing these interviews now for a few months and what I’ve realized is that we don’t have a place to continue the conversations. We have a great interview and we learn so much, but there is no place to answer questions or talk and chat. We will be doing that on our LinkedIn Group. To make it easier for you to join the group we’ve created a webpage where you can click and join. Go to CDTlinkedin.com you can join the group and join the conversation. We are really looking forward to having some events – some of our guests will join us and we will have a dialogue. It is a place for you to ask Sue questions, ask the CDT podcast guests questions, and to tell us what you would like to hear about.

About Guest Judy Ross (1:55)

Judy Ross is the Assistant Director of Aviation at San Jose International Airport. Judy served as the interim Assistant Director of Aviation since 2017 and Deputy Director of Aviation for the Planning and Development Group since 2015. Judy’s experience includes managing the administrative functions of the Airport Director’s office, as well as the five airport divisions: Operations, Facilities and Engineering, Finance, Planning and Development, and Business Development.

Judy’s Journey to Becoming the Assistant Director of Aviation at San Jose Int’l Airport (3:30)

1. Faith has been in airports since she graduated from college (3:35)
2. Faith tells a story about her very first project at her very first airport (4:00)
3. She wanted to return to California and was offered the position of Deputy of Planning Development at Mineta San Jose International Airport (6:00)

Judy’s Strengths as a Leader (7:30)

1. Her focus is on the people, creating a team atmosphere, and having fun along the way (7:42)
2. She studied the people she felt were great leaders (8:05)
3. Take every situation as a learning experience so you can evolve yourself (8:15)
4. Everyone has a strength, you just have to find their strength and channel it in the right direction (9:05)

Judy’s Vision When She Became the Head of Planning and Design (10:48)

1. When she arrived, she met with every member of the team individually and asked what was working, what was not, and what their goals were (12:35)
2. She wanted to restructure the focus of the division to reflect what they do, not division titles (13:28)
3. She wanted project delivery to be the key focus of what they did (14:00)

What Judy did to Articulate Her Vision to Her Team (15:40)

1. She used feedback from her team and outlined their responsibilities (15:48)
2. She brought changes forward to the Assistant Director and Director of the Department and got their buy-in (16:00)
3. She structured a roll-out plan meeting with employees individually, to the division, and then to the whole department (16:40)

What Judy’s Roll-Out Plan Looked Like (18:15)

It was important that she met with the team individually and found out how she could help them through the transition. The division-wide meeting was important so people could hear each other’s questions and leadership’s answers. And finally, the message to the department was also important for change buy-in.

How to Know That What You’ve Set Out to do is Successful (22:15)

1. When employees self-identify as working for the new initiative (22:50)
2. When employees love their jobs and look forward to work (23:10)
3. When every person is assigned a role and on the same page and agreeing to the same goals (24:02)

What’s on the Horizon in Judy’s Future and for Her Team (25:50)

They’re looking for a Deputy that’s the right fit for the division so they can continue growing and prepare for a larger capital program. She wants to have the team members ready for any future leadership programs.

About the San Jose Airport (30:00)

The Airport’s primary market is Silicon Valley but also Monterrey County and inland valley areas. The markets economic growth has allowed significant passenger growth over the past three years and is continuing to grow. The Airport expects to hit 15 million passengers by the end of the year. With growth comes challenges - they are gate constrained, they are looking to expand their terminal, and they want to be prepared to deliver on their projects.

The Biggest Challenge Judy Has Faced in Her Career (32:58)

She had a project from the start that didn’t have good scope and she had to dive deep into the project and stay there because the project manager was never aligned. They went through two bidding processes before getting a valid bid. The contractor wanted to pull off the project and Judy asked for two weeks to come up with a new plan, and she implemented partnering. The project ended on time and on budget and the team won a Diamond Level International Partnering Institute John L. Martin Partnering Project of the Year Award in 2017.

The Best Advice Judy Has Ever Gotten (38:00)

It’s better for change to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. It’s about getting people’s buy-in and that doesn’t occur overnight. Measure your path over time and you will see success. There may be times for revolutionary change but use it sparingly because it can be very disruptive to an organization.

Resources for Listeners

• Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter
• IPI Magazine and IPI Conference

Contact Judy

Website: https://www.flysanjose.com/

Email: jross@sjc.org

Contact Judy on LinkedIn

Judy’s Parting Advice (42:55)

1. It’s all about the people you work with, always put the people first (43:03)
2. Use your own resources, discuss challenges with a mentor or respected friend (43:18)

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time with your people and your vision. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Faith Varwig

1. Developing matrixes of responsibilities for IT departments is critically important.
2. Listen to your IT specialist and believe that they know what they’re talking about.
3. Making the right decision is better than making a fast decision.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Faith Varwig about some of the insights and secrets of how to make IT successful on projects.

Welcome to Construction Dream Team Podcast where Sue Dyer interviews industry leaders and experts so you can learn about the people side of construction and build your construction dream team based on OPE, Other People’s Experiences. Accelerate your success by learned from those who have already been there and done that.

Please join the Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group to ask question and have a dialogue with the experts we have featured on the Construction Dream Team Podcast and with each other. Visit CDTlinekedin.com to join.

About Guest Faith Varwig (2:05)

Faith Varwig is the Principle and Founder of The Faith Group. The Faith Group LLC was established in 2004 as a full-service consulting and engineering firm specializing in the planning and design of security, IT, safety, operational and MEP and FP systems for aviation, transportation, healthcare, federal, government, large campus environments, and critical infrastructure clients.

Faith’s Journey to Becoming the Founder of The Faith Group (3:10)

1. Faith spent more than 20 years working for several architectural engineering firms in the St. Louis region (3:34)
2. She wanted to support not only the tech but the operations and business systems of her clients (3:45)
3. She cares about the culture of her company; she makes work fun and upholds company values (4:00)

Faith’s Strengths as a Leader and How She Creates and Leads a Great Culture (4:48)

1. She loves communicating and working with her clients and staff on a personal level (4:55)
2. She’s accessible as a leader - no matter your role, people should be able to come in and talk to you about anything (5:28)
3. She wants to share with her team her more than 35 years of experience (5:55)
4. She empowers her team to think outside of the box and come up with new ideas and approaches that set a different standard (6:15)
5. She’s not afraid to try new things, take some risks, and experiment (6:40)

Why Do the IT Components on So Many Projects Still Fail? (7:55)

1. IT needs to be there at the very beginning, many companies wait to include it the end of the project (9:07)
2. There are problems assigning an appropriate budget for IT (9:26)
3. The IT disciplines are lumped under the prime electrical contractor who doesn’t have the skill-set to manage them (10:00)

How to Implement Technology into the Construction Process (11:20)

1. You have to start thinking of technology infrastructure as the fifth utility of the building (11:28)
2. Start with the stakeholders during the early stages of the planning process to develop goals, objectives, and detailed design documents (11:55)
3. Have a liaison between the stakeholders, the planning and development group, and the general contractor to help deliver a program that’s on time and in budget and meets all the goals and objectives of the end stakeholders (12:55)

How Do You Implement Technology When You Have a CM That Thinks It’s Their Role? (13:50)

A technology rollout is completely different than construction management. The key difference is that in many cases the IT department of the company plays a key role in implementation. These IT teams generally have no experience in construction, so there has to be flexibility in budget and tools to ensure that the department delivers on time.

How to Get the IT Department On Board (17:10)

1. Work hard with IT departments to help them understand where they fit in (17:58)
2. Create schedules and develop matrixes that assign responsibilities (18:05)
3. Realize that the internal IT department has no contractual obligation to the contractor (19:00)

What is the Barrier to Creating a Strong Tech Implementation for Extraordinary Results (21:10)

Get the owners and the contractors to understand the value of up-front planning, along with the need for future growth. Everyone has to understand that there will be risks and there need to be people on staff who are strictly focused on managing the IT program. IT is complicated and the approach to delivering the project needs to be flexible because the process and technology will change.

What You Need to Do to Truly Implement Technology on Your Project (23:40)

1. Understand the true scope of the project up-front (24:13)
2. Budget appropriately for the full scope of the work (24:32)
3. Have the right combination of the right consulting team early on (26:40)

A Big Challenge Faith Has Faced (27:20)

Professionally, being on the wrong side of a political decision of an organization. We did our job and doing everything right, be we were on the wrong side of the political environment.

Personally, making the decision 15 years ago to start her own company was a challenge. She was under the safety umbrella of a large organization and then was compelled to step out and put her own ideas into action. It takes about five years to prove to people that you’re going to stick around. She now has a great client base and multiple offices.

The Very Best Advice Faith Has Ever Gotten (30:20)

Remain calm, don’t overreact to anything. Developing relationships and partnerships with companies is the most important thing you can do.

Resources for Listeners (35:53)

• Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It and Why the Rest Don’t by Verne Harnish
• Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family by Bob Chapman
• Airport Consultants Council Young Professional Group

Faith’s Favorite Personal Piece of Tech (37:32)

Microsoft Teams and GoToMeetings are the platforms the Faith Group is moving to instead of Skype.

Contact Faith

Email Faith Faith@FaithGroupllc.com

Faith’s Parting Advice (43:10)

1. Be nice to people, everyone is in a program or project to be successful (43:20)
2. Create a culture of inclusion (43:40)

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Construction Dream Team Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify! If you have an iPhone, you can say, “Hey Siri subscribe to Construction Dream Team Podcast” and it will happen. Also, please give us a five-star rating.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Kent DeRusha

1. Trust and communication matter, but listening with empathy is most important.
2. Vision is generally not fully formed at the start of a project, it takes time and buy in.
3. Adversity will affect your team, but if dealt with well, will make your team stronger.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Kent DeRusha about the importance of branding, why you should stand for something, and how to gain and retain the trust and business of your clients even when a project goes wrong.

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About Guest Kent DeRusha (1:10)

Kent is a Project Director for Austin Commercial, one of the largest and most diversified builders in the United States. Kent shares how he is creating his construction dream team.

Kent’s Journey to Becoming Project Director for Austin Commercial (1:54)

1. Kent was the first college graduate in his family (2:05)
2. He got the opportunity to work on airport projects and with rocket scientists (3:10)
3. Kent went overseas to Qatar to work with a diverse international team made of people who spoke 21 different languages and were from 16 different countries; this project is where he learned how important it was to have communication and listening skills (3:45)

Insights on Kent’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (4:40)

1. Trust and communication, but most of all listening with empathy (5:00)
2. He takes his father’s advice - two reasonable parties, equally informed, seldom disagree (5:30)

What are the High Performing Traits for Construction Leaders and Teams (6:35)

1. Vision - You have to have a vision for your team and contribute to the vision of the project (6:44)
2. Discipline - It is what has to occur to get a project started when there is no structure or form (9:26)
3. Tenacity - The ability to stay with the discipline of the program (13:15)

How High Performing Traits Play Out on Projects (14:18)

True vision doesn’t just happen when the team first works together. People’s individual visions need to meld into one larger vision through discipline and tenacity.

How Can People Acquire High Performing Traits and Put them in Action (15:50)

1. Watch and learn from others who are good examples (16:00)
2. Congratulate others when they do well (16:10)
3. Vision is a combined effort you have to work toward (16:25)
4. Use discipline to create a good plan (16:45)
5. Tenacity enables you to get through a plan and show up over and over (16:50)
6. Teams don’t fail, they go flat (17:04)

Barriers to Implementing High Performing Traits and Creating Strong Teams (17:21)

• Adversity plays a role, losing people whether from poor performance or illness and death on your team can lower morale
• You have to have an obligation to one another to keep each other on track and to help each other push through difficult events as a team
• Teams who gel together well and go through adversity together are more likely to be strong and high performing

The Biggest Challenge Kent Has Ever Faced (20:55)

Personally, when Kent was 15 he had a swimming accident and broke his neck. After the surgery he had nine-months of recovery and he had to wear a neck brace that made him look like a geek in high school. This experience taught him patience, self-control, and tenacity. He “grew a thick skin” from the teasing he received.

Professionally, in Qatar he had to work in a foreign desert culture with people he never met. He brought his American opinions and swaggered into the project and he had a hard time fitting into the business and social cultures. He used the patience and tenacity he learned when he was a teenager to successfully get through the project.

The Best Advice Kent Has Ever Gotten (23:28)

Be yourself, everyone else is already taken – Oscar Wilde. Ken has had several mentors. If you open your eyes, you can see that mentors are all around.

Resources for Listeners

• Watch Ray Dalio’s video on goal achievement, specifically Principles for Success.
• Check out Austin Commercial’s Website

Kent’s Favorite Piece of Tech (28:00)

Wireless, noise canceling headphones - great for on the job or on an airplane.

Contact Kent

Reach out to Kent on LinkedIn

Kent’s Parting Advice (29:30)

Try to avoid email and writing letters, call someone instead or talk to them face to face. The best experiences are face to face or on a phone call. If you listen with empathy, you might be surprised at what you learn.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Rob Reaugh

1. DiSC is a no-judgment way to figure out how you and your colleagues work and communicate.
2. Every strength we have can also be our weakness.
3. Flexing your style allows you to get a better outcome.

This week, host Sue Dyer talks with Rob Reaugh about the DiSC Assessment, how it helps teams work together, and how project delivery can be positively affected by understanding each other's styles better.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast bonus episode 4 with Rob Reaugh. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Rob Reaugh (0:50)

Rob is a certified Master level partnering facilitator with a Masters degree from Pepperdine University in dispute resolution. Rob facilitates around 150 partnering sessions per year to dozens of project teams. Rob is Sue’s go-to trainer for DiSC and has worked with dozens of teams to implement DiSC.

How Did DiSC Come to be Such a Powerful Tool? (1:30)

• DiSC is a powerful instrument to teach project team members how they like to work, what they like to do, and how they like to speak (1:43)
• DiSC focuses on people’s behavior at work and at home (2:15)
• DiSC helps project team members identify their strengths and their work preferences so that they can ensure that their role is aligned with their personality (2:21)
• When people’s work follows their personality, they have more energy – when people have more energy they can put more creativity and passion into their work (2:31)
• DiSC helps you learn how your team members communicate (2:42)
• You can learn to flex your communication style so your team members hear you (2:45)
• DiSC is the most researched and utilized assessment tool in the U.S. (3:17)
• DiSC is powerful for breaking the ice, getting teams together, building strategic goals, or for helping a construction team that’s struggling (3:30)

What Makes Up the DiSC Model (4:50)

1. Extraversion vs. Introversion - where people pull their energy from (5:05)
2. Introversion and Extroversion are a spectrum (8:22)
3. Task Orientation vs. Relationship Orientation - quantity of time vs. quality of time (8:40)

What DiSC Stands For (9:30)

• People have all four of these styles, but some stand out more than others
• Ideally you will have a natural style, which is your perfect job, and an adapted style, which is who you are at work and what you are doing in your current role
• D: Dominance - About 12% of the population, assertive, task focused, extraverted (10:40)
• I: Influence - About 32% of the population, people oriented, assertive, strong communicators (12:37)
• S: Steadiness - About 30% of the population, reserved, people oriented, excellent implementers, reliable (13:48)
• C: Compliance - About 26% of the population, analytical and task-oriented, accurate, and detail-oriented, highly intuitive (14:30)
• Most people have a combination of styles (15:48)

Why is DiSC So Important? (16:15)

It’s important to recognize simple categories that allow us to break our teams into groups so we can understand how people communicate. It’s helpful to look at the assessment as individuals and groups of people so you can ensure a diverse team. The tool allows us to understand whether we have people from all four strengths on a project so we have a well-balanced team.

