Collaboration Fail

This is the fourth in a series that I'm calling "The Lost Blogs" - I discovered recently that I have 5 draft blogs that have never been posted. I also have a 4-part series in the works on leadership. I decided that I'd wrap up these posts and post them before the New Year. Then, in January, I'll post the 4-part series at one per week. 

For the past several years, I've been blogging and giving presentations on collaboration in construction. It has been my experience that when the owner, contractor and architect can all work together, the projects go much more smoothly and the end results are better. When either of these three parties is uncooperative or even combative, the results are less than desirable for all parties involved. I have case studies of several projects to help justify these statements. 

However, I fear that my personal feelings about the great benefits of collaboration have clouded my judgment. I've recently been involved in two projects where either one or two of the three primary players was not interested in creating a collaborative environment with the project team. I tried to force the collaboration by being overly accommodating and trying to "work things out" verbally rather than following the CSI rules. I have come to realize that this caused me to lose my teeth and become less effective as an architect in the field. 

This is a difficult thing for me to admit, to accept and ultimately to change the way I function on the job site. When I was young, my father owned a light commercial and residential HVAC and electrical contracting business. One of my closest relatives is a retired architect. I've spent most of my life hearing their stories of things going right and wrong and how things should be done. I've spent much of my career trying to break down the walls of the adversarial relationships and make sure my teams work together to the benefit of the owner and project. To see not one but two of my projects be less successful because of me is difficult. Even as I write this, I'm not sure I'll actually publish it!


Accountability is the key to collaboration and in these instances, I did not do enough to hold the construction team and the owner accountable for what they said they would do. Its difficult to hold some owner's accountable, particularly in the higher education realm where I practice. The owner has to want to be held accountable for it to work. In these instances, the owner did not want to be held accountable.

However, I also did not do enough to hold the construction team accountable. In the interest of team work and camaraderie, I let things slide. Both projects were schedule challenged and I let the construction team do some things in the interest of meeting the schedule rather than holding strictly to the contract documents. In both instances, the owner became upset with both me and the construction team. Fortunately, in both instances, I was able to change my working manner, make the owner happy and get the job back on track. However, it was at the detriment of my relationship with the construction team. 


I realized two things. The first is that we don't all have to be friends. We have to respect each other, conduct our business in a professional manner and be accountable to each other. But if we walk away from the project and don't like each other, that's okay as long as the job finished in a timely manner, with good quality and limited, if any, cost overruns. 


The second thing that I realized is something that was said in a partnering session I was involved in several years ago: collaboration has to be top down and it has to involve everyone - owner, constructor and architect. If any of those three parties are not interested in true collaboration, it will fail. In both instances I reference above, the construction team and owner were not truly interested in the same level of collaboration as me. Or at least they didn't understand collaboration the same way that I do. Regardless, I had to change my way of operating to make the job the most successful that it could be. 

The Next Frontier in Construction

This is the third in a series that I'm calling "The Lost Blogs" - I discovered recently that I have 5 draft blogs that have never been posted. I also have a 4-part series in the works on leadership. I decided that I'd wrap up these posts and post them before the New Year. Then, in January, I'll post the 4-part series at one per week. 

Anyone who knows me well knows a couple of things about me: I love practicing architecture, I have a deep commitment to making our industry better and I feel that only through collaboration and inclusion can we make our industry better.

I live in a suburb of Baltimore, MD but our office is downtown on Pratt Street in the Inner Harbor area. I drive through neighborhoods of poverty and blight on my commute to and from work most days. I have no experiences in my life to compare with what these neighbors go through every day. I watch and read the news daily and it seems that we are failing much of our inner city. And not just Baltimore but most cities in the U.S. My parents live outside of Dallas and we talk about the same issues facing the folks who live in the impoverished areas of that city.

I see it on our job sites and I discuss with others in the industry: we cannot get enough people to come into construction as skilled or unskilled workers. I don't know what the reasons are, but there seem to be some barriers to entry.

I also see something else: a gender gap. Our office has 92 people and 38 are women. There clearly is no shortage of women interested in studying architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning. When I was studying architecture in the late 1980's, we still had professors who felt that women did not belong in our professor and actively attempted to fail them. We've come a long way, but more work is needed in design professions, especially ensuring both genders have leadership opportunities.

But, when was the last time you saw a women working on a construction site? I occasionally run across a plumber or electrician who is female, but they are so few and far between it seems incredible. That's not to mention the harassment, chauvinism and pay inequity that these women experience when they actually start working. I see the graffiti on our job sites, so I can only imagine what women see, hear and feel if they step on those sites.

