Darren Smith's Blog

More Light is Shed on Our Collaborative Future

2012-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

I was in Austin recently for a conference on Public/Private Partnerships (P3). P3 enables the private sector to help public sector entities such as federal, state and local governments build/maintain public facilities (i.e. courthouse) and infrastructure (i.e. bridges) by bringing ideas and creative financing.

The public sector has no money (and won't for the foreseeable future) and will still have needs that must be addressed somehow.

Here's what's coming with the use of P3:

The public sector will have to re-think procurement. The low bid won't always work because they won't be controlling the money
"Value for Money" replaces "Low Bid" as the driver of decisions
Ideas matter and ideas are qualitative. You won't be able to compete only on quantitative metrics. Qualitative metrics will have to be considered. Qualitative metrics added to traditional quantitative metrics will create new competitive advantage.

Strategically Thinking About Your Trust Rating

2012-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

What if, on a scale of 1-50, you knew how much your organization was trusted compared to others?

Would knowing your "trust rating" be more valuable than earning a spot on "Best Places to Work" or "50 Largest Companies in your Industry?" My response would be "yes."

Your "trust rating" is becoming a new form of currency in the collaborative world of today, BECAUSE TRUST IMPACTS YOUR ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES AND REVENUE.

Due to your clients’ increased intolerance of waste and uncertainty, trust is now monetized.

Now, let’s consider how you would begin to codify a "trust rating" system and apply it to strategy. Suppose we use the architecture, engineering & construction (AEC) industry as an example.

How would you begin to codify a "trust rating" system for the AEC industry?

You would begin by working through an objective third party and ask individuals in the industry (e.g. CEOs, project-level professionals, building owners) on a scale of 1-50 how much they trust the owner, architecture, engineering and contractor organizations on a list. Everyone on the list agrees to complete the blind ratings for everyone else.

Similar to a personal 360-degree feedback process used in executive coaching, your organization receives the high-protein feedback needed from peers and clients in order to make internal behavior change. This behavior change translates into a higher "trust-rating" which leads to receiving access to higher-quality project opportunities.

At this point, some people reading this article are thinking – "Forget it. A trust rating system will never work…."

It will work if you use a lot of "carrot" (positive reinforcement) and a little "stick" (consequences).

What does this mean? The carrot is educating the AEC industry, region by region, how a "trust rating" system will help the industry reach two of its goals:

1. raising the level of professionalism in the industry and

2. attracting more talent to the industry

The stick is publishing a trustworthy ‘top 10’ list. If your organization did not make the list, while it may hurt a little, no one knows if you’re #11 or #111 and you’re more motivated to improve.

Armed with the lowest, highest and average "trust rating" scores, along with support options to improve, what would be the competencies your organization would need to improve?

• Self-reflection

• Skilled listening

• Drawing needed outcomes out of communication messes

• Intrapreneurism

Let’s go one step further. How would a "trust rating" apply to strategy?

While your business objectives and strategies are probably quantitative (e.g. you want to generate 400 million in revenue in 2012 by expanding geographically), what if, for example, you added a qualitative strategy, (e.g. increase your collaborative capability or trust rating)?

Increasingly, competitive advantage in the AEC industry will be created through qualitative strategies. Quantitative strategies alone will not keep you competitive even IF your market is 100% hard bid work.

To illustrate, if trust impacts your access to opportunities and revenue, which is more predictable, satisfying and likely today? Achieving your objective of generating 400 million in revenue by expanding geographically or improving your trust rating and then generating 400 million in revenue in your current market(s)?

Looking back, a lot has changed over the last several years and will continue to change at increasing speed. Do you see your "trust rating" changing at increasing speed?

What You Can Learn From Door Dings

2012-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

I learned a lesson from my school-age children recently.

We had a problem with them opening my car doors in the garage and dinging their mother’s car. At first, like most of us, I didn’t think I was part of the problem. I proceeded to try to “fix” my children by teaching them how to slowly... and carefully... open-the-car-door.

Then I realized; what if I started with myself in order to solve the problem? I now stop my car outside the garage and let my kids out. No more door dings….

Miami Vice

2012-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

I was at a business meeting in Miami Beach this week and I followed my routine of connecting with the city I find myself in, even if only for two days.

Here's the routine:

Take a walk, bike ride or run wherever you are
Visit a significant landmark (in my case I go to daily Mass at a Catholic Church at least once wherever I am in the world)
Eat lunch at one of the better restaurants (it's easier to get a reservation and it's a better value for the same food they serve at dinner)

This routine is sustainable and makes life rich. While traveling, how many times have said to yourself - "Oh, I'll be back here again sometime." I know I have and life changes. I have no regrets, becuase of my routine.

Living Very Large

2012-02-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

While it's all relative to where you stand economically and geographically, how much is too much?

In the Wall Street Journal today there is an article about a small cadre of very wealthy people that are building bigger houses than ever before while the average size new house being built in the U.S. has shrunk from ~2500 square feet to ~2300. The big houses featured in the article were all more than 50, 000 square feet.

Hmmm.

We all do things because it makes us look good and/or feel good. Do these big homes really do either for their owners? You're just like these big home owners (only they might have a few more zeros added to the end of their bank balance amount). Put yourself in their shoes. How would you answer?

How Big is Your Question Vault?

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

In business, what if you had a question vault equivalent to Bob Hope's joke vault?