How Does DiSC Affect the Team Working Together? (19:30)

It helps in hiring the right people for the right job; you must align the tasks of the job with someone’s personality style. The differentiators are in the details, Rob explains the differences in the styles and how they work together.

How to Use DiSC to Make Sure We Get the Right Fit on Our Teams (26:20)

• The pacing of decision-making is really important and you have to come up with a process that works for multiple personality styles
• People don’t argue with the stuff they help to create
• The DiSC structure teaches teams how to resolve things without judgment

How to Apply DiSC to Team Communication and Overall Project Delivery (31:00)

• We have to understand our own preferences (31:15)
• When teams learn their styles they have a huge strategic advantage (33:10)
• You have to understand internal organizational philosophy and have a strategy for both yourself and your opponent (33:45)

Rob’s Take-Home Lessons (38:05)

1. Invest some time in using the DiSC personality assessment for new hires, leadership staff, and/or your whole team (38:00)
2. DiSC helps improve project delivery and people’s empathy (38:55)
3. Understand that conflict on construction projects is because of the interpretation of role or differences in work style (40:00)

How to Find a Quality DiSC Assessment (41:24)

• Connect with Rob Reaugh on LinkedIn for recommendations https://www.linkedin.com/in/robreaugh/
• Email Sue Dyer sue@constructiondreamteam.com

Resources for Listeners

Building With Style Whitepaper

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn from OPE – Other People’s Experience – so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Geoff Neumayr

1. Partnering is the glue that helps align chaos and keep it from being a negative thing.
2. If you want to gain trust, you have to first remove fear.
3. Expectations have to be in alignment and conversations must be had up front.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Geoff Neumayr about building trust on projects, removing fear amongst your team, and aligning expectations both on construction projects and organization-wide.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 19 audio interview between Sue and Geoff. Please join the Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group to ask question and have a dialogue with the experts we have featured on the Construction Dream Team Podcast and with each other.

About Guest Geoff Neumayr (1:15)

Geoff is the Chief Development Officer at the San Francisco International Airport and is currently leading a $7 billion construction program. The program is using the progressive Design-Build model which was developed at SFO. He is the member of the Design-Build Institute of America Executive Board and will be their president in 2020. Geoff also serves on the board of the International Partnering Institute and was selected as ENR’s Top 25 Newsmakers in 2016. He is a civil licensed engineer and a structural engineer.

Geoff’s Journey to Running a $7 Billion Program and Becoming the Chief Development Officer at SFO (2:45)

1. Geoff’s journey started in college where he was an architecture major and moved to structural design (3:00)
2. Geoff understood how art, design, and architecture all came together and his first job was at an architecture/engineering firm (3:45)
3. Geoff then spent 15 years as an owner’s representative (advisor) through different projects including projects at SFO (5:00)
4. Geoff learned the role of partnering and all of his experience led up to him stepping into his current role at SFO (5:45)

How Teams Can Become More Integrated (10:00)

1. Integration depends upon where you want to place the bar and what success should look like, not just on time and on budget (10:08)
2. You have to reset the norm to understand what extraordinary really looks like; it’s not just avoiding litigation, it is LEED Platinum buildings, totally resilient buildings, facilities that bring smiles to people’s faces, things that enhance education, and wonderful passenger experiences (10:45)
3. On your project, you should look at what’s possible, not just how to prevent fighting with each other (12:00)

The First Steps to Progressive Design-Build (13:00)

1. The first stage, you have to ask yourself the question as an Owner, “Do I really want to get to a better place – do I really want to do more?” (13:20)
2. You have to have internal alignment in the organization (13:41)
3. In the second stage, Stakeholders should be allowed to be involved in the process from the beginning which brings a lot more people into the mix – more chaos (14:30)
4. We have to have tools that help us identify issues, not problems; they seem similar, but they are not. A problem, everyone knows about and the damage is already done. Issues are usually just in certain people’s heads and hasn’t happened yet so no one has been hurt (15:45)

What You Can Do to Increase Trust Levels and Identify Issues (19:55)

If you can take time to observe what people are afraid of and then remove that fear, all that will be left is trust. One example of removing fear at SFO: Everyone obviously sees a change that needs to be made. It is easy to write a Change Order for x price, the Change Order is written and received, but the people don’t do the work. Why? The reason they don’t do the work is because they are afraid that they won’t get paid within a month of doing the work because it took “months on end” to perfect and finish the Change Order. Once the group was assured they would get partial payment within weeks of starting the work, that the fee could be added to the next Pay Application, then they started the work.

What Are Some Exceptional Results You’ve Seen? (24:40)

The Air Traffic Control Tower had to be designed to a seismic standard where the FAA could occupy the tower during a major earthquake. The team looked at numerous alternatives, they were given time so they could dream big but not be rushed to a single conclusion, and they were trusted that they could come up with an extraordinary result. The team came up with a one of a kind vertical post tension structure, the tallest one in the U.S., and satisfied the criteria beyond what the FAA could even imagine. This was only possible because the Engineers trusted the airport enough to follow a different way of doing business and that the airport would fairly compensate them for the time and extra analysis.

What Role Does Structural Collaborative Partnering Have in Progressive Design-Build? (28:00)

Progressive Design-Build was originally a way to avoid litigation but partnering came in to produce extraordinary results. There’s nothing you can do to fix the “go, go, go” mentality, but a structural collaborative partnering process will fix it because it helps identify stumbling block issues for the program. The rest of the team must then make a commitment to one another as to how they’ll deal with conflicts.

The Biggest Frustration Geoff Has Faced (34:45)

The biggest disappointment and challenge Geoff faced was the quality of the work at SFO a long time ago under a Design-Bid-Build project. Throughout the project, it was difficult to get the quality promised in the contract and there were empty promises and disappointments on discrepancies with quality. Geoff learned that the problem can’t be fixed at the end of a project; expectations have to be in alignment from the beginning.

The Best Advice Geoff Has Ever Gotten (39:00)

To marry his wife! But professionally, to go out to the field and ask the person who actually has to do the work what to do when you need help - this was Geoff’s first experience with collective wisdom.

Resources for Listeners

• Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury

Contact Geoff

Geoff’s LinkedIn Profile

Email Geoff: Geoff.Neumayr@flysfo.com

Geoff’s Parting Advice (44:55)

Take one thing and try to do it better today than you did it yesterday. The only way you can get to tomorrow is to get through today.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Shane Snow

1. There are three “ingredients” to making a great team - cognitive diversity, cognitive friction, and intellectual humility.
2. The key to success is being able to engage in the friction without it getting personal.
3. Teamwork is about making people better together because they’re different.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Shane Snow about what it takes to make a Dream Team and the psychology great leaders use to get their teams working with each other instead of against each other.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 18 audio interview between Sue and Shane. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Guest Shane Snow (1:10)

Shane is the author of Dream Teams, a book written after years of researching the top dream teams. Shane believes that the best teams are more than the sum of their parts, but collaboration often falls short. Shane looks at teams through the lenses of history, neuroscience, psychology, and business. Shane is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker, storyteller, Founder at Large in the media company Contently, board member of the Hatch Institute, and a Fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts.

Shane’s Journey to Becoming Author of Dream Teams (3:53)

1. Shane’s parents led him to think differently in a wonderful way, spending time in the construction world and learning how things work (4:20)
2. Shane’s mother was a teacher for deaf students and was all about reading and learning (5:00)
3. Dream Teams was inspired by Shane’s challenges growing a company and building a team (6:00)

What Shane Views as the Greatest Strengths of a Leader (7:00)

1. We have an old idea of what a leader should do stemming from when we survived by banding together and the leader made us feel safe against physical dangers (7:17)
2. Leaders later evolved into someone who knows what they are doing and is big and tall (8:00)
3. The best kind of leader to solve today’s problems can persuade people, solve challenges, and create an environment where the team is smarter and greater than the leader or any individual (9:28)

How to Create the Dream Team (11:11)

Shane explains the three “ingredients” it takes to create a dream team:

1. You need cognitive diversity.
2. You need your team to engage in different ways of thinking and combine their skills.
3. You need intellectual humility – open mindedness (this sits between being too stubborn and being too gullible).

How The Three “Ingredients” for Creating a Dream Team Work on a Large Project (18:45)

1. Think of team building like casting for a movie, you need those who bring out the best in the project and in each other (19:55)
2. You need to trust people to do what they do best, but when there are snags the project leader engages (20:27)
3. Everyone has to be on the same team, or they’re off the team (22:14)

Shane’s Advice to Project Leaders Who Want to Create a Dream Team (22:50)

Have a shared purpose, everyone needs to know what they’re doing and why they’re there. Allow people to work in a way that allows them to do their best work. People need to be on board with your purpose and understand the difference between a cult and culture – both have a shared devotion to something. In a cult, you have to behave and think in a certain way or you are not part of the group. In a culture, you are asked to contribute something to the team so everyone can move forward to their shared purpose.

The Barriers to Dream Teams That Keep Them From Seeing Results (28:00)

1. Not talking about the important issues, having “organizational silence” (28:12)
2. Too much tension - a little tension is good, too much is detrimental (29:00)
3. Not having the toolkit to change your mind or talk about hard issues with humility and allowing people to “save face” (29:50)

The Worst Challenge Shane Has Faced (31:50)

Three challenging things happened to Shane at once - things at his company were getting hard, he was going through a divorce, and he got a cancer diagnosis. This time was humbling and made him realize that things in life will be hard and he needs to be more equipped to deal with them. He got through this time by letting other people help him.

The Best Advice Shane Has Ever Gotten (36:25)

People are more important than stuff. His mother was always hitting things with the car, but his father would never say something mean, he would always worry about his mom. If people are the most important thing, you’ll think about teamwork differently.

A Little About Shane’s New Project (38:05)

Shane has been traveling around the world for the last six months. He wants to live in other cultures to develop intellectual humility and to do new research for upcoming projects. He is exploring different immigrant communities in America for an upcoming television show.

Resources for Podcast Listeners

• Self-Assessment for Intellectual Humility
• Dream Teams Book on Audible
• Articles on Collaboration and Leadership
• Shane Snow’s Courses on LinkedIn Learning

Shane’s Parting Advice (43:03)

Develop this habit for intellectual humility - express that you’re willing to change your mind if you want others to change their minds. Ben Franklin would say, “I could be wrong, but I really think …..” By admitting he could be wrong, it made it safe for people to disagree with him and allowed him to save face if he did change his mind.

Contact Shane

Shane’s Website shanesnow.com

Shane’s LinkedIn Profile

Collective Wisdom Use this episode as a tool, send it out to your entire team and have a dialogue. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team.

Don’t forget, we have started a Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group. I know there are a lot of you out there on LinkedIn; please join Construction Dream Team LinkedIn. We are going to have conversations on there and invite our guests to answer questions and to listen to what you have to say and to listen and share concepts.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert about the people side of construction.

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Jit Kee Chin

1. Data helps us predict what’s coming and analyze what’s already happened.
2. Adoption of technology could have barriers and be slow but the time and financial investment will be worth it.
3. Standing on facts instead of feelings will create a stronger team.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Jit Kee Chin about Big Data in the construction industry and why it’s important for companies to adopt new technology to improve processes and make informed decisions.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 17 audio interview between Sue and Jit Kee Chin. Join the Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group, CDTLinkedin.com! We will continue the dialogue we started on the podcast and share our knowledge with one another. CDT Guests will also join us for discussion live.

About Guest Jit Kee Chin (1:13)

Jit is the Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer for Suffolk, a national building contractor that does $4 billion in annual revenue. Jit leverages the power of modern techniques in data and analytics to help Suffolk build better and she implements Suffolk’s data strategy end to end.

Jit’s Journey to Becoming Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer for Suffolk (2:46)

1. Her father instilled in her a love of numbers and algorithms (3:03)
2. She obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees from CalTech and MIT (3:17)
3. She shifted her career and worked with McKinsey and Company for the next decade where she was exposed to the construction industry (3:40)
4. She saw how all of the industries were being impacted by the advances in digital data and technology over the last five to ten years when it moved from just tech companies to all industries (4:22)

How Jit is Leading Her Company Into the New Millennium (8:08)

1. She’s feeling her way through it all (8:15)
2. She asks what the industry ecosystem looks like today, what the big problems are that need to be solved, how do we think about the different players in the industry and what part of the problem can they solve, and then how can she and Suffolk play a part (8:55)
3. The best thing she can do as a leader is to leverage her background and think of where things could go, then share those ideas (9:30)

What’s Needed to Come Together as an Industry in a Meaningful Way (10:28)

Jit explains the formation of a Predictive Analytic Strategic Council made up of primarily contractors, but also other members of the value chain. They predict risks before they happen to take action to mitigate risk. Using shared imaging and safety information, the AI algorithms adapt and make better predictions.

How Big Data Can Become Something Meaningful in Construction (12:55)

1. Look forward instead of looking back (13:20)
2. Leverage all the information that comes through, don’t allow silos (13:45)
3. Understanding information from all systems allows the data to become meaningful (14:14)
4. Real-time information will allow people to react faster (14:33)

What Jit is Hoping to Achieve for the Company and the Industry (16:30)

For Suffolk - she would like to see every decision based on data and a better experience for everyone they work with inside and outside the company.

For the industry - to play a part to shape the industry towards the implementation of these new technologies.

Specific Tools Jit is Developing That Will Help Teams Be More Effective (23:18)

1. A Project Dashboard - to help reveal information in real time (24:00)
2. The dashboard creates transparency in the project and allows data to be delivered in real time (25:15)
3. The concept of the dashboard is simple, but the implementation and adoption process is difficult (27:20)

Barriers to Creating Strong Teams That Adopt Technology and Create Results (27:48)

1. Structural - what projects look like when it comes to size, complexity, and owner preferences
2. Project Lifecycles - they tend to be long, but the technology changes on a monthly basis. How do you implement mid-stream changes?
3. Geographic Dispersion
4. Talent or Generational Change - Reverse mentorship can help both generations learn from each other
5. Labor Shortage
6. Financial - to make some of these technologies work you need to invest

The Worst Challenges Jit Has Faced (32:00)

A career shift Jit took when she went from London to Boston and switched companies. She wanted to be nearer to her family, so she deliberately took a step back. She had to switch what she did and rebuild.

The Best Advice Jit Has Ever Gotten (35:15)

A mathematical Venn Diagram that helps her find her way in life – find out what you are good at, figure out what you are passionate about, find the intersecting piece and go do that.