I think we need to start a dialogue on these issues and I know some already are having conversations. We also need to remove as many barriers to entry into construction as we can. Part of that effort is taking place in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania with a program started by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chapter of CSI called "Let's Build Camp." This is a program for high school age girls in the Greater Lehigh Valley to attend a free camp to learn about the building trades. Check out GLV CSI's web-site for information on the camp.

It's inaugural year was earlier this summer and was a huge success. There are other CSI chapters considering starting a similar program to help break down some of those barriers to entry into the construction industry. What else can we do?

Coaching or Mentoring? Why Not Both?

This is the second in a series that I'm calling "The Lost Blogs" - I discovered recently that I have 5 draft blogs that have never been posted. I also have a 4-part series in the works on leadership. I decided that I'd wrap up these posts and post them before the New Year. Then, in January, I'll post the 4-part series at one per week. 

Long time friends and readers know that mentoring the next generation of professionals is very important to me. In recent presentations I've given on mentoring, I've drawn a strong distinction between the mentor and the coach. In short, the coach helps you do your current job better and the mentor helps prepare you for your next job.

While out for a run the other day, I listened to NPR's "Marketplace" podcast. The specific podcast was for Thursday, February 25, 2016 and can be found at www.marketplace.org/popoutplayer. In one piece for this episode, several people involved in corporate coaching were interviewed: both coaches and the professionals utilizing their services. It is a growing trend for busy professionals, usually upper management or sole proprietors, to spend some time each week with a coach to help them organize themselves, tackle important issues in the appropriate order and generally do their jobs better. 

For the past few years, I have co-led one of our four architecture studios in our firm. That means working with the project managers and anywhere from 10 to 14 architectural staff to ensure projects are staffed, deadlines are met, and our employees have what they need to be successful. As our firm goes through a leadership transition, we are asking junior leaders to step into new roles within the office. A group of us were promoted to principal and are working on strategic initiatives and need others to step in to day to day management roles. In that vein, a group of our associates, senior associates and principals met recently to review an initiative that will be presented to the senior principals. The idea was that a small group of associates had created this initiative and they were looking for buy in from the principals before presenting it to the senior principals. While listening to the podcast yesterday, I realized that what the associates really needed was coaching in what and how to present that information to the senior principals. 

For a number of years, our firm has had a formal mentoring program. We pair volunteer mentees and volunteer mentors for a year of goal-setting, reflection and growth. It has been highly successful and we enjoy broad involvement through most portions of the firm. I'm wondering now if there is benefit to a formal coaching program. Historically, coaching has only existed between project manager or project architect and the younger staff or through our QA/QC processes. As we ask junior leaders to take on larger leadership roles, perhaps there should be some coaching, even if it is just one hour per week or less, but a formal time when junior and more senior leaders can meet to discuss expectations, goals and priorities to make the transition these junior leaders are going through smoother and more meaningful.

In the coming months, we are going to be relooking at our studio groups both from a staffing standpoint but also a leadership standpoint. There are some of us promoted to principal who should probably step out of the studio leader role to allow others to fill it. Many of us were thrown into leadership without any training, coaching or mentoring. We want the next group to be successful, so I am looking for ways to make that happen and set up the next generation to succeed. 

One way to help might be a meeting prior to our weekly studio leaders meeting to review agenda and discussion points along with a follow up after the leaders meeting to review what we learned. I've been trying to do that with the associate that I co-lead our team with. Sometimes deadlines, out of office meetings and other things get in the way, but generally we can meet to review our studio personnel and their needs. From time to time, that meeting does expand into a discussion of broader ideas about leadership. We have not been as good about the follow up meeting on what we learned, though sometimes a brief discussion does ensue at the coffee pot following the 9:00 AM studio leaders meeting. 

The important notion I want you to take away from reading this is that we all need help. We all need coaching and mentoring, no matter how old we are or how long we've been in our chosen professions.  I see young people in construction thrown into the fray by their companies without appropriate coaching or mentoring. They struggle because they didn't learn the nuisances of our industry in college. I used to get upset when I had to help train young project engineers on our construction sites. I now realize that if I don't train them, the companies they work for may not so they don't get the training they need. 

Strategies for Successful Collaboration

This is the first in a series that I'm calling "The Lost Blogs" - I discovered today that I have 5 draft blogs that have never been posted. I also have a 4-part series in the works on leadership. I decided that I'd wrap up these posts and post them before the New Year. Then, in January, I'll post the 4-part series at one per week. 