To comedians, jokes, stories and quotes are valuable and worth protecting and preserving.

Bob Hope was arguably the most successful comedian that ever lived. Over the years Bob Hope employed dozens of writers to create material, including jokes to use in his famous comedy routines. The jokes used as well as those not used were categorized by subject matter and filed in cabinets - in a fire-proof and theft-proof vault in his office next to his residence in North Hollywood, California. Bob Hope could access this "joke vault," his personal "cache of comedy" to create comedy routines for "live," radio and television appearances.

You may be thinking - Why can't I just keep doing what I'm doing? Organizing my questions and asking them more deliberately looks like more work for marginally better results...

What if:

you could think bigger? - whenever you ask a question, more than likely, you will receive an answer. Whenever someone else talks, you have a chance to learn something you didn't know.

you could act faster? - asking better questions helps you vett opportunties and gain confidence that what you are doing is your best option.

you could realize better results? - Questions create options. The person with the most options will make the best decisions more times than not.

Let's experiment and find out what kind of results your question vault can generate. Here is a link to categories of questions for you to use to start your question vault.

Instead of piling-on more questions for the sake of asking more questions, what your question vault really does for you is help you form the habit of asking questions where you weren't before in addition to increasing your skill with questions.

Choose a few categories that you would use most and learn those by memory, or at least keep them easily accessible. The other questions are categorized and you know where to find them when you need them. Better yet, when you encounter a good question, you have a place to put it.

The idea of a Question Vault is no laughing matter. By the way, the entire "joke vault" - 85,000 jokes, has been digitally scanned and is available at the Bob Hope Gallery of Entertainment http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope .

Your Question Vault "Starter Kit"

This is a list of several dozen powerful questions of the several thousand questions I have in my question vault.

Open-Ended Questions (begin with):

What if...?

Are you open to considering...?

What action could you take to demonstrate movement or commitment toward your objective?

What action could you think about taking to reach your objective?

Tell me more / Why do you say that?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Leadership:
1. Tell me about a time when you accomplished something significant that wouldn't have happened if you had not been there to make it happen?

2. Tell me about a time when you were able to step into a situation, take charge, muster support and achieve good results?

3. Describe for me a time when you may have been disappointed in your behavior?

4. Tell me about a time when you had to discipline or fire a friend?

5. Tell me about a time when you've had to develop leaders under you?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Initiative and Follow-through:

1. Give me an example of a situation where you had to overcome major obstacles to achieve your objectives?

2. Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long time to achieve or that you are still working towards?

3. Tell me about a time when you won (or lost) an important contract?

4. Tell me about a time when you used your political savvy to push a program through that you really believed in?

5. Tell me about a situation that you had significant impact on because of your follow-through?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Thinking and Problem Solving:

1. Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, define key issues, and respond immediately or develop a plan that produced good results?

2. If you had to do that activity over again, how would you do it differently?

3. Describe for me a situation where you may have missed an obvious solution to a problem?

4. Tell me about a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventative measures?

5. Tell me about a time when you surmounted a major obstacle?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Communication:

1. Tell me about a time when you had to present a proposal to a person in authority and were able to do this successfully?

2. Tell me about a situation where you had to be persuasive and sell your idea to someone else?

3. Describe for me a situation where you persuaded team members to do things your way? What was the effect?

4. Tell me about a time when you were tolerant of an opinion that was different from yours?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Working Effectively with Others:
1. Give me an example that would show that you've been able to develop and maintain productive relations with others, though there were differing points of view?

2. Tell me about a time when you were able to motivate others to get the desired results?

3. Tell me about a difficult situation with a co-worker, and how you handled it?

4. Tell me about a time when you played an integral role in getting a team (or work group) back on track?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Work Quality:

1. Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was well received. What do you attribute that to?

2. Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was not well received. What do you attribute that to?

3. Tell me about a specific project or program that you were involved with that resulted in improvement in a major work area?

4. Tell me about a time when you set your sights too high (or too low)?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Creativity and Innovation:

1. Tell me about a situation in which you were able to find a new and better way of doing something significant?

2. Tell me about a time when you were creative in solving a problem?

3. Describe a time when you were able to come up with new ideas that were key to the success of some activity or project?

4. Tell me about a time when you had to bring out the creativity in others?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Priority Setting:

1. Tell me about a time when you had to balance competing priorities and did so successfully?

2. Tell me about a time when you had to pick out the most important things in some activity and make sure those got done?

3. Tell me about a time that you prioritized the elements of a complicated project?

4. Tell me about a time when you got bogged down in the details of a project?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Decision Making:

1. Describe for me a time when you had to make an important decision with limited facts?

2. Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision?

3. Describe for me a time when you had to adapt to a difficult situation. What did you do?

4. Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision?

5. Tell me about a time when you hired (or fired) the wrong person?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Ability to Work in Varying Work Conditions (stress, changing deadlines, etc.):

1. Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure?

2. Tell me about a time when you were unable to complete a project on time?

3. Tell me about a time when you had to change work mid-stream because of changing organizational priorities?

4. Describe for me what you do to handle stressful situations?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Delegation:

1. Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively?

2. Tell me about a time when you did a poor job of delegating?

3. Describe for me a time when you had to delegate to a person with a full workload, and how you went about doing it?

If You're Looking For Behaviors that Revolve Around Customer Service:

1. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer?