Resources for Listeners

• McKinsey Podcast on the Ethics of AI

Contact Jit

Jit Kee Chin LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitkeechin/

Sufflolk Construction https://www.suffolk.com/

Jit’s Parting Advice (41:10)

Make sure you’re standing on the solid footing of facts when you’re making important decisions and participate in the conversation about more information and better analytics.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify! Download poster

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Terry Tuggey

1. Break the pieces of a fast-paced project down into pieces to make sense of it.
2. In a fast-paced project, you have to keep moving.
3. Don’t create two identities for one team project.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Terry Tuggey about breaking down fast-paced projects to make them manageable, and how not to bottleneck a project so it can keep moving forward at a good pace.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team

The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 16 audio interview between Sue and Terry Tuggey. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Guest Terry Tuggey (2:10)

Terry is the Area Manager for Graniterock and has worked on very accelerated projects. Terry has known Sue for over three decades.

Terry’s Journey to Becoming Area Manager at Granite Rock (2:59)

1. Terry started at a small construction firm in MA right out of college, he originally had a communications degree (3:05)
2. Terry started as a Surveyor and learned about the business side of construction (3:35)
3. He met the former owner of Graniterock who hired him to work in Construction. Terry worked on a couple of projects before starting one at SFO and he has been working at SFO ever since (4:30)

Terry’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (7:00)

1. Caring about the people you work with and who work for you (7:10)
2. A healthy life leads to healthy work and vice versa (7:37)
3. He asks, “How is your family?” “How is your weekend, how is your day or night?” which demonstrates you care (8:10

How to Lead Projects That are Very Fast Paced (9:00)

Terry explains that sometimes the pace and the duration of a project on paper are overwhelming. It’s acceptable, even as a leader to admit that you’re not sure the team can do it. Digest the information and then divide it into pieces and re-assemble them back together in a Master Schedule. Sometimes you need to build the job in planning from start to finish multiple times to find unforeseen hurdles ahead of time.

What Does the Pre-Planning Process Look Like? (11:43)

1. Outline everything on a whiteboard/grease board (11:55)
2. Start to put things on paper and really look at it (12:05)
3. You can’t set a definitive timeline, but you can set some type of deadline (12:25)
4. The team is made up of the two Project Managers, one from each side, a couple of Engineers, a couple of General Superintendents, and the subcontractors (12:30)
5. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments or to change (13:15)

How To Deploy Hundreds of People on the Project Effectively (14:08)

You have to break the people into certain groups and let them handle certain pieces. You can’t have everyone working on the whole thing.

Focused Action Strategic Teams (FAST teams).

Each team will be assigned certain pieces of the work.

The Most Important Things a Project Manager Should Be Doing (15:43)

1. Get a set of achievable common goals that are shared by the entire project team (15:55)
2. Communication is key, you have to have open lines (16:42)
3. Elevate issues quickly and get answers – it moves things along quicker (16:55)

How Terry’s Team Makes Co-Location Work (18:15)

1. Create an environment where you see everyone every day (18:45)
2. People need to learn how to talk to each other – less emailing, more talking (19:40)
3. Set people up on FAST teams equally from the owner, contractor, and subcontractors (20:30)

What You Don’t Want to Do on a Fast-Paced Project (23:30)

1. Don’t let momentum stop (24:40)
2. Think about how to keep the job moving toward its goal (25:00)
3. Everyone has to step up to make things happen (25:19)

How to Make a Joint Venture Work (25:42)

A lot of companies name their Joint Venture “Party A/Party B Joint Venture.” These two companies created its own company by calling their Joint Venture by a different name, “Golden Gate Constructor.” It set a tone that everybody in the office complex wasn’t working for someone else’s company, they were working for one company.

The Worst Challenges Terry Has Faced (28:40)

Losing Bruce Wolpert, the owner of Graniterock, made Terry and the rest of the company have to overcome grief and figure out if the company could carry on without him.

The Best Advice Terry Has Ever Gotten (31;00)

In construction, you always have to have a plan A, B, C, D, and E. You don’t want to spend money and then waste it.

Resources for Listeners

Book: It’s Your Ship

Terry’s Favorite Piece of Tech (36:13)

Microsoft Project Scheduler - a simple, easy to use bar chart that helps get things organized.

Contact Information for Terry Tuggey

Contact Sue at Sue@ConstructionDreamTeam.com

Terry’s Parting Advice (37:56)

Make a list on a little piece of paper on your desk every morning, get them out of your head, prioritize them, and scratch things off the list.

Dream Teams don’t just happen. they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Join the Construction Dream Team LinkedIn Group, CDTLinkedin.com! We will continue the dialogue we started on the podcast and share our knowledge with one another. CDT Guests will also join us for discussion live.

Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Rick Del Monte 1. Have a vision and learn how to get people on board with it and follow through. 2. Be sure that the architect, contractor, and owner are all on the same page. 3. Know when to let go of a project or bid.

This week, host Sue Dyer interviews guest Rick Del Monte, Chief Design Officer and Managing Director of the Beck Group out of Dallas.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 15 audio interview between Sue and Rick. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

Rick’s Leadership Journey (1:13) Rick is an architect by training, he worked for four years and went back for a second Master’s in architecture and building design. He spent nine years doing high-rise buildings in New York. As his family grew they chose to move to Dallas and build a firm there. He began to learn computer tools in the early 90’s and they had a website when most firms did not.

About the Beck Group (5:30) 1. The CEO decided that the industry was broken and realized they needed in-house architects and technology tools (6:40) 2. They now have 180 architects and six offices in the U.S. and Mexico City.(6:58) 3. The Beck Group has $1.3B in construction volume (7:05) 4. About 40%-50% of the integrated volume projects they do is Beck/Beck (Beck Construction/Beck Design) (7:20) 5. Their sweet spot is $15M to $120M projects on the integrated side (8:00) 6. Integration is working together internally as architects and contractors to do a job (9:00)

Rick’s Greatest Strengths as a Leader (10:00)

1. Having the drive and ambition to figure out how to follow a vision (10:45)
2. Executing the transformation of the Beck Group (12:00)
3. He is the chair of the Design Build Institute of America’s Design Quality initiative (12:55)

The Definition of Design Quality (14:20)

1. Has to provide what the owner perceives to be excellence in design.
2. Must meet the criteria of the users of the building and the facility.
3. How does this building contribute the community?

Advice to Smaller Firms (18:20)

1. Define what the design contingency is and have frank conversations with the contractor (19:00)
2. Design is directly predicated on direct contact between the owner and the architect (19:55)
3. Be in alignment before you ever begin a job (21:30)
4. Listen to your gut! (24:55)

Best Advice Rick Received (25:13) Take your work very seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously. This will serve you well in relationships with clients.

Resources for Project Managers

• Read Creativity Inc. By Ed Catmull

Parting Advice (27:45) This is a changing economy and changing world – take care of your health and take care of your finances.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Contact Rick Visit Linkedin to send Rick a message!

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Remember…Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4 am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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3 Lessons On Personal Branding from Roddy Boggus

1. Intense preparation allows for spontaneity later when it matters.
2. Your personal brand is your most important asset.
3. Become the expert in what you’d like to be known for – read, write, speak, and engage.

This week, host Sue Dyer speaks with Roddy Boggus about the importance of personal branding, why you should stand for something, and how to gain and retain the trust and business of your clients even when a project goes wrong.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 14 audio interview between Sue and Roddy. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

About Guest Roddy Boggus (1:05) Roddy is the aviation services Vice President and building services Leader for RS&H. Roddy is an architect who has been working in aviation since 1987.

Roddy’s Journey to Becoming the VP at RS&H (1:42) 1. Roddy started in the 70’s in the entertainment and broadcasting industry and feels that’s helped him in his career. (2:00) 2. He owned his own business during 9/11 and learned a lot. (2:40) 3. He has had great mentors, the school of hard knocks and preparatory experience. (3:05)

Insights on Roddy’s Greatest Strength as a Leader (3:50) 1. Trust and vision with a lot of preparation that allows him to wing things later. (4:00) 2. Prep-work gives you flexibility and a path to follow.

What to Look at When Hiring Leaders for Teams (5:30) 1. Trust- You need to know your team can function without you and that they can earn trust from you. 2. Great communication skills – both speaking, writing and listening. 3. Technical skills – being competent in basic math and having logical thinking skills. 4. Someone who can operate in a matrixed environment. 5. The right personality who can make you smile.

Resources for Project Managers * Check out Jobs for Life to rethink what you really want to do vs. what you’ve been doing. * Read Teaching Fish to Walk by Peter Steinke

How Roddy Has Become Known and Loved in the Industry (10:00) Roddy has had time to get to know people, but meeting new people didn’t happen overnight – it took a lot of awkward conversations. Writing and speaking a lot helped with becoming known.

He’s learned to participate through being on boards and panels. There is not a better way to know others than by being involved in organizations that put him in places to know people.

Looking ahead and being pragmatic is important, you can’t be like someone else.

The Importance of Creating Your Own Personal Brand and How to Develop Your Own (12:06) 1. Your personal brand is more important than the brand of your company. (12:25) 2. Creating your own brand helps you stay in control of how people see you. (13:30) 3. Take the time to figure out what you’re good at and what you want to be known for, then do it. (14:28) 4. Find clients who hire you repetitively for what you’re good at. (14:44) 5. Learn how to do things better than the other guy, then write about it. (15:00) 6. Start speaking – moderate panels, work through presentations, volunteer to speak, participate in professional organizations. (15:45) 7. The biggest challenge Roddy has ever faced (18:00) 8. Ask yourself, is your brand what you want or need it to be? (22:20) 9. How to approach a team member whose brand is not consistent. (23:00)

The Best Advice Roddy Has Ever Gotten (25:25) Be honest, own the good and the bad, especially the bad. The best way to make a team work and earn respect is to own the bad so you can have the chance to fix what went wrong. Someone has to take what went wrong and make it right, there’s no point in waiting for someone else.

Parting Advice From Roddy Boggus (31:21) 1. Pick one thing that you’re going to be known for in your business and become that expert. 2. Stand for something and stick with it.

Contact Roddy Reach out to Roddy on LinkedIn

Follow Roddy on Twitter @rboggus

Email Roddy at roddy.boggus@rsandh.com

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Key Points on Measuring Project Improvement 1. Using a construction scorecard is one of the only ways to measure the success of your project. 2. Construction scorecards can improve project outcomes by up to 28%. 3. Without a construction scorecard, many projects will either fail to improve or get worse.

This week, host Sue Dyer conducts a short master class on how to employ a simple tool called the Construction Scorecard to help keep you from being surprised by things that happen on your projects. Sue shares how to predict the level of success or failure you’ll have with your projects.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 12 audio interview between Sue and Tania. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

The Benefits of the Construction Scorecard (1:10) Teams that measure their projects and hold one another accountable to live up to those commitments tend to improve over time. This research is based on the analysis of over 13 different projects that utilized the construction scorecard over a two-year period.

The Parameters of the Construction Scorecard Study (2:00) 1. Vertical, horizontal, marine, seismic, rail, environmental projects.(2:15) 2. The projects ranged in size from 100,000 to 142,000,000 (2:40) 3. 113 monthly scorecards were analyzed by a neutral consultant to ensure anonymity. (2:50) 4. Reports were sent back out to the team for them to analyze and make adjustments (3:30)

The Results of the Construction Scorecard Study (10:00) 1. Overall project scores improved by as much as 28% over the life of the project (3:55) 2. Five of thirteen projects were having significant problems when the project started and four of thirteen had significant improvement. (5:00) 3. Over time patterns emerge and are consistent and offer insight into a final outcome for your team (6:30)

Score Patterns and What They Mean (7:00) 1. 1.0-1.9 – Projects came in late, over budget, and needed remedial action to turn themselves around. 2. 2.0-2.9 – Behind schedule, over budget, there are fundamental problems that need immediate action. 3. 3.0-3.5 – Behind schedule, over budget, something is causing drag. 4. 3.5-4.0 – On time, on budget, doing spectacular things along the way. 5. 4.0-4.5 – you should be ahead of schedule and under budget.

Resources for Project Managers * Use the OrgMetrics Construction Scorecard * Daily email called “Smart brief on Leadership” * What gets Measured PDF

Lessons Learned from the Construction Scorecard Study (9:26) Teams that met to review the scorecard each month made more significant improvements. The scorecard should be adjusted along the way. Executives who met to discuss scorecard results helped connect resources and solve problems.

Projects scoring 4.5 and up can meet bi-monthly without damaging results. Projects with lower scores who meet more frequently will lower their scores or will simply stop improving.

The best results were seen when members were required to be a part of the program.

Five Tips to Help You With Your Project (11:30) 1. Make a scorecard a requirement and the team will see that it’s valued by its leaders (11:40) 2. Create an atmosphere of trust (13:12) 3. Understand the tool (15:11) 4. Evaluate your results (16:00) 5. Make course corrections (17:45)

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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Three Important Leadership Lessons from Randy Iwasaki: 1. As a leader, know when to step back and rather than do everything, motivate your team to do things in innovative ways. (4:18) 2. As a leader, be willing to take risks. (17:50) 3. Take time out of your day to think about and look towards the future. (29:30)

This episode features an audio interview between host Sue Dyer and guest Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. Before coming to CCTA in 2010, he was the Director of the Department of Transportation in California (CalTrans). He is a licensed civil engineer who has won several awards and is one of the leaders in the world on autonomous vehicles.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 13 audio interview between Sue and Randy. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

Randy's Leadership Journey Randy was hired by CalTrans in the early ’80s as an entry level civil engineer after college. He left 27 years later as the director of the department. His time spent at CalTrans helped prepare him for success as Executive Director of Contra Costa Transportation Authority.

Strengths As A Leader At CCTA, they employ great people by spending a lot of time in the hiring process. They look for people with the entrepreneurial spirit, who are able to deal with change and risk-taking. Randy thinks his greatest strength in his current role is that he is a good motivator; he sets standards for employees on how to make decisions that will make the company better partners providing exceptional customer service. Another strength is the very diverse group of people that they have employed who provide many different perspectives. Randy sets the end goal, but the employees ultimately decide how to get there. At CCTA, there are about 20 employees that manage multi-million dollar projects and programs.

The greatest strengths of Randy and CCTA are the people and motivation. These strengths help create an environment and culture of innovation. In particular, the leader needs to be able to lead more with motivation rather than by trying to do everything themselves. It is important for leaders to step back and let go, allowing members of the team to figure out how to do business in different ways (it doesn’t always have to be done the way the leader has done it).

Importance of Vision You need to be able to articulate to your team what the vision of the company is in order to lead them on the right path. The vision of CCTA is to be the best transportation agency and the team really believes in this vision which improves performance and opens up the conversation about change. They spend a lot of time making sure their team understands the vision and where they are headed as an agency.

Leadership Pitfalls to Avoid The main issue with leaders is when they aren’t willing to take risks. If you aren’t willing to take risks, you probably have issues with motivating employees. Employees look up to leaders for guidance, so if their leader doesn’t take risks, the employee will probably not feel as confident in taking risks. Leaders should try to lead by example, which will motivate employees to be better and want to be more like their leader which can end in a better future.

Advice to Live By One of the best pieces of advice Randy had gotten was from his boss, and the advice was basically to think, use your brain, delegate tasks to the team, and look towards the future.

Listener Resources Randy suggests that Construction Dream Team listeners take time to listen to Ted Talks; they can be really relevant and can teach you about what others do to motivate and lead.

Watch the TED Talk about How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek The second resource Randy suggests is the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson because Steve Jobs and his innovative approach to product development, technology, leadership, and business changed the world.