At CONSTRUCT 2014 in Baltimore, I gave a presentation called "Building A Highly Collaborative Team." At CONSTRUCT 2017 in Providence, I gave a similar presentation called "Symbiosis: The Importance of Collaboration between the Owner, Architect and Contractor." Both presentations were based on my experiences in construction over the past 20 years and focused on three projects from the past 15 years. In those presentations, I offered 7 strategies for increasing collaboration on construction projects as examples of real world ideas to help the attendees in their jobs. While space won't allow me to give all the background to the stories like I did in the presentations, I think these are still good strategies for anyone involved in team projects, whether in construction or not.

 

Strategy 1 - It's Sometimes Okay to Work Around Obstinate Team Members

We've all seen them: the one team member who is obstinate or obstructionist and unwilling to compromise. The person who will say the sky is red when the rest of the team says its blue. That's okay. Some people welcome negativity and thrive in that environment. It does not have to bring the whole team down. Work around that person by improving communication with the rest of the team and doing your best to avoid unprofessional situations. As the team gels and everyone does their job and holds each other accountable, the obstinate member will be revealed for the obstructionist which will make the team's success shine more brightly.

Strategy 2 - Communicate More, Email Less

Nearly everyone in our society carries a smartphone in their pocket. The operative part of that title is "phone." Yes, it is a powerful computer that can facilitate messaging in multiple formats - text, email and social media - but it is a phone. All of those other message formats are one-directional: the sender messages someone who can choose to reply or not. Telephones are truly two-way communication, so use it and embrace it. Face to face, two-way communication will always be superior to one-directional email or texting. However, we can't always answer our phones. When you receive someone's outgoing voicemail message, leave a message. Don't rely on them to look at their phone and see that you called in the caller ID. And when you receive a voicemail, return the call. It sounds simple, but many of us simply don't do it. We say we're too busy or we'll get to it tomorrow. Have some common courtesy to return the call, even if it is to say, "can we talk more tomorrow? Your communication with the team members will increase exponentially.

Strategy 3 - Recognize the Situation

Whether good or bad, recognize the situation that you are in. If you're put in a tough situation, recognize it and work to make it better. Try to make other's jobs easier by doing your job better. If you do that, you will appreciated as a go-to person and a team player. Your job will then be easier. Also know that all projects and teams have a culture that is cultivated in the early days of the collaboration. Sometimes it's a good culture and sometimes it's a bad culture, but recognize what it is. If warranted, buck the culture in an effort to make things better.

Strategy 4 - Top Down Collaboration

Behaviors start at the top of teams: with the highest managers and executives. If the top leaders buy in to what needs to be done, the rank and file employees will fall in line. It is imperative that leaders exhibit and practice good collaborative behaviors in order for the team to be successful. Show up early for meetings and be prepared. Listen first and then speak. Have respect for the other team members, their needs and their goals. Seek consensus. If our leaders do all of these things, our teams will function more collaboratively and be more successful. 

Strategy 5 - Tension Breeds Tentativeness

Bad news is right around the corner. Sometimes you can see it coming and sometimes you cannot. It is almost better when you don't see it coming because many of us become tentative when we see it coming. Tentativeness can lead to the unhealthily form of tension on our project teams. Be willing to embrace the bad news because being tentative will not make the bad news go away. Embrace it, work to fix it and then the whole team can move on. Be a part of the solution and you'll feel better about the news because you worked to solve the problems.

Strategy 6 - Take Care of Your Business Because No One Else Will

In many project teams, perception is reality, however unfair that might be. If you or your firm presents an image of low confidence, low performance or timidity, the rest of the team may move past you. That's a corollary to Strategy 1. Be confident, be believable and be right and things will go more smoothly for you. Being right does not mean always having the answer or knowing everything there is to know. Sometimes the right move for you and for the team and project is to take time, research, analyze and discuss before acting. That is the definition of "taking care of your business."

Strategy 7 - Don't Be Afraid to Communicate and Hold Others Accountable

I saw a presentation once that said projects fail for 1 of 3 Reasons:

1.       Technology Failures

2.       Individual Failures

3.       Stakeholder Failures

It was noted that two of those three reasons are PEOPLE. We need to communicate with each other in order to be successful. But as I noted above, communication must be two-ways, not one-directional. Use the telephone to communicate and then follow up with email if a "written" record is needed. That communication should also include the follow up of doing what you say you'll do and when you say you'll do it. That is accountability. Don't be afraid to hold your team members accountable. If a deadline is set and not met, ask why. Not in a negative way, but in an open and honest way: if there's something that you could have done to help the deadline be met, you want to know what that is.

These are simple ideas but ones that are not always easy to practice. It takes work to be able to do all of these every day. I welcome all comments on this list. It is not inclusive, but is a list of things that we should all do in our day-to-day lives, whether work or personal, to make things better. 