2. Tell me about a time when you made a lasting, positive impression on a customer?

Business Writing - The Most Important Point

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

The most important point of business writing (letter, memo, blog, publication article, etc...) is to be read by the reader, so make it engaging.

Pearls of wisdom from a colleague of mine - Sally Strackbein.

1. pick one topic

2. tell a story related to the topic

3. make your point

4. make it short

Common sense stuff that's worth repeating...

What you want vs. what you need

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Bonds backed by student loans aren't selling. The ones that ARE selling are the ones where the gap between tuition costs and wages earned after graduation are widest (return on investment).

Theat means don't go to law school or private schools right now. It means more practical investments like certificate programs and very specialized conferences or training. In other words, educational options that are easiest to convert to new revenue.

To support this point of view, bonds consisting of vocational school student loans ARE selling.

Not Pefection, Additional Success

2012-02-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

Leadership is being 80% sure and moving forward.
Almost any strategy will work for you. Its the execution that counts.
In business development it is consistently doing outbound marketing at some level everyday.
Collaborative coaching is the norm, directive coaching, like football coaching is the exception.

Timing - It's Now or Never

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Every four years or so the grade school calendar and Christmas allow for about 10 days of Christmas vacation before Christmas Day.

My wife and I decided to "go for it" and packed-up in the minivan with our five kids and drove to Disney World to enjoy the parks at a special time of year when they are decorated beyond the extraordinary standard Disney is known for achieving and avoiding the "Christmas rush."

Granted, there were alot of reasons to keep us from going, the expense, the craziness of traveling with five young children, etc... Never again though were all five children going to be at a "magical age" for Disney - 11 years old, 9, 6, 4 and 2 1/2.

It reminds me of one of the 80/20 principle "top 10" high-value uses time. If it's "no or never," it's always a high-value use of time.

We were rewarded with very special memories, especially a journal we kept of our 21-day, 4,200 mile journey together (by the way, after driving from Dallas to Orlando, we drove to see my wife's father for Christmas in Sturgis, Michigan and then back to Dallas).

Successfully Integrating Gen-Y and Millennials into Your Organization

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Constructech Magazine, September 2011

Successfully Integrating Gen-Y and Millennials into Your Organization by Choosing Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) as Your Culture

By Darren Smith

We’ve all heard it from our colleagues. “Those recent college graduates expect to be given a shot at the CEO’s chair within five years. Gen Y and Millennial team members think they know everything.”

Is that really what Gen Y and Millennials are communicating? Maybe we should think deeper about this…. Maybe they only want their intuition acknowledged and to be included in collaborative efforts.

Consider this:

Gen Y is the first generation to grow-up sharing files, video games and knowledge… their mindset is collaborative. Their mindset is "we" instead of "me." This shift in mindset is well portrayed by how our relationship with automobiles has evolved in just the last decade:

- Car ownership (Baby Boomers and Gen X) – www.gm.com to

- Ride sharing (Gen-Y) – www.zimride.com to

- Car sharing (Millennials) – www.zipcar.com to

- Person to person car rental (The Next Generation) – www.whipcar.com

In addition, collaboration is not only the mindset of Gen-Y and Millennials, collaboration is the future of business (including architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) business). IPD is a collaborative behavior standard. Choosing IPD as your culture helps you successfully integrate Gen-Y and Millennials into your organization as well as evolve the way your organization does business. IPD is “how” AEC organizations can collaborate and evolve.

If we are going to use IPD to support collaboration in our organizations, then we need to define IPD and how it can help us.

What an IPD Culture Is and Is Not

What an IPD Culture is:

- Mindset – we all wear the same uniform. We are all on the same team.

What an IPD Culture is Not:

- It is not LEAN – LEAN is about deleting wasted movement from a work process. For example, when swimming (freestyle), you could turn your head as far as possible out of the water to take a breath. Another option is to only turn your head slightly until your lips are just above the water line to take the same breath. Choosing the second option deletes wasted movement from the process of taking a breath while swimming freestyle.

- It is not Partnering – In partnering, the best interest of the project is not the focus. The focus is on the interests of the members of the partnership. These are two completely different focuses.

- It is not “what you’ve been doing for the last 20+ years.” There are many organizations that have IPD behaviors scattered around inside their culture anecdotally, but not in an organized manner captured on a piece of paper. If an organization’s culture is based on IPD, then those behaviors need to be on paper, or it’s not real.

How IPD can help integrate Gen-Y and Millennials as well as other generations present or yet to come:

• First, install channels for collaboration. Here are a three ideas:

- Know Everyone’s Personality Type – this is a basic idea that works and always will work with every person in the organization. You don’t have to be perfect. You just need additional success collaborating with those around you. Knowing personality types and how to work more effectively with each other to win a few extra “yeses” goes a long way.

- Know How Your People Feel Appreciated – not everyone likes a thoughtful gift. Some prefer words of encouragement, a caring handshake, a helping hand or some quality time together. You may have thought a gift card was the perfect way to acknowledge someone for the extra effort on the last project. In reality, that person may have found more value in a breakfast meeting, during which you discuss their professional development and deliver feedback.

- Know What Type of Communication Works – examples are monthly reflection surveys, annual town hall meetings and shared learning from previous projects.