Get the book Steve Jobs (affiliate link): Contact Randy! -Email: Riwasaki@ccta.net

-LinkedIn: Connect with Randy

-Twitter: @Riwasaki2

Parting Advice Take 5 minutes out of your day and think about the future; if you can see a future, you need to find a way to get buy-in from your employees and talk to them about that future and how to get there!

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Tania Gharechedaghy 1. Mentorship is important in personal development and the construction industry. Don’t be afraid to ask for an opinion or help. 2. The best asset of project managers is their ability to support the expertise of their teams. 3. Diversity is important for a successful project team but you must also ensure the personalities mesh.

This week, host Sue Dyer interviews guest Tania Gharechedaghy, Project Manager of the $990 Million SFO airport project. Tania shares her journey from Junior Civil Engineer to top Project Manager. Tania also is in charge of creating a positive work environment - one of the most important aspects of a successful project team.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 12 audio interview between Sue and Tania. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

Tania’s Leadership Journey (2:21) Tania started as a Civil Engineering Intern at SFO. While being a part of SFO for 14 years, Tania progressed through the Civil Engineering certifications leading her to finally become a certified project manager. Her experience set her up to take on the $ 1 Bn project at SFO.

How to create a positive work environment (7:00) 1. Define positive values (9:12)

Define the positive values of the team right from the beginning.

1. Ensure team members’ personalities align with the team and company (10:07)

Personalities that mesh does not rule out diversity but rather creates a team that is on the same page when it comes to communication and support.

1. Clear direction, structures, and expectations (11:00)

When you can create clear direction and expectations for a team, it gets rid of a lot of uncertainty and stress. It makes the project more enjoyable for the team members.

Selecting A Successful Team (10:00)

1. RFP to define technicalities and values (10:15)
2. Scenario-based interview based on how well the team collaborates (13:17)
3. Communicate quickly if things are not aligned or people are not demonstrating the right values. (16:00)

Best Advice Tania Received (37:00) Don’t get bogged down in the costs and details. Find a way to balance and delegate so you can think at a higher level.

Resources for Project Managers

• Check out REACH as a standard for project management.
• Daily email called “Smart brief on Leadership”
• SFO Strategic Plan
• Delivering Exceptional Projects

Parting Advice (39:28) Leadership is all about people. Every person has value. As a leader, you should think about your team and do what’s best for them - on a personal and professional level.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping – the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Contact Tania Visit Linkedin to send Tania a message!

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3 Emerging Construction Trends & Their Impact on Our People from Steve Jones 1) Industrialization. Projects and job sites will optimize towards the assembly of well-designed and pre-assembled components and less about construction. Expect an increase in modularization, prefabrication, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated decision making

2) Emerging Technology. Laser scanning, modeling technology, integrated IT solutions, etc. will become the new way business is done and it is important to embrace early rather than looking only at short-term ROI.

3) Hiring & Retention. There is a talent war taking place making hiring and retention top priorities for leaders and organizations pursuing success in the coming years. Train staff appropriately, provide them with the tools they need to succeed, communicate the mission, and consider making technology competency training a part of the formal job evaluation process.

Introduction Welcome to Episode 11 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast with your host Sue Dyer! This episode features guest Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Research at Dodge Data & Analytics, where he focuses on emerging economic practice and technology trends that are transforming the global design and construction industry. Steve has given hundreds of speeches and writes many articles for industry publications including the popular Dodge Data & Analytics SmartMarket Reports. Steve is an expert in construction trends and has a unique vantage point towards the future of construction and how teams will continue evolving.

The following show notes are a transcription from the audio interview that took place between Sue and Steve. If you want updates on the latest Construction Dream Team episodes, please subscribe to our newsletter, iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting platform. If you like Construction Dream Team, we would LOVE a 5-star review to help us rank higher in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can learn from industry leaders and experts weekly! Now, onto the show…

Steve Jones’ Career Journey Steve’s career started in design in the mid-70s. By the mid-80s he was VP of a firm in Philadelphia and decided to attend the Executive MBA program at Wharton School of Business. Design was not known typically for its business acumen, but since everyone was working fulltime in the program, Steve appreciated the hard nose practical concepts as opposed to mere theory. This transformed his approach to dealing with prospects and clients and made him a knowledgeable advisor rather than treating projects as mere additions to his design portfolio. He asked important questions about what design meant for clients’ businesses – an exercise in constrained optimization which helped clients better understand design.

Jump forward to 1999, Steve was principal of a big AE firm when a buddy from Wharton called to inform Steve that he had taken a job at a software company called Primavera. Primavera’s headquarters were 8 minutes from Steve’s house and it was the perfect time to make a big change in the middle of the dot com boom. Primavera had some of the largest customers in the industry, quality control, exceptional developers, and a developed sales channel which made it an appealing fit. In 2001, they launched the first cloud collaboration platform for construction, which is now used by almost all large construction projects.

Steve now works for Dodge Data & Analytics where he focuses on emerging areas throughout the segmented and fragmented industry to glean valuable insights for optimization and forward momentum. His work tracks the work companies, projects, and teams are performing that reliably generates scalable, reliable, consistent benefits.

Strategic Trends in the Industry Steve breaks strategic trends into two categories: projects, and the people/processes that support those projects.

Industrialization is expected to continue ramping up as job sites become more about the assembly of well-designed and pre-assembled components and less about construction. Expect an increase in modularization, prefabrication, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated decision making. There will be big business opportunities as product manufacturers and software companies explore tools and systems that help people make better decisions. Construction will begin to catch up with the other big capital industries out there such as aviation.

The Impact of Strategic Trends on Industry People Strategic trends will move focus to integration and collaboration as teams pull together and take a fresh look at who ought to do something instead of who has always been doing it; shifting to partnership and teamwork over adversarial relationships. How can we as a team make the process better instead of players safeguarding process components at the expense of overall team success? Bringing more LEAN processes into construction will assist this new team paradigm.

Technology skills will continue to be important, although human communication will still be necessary for understanding critical nuances. Machines can replace some manual human efforts which optimistically enhance the use of wisdom, experience, etc. When the computer replaced the typewriter, many feared they would lose their jobs, but jobs actually increased, just in new applications.

One important human element to focus on is the idea of emotional intelligence so that we are empowered to make smart decisions while creating new cultural norms for collaboration; moving away from the traditional adversarial approach which inherently reduces trust, issue resolution, and decision making effectiveness. Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and important as industrialization replaces antiquated methodologies.

Defining Trends that will Impact How Teams Work together over the next Decade How teams take advantage of amazing emerging resources to focus on how groups can better deal with the unavoidable and inherent risk/uncertainty of design and construction will be a huge deciding factor. Teams should consider strategies of risk mitigation that move away from the typical avoid-and-transfer approach to one of understand, embrace, and manage risk/uncertainty.

Predictive analytics will help teams make important decisions towards safety, risk, and development practices. There will be enough integration between technology solutions to support integrated IT workflows that take advantage of AI and machine learning to provide insightful input for decisions and process tweaks at the right times.

Teams will become collaborative units rather than groups of self-interested individuals. The basic tenants of LEAN can be used to articulate project goals leading to a shared culture and what is best for the project.

Examples of How Processes Might Play Out Three studies came out about the best practices for managing risks; what contractors are doing in the field that helps. One of the top methods of identifying risk in advance, as demonstrated by the studies, is by hosting a specific-focused meeting with all key players to kick off a project that addresses risk. Individuals at this meeting have built projects before and come to the meeting with the top five things that they believe will create the most risk on the project. All people are heard, commonality and unique risks are shared, and after the meeting is over the team makes a commitment to addressing the risk elements brought to light and revisit their progress throughout the course of the entire project. This takes advantage of human interaction and collective knowledge; together we know more than any single individual.

Another study went out to 81 major owners (healthcare systems, corporations, government agencies) and asked them to look back over the last five years and identify the best project along with the most average project that took place. Questions such as how they contracted, organized teams, operated teams, etc., helped researched discover common threads. High team chemistry as a component on the project appeared in 72% of best projects but only 9% of typical projects. Team members committed to all of the same goals appeared on 83% of the best projects and only 16% of typical projects. Integration amongst team members (sharing information in a structured way) appeared on 59% of the best projects but only 9% on average ones. Timeliness of decision making appeared on 34% of the best projects and only 9% on typical ones.

These are specific areas that can be implemented on every project. On a company level, it is important not to hire anybody on the team that is not willing to collaborate or who can’t keep up technologically.

Advice for how teams can be more effective in the next decade Become familiar with the principles of LEAN construction and how they apply. Host risk meetings and facilitate clear communication and concerns communicated across team members to understand diverse ideas/needs. Set a clear vision from owners of what success looks like; do not assume that on-time, on-budget is enough to make a project successful.

One study asked owners separate of delivery teams: how frequently are you satisfied with the performance of your team? Conversely, architects and contractors were asked: how frequently will your clients tell us they are satisfied?

There was a 3x factor between percentages that said owners were satisfied vs. teams delivering satisfaction. This demonstrates the disparity between perceptions and highlights the importance of defining what success is going to look like for a project upfront. Do not assume that success is equal across all stakeholders.

What can a leader (owner, design, and contract) do today to be ready for the trends coming? Be ready to keep investing in technology. Laser scanning, modeling technology, etc. will become the new way business is done and it is important to embrace early rather than looking only at short-term ROI.

Actively and consciously invest in your people. There is a talent war going on that, in four different studies, shows the difficulty of hiring and retaining exceptional people. Hire well and invest to retain. Train staff appropriately, provide them with the tools they need to succeed, and consider making technology competency training a part of the formal job evaluation process. It is important to hold employees accountable for being able to function in our increasingly digital savvy universe.

Adopt a leadership culture that allows the organization to “fail successfully.” Create an environment where it is okay to take reasonably educated risks that can tolerate failure.

Practice LEAN principles: plan, do, check, adjust.

"Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it." - John Henry Newman. Go ugly early and try things, especially with young employees.

As a leader, set a clear mission. This is the best motivator for younger people. What makes your organization unique? What connects people to your organization and mission? Leaders must show this as a priority. How is your mission making the world a better place and how are your employees contributing and appreciating that mission in order to get to a deeper level of engagement?

Steve’s Biggest Challenge Earlier in Steve’s career, he was recruited to Burt Hill, a large AE firm, to make the office profitable. Three associates jointly ran the office and didn’t know about his hiring until he walked through the door. Each had been independently lobbying for his new position which created a hostile work environment because they wanted the job. Steve needed to make his presence work with the team, or somehow get rid of them (called “driving out the ambivalence” at Wharton). He committed to making it work, participated in various team building exercises, and worked with each of the individuals to let them know that he admired them, was not there to tell them what to do, reinforced the fact the firm had great projects and capabilities, and that his job was to make each of them successful. This tactic worked and the office grew within 3 years, hiring great new employees and earning excellent new projects.

Best Advice Steve’s first job in an architectural firm, H2L2, encountered a conflict where he wasn’t sure how to handle it. He asked the project manager what to do and she responded “This is a people business. Pick up the phone.” Within 10 minutes the situation was resolved and the client was thrilled. Never forget the importance of people in this industry.

Resource for Listeners Steve has an amazing free resource for all listeners that focused on Managing Uncertainty and Expectations in Building Design and Construction. This project planning guide will help owners and project teams think about risks as they begin building projects and plan to mitigate the uncertainties that are part of the design and construction process.

• The guide is based on original industry research by Dodge Data & Analytics about the sources of uncertainty, recommendations for managing uncertainty and improvement strategies in building design and construction.
• It provides expert advice from owners, architects and contractors based on real data about their experiences.
• It includes a link to a Contingency Calculator that project teams can use to appropriately budget for risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Download the Project Planning Guide for Owners and Project Teams PDF

Additional resources are the SmartMarket Reports on Construction.com.

Contact Steve Jones LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevejones9/

Steve loves to connect people that can help each other.

Parting advice Quoting Norbert Young, Steve’s employer at McGraw Hill earlier in his career, “The ideal is the enemy of the good.” Just keep trying things. It is okay if it doesn’t work out perfectly. If it is better than yesterday and is a good thing to do, do it, and make it better the next day. Relentlessly keep moving forward. Your ability to manifest this is reliant on you and your connections with other people.

Get more of Construction Dream Team Remember Construction Nation, dream teams don’t just happen; they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your entire team so they can learn with you? The more people you have helping, the faster you can build your construction dream team. New episodes drop every Monday morning at 4 a.m. PST. If you want updates on the latest Construction Dream Team episodes, please subscribe to our newsletter, iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting platform.

Enter our Photo Contest and Win a Free Team Lunch If you and your team want to win a free lunch, visit https://constructiondreamteam.com/posters, download and print a poster, take a photo of it with your team, and email the photo to sue@constructiondreamteam.com to be entered to win!

Thank you Steve and Construction Nation, we will catch you next time!

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3 Invaluable Lessons from Rob Schallenberger 1. Trust is critical to effective teamwork. Gauge each and every one of your team members to determine if they are on "full" or "empty" with regards to trust levels; like a gas meter! 2. Invest in yourself as a leader. Read books, attend leadership and self-development seminars, put time, effort, and financial commitment into your leadership development in order to stay one step ahead of the curve and leverage your competitive advantage! 3. Take responsibility instead of placing blame. Many company issues, particularly with teams and employees, can be traced back to leadership issues. Focus on yourself and what YOU can do to improve as a leader to transform your team and organization!

This week, host Sue Dyer interviews guest Rob Schallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Rob is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership and execution. He has trained and coached thousands of people and hundreds of companies around the world (including Fortune 500, Dallas Cowboys, and more!). His work is based on the national bestselling book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders.

Subscribe to Construction Dream Team The following show notes are a transcription from the Construction Dream Team Podcast episode 10 audio interview between Sue and Rob. Please subscribe to Construction Dream Team for the latest episodes on our website, iTunes or Stitcher! We would LOVE a 5-star rating to help us show up in the search engines so more of Construction Nation can listen to industry leaders and experts on their computers, phones, or tablets!

Rob's Leadership Journey Rob and his father Steve started Becoming Your Best Global Leadership 8 years ago, based on decades of research around the question "What sets apart great leaders and high performers from everyone else?" No matter what industry, there are certain people who always rise to the top no matter what situation or circumstance they find themselves in. What sets them apart? What did they do that other leaders didn’t do? Rob and his father discovered the 12 main principles that highly successful leaders have in common. There is such a lack of leadership today, even though it is the greatest predictor of success.

The 12 Principles The 4 Principles of Transformational Leadership Principle #1: Be True to Character

Principle #2: Lead with a Vision

Principle #3: Manage with a Plan

Principle #4: Prioritize your Time

The 4 Principles of Teams and Relationships Principle #5: Live the Golden Rule in Business and in Life

Principle #6: Build and Maintain Trust

Principle #7: Be an Effective Communicator

Principle #8: Innovate Through Imagination

The 4 Principles of Transformational Living Principle #9: Be Accountable

Principle #10: Apply the Power of Knowledge

Principle #11: Live in Peace and Balance

Principle #12: Never Give Up

Details of each principle can be found in the book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders.