Collaboration in Action

For those of you who follow my work on the Baltimore CSI Chapter's blog, Felt Tips, you may recall a series I've written across the last few years detailing a formal collaboration program I've been involved in on a project our firm currently has under construction. If you've seen me present on collaboration recently, that same project was a major part of those presentations. The project is a biomedical research facility for a public university in the middle Atlantic region and is $220M, 430,000 GSF of labs, support spaces and offices. My firm is the associate architect with a large, international design firm as architect of record. There is a complex A/E team, complex contracting team and an owner who is very active in every facet of the project. 

This particular university has been using "partnering" to help build their project teams for some time. This collaboration program is a natural evolution of the partnering that has been practiced in our region for the past decade or more. It was mandated that the construction manager lead this effort and this CM has a psychologist on their staff who acts as moderator for these types of programs. Its been a different wrinkle to the usual "one-and-done" partnering events I've been involved with in the past. 

We've been meeting quarterly for nearly three years. The meetings have gotten a bit formulaic lately, but a recent one had a different tone. That was in part based on our moderator being absent. When we set the date for this meeting at our last meeting, he told us he was unavailable, but we decided to meet anyway. Being a psychologist, I think the moderator thought we might need to be on our own for once and wanted to see what happened. Even though he is employed by the construction management firm, he remains larger impartial in our meetings. 

The meeting opened with the usual review of our quarterly survey results. For an in depth discussion of the survey, read here. 

During review of the three "free response" questions, the "What is Going Well" responses revolved around communication and cooperation improving and the notion that some field issues are being handled better by the construction manager. Kudos were given to the owner for providing additional personnel to process change orders. Its a large job and there have been a large number of change orders, some due to owner changes and some due to the fast-track bidding process. However, many change orders have languished for a long enough time where the trade contractors feel that they are financing the job. That was a welcomed comment that the owner is moving these things through so the builders can get paid for work already performed. 

The biggest issue under "What is Not Going Well" relate to RFI's and decision making. As I said, there have been a large number of owner requested changes and this owner seems ill-equipped to make decisions as there are far too many players involved in each decision. Between operations & maintenance staff, project management and end user personnel, it is not out of the ordinary to have 12 or more individual players involved from the owner's team. That has dramatically slowed the decision making process. 

That poor decision making carried over into the "What Needs to Be Improved?" conversation. However, another notion was put forth during these discussions. The team was urged to not forget what this team has accomplished. The A/E team started design in June 2012. The CM came on board shortly after that and the design-assist trade contractors joined the team in September 2013. In October 2013, we started these collaboration sessions. We are now more than 3-1/2 years removed from that start and the building is almost in the dry, much of the systems have been installed and finish work is starting. The building is a beautiful addition to the city skyline and can been seen from a major interstate highway nearby. The team was urged to look at all they had accomplished and imagine what can be accomplished if we buckle down and finish the work. 

I agree with that sentiment and used it to challenge myself to do three things:

1.  Review the RFI's that come in each day and give my "2-cents" to the rest of the A/E team. I am the lead CA professional on the project, but given my other responsibilities, the day-to-day processing of the RFI's falls to others. I need to review them, be up on the issues and help push them through the system.  

This will help the team by moving things forward through the A/E and on to the owner. If the RFI's bottle-neck with the owner, so be it. Getting the RFI's through the A/E team as quickly as possible will show the construction team that we are trying our hardest to keep their work flow as efficient as possible. 

2.  I am responsible for reviewing all change orders on behalf of the A/E team. They come in sporadically and tend to come in clumps of three to five at a time. I should review them on the day they come in and respond with comments immediately where possible or send them off to other team members that day with a hard deadline of review in two business days. I must then follow up with them after those two business days and get the comments back to the owner. 

This will help the owner process the change orders more quickly and get them to the procurement department which takes several weeks to finalize the change order. It will also help our owner's project manager keep himself organized. I've observed that when several weeks transpire between his sending the change order to us and our return of comments, the paperwork is not top of mind and we have to repeat ourselves and lose more time in the process. If we continue to show progress in getting the contractors paid for change order work, everyone is happier. 

3.  There is a co-location office where the construction manager, major trade contractors and A/E team all have desks. My colleague and myself are there every day of the week, but my participation tends to be attending meetings. I intend to redouble my efforts to use the space for its intended, collaborative purpose. If there's a change order I don't understand, I'll discuss it with the construction manager and trade contractor. Same with RFI's or anything else going on. By increasing face-to-face communication, I think we can finish this project strong and we'll all be happier.   