• Next, introduce IPD behavior standards. Behavior standards include:

- Powerful Questions – they are the fuel of meaningful conversations. Questions help you talk with someone instead of at someone. Questions project a conversation on the other person, which is always positive. Everyone’s favorite radio station is WIFM radio (what’s in it for me) and they never tire of it. The more questions we ask, the more the other person hears their own voice and the more we learn. When we make statements, the focus is on ourselves and we hear things we already know.

- Listening – Here’s a quick listening tool kit – 1. Echo listening, 2. Reflective listening, 3. “Tell me more” listening and 4. Turnaround listening. Echo listening is repeating the last few words of what the other person just said and nodding your head for them to continue. Reflective listening is refraining from saying anything as to avoid interrupting the other person. “Tell me more listening” is using this phrase to prompt the other person to continue talking once they have come to a natural stopping point. Turnaround listening is redirecting the onus to speak. Someone invites you to speak first and you graciously ask them to go first using the same words they used to invite you.

- Coaching Skills – Follow a coaching model in your conversations when appropriate – establish an objective for a conversation, co-create a strategy to reach the objective, identify obstacles to reach the objective (and what needs to be done to remove them) and create helpful accountability's to support movement forward towards the objective.

- Skill with People – after food and water, what people CRAVE the most is respect. Skill with People creates ample respect. Learning how to set tone, critique and win more “yeses” are three examples of IPD behaviors in an IPD tool kit of standards. These behaviors are easy to incorporate and can become as natural as breathing (with some practice). Similar to learning how to ride a bike, you learn how to reach an IPD behavior standard and you never forget.

In closing, everyone agrees it takes more to compete and win in business today than a few years ago. Competition used to be you and your idea against the other person and their idea. That's not good enough anymore. Now, you must combine your idea with the ideas of others (including Gen-Y and Millennials) to beat the other person and their idea. That collaboration between team members in different parts of your organization as well as different generations is now a necessity.

Choose IPD as Your Culture, Not Just One of Your Delivery Methods.

Value of Permanent Behavior Change

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

It takes up to a year for an adult to make a permanent behavior change.

I support collaborative project teams by helping them replenish the well of resolve they draw from to keep collaborating over many months filled with challenging situations that sap their resolve.

I also help them with their collaborative awareness, values, skills and behaviors. If they have collaborative awareness and values, but no skills and behaviors, they can't act. If they have awareness, skills and behaviors, but no values, they don't care to act and if they have values, skills and behaviors and no awareness, they don't know to act.

By helping collaborative project teams marshal their collaborative skills and behaviors to create expanding pools of meaning, they can make mole hills out of collaboration-flattening mountains of challenge that can suddenly appear.

Prepare to be prepared to solve challenges with collaboration.

Lack of trust costs money. Just look at our costs for insurance, contingency and man hours doing paperwork.

We Can’t See the Collaborative Forest for the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Trees

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

As seen on http://www.ipdchannel.net/, October 2011
Written by Darren Smith, CEO, Cima Strategic Services

Has someone, acting as both judge & jury, ever proceeded to sentence you to the island of “You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About?”

A colleague tried this on me recently. My colleague thought he knew enough about IPD to certify (figuratively speaking) those who claim to know something about IPD. Well, who’s certifying this certifier?

Once a definition is established (in this case IPD), we tend to become dangerously stuck on it and fail to see the collaborative forest for the IPD trees. Our industry may be at that point.

Let me explain. The Wikipedia definition of integrated project delivery is “a collaborative alliance of people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction.”

Can anyone reading this article explain to me what this definition means? I still don’t know what I’m going to receive if I use IPD as my delivery method. In other words, some sort of upfront costs (at least extra work) are clear and the benefits (at the end of the project) are vague. If I’m an owner, it sounds like more risk on the face of it.

My colleague referenced above believes this Wikipedia definition of IPD is the standard. Anything else is wrong.

I propose the construction industry use a more practical definition of IPD, one that is not construction-related at all, one that more people (owners, construction professionals, suppliers and users) can relate to and act upon easily. The Wikipedia definition is technical, product and process-focused in the vein of BIM and LEAN. IPD is none of those. IPD is simply a behavior standard.

This Wikipedia definition of IPD flies in the face of something a colleague of mine, Alan Weiss, and I agree on and he wrote about recently:

Cutting to the Chase

People don't want to have to interpret a strange language. ("We operate in the sales space, focusing on connectedness and authority with subordinated client needs.")

People want to know what’s in it for THEM. This is not a bad philosophy for social, civic, and family relationships, as well. But it is vital and essential for business.

Practice being both concise (taking fewer words) and pithy (using powerful words) to convey your meaning. Understand that others are adults, and are capable of asking questions if they need more information.

Start at the conclusion, you’re not a mystery novel. Tell me what you can do for me quickly and cogently and enticingly. Then leave it to me.

The current definition of IPD is strange language. It is not concise or pithy and it doesn’t convey what’s in it for the reader (i.e WIFM – what’s in it for me). Up to now, I’ve used anecdotes to define IPD because I’ve not been able to find language that satisfies. Now, before your eyes I will make a death-defying leap over the cadre of certifiers I’ve encountered and define IPD.

Here it goes:

IPD translated from construction language to simple English means collaboration.

Collaboration =

a collaborative environment (autonomy, mastery and purpose)

+ demonstrated collaborative skills and behaviors

(skills include powerful questioning, critiquing and listening)

(behaviors include demonstrating respect towards others by using their names, setting tone and speaking in terms of how what you want helps the other person get what they want)

+ trust

(trust begins with familiarity of team members through past experience or familiarity with their body of work)

Whew, I did it.