The Principle of Be Accountable is particularly relevant for the construction industry. It is much better to work with someone who can take responsibility for what they do and try to fix it rather than someone who blames everything on others and who never takes accountability.

How are the 12 Principles Important in Construction? Turnover is a real issue within the construction industry, coupled with concerns about the employment and talent pool to draw from. The 12 Principles are very important in construction because a lot of the concerns and potential opportunities/liabilities in the industry are leadership based. The 12 Principles are the pathway to becoming a great leader; each principle compliments the other. As a team member, it is much better to have (and easier to trust) a leader who has a clear vision, a good character, and who can prioritize their time properly.

How Organizations Utilize The 12 Principles While developing the 12 Principles, it was clear that they needed to be sustainable so once people learned and utilized them, they would not be forgotten a week later. Rob’s company was inspired by Benjamin Franklin, who came up with 13 virtues. These 13 virtues embodied one virtue such as kindness or patience that he could work on each week, and then repeat when all 13 were finished. During each week, Benjamin Franklin would focus on that specific virtue and incorporate it into his life via thoughts and behaviors.

Rob calls it the “success rhythm”, and they invite teams to focus on 1 principle a week as a team and how to make it actionable. The hope is that over the course of weeks and months, there will be the creation of a "culture by design", the team will be transformed, people who don’t belong there will be weeded out, and the best talent will prove themselves.

The biggest barriers to implementing success are ego and mindset. People with big egos think they have everything figured out and don’t really need help improving or being better. People with closed-off mindsets are also rarely willing or ready to accept change or improvement.

Best Advice Rob Has Ever Received The best advice that Rob has received are quotes: “You will be the same in 5 years as you are today except for 2 things; the books you read and the people you meet”, which ties into, “You will become the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” One of the worst things a leader can do is become complacent and think they are fine the way they are. Rob encourages leaders to read personal development books in order to stay ahead of the competition and focus on continuous personal improvement. We also tend to rise or fall with the ones we surround ourselves with. Great leaders need to be able to engage their team, so being around people who can bring you up is crucial.

Resources for Leaders * Visit Becomingyourbest.com and take the Personal Productivity Assessment * Grab the book Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders * Check out The Transformation Challenge: The 6 Steps to Planning and Execution

Parting Advice “The art is in the start”, you don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great. It can be very hard to just start something, so Rob encourages leaders to focus on starting something that helps them become a better leader.

Construction Nation! Dream Teams don’t just happen they are built one step at a time. Why not send out this episode to your team, so they can help you. The more people you have helping - the faster you can build your Construction Dream Team. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Please head on over to ConstructionDreamTeam.com to sign up for our newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify!

Contact Rob Schallenberger Visit becomingyourbest.com/contact-us to send Rob a message! He and his team will reach out to you!

Free Team Lunch Photo Contest We have a Take a Picture of Your Team and Win a Free Lunch Photo Contest going. If you print, post and take a photo of your team with the Construction Dream Team poster, your team will be eligible for our monthly free team lunch photo contest. One photo will win each month – so be creative!! We can’t wait to share your photo of you and your team!

Download poster

Remember...Construction Dream Team drops every Monday morning at 4am PST. Please join us next week when Sue will interview another industry leader or expert so you can learn how to create your Construction Dream Team!

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In this episode, host Sue Dyer has guest Donna Rehrmann, who is president of Stomper Company Inc, a demolition company that specializes in improvements in an urban environment. Demolition is a highly competitive and dangerous segment of the construction industry.

3 Important Episode Takeaways 1. Create trust within the industry, be honest. 2. Train employees efficiently and provide them with the tools to succeed. 3. Don’t forget about your family and balancing work responsibilities with family life.

The following show notes are a transcription from the audio interview that took place between Sue and Donna. Please SUBSCRIBE to Construction Dream Team for new episodes every Monday at 4:00 a.m. PST. Thank you for your support. Enjoy this episode :).

Donna Rehrmann's Journey It has been a 40-year journey with something new and different every day. Donna’s husband started the company, while Donna was doing books at night and working as a registered nurse during the day. She loved the variety that construction had, so she quit nursing to work for the small company where she did a bit of everything. She has had a leadership role for decades in collective bargaining with different construction crafts. Donna was very scared about signing her first collective bargaining agreement, but once she did it everything fell into place and worked out.

“Stomperizing” Stomperizing is the term used by Donna’s company meaning the training of their people. It involves training employees how to do demolition efficiently and safely, no matter what their initial skill level is. Those who join the team get a lot of training in safety because their main goal is to make sure every employee can go home to their families at the end of a shift.

Donna says the greatest strength of her company is the team members. Once they embrace the culture from “Stomperizing”, they love their jobs and many employees work at Stomper for decades.

Competitive Advantage Donna says the competitive advantage of her company in the industry is performance; her people are willing to go the extra mile and put in the work needed to be fully prepared for a project. They get a lot of compliments on their employees due to the large amount of pride that the Stomper employees put into their work. They always celebrate a job well done.

Family First Donna knows the importance of family in her life. She had learned early on in her career that home time is family time and it is important to take that time.

Best Advice The best advice Donna has ever received was from her husband, “Be honest and don’t BS anyone. If you don’t know, tell them so; do your homework and then get back to them”. Trust is very important in the industry and this can be built by being honest.

Listener Resource The resource Donna provides is the United Contractors website, unitedcontractors.org, and to look at their award-winning magazines.

Parting Advice Donna believes labor and the employees are the most important assets in a company. She suggests that people take the time to train, educate and empower their employees; to trust that they will do their jobs fully and efficiently. The end result is the most important thing, so give your employees freedom on that journey to the end result.

Thank you for enjoying this episode of Construction Dream Team! Remember Construction Nation, dream teams don't just happen, they are built one step of the time. Please share this episode with your entire team; the more people helping, the faster you can build YOUR construction dream team!

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Over the course of ten years, 134 project teams were asked “from your experience, what is it that makes a project succeed?

Over 95% of team members said that good communication was the reason for their success and poor communication was the reason for their failures. Thus, indicating that communication appears to be the key to project team success.

After working with over 2,000 different construction teams we began to identify that, what the teams recognized as a “communication issue” was actually a symptom and not the root cause of their problem. We also concluded, that a team that works diligently to improve “communication cannot make significant improvement until and unless they work to overcome the true root cause of the problem.

From working with these construction teams, patterns emerged into seven root causes of poor project communication:

Root Cause #1: Fear Fear makes team members feel the need to protect their own interests. When we feel the need to protect, we certainly are not going to be open, therefore communication is going to be stifled. Worse yet, our communication is likely to be an argument about why we are right and others are wrong. Letter writing on positions and an inability to solve even simple problems is the result.

Root Cause #2: Misaligned Expectations When the team members each have a different expectation on how things are “supposed to” work you have misaligned expectations. Most often it is over roles, responsibilities and authority. With misaligned expectations, no matter how hard each side tries, they just can’t seem to get together. The team may be “communicating” but understanding is not happening.

Root Cause #3: Confusion Where there is confusion, chaos will break out. Again, this can be over roles and responsibilities, or over processes. When people aren’t sure what they are supposed to do, not only does the team lose productivity, there is chaos and people move around trying to figure out how things are supposed to work. This is true at all levels of the project. If a decision is made but no one understands how it is supposed to be implemented, then you will end up with different people implementing different solutions – leading to chaos and what appears to be poor communication.

Root Cause #4: Loss of Momentum When everyone on the team is not in the boat, facing the same direction, and rowing toward project success; the project loses momentum. The more frustration there is, the more loss of momentum you will have. Frustration is caused when the team goes forward but keeps getting pulled back. Soon the project is behind schedule and communication switches to finger pointing, causing even more loss of momentum.

Root Cause #5: Dissatisfaction Research shows that when project teams look forward to going to their jobs (the level of job satisfaction is high) the project is highly likely to be on time and on budget. When the project teams “dread” going to work, the project is in deep trouble. When a project is not fun to be on, a sense of dread appears, and communication between project team members is strained at best.

Root Cause #6: Lack of Commitment When people aren’t really committed to the success of your project you have “slack.” This is like slack in a rope. You don’t have a strong team focused on what it will take to succeed. Inadequate resources can also cause “slack.” The project team loses faith that they can achieve the project goals. Lack of communication is usually the result.

Root Cause #7: Unconscious Incompetence Inexperienced staff can face a very steep learning curve. Even one inexperienced person in a key role can cause havoc on your project. They just don’t know what they don’t know, so they focus on what is available to them; the specifications, contract, and drawings. They must learn how to resolve specific project issues as they occur. Often, documentation becomes the focus instead of problem solving.

How the Root Causes Play Out on Projects These root causes grow in impact with the size and complexity of a project. The ability to communicate gets more and more difficult as people get involved in the project. When we have two people, there is one line of communication; three lines with three people, six lines with four people and almost two hundred lines of communication with twenty people. So the root causes are more and more significant as your project size grows.

There is a snowballing effect once the root causes begin to create dissonance on a project. What might start out as a small issue, over time will grow into an overwhelming inability to deal with issues in a meaningful way. Over the life of the project, the level of dissonance will continue to grow.

While these root causes can and do show up on any project, the different delivery methods have some specific risks to having the root causes play out of their projects.

Design-Bid-Build Low bid projects are often plagued by fear. Fear mostly surrounds dealing with changes that happen because the designer can’t design a perfect set of documents and the contractor must bid as if everything is perfect. This fear also plays out in loss of momentum, and dissatisfaction when the team feels they can’t stop the madness of rehashing the same issues over and over to no avail.

CMGC- CMR CMGC and CMR projects can have misaligned expectations around roles and responsibilities. This is because people may be new to the method and each CMGC and CMR is unique in how it plays out. So, people come to the project with preconceived beliefs on their roles and responsibilities. Often these beliefs are not in alignment. This conflict plays out without the team even realizing it, because they know what they are “supposed to do.” You may also see confusion and fear grow as the dissonance grows in power over the life of the project.

Design/Build There are many “flavors” of design build and it also can be plagued with the same kind of root causes as experienced on CMGC/CMR. There is a unique challenge for Design Build when the designers are pitted against one another to protect their designs (bridging documents vs being designer of record), while at the same time charged to integrate them into one cohesive and buildable set. This leads to confusion, loss of momentum and a lack of commitment when the team feels they can’t achieve what is needed to succeed.

IPD – Progressive Design/Build IPD and Progressive Design Build both require collaboration to work. So, teams that don’t understand this and bring adversarial approaches don’t realize their unconscious incompetence is creating their inability to succeed. You will see confusion and dissatisfaction grow as the expectation that this delivery method is supposed to provide better results is not met.

P3 Public Private Partnerships are challenged with a multi-headed owner and too often focus on shifting risk through the “contract”. This leads to a lack of commitment to helping the project succeed. The Design/Builder and Operator are left to try and figure out how to make things work sometimes in an impossible scenario. This leads to fear, dissatisfaction, and loss of momentum.

Rooting Out the Root Causes on Your Project Any project can grow in its ability to have open, honest communication. You can’t resolve what you don’t see or understand. A structured Collaborative Partnering process is designed to develop a high trust atmosphere that allows for these root causes to come to light and be dealt with, so the team can grow in momentum and innovation.

Thank you for listening to this Bonus Episode 2 of Construction Dream Team Podcast! If you and your team would like to win a free lunch for the month of February 2019, please head on over to constructiondreamteam.com/posters, download a poster, snap a photo with it and your team, and email the photo to sue@constructiondreamteam.com to be eligible to win!!

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3 Important Lessons from Lou Palandrani: 1. Become adept at the art of listening. 2. Do not neglect the importance of balancing professional and personal responsibilities. 3. Have fun with your projects and teams!

On this episode of the Construction Dream Team Podcast, host Sue Dyer welcomes Lou Palandrani, Senior Vice President of Clark Construction Group headquartered in Maryland. Lou has been with Clark Construction for 34 years and has been in the construction industry for 38 years. He has worked on $5 billion worth of award-winning projects in his career. He graduated from the University of Delaware with a civil engineering degree, and now he is Lead Certified and holds a California Contractors License.

The following show notes are a transcription from the audio interview available at constructiondreamteam.com and everywhere podcasts are hosted (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). If you like this podcast, please leave us a 5-star review! :)

Lou’s Career Journey As mentioned previously, Lou graduated from the University of Delaware with a civil engineering degree. After that, he worked for a large engineering firm but quickly realized that sitting at a desk and doing calculations was not what he had in mind for a career, so he wanted to look into different opportunities. Luckily, his boss at the time saw a lot of Lou’s strengths and personality, especially Lou’s communication skills. He asked Lou what he thought about handling the design and construction ends and Lou was interested. Lou then went to a more construction-oriented company and shifted his focus to Construction Management.

Lou mentioned how it helped to have someone that had an interest in his career early on. Again, his boss at that time saw his strengths and personality and focused him towards a focus where he was dealing with larger teams and where he was on the field. The construction industry is very people-oriented, so it is important to have people skills as well as technical knowledge. Lou thinks it is essential for experienced managers to take an interest in newer employees because it helps maintain the strength of the teams.

Lou started with Clark Construction in Philadelphia, and 5 years in the company decided to expand and open an office in California. Lou thought he was going to stay on the East coast, but has been on the West coast in California for almost 30 years.

Favorite Career Moment Lou’s favorite and most valuable moment in his career was when the company afforded him an opportunity to work on a job in Colorado with a high-end architect. He saw it as an opportunity and decided to try it. He found it was pretty different from Philadelphia. He was then afforded another opportunity to move to California for a project and again it had been very valuable for him. It gave him the opportunity to grow, see different things, learn, understand different methods of construction delivery, and it has enhanced his career and life.

West Coast Vs. East Coast Project Approaches Lou had noticed some differences with how projects are delivered between the 2 coasts. He says that on the West Coast he had noticed a more collaborative type effort and a focus on developing a team. Back East, Lou says they seem to protect their boundaries a little bit more.

Changes In The Industry Lou has noticed how the expertise of the subcontracting community has gotten better. They are now experts and are vital to bringing in ideas and vision to projects. On the other hand, Lou has seen technology limit some of the coordination and thought processes of some of their designers. The other thing that has changed is it is very hard to get young people interested in the trade, and he has seen a thinning of the construction trade field.

Lessons Lou Has Learned Lou shared with listeners that the one lesson he has learned that he wishes he could share across all projects is to be a better listener. Lou says he has become a better listener by gaining experience, biting his tongue more often, and mellowing out over the years.

Biggest Career Challenge Lou believes that balancing your work life with your personal life can be very challenging. You need to have a successful personal life to support a successful work life. Lou remembers for a long time, work was his focus. He remembers one instance where he had a father-daughter dance that he was supposed to go to, but he got involved in a meeting that went on longer than expected and he was cutting it close to when he needed to leave. He realized he wasn’t going to be home on time, and his daughter was very upset. He then had a bit of an epiphany and realized that he needed to do a better job respecting his family and personal life as he does with his work life. Lou also says with technology, it does give us a little more flexibility to balance the work and personal life.

Clark Construction Lou shares that the company he works for started as a family owned business and was originally called the George Hyman Construction Company. There are many Clark Construction offices located throughout the country, with a total of 4,500 employees nationally, and they bring experience, creativity, and teamwork to the projects they are involved in.

