DARNELL Imagine for a moment a brilliant future for the construction industry. Imagine an industry that is completely service-oriented and customer-focused, where there are zero defects and total customer satisfaction. Imagine an industry where there is trust, communication and teamwork. Imagine an industry where projects are brought in ahead of schedule and well within budget. Why isn’t the industry like that now? How can the industry transform itself? There are many seemingly unsolvable problems but I believe that the root causes relate to something called emotional intelligence. It can be defined as social competence, people skills, or soft skills. After
VLAHOS Sitting on an ocean beachfront watching children building sandcastles, one lesson is clear even to a child: If you build too close to the water’s edge, your work is destined for disaster. When Jean Baptiste le Moyen de Bienville decided in 1718 to establish his settlement, now known as New Orleans, in the swamplands of the Mississippi Delta, little consideration was given to future problems. This lack of foresight resulted in placing yet another American city at risk. When Katrina hit New Orleans, it cut power to the pumping stations and, without a reliable backup system, the city’s protection
Ellis Workers often are blamed for their own fatal falls because there always seems to be a rule that they didn't follow. The victims alive or dead are a convenient target because they can't effectively answer back. Now there is evidence showing that, no matter how careful you are, falls are inevitable with some exposures or hazards. I call these hazards Human Fall Traps, or HFTs, and they typically produce serious injury and death. There is no defense against HFTs because we can't perceive them until it is too late. This is because we are human; a good analogy might
DOLAN Negotiating isn’t easy, no matter what your style is. Negotiating to get what you want takes brains and backbone. You have to think through what you want and the most effective way to get it. And you have to have the moxie to follow through with your plans. You have to go after what you want and to get it you have to be a shrewd negotiator, even while maintaining high ethical standards. Negotiating on a mature, adult-to-adult basis is even more demanding than slipping around and trying to manipulate or trick the people you’re negotiating with. First of
STASIOWSKI Several years ago, when the sole principal of one successful Boston-based architectural firm died unexpectedly, the 26-employee firm closed its doors within a very short time. And this is not an atypical story. Unfortunately, few design firms have a leadership transition plan in place to ensure continuity for staff and clients. Many sole principals generate 100% of the firm’s business. When they die, the value of the firm typically dies with them. The principal who spends years building a firm often values loyalty rather than entrepreneurial spirit in his or her staff, thus leaving no true leaders in the
Waterbury Can rejected bidders sue a municipal government for failure to abide by published standards? Can a government agency require that materials come from local suppliers? As attorneys involved in public works, we know that contractors, suppliers and public works agencies may need answers to these questions. We decided to write partly because some suppliers choose not to meet quality, performance and safety standards and then threaten a lawsuit or otherwise attempt to level the playing field. What can public works officials do to prevent this from happening in their next competitive bid? Most importantly, they are not required to
BRESLIN Due to political, economic and strategic shifts in the marketplace, organized labor faces very hard choices that will reverberate for decades to come. Labor must choose between two starkly different paths. One is to embrace a fundamental change in strategy and structure that leads to new partnerships and increased market share. The other is to stick with the status quo and inertia, leading to unions’ final demise and irrelevance. It is my view that the successful retooling of unions can provide significant added value to our industry. But it is incumbent upon them to embrace the principles of a
Persinger Can a bid require that materials be made in America? Do public works agencies have to accept materials that don't meet bid specifications? Can an agency adopt safety specifications, even if they limit potential project bids? As attorneys involved in public works, we have some of the answers and they might surprise you. We decided to write partly because some suppliers choose not to meet quality, performance and safety standards and then threaten a lawsuit or otherwise attempt to level the playing field. What can public works officials do to prevent this from happening in their next competitive bid?
BURNS It took the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and a 300% increase in construction to support the war on terrorism for me to look at the project delivery process in a new way. That increase was on a $500-million existing construction program I inherited that was over budget and over schedule. So I seriously needed to improve our process and better partner with architectural, engineering and construction firms to face those challenges. The key was looking at project delivery as interlinked steps, realizing each step influences the success or failure of the next. At an airport last year, I
GENBERG You, the company’s regional director of sales, are sitting at your desk when your good friend and colleague Joe, visibly upset, tells you the "operations guys" are complaining that "sales" underbid the project, "as usual," and operations won’t "take the hit for it this time." You, of course, find these remarks not only inaccurate but defamatory. With poor Joe shaking in front of you, and your own career suddenly shaky, you spot justice two feet away: your computer. All you need do to keep this outrage from gathering steam is to blast the historic incompetence of the operations team.
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