The three elements that propagate a collaborative environment come from Daniel Pink's book, “Drive.” He states that creative people simply want latitude (autonomy), the opportunity to do something really well (mastery) and the opportunity to be part of something greater than self (purpose).

You’ve heard some in construction casually state “you only need trust” in an IPD project. This assumes trust is something you can simply turn on or off like a light switch. Well, trust is organic and grows over time.

Before you can have trust, though, you need to show you can collaborate by demonstrating collaborative skills and behaviors that don’t come naturally and must be learned by most people. But, before this you need to design and build a collaborative environment consisting of the three elements listed above in this definition of IPD (autonomy, mastery & purpose). To top things off, some type of integrated form of agreement can make IPD more effective though it is not a requisite.

The output of collaboration (the WIFM) is everyone acts like they are on the same team and wears the same color uniform. Creativity is uncorked, or churned-out from unexpected places, to achieve project goals such as removing large chunks of waste. An example would be waiving all claims among team members and eliminating redundant and excessive project insurance costs expended by all parties. That’s the value of IPD.

Working From the Inside-Out

Lastly, in this definition of IPD, there is an operating phrase for creating collaboration (specific manner and sequence) called “working from the inside-out.” Currently, owners are not buying-in to IPD as quickly as expected for several reasons, one being, the AEC community is mostly selling IPD from the “outside-in.” What do I mean by that? The AEC community is out there selling IPD and when they stumble upon an opportunity, they turn-on the trust light switch with whatever firms they will be working with. They whip-together an “IPD project team” and then they might make some effort to string together existing IPD elements in their organizational culture to support the project team (whatever that means). All this happens with the expectation that things will work out. Sound familiar? While owners may not be able to verbalize it or put their finger on this truth, owners feel something is not right. Hence, they do not buy-in to IPD. It feels riskier than current options.

What we need to do is work from the inside-out. Here is the suggested path:

● IPD has to help you achieve your business strategy

● Win support from senior management

● Choose IPD as your culture, not just one of your delivery methods

● Choose an IPD champion

● Complete an IPD readiness assessment

● Design and execute training on how to behave at an IPD standard

● Use a large amount of carrot and some stick

● Pilot an IPD project

Can we now see the collaborative forest for the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) trees?

My goal for this article is to shift the definition of IPD and reset it to propel owner buy-in and help in the revitalization effort of the construction industry. Who says the current definition out there is correct? It’s sort of like the old political joke “he’s a crook, but he’s our crook.”

Darren Smith produces the IPD Academy, which includes the annual IPDAssured Program for collaboration training (eLearning version also available). Darren can be reached at darren@cimastrategic.com .

College Sports and Thought Leadership

2011-12-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

If you want a model on how to become a thought leader faster, look at the Creighton University. They have 4,000 undergraduate students and no sports tradition and they want one. If they decided they wanted to compete in football at the national championship level, they'd have to fight their way through 112 other schools that include Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama.... that have years of tradition, name recognition and significant funding.

What has Creighton done? They've chosen to focus their resources on a very thin slice of college sports where they have a better chance of winnning a national championship - men's soccer

Accept the Circumstances You Find Yourself in and Picture Yourself Winning the Race

2011-12-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time with senior executives and over the last several years there is something I’ve observed. When they find themselves in challenging circumstances, they tend to look around themselves - "do we have the right people" or "what if we were better capitalized" or "we need to improve our processes." What would happen if they first looked in the mirror for improvement opportunities? Wouldn’t most agree it’s best to work from the inside-out instead of the outside-in? If so, you should start with yourself. I’ve noticed one opportunity that stands-out from the rest: sustained focus.

Here is a five step process to attain/regain it.

1. What does success mean now? The reason you are reading this article is to raise the bar on your effectiveness, but what exactly does that mean to you now? Is it the same as before? Does it mean spending a certain amount of time per month on succession activities, closing one more deal per quarter or establishing yourself as a thought leader? Whatever you decide, you need to visualize it.

2. Visualize it. It’s always easier to be successful if you are clear on what success looks like. Great runners (both sprinters and long-distance) close their eyes and visualize winning before each race. It’s a ritual, it’s a process and it works. While the runner may not win the race, even after visualizing it, they are more focused and perform better with visualization than without it.

I can remember preparing for a proposal meeting by visualizing how it would unfold, anticipating reservations throughout and figuring-out how I would help the client work towards satisfactory answers. The proposal had an A, B and C option. While I wanted them to choose the C option, because it was the most complete solution and required a larger financial commitment, they chose the A option. We both still won, even though the client didn’t choose C.

3. Add detail. The more detail you add to the vision you are focusing on the better. Detail adds propulsion to visualization. When preparing for the proposal meeting I thought about how I would keep the focus on the client. I planned to ask some key questions I had written-down to insure they would do most of the talking during the meeting. I thought about the meeting in three parts:

The beginning – has anything changed since we last met?

The middle – is everything in the proposal as you understood it?

The end – when do you want to start?

4. Look for someone who has been successful incorporating something new. Most athletes can readily tell you who they grew-up emulating or whose style made an impression on them as they progressed
in their career. The same opportunity exists with personal effectiveness. If someone sustains long-term effectiveness, it is because they have evolved over time. We all need to have someone like this we look towards in our professional lives. Someone who has done what we want to do in a manner that aligns with our morals and ethics.