Best Advice The best advice Lou ever received was, “It doesn’t matter if a job is $1 mil or $100 mil, there are 100 things to do and you are expected to do them 100% right.” So no matter how big or small a job is, always be on your game and do your best. Be ahead of the curve and keep your eye on the goal from start to finish.

Parting Advice It is important to have some fun when delivering a job. You need to enjoy your job and like what you do. Enjoy being able to see the fruits of your labor.

Resources for Listeners Managing By Influence (book). It teaches you that you manage and influence people by what you do, and what you don’t do, which Lou keeps in mind daily.

Contact Info for Lou Palandrani Email: Lou.palandrani@clarkconsruction.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lou-palandrani-b2000783/

Thank you for listening to Episode 8 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast! If you enjoy this podcast, please download a poster, snap a photo with your team, and email Sue at sue@constructiondreamteam.com to be eligible to win a FREE TEAM LUNCH! We appreciate your support Construction Nation, thank you for all that you do!!

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3 Key Takeaways for Leaders from this Episode 1. Meditation and Mindfulness are exceptional tools for remaining present and aligned with intention while facing the various challenges of leadership within the construction and airline industries. 2. Leadership dedication to partnering and the values of kindness and caring help create a work environment that encourages and rewards creativity, open communication, trust, employee/customer satisfaction, and exceptional outcomes. 3. Leaders don't do. Leaders lead.

Thank you for tuning into Episode 7 Construction Nation! The following notes are a transcription from the conversation that took place between Sue Dyer, president of OrgMetrics LLC and John Martin, retired airport director at San Francisco International Airport. Enjoy!

About John L. Martin John L. Martin was Airport Director at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) from 1995-2016. His leadership leaves a legacy that lives on today. John was present as SFO underwent massive changes including a $3.5 billion dollar capital plan, the iconic International Terminal, and BART Extension.

One of John's colleagues describes his impact as "truly rare to find a visionary in the public sector." John led his organization to become exceptional. John Martin and Sue Dyer have been friends working closely together for 20 years.

How did John get into meditation? John started his meditation practice in 2001 a few months before 9/11 as a way to deal with the stress faced as CEO and as a calling for a more balanced life outside of work.

Meditation practice is one of present awareness. Due to the tragedy of 9/11, SFO lost 40% of their customers and had to lay off 15% of their staff. Meditation helped John focus on facing challenges together with his team during that difficult time.

Incorporating meditation into leadership A big part of meditation is becoming aware of the intentions guiding one's actions. John incorporated basic intentions such as letting go of the past and future to focus on the present, the intention of kindness towards oneself and others, and focusing on caring, compassion, and exceptional outcomes to guide his leadership philosophy and approach.

Meditation in practice John would meditate after breakfast and at the end of each workday which looked to others as merely sitting quietly. Most people probably had no idea but might have noticed the benefits. This involves a sensation of "being in the body"; being present for the emotions and feelings at that moment and staying focused on the intentions of letting go, kindness and caring. There is a careful analysis of one's reactions as you focus on ensuring actions are rooted in positive intentions as often as possible.

Meditation in action For the first 10 years as director, John wanted to be in control of everything - kind of like a superhero able to get everything done. The intention of letting go in the workplace involved letting go of excessive control to trust the staff more.

John supported this intention by creating teams of staff members to look at best practices for serving guests, safety/security, environmental leadership, and creating a great place to work. The team began creating a vision with plans and goals. John realized that the greatest wisdom is with the collective; not from one individual leader. Great leaders recognize the greatest wisdom comes from the team overall. This insight helped create an environment of deeper trust where creativity could begin to flourish.

Kindness in the workplace Taking the time to connect with employees helped foster kindness in the workplace at SFO. John would walk around the airport and make personal connections with the 1800 employees from every field and background. This demonstrated that leadership cared about how they viewed SFO as a place to work. Kindness as a value began to crop up as a talking point in staff meetings. When kindness is present in the workplace, there is a deeper understanding of what people can do to work exceptionally within their jobs while supporting fellow teammates to be exceptional. Kindness goes hand in hand with transparency when sharing information and a willingness to bring forward challenges/problems. The team binds together as they work towards the vision they've created.

How to remain mindful under pressure Acknowledge any emotions you're experiencing. This does not mean shying away from direct communication or harsh realities, but understanding where you stand on the issue at hand and acting with appropriate intention. Sometimes work challenges elicit strong reactions. John would occasionally take a break or go on a walk to let the steam out and feel it.

Making difficult decisions with compassion SFO had to let 150 people (10% of workforce) go after 9/11. John and leadership were clear on the issues at hand and provided services to support those displaced individuals looking for new jobs or transfers wherever possible. For the first few months, John didn't want to take those actions, but after receiving "wake up!" as advice from a trusted coworker, he found a way to make the difficult decision but in a way that was still kind and caring. This approach helped establish trust so people could tell the truth on issues moving forward.

Biggest challenges and how intentions helped Letting go means recognizing and accepting the present circumstance as it is. It is not useful to get caught up being angry or pointing fingers and blame. After 9/11, SFO was in a difficult position. United Airlines filed for bankruptcy and SouthWest closed operations. The airport needed to cut costs and increase international travel. It was leaderships' responsibility to communicate this vision to employees. As this vision became standard practice, it demonstrated that it was possible to cut costs and grow revenue which attracted new business such as Virgin Airline's San Francisco headquarters. It also proved that it was possible to work towards a vision without knowing exactly how to get there.

People started enjoying coming to work. Individual organizations melded into a universal team which created a sense of collaboration. Problem-solving became fun and creative solutions began to emerge. SFO became the first airport to provide innovate seating arrangements, high-end restroom finishes, was the most successful airport in the country for sales in restaurants and shops, featured extraordinary artwork, and even built a yoga and meditation room. When people feel supported, heard, and working for a place they take pride in, they perform better. People want to be part of something exceptional.

Why John is a believer in Partnering John viewed attendance in partnering sessions as a key role of being a leader. Leaders don't do, leaders lead. By attending sessions as a leader, listening, supporting teamwork and open communication; these are key aspects of leadership. It sets the right tone, supports open communication and trust, shows a willingness to step in when there are problems, recognizes who is on board with the project, and by showing commitment and trust to the partnering process, others feel more supported.

Contractor organizations also began to have their top executives present at partnering sessions resulting in improved project outcomes. It is important to have every level of the organization involved in partnering.

Crash of the Asiana The crash of the Asiana was one of the most challenging times in John's career as airport director. He recounts being home weeding his front yard when he received a text message about the crash. John changed clothes and drove down to the airport, seeing ambulances on the freeway. He felt great concern for what had happened. At the time, John knew little about what was going on. He expected to jump in immediately on an operational level but saw that the team was seamlessly working together to save lives and deal with the immediate crisis of that crash (not just operations staff but SF police and fire departments, Federal Aviation Administration, TSA, FBI, customs, border patrol, airline representatives, IT, finance, engineering, etc).

John felt deep gratitude and recognition of the great workplace that had been created to facilitate this trust and communication. His focus shifted to making sure pieces were in place to get the airport reopened as quickly as possible. John and airport officials had a press conference 4-5 hours after the wreck with 100+ reporters at the event. He didn't know all the details, but knew being present and clear about what was going on would help all the viewers, concerned citizens, and passenger family members.

Afterward, SFO entered into a lessons learned phase. The airline became safer and commercial crashes are now very rare in the U.S.

Listener Resources Meditation: John suggests classes with hands-on learning from a teacher with supplemental reading is the best way to learn how to practice meditation. Just picking up a book and reading about meditation is not enough, a teacher is important.

Books:

Partner Your Project by Sue Dyer

Good To Great by Jim Collins (every member of management staff was required to read it at SFO)

Parting Advice Watch and pay attention to insights and aha moments! Let those in deeply and follow them. Leaders don't' do, leaders lead. The less John did, he realized, the better things ran. John's biggest mistakes came from acting on things not consistent with his own instinct.

Workplace environment really matters. Supporting a healthy workplace environment, open communication, and that employees are cared for are massively important.

Actions matter. Actions rooted in caring, kindness, and wisdom that support creativity, exceptional service/delivery, an exceptional airport for guests, passengers, environmental leadership, and workplace environment.

Beneath every action is an intention. Staying in touch with intentions, by checking and rechecking, builds a framework of understanding.

Partnering provides a model for understanding, behavior, bringing people together on construction projects, and as a leader leading the larger organization and airport community.

Be exceptional. Everyone wants to work for an organization that is exceptional.

Get in Contact with John Martin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-l-martin-0bb47b107/

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Welcome to Episode 6 Construction Nation!

Before we get into this awesome episode with Tom Taylor, Senior Vice President at Webcor Builders, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to Construction Dream Team on iTunes or Stitcher and leave a 5-star review! This helps the podcast reach even more awesome listeners and we appreciate your support :D.

The following show notes are a transcription from the audio conversation between Sue Dyer and Tom Taylor. Enjoy!

Tom Taylor's career journey Tom didn't initially expect to end up in the construction industry. While pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree at Michigan State, he worked an internship at a large general contractor. At the end of the 10 weeks, he fell in love with the teamwork, sense of accomplishment, the variety of people, and has been hooked ever since.

Tom started early as a superintendent and moved into project management in the Detroit area. The work he and his team did at that time focused on building schools; a rewarding experience that gave a sense of community contribution. Tom moved to California in 2005 and took a step backward from his director/PM role in Michigan to learn what it means to build in California including seismic bracing, digging 70-foot holes, and more! Tom spent 6 years on the San Fransisco general hospital project and from there moved into overseeing the northern California operations at Webcor the last 2 years.

About Webcor Builders Webcor Builders has been around over 50 years, founded in the San Fransisco Bay Area. They are a self-performing GC with 750 salaried employees and over 1,000 tradespeople. Webcor employs the largest group of carpenters in California. Webcor is a superregional company able to build most things. They are part of Obayashi Corporation, a large international firm stationed in Japan that provides financial backing among other things. Webcor's biggest competitive advantage according to tom is their extraordinary people! They are proud of who they are, what they do, and focus on being a positive force in the community.

Community Involvement Webcor has been involved in community rebuilding for over 35 years. A few examples of job-site level projects that gave back to the community were serving at a local soup kitchen, sponsoring students, and providing employment opportunities to veterans.

Tom's Favorite Part of the Job Collaborating with people on challenges and opportunities to produce exceptional outcomes is Tom's favorite part of his job. He loves the process of brainstorming, asking questions, and getting different perspectives in order to form solutions that no one individual would have come up with on their own.

Tom's Leadership Strengths Tom says his biggest strength as a leader is his ability to support people to draw out the best in them. Asking tough questions, encouraging and challenging people in a way they feel supported and comfortable so that trust can be established. The acronym S.A.M. stands for setting direction, aligning resources, and motivating/inspiring. Motivation is important along with feedback; showing the person they are appreciated and that they add value.

Monthly Construction Scorecard 5 projects Tom has worked with at SFO have used the Construction Scorecard aligned with the process of Structured Collaborative Partnering. The correlation between the scorecard's ability to predict how a project is going to perform has been astonishing. The Construction Scorecard has worked effectively with 5 completely different projects with different stakeholders, variables, and teams.

How does the Construction Scorecard work? It provides the opportunity on a monthly basis for a large portion of the team and stakeholders to score how the project is going and provide feedback on critical issues. It identifies key challenges and opportunities on a regular basis and is transparent. It holds people accountable and offers the space for safe and honest input. It is meritocratic and values the best ideas across the team and stakeholders.

Lessons learned using the scorecard One project at SFO was not doing well in terms of the budget and schedule which was reflected on the scorecard. When Tom and his team embraced the feedback from the scorecard, they were able to collectively make changes that have up to this point produced positive results and gotten the project back on track.

How Accountability Positively Affects a Team Accountability empowers employees. It emboldens them and gives them a sense that their voice is heard. Accountability embraces the key components of building trust such as talking directly, transparency, delivering on results, and keeping commitments. People's energy shifts from challenging, questioning, and doubting others to support: how they can help the other person be successful. It has resulted in a profound shift where people place their time and effort.

What kind of Projects can benefit from the Construction Scorecard? Any project can benefit! Some less complex projects may require less executive engagement, timing, and depth, but it is always helpful to start off with a rigorous and detailed process to make sure you're assessing how the team is performing early-on. If a project starts off well with a plan and trust, it generally will go well throughout. You can scale back the Scorecard as the project proceeds, but it is a good investment of time throughout!

The worst challenge Tom has faced in his career. Tom's worst challenge occurred more than 20 years ago. They were building a new high school at an incredibly fast pace in Michigan with a 16-month timeframe for a 400,000 sq ft. school. Three weeks before the school was opened (the schedule could not be shifted), an elevator tech fell two stories from a ladder and was permanently disabled. Tom remembers being in the elevator with the EMT helping this gentleman out. It was a dark moment in Tom's career that he has not forgotten. Tom relates this experience back to the usefulness of a scorecard and how had the team dynamics been a bit different, perhaps this event could have turned out more fortunately.

Best advice ever received Tom's best advice ever received comes from his dad which is that you must ALWAYS have a positive attitude. As a leader, you must be able to walk into every day no matter how bleak things are and see a positive path forward. You must set the vision, explain to people where you're going, and create enthusiasm as to how you're going to get there -- all of which requires a positive attitude.

Resource for Listeners Thank You For Being Late by Thomas Freidman. This book is an optimist's guide to dealing with the rapid pace of change and how the world is changing faster than our ability to completely adapt and understand the previous version. It shares insightful statistics and teaches how to see change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Get the book on Amazon!

Tom Taylor's contact info LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-taylor-8a232215/

Tom welcomes you to connect!

Parting Advice Be outstanding. The next time someone in the office asks you how your day is going, say OUTSTANDING! You'll be shocked at the positive reaction you get.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Construction Dream Team! Join us next week as Sue Dyer interviews another industry expert so you can build your dream team! :)

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4 Important Lessons To Share With Your Team! * Stop managing and start leading. * Drive out fear! * Build trust. * Don’t let the past predict your future.

(more detail on each of these topics can be found in the show notes below)

The Trusted Leadership Model Download the Trusted Leadership Model

This bonus episode of the Construction Dream Team podcast is here to help you and your team learn tested leadership principles that you can put into practice starting today! Many of our episodes revolve around leadership and it is Sue Dyer’s firm belief that you can’t create a dream team without good leaders. This episode highlights why leadership is so essential along with a different perspective on the topic.

Please subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss an episode! We also are giving away a FREE TEAM LUNCH to teams each month that download and print out a Construction Dream Team poster, hang it in their office, take a picture with the poster and their team, and send that picture to sue@constructiondreamteam.com.

Download a poster, win a team lunch!

For years, Sue Dyer has worked with thousands of different project teams, leadership styles, and different approaches. She has recognized patterns on what works for creating high-performing, innovate teams that generate exceptional results.

Sue’s Definition Of Leadership Most people think of a leader as someone who has authority, position, or status i.e., the person in charge. Sue’s definition is that a leader is someone who people want to follow and that following is 100% voluntary. Regardless of status or position, without people who want to follow you, you cannot be a true leader. People believe in what you have to offer.

