One of the core beliefs of Continuum Advisory Group is alignment. Put simply, alignment is all stakeholders in an organization being on the same page. Sometimes its scope is smaller – a two-person partnership, a business unit, or a project team – but the ideas of uniformity and consistency remain the same.
In construction, such alignment is particularly important. Our projects require communication with dispersed internal departments and external vendors, many of whom don’t operate within the same processes.
Today we’re discussing a successful story of alignment, this one from the petrochemical sector. It comes courtesy of Petrochemical Update, and begins in Mexico.
Welcome to Spring. How’s it feel?
Pretty good for most of us, we’d say. Things are looking up for the building industry: this year, 73 percent of construction firms expect to hire new people to address demand. It’s a hopeful environment, a reassuring one.
And while you should stop and smell the roses, you should also look forward. An upward-trending year is the perfect time to examine your situation and plan for the year ahead. Much like how New Year’s is the perfect time to set a resolution.
And like New Year’s, such plans often fail to bear fruit. Why, and what can you do? In a new article for Builder, Clark Ellis – principal at Continuum Advisory Group – explores that dilemma.
Looking at organizational agility is like looking at a spider web. The first level of observation is an entire, beautiful creation, a single unit. It’s just there; you don’t think much about how it was actually built. But look closer at the linkages and threads, and suddenly it seems impossible to create.
Micromanagement of your organization is both impractical and undesirable. You can’t build every corner of it yourself, but you can build the builders. We think our three strategies below – based on the results from our 2016 CURT Owner Trends Study – can help.
It’s important to note that this framework, like the agility it aims for, is not absolute. Your organization has its unique idiosyncrasies. But these should get you and your builders moving in the right direction.
Scanning and Planning
Successful interviewees for our study have one thing in common: vision. While day-to-day operations and lean processes are important, they keep their eyes on possibilities. Kim Flowers (former VP of New Generation Projects and Construction for Southern Company) highlighted Southern Company’s scenario planning team, a group of people who envision and plan for hypothetical futures. If one of those futures comes true, Southern Company is ready to act.
Continuum Advisory Group Releases 2017 CURT Owner Trends Study:
Excellence in Total Project Performance: Differentiating High Performing Owners
Continuum Advisory Group has released the 2017 Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) Owner Trends Study, the newest installment of their Owner Trends series.
The study – a collaboration between both organizations – focuses on excellence in total project performance in the capital construction industry. Through this research, Continuum Advisory Group and CURT sought to understand the challenges facing owners related to optimizing capital program delivery and to delve into how owner A/E/C partners can understand these issues and collaborate on solutions.
The purpose of owner E/C/F (Engineering, Construction, and Facilities) teams may seem obvious: build stuff so that business happens. You wouldn’t be wrong, in the same way that a computer’s purpose is to “do math fast.” The strategic benefits of that team can be harder to identify. Continuum Advisory Group recently completed a study to uncover these benefits and interview people changing the relationship between E/C/F and the internal clients they serve. Above all, we want to show others how. In our new blog series, we’ll be exploring the results of the study in greater depth. Each blog post is focused on one of the eight identified themes from our interviews with 35 diverse corporations.
In a previous installment, we discussed proving the value of your capital program, specifically as it refers to the bottom line. Today our focus narrows from the impact of your program as a whole to the impact of individuals. Because not only should you know their impact, they should, too!
The Devil Is In the Details
Our interviewees emphasized client inventory of your capabilities. Your internal clients may not even know what to ask of your department, so you may have to answer the question before they ask it. It’s your responsibility to let clients know what you can do.
More specifically, it’s important to go beyond the general. “We’re flexible” or “we can adapt” are mere generalities. If you have a guy on your team who can explain complex concepts in elementary terms, advertise him! If there’s a woman who can make stubborn contractors listen, let people know about her! Putting your capabilities in succinct, easily understood terms will sound much more useful.
The purpose of owner E/C/F (Engineering, Construction, and Facilities) teams may seem obvious: build stuff so that business happens. You wouldn’t be wrong, in the same way that a computer’s purpose is to “do math fast.” The strategic benefits of that team can be harder to identify. Continuum Advisory Group recently completed a study to uncover these benefits and interview people changing the relationship between E/C/F and the internal clients they serve. Above all, we want to show others how. In this blog series, we’ll be exploring the results of the study in greater depth. Each blog post is focused on one of the eight identified themes from our interviews with 35 diverse corporations.
In our previous installment, we looked inward. We talked about knowing what individuals can contribute, of taking inventory and articulating value. Today we’ll continue some of the navel-gazing, but we’ll also look outward at your competition. Let’s learn how to benchmark.
Know Yourself
Benchmarking does start internally. A large struggle of E/C/F teams is gaining a seat at the strategic table, a place in the boardroom with the numbers people and decision-makers. That does require an ability to articulate the strategic value of your department in solving business needs.
Our interviewees emphasized the importance of metrics. You should measure yourself against previous successes, both your own and those of other departments. But internal benchmarking is inherently limited, because those successes are won with existing rules and thought processes. If you want benchmarking to create breakthroughs, you need to look outward.
A few weeks ago, between a series of meetings with a homebuilder client, I was asked if I wanted try out their virtual reality prototype, which involved me donning a pair of heavy goggles and clumsily shuffling around within a 10’ x 10’ open space. The open space, of course, was reality. But what I was seeing through the goggles was the living room of one of their best selling house plans. On the horizon was a beautiful, scenic mountain range, which could be easily enjoyed from the fashionable L-shaped couch that I was virtually standing beside. From a stationary position, I could rotate in a 360-degree circle to see the kitchen, covered porch, downstairs bathroom, stairs, and the entrance to the 1st floor master bedroom. From the master bedroom, I could walk around the bed, check out the master bathroom, and even take another look at that mountain range. Perhaps the coolest part of this experience came from the upstairs hallway, where I could approach the banister of the stairs, bend at the waist, and see the downstairs foyer. While not available on this particular day, the ultimate end product will include the option to change everything from the color of the walls to the structural layout of the house. You’ll be able to build your dream home and experience it, just at the small price of wearing a bulky set of goggles.
