By Neal Flesner When it comes to World Class™ construction partnering, it’s important to focus on strategic culture change versus tactical or process change. Changing Behaviors Versus Changing Culture There is a huge difference between just tweaking individual behaviors and truly changing a problem project team’s culture to one of a winning team that sustains success. For example, a project team might decide to improve their communication by implementing the practice of no e-mails or
Construction is nearing completion on the $30 million Tropicana Pedestrian Bridge and Escalator Replacement Project in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ahead of schedule and on budget, the team has successfully implemented partnering under the guidance of Master-Level Partnering Facilitator Neal Flesner to function as a World Class™ team. Serving roughly 130,000 pedestrians a day on the busy Las Vegas Strip, this highly-visible transportation project includes the replacement of 16 existing escalators (four at each corner) with
By Neal Flesner Communication in general is a daunting undertaking on construction projects involving various companies and team members with different personalities. When problems arise and you are tasked with delivering bad news to a project owner, communicating this sensitive information becomes even more challenging. I was recently interviewed for a United Rentals’ blog post about 3 Ways General Contractors Can Improve Communication with Owners. During the interview, I expressed my thoughts on the importance
The International Partnering Institute (IPI) recognized the 2017 Partnered Project of the Year (PPY) Award winners this past May during IPI’s Collaboration 2017 Conference and Award Ceremony at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront in Burlingame, Calif. Partnering Facilitator Neal Flesner attended the annual event along with other design and construction professionals. As reported by the IPI, the awards ceremony recognized the most collaborative organizations and project teams of 2016, and the nominated project teams
Neal Flesner recently gave a talk to members of the AGC of California on the topic of “6 Tips for Increasing Effective Communication on Your Projects.” His presentation was part of the AGC of California Annual Convention which was held in Monterey, California this past October. More than 50 conference attendees participated in the educational session, which focused on the factors that contribute to poor or ineffective communication on construction projects. The session included examples
By Neal Flesner, MIPI Many construction professionals I work with say that people skills are equally important, if not more important, than technical ability is for achieving professional success. We all come across challenging individuals with difficult personalities from time to time, and that’s when our people skills really make a difference. The larger the project, the greater the likelihood that you will encounter an unruly personality who can adversely impact the schedule, cost and