Leadership does not only take place at the top of an organization or project but is needed all the way throughout your entire team. Every level and every person needs to become a trusted leader because everyone leads in something, be it a conversation, team, meeting negotiation, crew, etc.

How Sue Began Thinking About Leadership One Saturday, Sue asked herself the question of if she could change one thing about the construction industry instantly, what would that be? Because of her extensive background developing teams, her belief is that the entire industry would improve if we changed how we look at leadership.

The Benevolent Dictator/Trusted Leadership Continuum Download the Trusted Leadership Model

On one side of the continuum, we have the benevolent dictator. This has been the status quo in the construction industry for a long time. We teach people how to become this type of leader who can drive a project and crew in order to get results. This focuses on obedience. Employees stay and obey out of compliance, coercion, and fear.

Sue and her team did research on dozens of teams and every team knew exactly which punishments existed for different behaviors. “Do what you’re told or you’re fired” was a common expectation. The problem with this line of thinking is that people who have the ability to identify and communicate issues and solutions typically don’t, or when they do their feedback is not taken seriously. This robs employees of power and creates a rigid/stagnant culture that does not respond adequately to the challenges of the industry and of projects. On the extremes of this paradigm, organizations can die and projects can fail. This methodology has been in practice for decades.

Sue’s team performed research on mega-projects which turned out to be failures. They found that on every single project they studied (over a dozen), each project went down the exact same path of leadership. Teams knew what the problems were, but didn’t take appropriate action or communicate effectively.

Sadly, construction has been the lowest performance industry for about 50 years and something needs to change. Becoming a Trusted Leader is one tested, sure-fire way to create an environment of high trust which can transform teams and projects for the better.

What is a Trusted Leader? A Trusted Leader is someone who can create a sense of trust within a team that becomes cohesive and transformative. People have a sense of purpose, a sense of mission and togetherness that leads to commitment. This commitment does not come as a consequence of fear or manipulation, but of genuine commitment to the leader, the purpose of the team, and the team’s success. This atmosphere allows creativity to emerge.

Throughout the 1980s, the construction industry focused on total quality management, continuous improvement, and tried to implement things other industries were doing well yet were unable to make them work. Until you create an atmosphere that allows for creativity to emerge, you cannot have continuous improvement and these types of processes work. It’s like having your foot on the gas and break at the same time. Innovation cannot occur without the creative atmosphere in place, and any innovation – be it large or small – is beneficial to the overall health of the construction industry.

4 Steps for Becoming a Trusted Leader 1) Stop managing and start leading Managing deals with transactions – schedules, minutes, material ordering, task delegation. These transactions are necessary job responsibilities that matter, but they are rarely the root cause of whether a team succeeds or fails. We want to lead rather than manage which deals with transformation: engaging people so they become what the team needs instead of just a task performer. Being is more powerful than doing. Focusing on developing a mindset and behavior for success heads everyone in the right direction.

2) Drive Out Fear Some people feel that through authority, they can make people follow. This typically leads to coercion, which in turn transforms into fear. When fear becomes the underlying motivation within a team, you don’t have leadership because no one will volunteer to follow you on their own accord. Fear and trust cannot coexist! The two are mutually exclusive. There must be high levels of trust for leadership to exist. As a leader, you must constantly scan for where fear exists within your organization. Even small pockets of fear can undermine the trust required for success.

In order to combat fear, you must create an atmosphere of trust through dialogue. Dialogue is a special conversation that focuses on understanding rather than talking – you end up listening to what the other person is saying deeply. This helps people get the truth in their minds out into the world. Just because two or more people have differences of opinion or personality, doesn’t mean that anyone is necessarily right or wrong; it just means they are different! Focusing on who is right or wrong creates conflict and stifles people’s ability to feel they have the power and confidence to solve problems. They lose trust in themselves and their ability to work well with others. Only when you allow truth to surface in a safe environment can you deal with issues appropriately and work to understand.

3) Build Trust We’ve asked project teams we’ve partnered with to tell us how much trust exists on the team. There has almost never been more than a .5 point difference between responses. Everyone on a team knows how much trust exists within the team. Trust is your critical path to success. Monitor the level of trust within your team and actively work to improve it. You can do this with a monthly scorecard that measures the level of trust and teamwork – we do this on every project we partner with. You can tell exactly what’s going on with the team and determine where the issues lie. We often measure output, schedule, etc., so why not measure the levels of trust to see how well the team is working together each and every month!

4) Don’t Let Your Past Predict Your Future Many times we just can’t let go of something. Something that happened in the past plays out in our minds and projects itself into the present and future. This projection of our own mind is a great predictor of what will actually happen because we are making it happen! As a trusted leader, you must not allow the past to predict your future. Forge a strong positive vision which has the power to overcome past problems, issues, or failures!

Lack of trust is evident to everyone on a team. Part of creating a high trust culture is by working trust into the policies and transactions carried out by the team and organization. This is most evident in the transactions you have with outsiders. For a sample contract, for example, is there fear built-in? Never ending risk mitigation? You will never be able to cover ALL of the potential contingencies that could happen. Trust cannot be replaced. Don’t allow what has occurred in the past decide the future of your team and of your project.

Keep moving forward towards the Trusted Leader side of the continuum. It can enable you to become the Trusted Leader you strive to be and I want you to produce exceptional results.

Remember, Construction Nation, this is a journey and not a destination, but it is a journey that is worth taking.

What can you do to improve the level of trust in your project and create a trustful atmosphere for your team? Construction dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. Send this episode to your entire team, so we can build more trusted leaders! We hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting and informative episode of Construction Dream Team with your host Sue Dyer!

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3 Important Lessons To Share With Your Team! 1) Adversity is inevitable in the construction industry. As a leader, you must take a step back, look at all of the information, and create a plan of team cohesion and empowerment to turn frustration and finger-pointing into forward action and success!

2) How well do you know your people, both personally and professionally? Taking the time to have open and honest dialogue with your team members will help you tailor your leadership approach to their needs, resulting in higher job satisfaction, lower turnover, and increased employee effectiveness!

3) Be yourself. As you push for ever-greater heights within your career and leadership role, it is helpful to remember where you came from, what makes you unique, and to stay grounded through all the ups-and-downs/success and setbacks you will continue to face to make smart decisions.

Introduction The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that there are over 150,000 unfilled construction jobs. The AGC of America found that 73% of firms had a hard time finding qualified workers. Building a strong team has never been more important and hard to come by.

Today’s guest is Jim Pappas, VP and district manager of Hensel Phelps. Jim joins Sue Dyer in Episode 4 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast to discuss leadership and what his company does to lower turnover and keep their employees for life! The following show notes are a transcription from the audio segment recorded between Jim and Sue. Please subscribe to our FREE newsletter to never miss an episode and receive helpful information on exactly what you can do to build your dream team!

Jim Pappas’ journey into construction Jim grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and loved architecture. He attended Purdue University and was fascinated by all of the tall buildings, feeling that he knew what it took to design them but had no idea how to actually build them. Jim transitioned from civil engineering to architectural engineering with an emphasis in construction management which brought him to Texas where he was hired by Hensel Phelps. Jim has since traveled the country and learned a lot about construction and how we do it across our great nation.

Hensel Phelps has a vision of building iconic buildings across the country. Their employees are passionate about building great things and working with great people.

Jim’s Most Challenging Construction Experience Jim doesn’t view any experience as his “worst” because he believes that it is necessary for someone dedicated to their career to go through adversity in order to grow and become better at what we do. Jim’s most challenging project was a beach-front resort in Florida. The project was 4-6 months from opening and one Saturday Jim got a call saying there was a flood on level 8 of a combination condo-hotel tower that had flooded down all 8 levels into the garage level and water was running onto the street. There much frustration and sorrow amongst the team and completing the project on time was going to be a difficult task. Jim and his team were working 7 days a week, double shifts. Fortunately, the project opened on time and everyone learned a lot in the process, but having that setback happen 4-6 months from opening was heartbreaking.

Leading a Team through Adversity As a leader, it is important to take a step back before making decisions and take information in. You can wonder what you did wrong or what you could have done differently, but that doesn’t solve the problem. You must accept that you are where you are, and gather your team together to begin addressing the issue. In Jim’s case, they contacted the owner with the building’s risk insurance. He then assembled a team to do an assessment and figure out where they needed to go from there. Some people pointed fingers, trying to blame those whose fault it was, but they had to put that aside and come together to focus on the mission of opening on time. Customers had already booked rooms and conventions, and so the team gathered together and developed a path forward. It is important to empower your people and show them what they can do to make a difference.

How does Hensel Phelps keep their people? It starts with doing the right thing. Hensel Phelps is founded upon employee ownership; we share the gains of the company at a level that other companies do not. We incentivize people in two different ways: financially and with the idea of employee ownership and the culture it creates. People realize that their success is often based upon the people they are training; not only what they do themselves, but who else they can train to replicate their job. It creates a culture of ownership and personal involvement. We have a great thing going and want to keep it going.

Creating a Culture of Ownership Any great culture is created through a shared sense of responsibility. Hensel Phelps employees take ownership of their jobs, even it means staying after hours because their focus is on the project’s requirements and not themselves. We motivate people to be a part of the bigger picture; that their job is more than just a paycheck and that their project is more than just a building. For example, building a hospital is important for making people healthy, so opening on time makes it so that more people in the community can be healed and kept healthy. The impact of our employees’ work spans far greater than just a paycheck.

Effective Recruiting and Onboarding Hensel Phelps’ recruiting process starts with an initial campus event (if recruiting a college) and interview. We then bring them to a job site and show them presentations about what Hensel Phelps is about. It’s a courting process where we don’t just choose our hires, they choose us as well. We typically have five senior-level staff interview the people we hire, ask different questions, and see if prospective employees are a good cultural fit. We then onboard them and go through different levels of training and teaching throughout their careers. We have a leadership development initiative program, an emerging leaders seminar, and a women’s leadership seminar. Our leader management system offers three types of training: one-on-one, self-directed, and classroom training. We’ve developed these systems to teach technical expertise along with our culture and company history. We transfer folks, even on a temporary basis, in order to share and display our culture throughout the country. We are a large company, but because of how tight-knit our employees are within the culture, it feels like a small company. Right now we have about 2400 salaried employees and 1200 craft people. We have 8 different districts, a service group, and a development group.

Leadership Development Hensel Phelps develops leaders through their Leadership Development Initiative. This program is for people who have spent 5+ years with the company. We support specific trainings that are soft-skills based: accountability, managing change, communicating effectively, coaching and developing people, and having difficult conversations. We started a doing a survey of all of our employees every two years and use that data to analyze and see where people are at within their careers and what some of the lessons are. There is a lot of technical training within our industry, but there is very little training about relationships and people. We learned that in order to succeed, you have to know your people and develop them into effective leaders. We spend a lot of time working to increase the interpersonal skills of our staff necessary for project success but not necessarily related directly to engineering.

What can you do to create a team and culture like Hensel Phelps? Do you know your people? Do you know what motivates them? Do you listen to what they say? People don’t quit their companies, they quit their manager. You should know where each of your staff is at personally and where they are at within the confines of the project because those two aspects intersect. If you don’t know what’s going on personally, it will affect the job site. Getting the best out of people is often doing what’s best for them overall. We review our employees twice per year and go over their needs and progress in detail. We want to challenge managers to turn B-level employees into A’s and challenge A’s to take the next step and opportunity.

What is the Best Advice Jim Pappas has Ever Received? Jim says that the best advice he has ever received was to be himself, to continue to stay involved and be challenged. Always reach for more, but don’t let it change you. Take what you’ve learned from other people and channel it into how it works for you. Don’t try and be someone that you aren’t; be the best you that you can be. It is also important to stay present. Construction is a very busy industry and it is easy to get distracted, but wherever you are, you need to be there and be present to make a difference.

Resources For Listeners Hensel Phelps website: www.henselphelps.com

BecomingYourBest.com: Steven Shallenberger has developed the #1 Leadership Program in the world to empower your group with the mindset and skillset to become great leaders and build high-performing teams.

Parting Advice Know your people, but also empower them. See what they can do together. We can do more together as a group if we can be open and honest. Also, don’t lose hope when you may have an owner that is against it; always do the right thing.

We hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting and informative episode if the Construction Dream Team podcast with your host Sue Dyer!

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“The quickest way to success is by learning from others who have been there and done that.”

In Episode 2 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast, host Sue Dyer interviews Ivar Satero, the director at San Francisco International Airport. Ivar became a director in July of 2016 and is now overseeing a $7 billion dollar construction program. Ivar has also held positions as chief operating officer and as deputy of design and construction for a $3.5 billion dollar Master Plan. He has learned a lot throughout his various tenures and has a lot of lessons to share.

The following show notes are transcribed from the interview that took place between Sue Dyer and Ivar Satero. Please subscribe to our free newsletter to listen to the audio version and stay up-to-date with new episodes releasing every Monday at 4 A.M. PST!

Ivar Satero’s Journey To Becoming Director Ivar has been with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for over 24 years, the majority of that time involved with construction. He received work on a $3 billion dollar program in the 1990s to transform the airport. Ivar has worked on projects such as Air Train and the Regional Transit System.

After about 20 years in construction design, he got the job as Chief Operating Officer and has gained experience in a wide array of operational aspects at the SFO airport. Ivar has worked for a director named John Martin throughout his career which has opened up many doors and opportunities. John always thought of himself as a director and a developer, which prepared the airport for the future by putting together great teams even through hard times like the recession of 2007 and after 9/11 in 2001. Ivar also has a similar development background and looks towards the future to foresee continuous growth in preparing the facility. It has been a great journey.

On Airports Struggling With Large Programs It helps to have a development background or a chief development officer – someone knowledgeable about development. It is important to build a team as a core success factor because it provides autonomous control and ownership over programs and their development/implementation. Anybody involved in team building needs leadership experience in order to maintain the determination to continue and push through, even when the economy changes and dips.

The best time to build things is during an economic downturn. During the Terminal 2 Project in 2007-2012, Ivar and his team were able to buy more capital – 30% more on a $400 million dollar project that otherwise would not have been available. This was a bold move considering the economic realities of the time period. Ivar believes it is critical to work hard to prepare for the future and the future needs of the facility or construction project. It places everything and everyone in a better place when the external variables change. A lot of other airports suspended their capital programs and have spent the last decade catching up and dealing with the rapid growth of air travel that they did not prepare for.

San Francisco International Airport’s Value-Driven Approach Ivar states that partnering was a big help with the cultivation and implementation of SFO’s values. He and his team focused on developing a strong internal culture during the Terminal 2 Project. They had a 30-month time-frame to get it done, needed to do things differently, and had to keep together a core group of people who were able to prepare for the future.

When talking about what an exceptional project was like in the 90’s, we talked about delivery, budget, and schedule. We did not talk about exceptional outcomes. What makes a project outcome exceptional is that it factors in the stakeholders and other parts of the operation from success on Day 1 of opening to 40 years after opening. A cultural shift was needed for the Terminal 2 Project in order to move in a direction that fostered a partnering culture back in 2010. Collaboration, teamwork, and communication help build trust throughout an organization. We now have a well-defined organizational culture aligned with an extensive partnering program. This allows us to do great projects with exceptional outcomes.