I’ve been following the same consultant for the last eight years. One thing I've

learned from him is that goals shouldn’t necessarily be numerical. For example, reducing labor intensity, adding as many high-quality clients as possible or writing more articles than last year are actually more valuable.

5. Tell others. Finally, share your goals with everyone you know, if it serves you.

I’m a soccer player and I remember weighing 145 pounds at the end of my junior year of high school. My friends, who played football, wanted me to play football. I happened to declare that I would play if I weighed 160 pounds before summer workouts began in mid-July. You are only allowed one guess at what happened… To my dismay, I weighed over 160 pounds by mid-July. There was no turning-back. I had to follow-through on what I publicly stated.

The same thing is true in regards to business. I’ve written articles for years and I’ve never written a book. I decided not only to declare I was writing a book, I started telling my clients. To go one step further, I’ve interviewed my clients to include their anecdotes in the book. Do you think there’s sufficient motivation now to write this book? What happens if I don’t?

Challenging circumstances don’t automatically require wholesale changes to move things in a satisfactory direction. Just because a solution doesn’t involve consuming large amounts of resources or taking a big risk doesn’t mean it couldn’t be the most impactful option you have to choose from. Avoid linear thinking. A+B doesn't always = C.

All team members and the decisions they make within an organization are important. At the same time, each team member’s decisions differ in regards to how they impact the organization financially. A 2% improvement in the decision making of a cadre of project managers in a business unit is valuable and is an example of where senior executives like to go first for solutions (outside-in approach). Contrast that scenario with a 2% improvement in the decision making ability of a senior executive of a multi-million dollar organization, which is a higher leverage step that can also be taken (inside-out approach). Get the picture?

So What - "Catching Someone Doing Something Right"

2011-11-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a story like this to use as an anchor they can rely on to catch someone doing something right.

I coached a 9 year-old boys soccer team this past fall. It was joyous to shout-out to one of the unsure, lesser-skilled players - "hey, you ran to an open spot and asked for a pass. Do it again!" It was most interesting to see how much a few words propelled a player like this into repeating a behavior. This player in particular went from loathing soccer to "just wanting to be on the field wherever needed."

Inversely, think about how much confusion, inaction and loss of confidence you have to untangle, remotivate and rebuild because of a lazy, selfish moment of using negative words.

Adults in the workplace are kids with more experience.

This thought process works with 9 year olds as well as 40 year olds.

Attacking Cookies Vertically

2011-11-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

Since I have the benefit of working from home, I eat lunch with some of my children from time to time. Today, I gave each of my two youngest children (both girls) a cookie. One, like me, attacked her cookie by horizontally inserting one side of the cookie into her mouth.

I mean, how else would you eat a cookie?....

When I looked at the second, she had attacked her cookie vertically, from the top.

I stopped myself from interrupting her and "setting her straight."

How often do we stifle creativity in those around us? Creativity is the one strength this country will probably always have. We need to pour time, talent & resources into it and grow it intentionally.

On Stretching and Taking Prudent Risk

2011-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

There's an article in the Wall Street Journal today about an asteroid coming within 200,000 miles of the Earth at 6:38 p.m. CST tonight. The closest an asteroid has come to colloiding with our planet in 37 years.

It reminds me of a story many of us have heard before that helps us keep our lives in perspective....

Here we are, living on a medium-sized rock in space, spinning at thousands of mile per hour on its axis, orbiting a constantly exploding star.

In this context, how can we worry too much about making a mistake, what others think or whether we have the courage to do what is deeply meaningful to others and satisfying to ourselves?

Masters of Life or Ministers of the Design Established by the Creator?

2011-11-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a rhetorical question - How much intellectual heft do you have behind your position on controversial issues in our society?

I was looking for a document called Humanae Vitae which delivers the "why" behind the Catholic Church's position on the abortion issue. In the process, I found an article written today with the title "The Men Behind the War on Women." I felt compelled to send the article's author the following email.

Ms. Bassett,

I avoid judging and focus on elevating truth through experiences, reading and discussion. A great majority on both sides of the abortion issue choose their position without any depth of education and understanding.

Not knowing you personally, please consider reading this papal encyclical if you have not already done so. It is called Humanae Vitae, written by Pope Paul VI. It gives the “why” in regards to the Catholic Church’s position on the abortion issue. Here is the link - http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

My hope is to create more understanding and collaboration in our world.

Respectfully,

Darren Smith

How do you start being a Thought Leader?

2011-11-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse into what Thought Leadership looks like in action (based on my involvement with Alan Weiss, a Thought Leader if there ever was one).

This glimpse is from an email sent to a group of participants in an experience I produce for the commercial construction industry called the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Assured Program. It is a cutting-edge way to deliver a building. It is also a direction for someone to become a Thought Leader.

Dear Cohorts,

Be prepared to answer the question about how you plan to create Thought Leadership on IPD, a subject like IPD or add to the Thought Leadership of your organization specifically.

For the purpose of this discussion, Thought Leadership is a direction. For example, you can be a Thought Leader on IPD. IPD is a direction; a specific type of project delivery. The thinner you slice your direction where you will supply Thought Leadership, the better chance you have. For example, it would be harder to be a Thought Leader in architecture because it is so broad and this direction is VERY crowded already….

You become a Thought Leader by developing a body of work in your area of Thought Leadership, e.g. building an organization, writing, speaking, etc….

Here is a link to a video to be shown to people at all levels of a project; meaning: the hard hat up to senior management and everyone in between. For organizations that want to include IPD as a project delivery option for their clients, all team members need some level of IPD education. The objective is to deliver a consistent message of what IPD is, how to do it and why in a manner that everyone can grasp and understand how it applies to them. There will also be a Spanish language version.

This 20 minute video is entry-level for everyone in your organization. A subset of your organization will also access the eLearning version of the IPDAssured Program and a few, like you, will experience the “live” version.

Please make a note on what would elevate the effectiveness of this video for the broad owner, architect, engineer & contractor audience for which it is intended. Also, what is the most effective element of this version of the video?

Click here http://cimastrategic.com/forums/ipdacademy to watch the video, click the “What IPD Really is and How to Start Right” icon and press “play” on the player.

Thank you in advance for your IPD Thought Leadership.

Employees Alone Together

2011-10-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on virtual workers and the teams they formed. The introduction described a virtual team conference and cocktail hour consisting of team members distributed all around the country. They all had webcams and could see each other.

This trend will continue. It is inevitable. Many firms have become more lean and are leveraging technology. One of the next areas of efficiency will be "losing the real estate" since there aren't any more people to shed and no significant technology breakthroughs on the horizon to significantly impact efficiency for a while.

Collaborative skills and behaviors will be the fuel for efficient virtual teams. What is your firm doing to fuel your virtual teams?

An Interesting Wrinkle

2011-10-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Post Office's focus on attracting more advertisers to use standard mail to increase the advertiser's website traffic is interesting.

This is the best attempt at innovation I've seen from this government entity that is currently bleeding over 8 billion dollars a year of OUR money.

How many of us would benefit from this type of strategy? A shorter, more laser message via postal mail with a "call to action" to merely go online to a webpage and then following-up with those that visit the webpage... This may save everyone some time (the sender and receiver).

Indirect benefits (among many) would include:

Advertisers only contacting those truly interested based on evidence
A better education of the receiver
A shorter sales cycle which saves time, talent and resources

People Build Buildings, That's Why Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Makes Sense

2011-10-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

We all know people build buildings, not software or work processes. Why, then, is the industry primarily focused on developing software tools such as building information modeling (BIM) and adapting work processes such as lean building (LEAN) to enable team members to work together more effectively? BIM and LEAN are important, but will they change people's behavior? Remember, people build buildings. People who know how to work together as a team build better buildings.

What does the behavior of "working together as a team" look like? Integrated project delivery (IPD) is that behavior standard. The problem is, IPD is not fully agreed upon or captured on paper yet. Right now, IPD means different things to different people. Many firms claim to be doing IPD, but what exactly is IPD? Think of IPD as a mindset where everyone collaborates to find and implement a solution to a problem, regardless of who (owner, architect, engineer or contractor) is at fault. Nobody passes the blame. All parties work on a project together as if they were on the same team, and as a result, because they are on the same team, there is less waste and lower project cost.

Unfortunately, human beings are not hard-wired for IPD. That's why either relying on an "IPD agreement" or "partnering" to enforce a behavior standard doesn't work.

First, someone has to show everyone what IPD looks like in practice. For example, Colleen Barrett, former president and COO of Southwest Airlines, crafted a unique culture that defines the organization. You can see it in their famous Halloween party all the way down to how they treat their customers. If someone behaves in a less than heartfelt way, they are immediately set straight. Heartfelt. If one word defines Barrett and the culture she worked to create at Southwest, that's it. We are on the same team. If one phrase defines the "how" of what IPD looks like in practice, that's it. So, if someone does not behave like a team player, the Colleen Barrett in your organization needs to set them straight.

Second, you need collaboration training to reach and sustain that behavior standard. IPD flies in the face of the ages old divisive behavior prevalent among project team members. What makes us think an agreement on paper or a partnering kick-off meeting will magically create permanent behavior change? You can't just tell someone to suddenly change their behavior and expect it to stick without some sort of support to make a permanent change over time. That's why, regardless of the best of intentions to partner, the first time things get tough, everyone reverts to their old CYA behavior. This is where disillusionment and pessimism set in. This is also why collaboration training is needed. Initiatives like the IPDAssured Program (www.cimastrategic.com/forums/ipdacademy) are beginning to enable organizations to create permanent behavior change.

While IPD is a common-sense behavior standard that the industry seems to be adopting, a fog still seems to surround it. This fog is created by: 1) lack of a clear distinction between IPD and LEAN; 2) knowledge of where the communication intersections of IPD are located; and 3) uncertainty regarding how to "start" IPD.

1) The Distinction between IPD and LEAN – dissipating the fog

Professionals in the industry tend to confuse IPD and LEAN. The common reaction in conversations is, "Well, they're about the same or they're similar." In reality they are not similar.

LEAN is about deleting wasted movement from a process. For example, when swimming freestyle, you could turn your head as far as possible out of the water to take a breath. Another option is to only turn your head slightly until your lips are just above the water line. Choosing the second option deletes wasted movement from the process of taking a breath while swimming freestyle.

2. The communication intersections where IPD occurs – shedding additional light

The communication intersections materialize in the form of enabling technologies such as:

•advanced project planning

•building information modeling (BIM)

•direct digital exchange

•design-to-fabrication

•team collaboration systems.