SFO’s Core Values SFO’s values align well with partnering. We are one team and need values each of us can get behind and act through our work. We treat all stakeholders with respect, communicate fully and openly, strive to be the best, are open to new ideas, committed to making SFO a great place to work, take pride in SFO, and all have the desire to contribute the SFO’s success and legacy.

We talk a lot about success and learn a lot from failures. We have found weaknesses which were liabilities initially that we were able to develop into strengths. SFO is a living organism that faces challenging incidences like the crash five years ago. We had no part in the cause of it but found an opportunity through this unfortunate incident to strengthen our safety operations. This added a core value of safety and security as the highest priority. We make sure our employees believe in our values and that their actions align with them – always reaching towards our number one initiative.

Worst Moments & How They Impacted Core Values The aforementioned crash was the worst moment in our history, but at that time Ivar Satero was not acting director. As director, within the last 2-and-a-half years there was an incident where a worker lost his leg. This was a cause for action and a defining moment for our team which led to a new program around ground service equipment monitoring and maintenance.

We now have industry leading equipment and operations. The incident intensely refocused everyone’s attention on safety in every conceivable way. A partnership with a service provider stepped forward with a $12 million dollar investment to improve maintenance, staff training, and wages (due to high turnover prior). Our staff feels safer and more secure about all of our airfield operations and are proud of what we’ve accomplished and the role that they play. This incident brought us together and showed us that we are a team who can mutually solve problems rather than point blame and damage relationships. It’s not about punishment, but understanding and collaboration.

SFO’s values play out every day in the work we do.

What steps can project leaders take to create core values? It all starts with communication; you need to get to know your partners and be transparent. Build trust, have difficult conversations. Work through solutions together, not on your own. Working through issues together builds trust and allows us to use our collective wisdom. A project solution might not be a stakeholder’s solution. Keep the stakeholders by your side during the process of formulating and implementing a solution. Sue Dyer has been a partnering facilitator at SFO which has helped us define aspects of this important process.

Structured Collaborative Partnering You will not be successful with partnering if leadership does not see the importance of it. Ivar sits in partnering meets and lets his expectations be clear. The presidents and senior VPs are required to be present at these meetings to ensure that the values are acted out within their organizations. Leaders have a duty to bring the right people together under the right values for each project.

From a risk management perspective, the small investment in partnering has been instrumental in our outcomes. There are three levels of partnering: The CEO level, the core team (project management), and stakeholders. The results of partnering are undeniable. On a $7.2 billion dollar program, we are 65% bought-out and have $450 million left in reserves. We have not seen a slip in the schedule and have 0 claims-to-date.

International Partnering Institute In order for partnering to work, it has to be broadly implemented and appreciated. Everyone can set up their programs for success through partnering; it has a great effect on big and small projects. International Partnering Institute (IPI) allows you to learn this process and starts by helping you understand your team. IPI is right for you no matter what, even when everything is stacked against you. It’s not just about a beautiful or functioning building/structure, it’s about the work put into it and the leadership. IPI is good for owners who want to implement significant projects effectively.

Ivar’s Best Advice Received “Let your intellect gain supremacy over your emotions.” Move from punishment to partnership. It’s not about being angry because a timeline has slipped, it’s about getting together to do the hard work. Our hotel is a good example. It was 5 months behind schedule 8 months ago but is now opening on schedule.

Recommended Resources for Listeners Good To Great by Jim Collins

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Download the SFO Values Poster

Parting advice Redefine program success in a different “big ideas” type of way. Look beyond the implementation team alone and get to know stakeholders. Have full engagement, collaboration, and partnership among stakeholders. Involve the community and help make contractors feel like they are a part of something bigger. Redefining success is instrumental in bringing things to a more manageable framework rather than just trying to get through it.

Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! We hope you’ll join us next Monday at 4 A.M. PST for another exciting and informative episode of the Construction Dream Team Podcast!

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Welcome Construction Nation! On today’s Episode 3 of the Construction Dream Team Podcast, we are joined by Pete Davos, VP and Operations Manager for DeSilva Gates Construction. He has a fantastic case study of a project team that faced many challenges but managed to stay together and work through it all to project completion. Throughout the interview, Pete shares insights as to what happened and what he did as a leader in order to create a successful project.

The following show notes are transcribed from the in-person audio interview that took place between Sue Dyer and Pete Davos. Please subscribe to our free newsletter for new episodes publishing every Monday at 4 A.M. PST! You can also follow us on social media and your favorite podcasting platforms like iTunes or Stitcher! Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com for more details.

Pete Davos Background & Bio Pete went to San Jose State University as a Civil Engineering student. He worked for an architect and was in a student chapter involved with Associated General Contractors (AGC). Pete got a part-time job working at Piazza construction, finished his degree and began working full-time in the construction industry. He finished work with Piazza Construction after a year to begin a job at Oliver DeSilva which turned into DeSilva Gates Construction, where he has been for the past 35 years. Desilva Gates Construction primarily performs paving services in the state of California.

About The Construction Project That Spent $6 Million On Police DeSilva Gates and Flat Iron Construction created a joint venture on a project on a stretch of Highway 101 to build a new 101 bypass with an intersection and freeway. This project had a million yards of roadway excavation, 15 bridge structures, and was 6 miles long. There were extensive environmental restrictions built into the contract. It was a large complex job meant to take four years.

The first thing we encountered in terms of adversity on the project was people actually living in the trees trying to prevent the clearing of the trees. Until the people living in the trees were removed, the project couldn’t start. CHP had to remove these individuals from the trees somewhat forcefully, but this interference caused delays on the project right off the bat. As soon as the people were cleared, the project ran into a series of problems with environmental protests over the next two years. People would chain themselves to equipment and lay down in front of trucks and equipment. We were forced to use CHP throughout the project’s life as security to guard the site from environmental protestors.

Needless to say, this was incredibly frustrating to the team involved and it impacted the project negatively because they couldn’t get enough momentum to build anything. Before we knew it, we were a year behind schedule. The normal things that constructors are used to dealing with were much different with these “eco-terrorists.” At one point, the protestors rushed the doors of the Caltrans office, damaged the door, and injured some of the staff there. The increased need for security around the site, equipment, and staff caused more struggles working on the job. We had to deal with protestors so often that we couldn’t even talk about the project. Protestors went so far as to camp in drill rigs. The focus of meetings over the first year wasn’t about the project, but about the protestors and issues going on.

How The Project Got Completed DeSilva and Flat Iron Team had worked together in the past. We knew each other well, were familiar with how to work out problems together, and were well versed in partnering. We hired Sue Dyer as our partnering facilitator which helped us reset where our foundation was and refocus on where we were coming from, what our vision was, going to square one, and not getting ahead of ourselves. With the help of a facilitator and the two executive group’s commitment, the project managers began to stay on course and stay true to themselves – realigning with why they were there and what their goals were. They learned to take smaller pieces of the project to wrap their minds around rather than larger ones.

There were several processes used throughout the project that helped us stay on-task and working together effectively. We had monthly meetings to go over issues. When we identified a problem, we brainstormed together to come up with solutions to solve the problem and begin working it. We stayed committed and stuck to our commitments. The executive team would frequently revisit the vision and our achievements. We worked hard to convey this vision and our values to the core team and their staff who were dealing with the issues directly on a daily basis.

Eventually, we got to a point where we decided we weren’t going to worry about the money primarily but worry about the project. This helped us focus on the best solution for the project. Financial considerations were revisited two years later, but stressing about it in the moment was not particularly helpful because it shifted the conversation to money rather than teamwork. We decided to focus on the job, which was a hard thing to do, but money doesn’t actually solve a problem – teams do.

It was important to teach our staff that they were empowered. They were so overwhelmed and felt helpless, but we reinforced that they were empowered to make decisions. Team members didn’t always agree and we had to decide which disagreements needed to be elevated. When we focused on solving problems associated with the project, it became clear that the biggest disagreement was how to deal with the one year of delay. Things also got resolved by considering fair ways to handle disagreements and resolve issues.

By the second year, the team was working together positively and cohesively, finding itself empowered to solve problems. We did our best to do things in a fun manner and reinforce that the construction industry can be fun. Everyone was doing a great job and it helped us move past the hard times at the beginning of the project. A year was shaved off of the project by setting hard target dates, holding each other accountable, and ensuring deliverables did not go past dates set. We reached the conclusion of the job and had a huge team dinner and put together a book about the project with pictures.

What Role Did Partnering Play On Project Success? Prior to this project, we had not heard much about partnering. We developed relationships with our clients and were client-driven. It’s hard to build a project of that intensity without a partnering facilitator to help you stay on course, who doesn’t take sides. Without that, the team would have been drug down further by the issues in the first year of the project and we probably would still be looking to go to court over $10+ million dollars in disputes. We ended up with a PFE and had 0 claims, nothing went to arbitration.

Partnering helped us focus on project success rather than financial worries, empowered the people closest to the issues, established a good executive team to steer the team below, and structured collaborative partnering was essential especially in the presence of conflicts. Having a partnering facilitator made it much easier to have difficult conversations.

One unique way Pete and his team utilized partnering was to get involved with other stakeholders and the environmentalists. This helped us avoid major issues with water board or official wildlife. Partnering is a way of thinking about relationships – the need to work together no matter what. With a good team working smart, good solutions are inevitable.

Resources For Listeners The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive – Patrick Lencioni

This is an easy read, not too technical about two executive companies where one fails and one keeps growing. This book will help you understand what separates extraordinary leaders from ordinary leaders. There are many good examples of how to lead your team.

Advice for Leaders from Pete Davos Work with trusted partners to mutually create a vision for the project; a vision of what success looks like. Articulate it constantly and to the entire team. Partners need to passionately own their vision. Stay true to yourself and your convictions. Do not shy away from difficult conversations. Challenge yourself to do the best for yourself and for your team.

We hope you’ll join us next Monday for another exciting and informative episode of the Construction Dream Team Podcast! Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built one step at a time. You can’t have your dream until you build your team! Visit ConstructionDreamTeam.com for more episodes, show notes, and cool resources!

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Hello Construction Nation! Welcome to Episode 1 of the Construction Dream Team podcast with your host Sue Dyer!

Why start a construction podcast? As the president of OrgMetrics LLC, my team and I have had the opportunity to facilitate partnering for almost 4,000 construction project teams, over the past three decades. There is a collective wisdom in the industry that needs to be tapped into to foster more enjoyment amongst teams and successful projects.

When will podcasts be published? Podcasts are published every Monday at 4 A.M. Pacific Standard Time. Sign up for our free newsletter to never a show!

The purpose of Construction Dream Team Success leaves clues; so does failure. One of the easier ways to improve within your career is to improve your critical thinking by learning from others who have already synthesized important lessons so you can cut your learning curve! In other words, when you learn from the successes and failures of others’, you are more prepared to effectively handle the challenges of our exciting and busy industry!

Our episodes focus on helping listeners know exactly what to do in order to create a high performing project team with extraordinary results. This podcast is a resource that aims to help add excitement and joy into construction and excitement about what your project teams can achieve together!

How Does Sue Know About This? Sue Dyer has been president of OrgMetrics LLC for the past 33 years. Her team has worked, facilitated, and partnered with other 4,000 construction project teams. All of this experience has provided an interesting look into the industry and a chance to work on all types of projects, project sizes, and delivery methods. This has allowed Sue to see the patterns of what works and what doesn’t.

Sue’s goal now is to reach out to people in the industry who have something of value to contribute. By interviewing industry leaders through this podcast, this knowledge can be shared to you! We hope each episode will give you something to learn from or think about, whether it is familiar or has the potential to challenge you to do things differently or to take on new challenges.

This knowledge can help team leaders take their projects to the next level, which will change the industry in a positive direction. There are many innovations and projects get more complex over time, but the biggest difference overall will be made by the individuals involved in each project – as leaders who make things more collaborative and integrated, so projects can be done smarter, better, and faster. Sue will speak with people within and outside of the industry to offer different perspectives. Hopefully, by listening to this podcast, listeners will see a new side of things and learn from others using a different vantage point.

Over time, Structured Collaborative Partnering developed by Sue has created repeatable processes that help teams work more effectively together. Many of the people we interview are familiar with this process. Partnering itself is a structured process that creates the norms of collaboration that allow for the integration and innovation of the team which creates extraordinary results.

Dream teams don’t just happen, they are built! Teams led by trusted leaders who follow a process for breakthrough results. The more I hear and talk to leaders, the more I hear the same things: “We had a structured process, a roadmap we used, a way to stay together, and a way to be accountable to one another.” These are the benefits partnering offers a project team.

My life’s work for almost 45 years has been to help as many project teams in the construction industry that I possibly can achieve true success.

This podcast allows this information to be broadcast everywhere and to anyone. We will learn from project leaders who have been in the trenches and from people who have run organizations large and small because all teams can be learned from no matter the size. We can also catch some lessons from what is and isn’t successful; what was done/how did it happen?

We will explore what we can learn and how we can apply it to our lives the next day, to improve your project team and build your construction dream team!

There is nothing I love more than construction. Building things, the thought and planning that goes into it, and how an idea emerges into reality. The people of the construction industry are the salt of the earth and succeed because of their own making. Construction builds the foundation for our entire society. No industry is cooler than construction!

It All Started With a Fist Fight Sue’s love for construction all started with a fist fight. It was September 1980, I was the new executive director, and it was the first membership meeting for the Construction Trade Association. Dinner had just finished I heard yelling from the men’s restroom. I went over and found out it was 2 members having a fist fight! In this moment, I developed my non-adversarial way. I believed that I could prove to this group that you could be just as successful if not more by cooperating instead of competing. This began a journey over the past 4 decades where I learned you can succeed through cooperation and collaboration, but also consistently achieve things that people thought were impossible! This led to the creation of Construction Dream Team!

This podcast is about making a difference and leaving a legacy. By listening to this podcast, people will learn from industry leaders, experts, and thought leaders so they can immediately take steps to build their construction dream team! This doesn’t require extra time and you can listen while driving, doing chores, or exercising!

Listeners will easily be able to plug into what some say are “the best-kept secrets in the construction industry.” If you think it’s too late, you’re too old, or your project is too far along, we’re here to tell you that it’s never too late to experiment with new ways of doing things or to do old things in new ways!

I love experiments because they require hypotheses – what we think will happen – and then you create a course to test it and learn new things along the way! No matter where you are in your career or organization, there are always ways to improve your team and your team’s outcomes. Some people think they have to wait until everything is just right – the right people, the right time, the right project – but the best time to start is now! Take on small and large experiments as you learn, and we’ll share effective methods for experimenting throughout this podcast. You will hopefully learn exciting ideas from others that you’ll want to implement immediately!

Construction Dream Team is totally committed to supporting you. Please don’t hesitate to share your feedback, questions, or suggestions! Click this link to contact us!

We welcome you to become a part of the community, get our FREE newsletter, and join our Facebook group! We will be a community of people committed to improving the industry and, because it is so fragmented with so many sectors, we believe it is important to come together to build a community of experimenters who want to improve projects and results; experimenters who are willing to learn, try, and try again until we know exactly how to build our construction dream team!

Please join Sue and the Construction Dream Team Podcast every Monday at 4 A.M. PST for new episodes!!!