Using the 80/20 principle, these are the five intersections where the majority of situations occur where IPD could help. Now, taking the 80/20 principle one step further, what are the small number of situations at each intersection that produce the majority of opportunities where IPD can help?

To create some perspective, think of the roads and intersections in your town. You know which roads and intersections are responsible for a majority of the traffic jams and accidents (~20 percent of all roads and intersections). Now, think about how you might reduce the frequency and duration of traffic jams and the number of accidents on those roads. Next, take into consideration that you don't have unlimited resources, so you probably only have the ability to address the most problematic roads and intersections some of the time. When would that be? The time of the day when most of the traffic jams and accidents occur is during the morning and evening rush hours. What specifically could you do during the morning rush hour? What about deploying a police officer and crossing guard to a busy urban intersection near a large school where children are being dropped-off for the school day?

How could we map this thought process over to the communication intersections on a construction project? For example, could we look for opportunities to utilize IPD in advanced project planning? Would it be better to identify the top two or three situations that represent the best opportunities to realize the benefit of IPD before actually utilizing IPD?

3. How do you "start" IPD in your organization? – map the new territory

Consider this: When there is a change, people go through four stages – denial, resistance, exploration and commitment. Sound familiar? This is also the grief model people go through when they experience someone's death. In both cases, something is lost, left behind or "dies." If your organization decides to leave its old culture behind to embrace IPD as its behavior standard, your people fall into one of four categories – deniers, resistors, explorers or fully committed.

The majority of the time deniers are visibly recognizable, while resistors are not. Resistors are those whose words do not match their actions. For example, they may or may not resist verbally, don't visibly do anything to support change or are passive-aggressive in their behavior. Explorers are open to change and need to be met where they are with education and support. Finally, those committed "get it" early and should be recognized as well as enlisted to help with the change.

It is up to you to look at everyone in your organization and map them over to one of the four stages in regards to IPD. If you want to move your organization toward an IPD culture, with who should you spend the most time during the change process? The explorers. Why? It is critical to win this group over before the deniers and resistors do. If you are able to do so, you will have achieved critical-mass and the organization can move forward and embrace change. Over time, the number of deniers and resistors decreases because of attrition/conversion of one sort or another and new hire criteria includes the ability to embrace change.

Change is a two-year process. It starts with the senior executives in your organization and continues in phases.

How to begin change inside your organization:

•You start by observing how the rest of the business world is moving toward collaboration out of necessity

•Install a collaborative culture inside your four walls with the support of an IPDAssured collaboration consultant

•Map everyone in your organization to one of the four stages of the change process

•Make a plan (educational, experiential and peer-group based) on how to move each person forward to commitment

•Decide which actions on the plan need to happen now, soon or later

•Form an IPD team with your most trusted partners and begin to select and pursue projects together based on your strengths. Internally, the team behaves in an IPD manner regardless of the project delivery method.

•After every like project you complete with your IPD team partners, you will "gain speed" and realize more and more efficiency/profit for each team member.

•After the third like project you will begin to win based on price, regardless of requested delivery method. As a result, you will make more money than you were used to making and the owner will realize better value.

What can you do to aid change outside your organization?

•Concurrent to your internal IPD evolution, externally, you can proactively educate owners, lenders and insurers on IPD

•Serve as an exemplar to others in the industry on the integration of IPD into your organization's culture

•Tangibly exhibit the highest levels of integrity, ethics and accountability in your claims about your expertise with IPD

•Make useful contributions of IPD intellectual capital to the industry

•Invest in continual, challenging, IPD-related professional development

•Be open to risk taking and be resilient

There are many deniers in the industry. Deniers don't see a problem or they say "it's just partnering" or "we've been doing this for 20 years." When someone says this, in most cases it tips you off that they do not really understand IPD. We have to learn how to defend our faith in IPD and it starts here, by educating individuals and firms like these.

Small victories and small efforts in the right direction will build the momentum and commitment to support you in the long-haul. Most plans sit in binders on shelves. Constructive actions are seen in the streets and remain on people's minds.

Leadership Lessons From Burning Man

2011-09-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is an article worth contemplating in the 8/25/11 Fast Company Newsletter.

What's being described in the article is a collaborative environment.

In Daniel Pink's book, Drive, he says, creative people simply want the latitude (autonomy), as well as the opportunity to do something really well (mastery) and the opportunity to be part of something greater than themselves (purpose). And that’s what Burning Man provides.

My thoughts are good business sits on a foundation of trust. Before you can have trust, you have to demonstrate you can collaborate and before that you need to design and build a collaborative environment consisting of the three elements listed above.

Collaboration = a collaborative environment (autonomy, mastery & purpose) + demonstrated collaborative skills and behaviors + trust. Each of the last two depends on the former. The output is everyone acts like they are on the same team and wear the same color uniform.

How Good is Your Crystal Ball?

2011-08-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

As you've heard many times, the only sure thing is change. The tiny desert nation of Qatar wins the right to host the 2022 World Cup of Soccer, most people will soon keep their data and software applications on some cloud "up there," wherever that is... and now nations are making land grabs in the Arctic because of record ice retreats leaving bare land visible.

Its easy to react to all of this.

Avoid being distracted. Avoid making predictions on things outside your control. Take all of this in and anticipate where you need to be two years from now to be successful and do what you need to do to get there.