Project Manager: What Does It Mean

In my post about leading meetings, I wrote that "I'm an architect by education and licensure. I'm a project manager by definition of my firm." Since a recent strategic planning exercise our firm went through, I've been thinking about what it means to be an architect and a project manager. The architect part is easy, legally speaking: you've earned a first professional degree in architecture from an accredited university, completed the Intern Development Program (now known as Architectural Experience Program AXP), passed the Architects Registration Exam and have applied for and been granted a license to practice architecture in the State where you reside. Okay, so maybe its not that easy, but it is a straightforward and linear process.

The philosophical notion of what it means to be an architect is much more complicated and probably meant for a different blog post or maybe even several blog posts! But, from the beginning of my career, I had the goal of becoming an architect. I accomplished that in 2001, just shy of seven years after I graduated from college. I also had the goal of being a project manager and eventually a partner or principal in a firm. Project manager may seem a strange goal for someone educated as an architect. I was never the strongest design student in school. At first, I wasn't mature enough to understand or focus on the studio curriculum. That set me back in terms of my design maturation. I probably could have caught up but let my ego and confrontations with several professors get in the way. I graduated with a respectable GPA north of 3.0, but had many C's in design studios, though I did manage a B on my thesis project. 

When I took my first job out of school, it was with a small firm that did good work, but not great design work. Generally, the two partners were the designers and with our clientele there was little opportunity for more than basic design solutions. I got my shot at some basic planning and elevations studies, but rarely had the budget to do much more from a design standpoint. At the same time, one of my bosses and first mentors, began taking me to client meetings. I found I really liked being out of the office, meeting with our clients and getting to know more about that end of the practice of architecture. It seemed more real to me. 

I also had four solid examples, other than the two partners, of what good project managers do in that office. My first desk was in a studio with three of them! What a treat to work with them, interact with them and listen to their phone conversations on a daily basis. It was in those early experiences that I decided I wanted to be the hot shot project manager, not the hot shot designer. 

Nearly 21 years later, what does it mean to be the "hot shot project manager?" Here are some notions. 

  

1.  You Manage Your Clients. This is something that many architects struggle with. There seems to be two prevailing notions about clients in our profession. The first is, much like in retail, the client is always right. Do whatever it takes to keep the client happy, even if it is outside of your scope of services and outside of your fee proposal. The second notion is the polar opposite: this is my building and you will merely pay for it and not second guess a single decision I make. I'm sure we all know architects that fit into each of those categories. They are both equally dangerous and for different reasons.

I try to assume the middle ground. Yes, my clients are very important to me and yes, I should do everything I can do to keep them happy. However, I negotiated a fee in good faith based on a scope of work. When that scope of work changes, I deserve to be compensated for the changes. Fair is fair. I work almost exclusively in higher education, so most of my clients are in the business of educating people. They are not necessarily in the business of making money. However, not understanding that I am running a business is no excuse for bad behavior or unfair play. 

The beautiful buildings we design are equally important. However, when the job is built and the owner moves in, I'm on to the next project. My client, however, has to live with my decisions. My favorite clients have hired our firm to build a beautiful building, but one that is also functional, operational and reasonably priced. Those are the best clients to work with because you truly work with them, not for them and certainly they do not work for you. 

2.  You Lead Your Teams. I mentioned at the end of a different post the difference between being a manager and a leader. The "hot shot project managers" are also visionary leaders. The line I used was "we can see the forest and the trees." As important as it is to nurture our clients, it is equally important to nurture our staff. And not just the architects and designers; we must also mentor the administrative staff, the specifiers, everyone. Managing is not easy, but leading is incredibly difficult. It requires the focus and discipline that I lacked when taking design studios in college. While I'm not the greatest leader, I work at it and think about it every single day. 

Your team also includes your consultants. Most of my projects have large teams; sometimes as many as ten different firms! As project manager, I try to have a personal and professional connection with the lead of each firm on my team: their project manager, their principal-in-charge, whomever is closely working on my project. I try to be a clear communicator as it relates to schedule, design goals, and anything else related to the project. If no one knows what is going on, you are not effectively leading.

3.  You Manage the Finances. We are in the business of designing buildings but we are also in the business of making money. Sometimes those are at odds with each other, but not typically. My firm has software that we use to manage our time sheets, expense sheets, invoicing and other financial items. It can very powerfully present up-to-date information on the financial health of our projects. However, if you use it to find out there is a problem, you've already lost money.

Managing the finances must be proactive, not reactive. When we kick off a project, I let our internal team know what our fee is, how much we're going to spend in each phase and what that means in terms of hours each week of individual effort on their part. I follow up with the team at regular intervals to make sure they are progressing as necessary to complete the work profitably. Setting and communicating expectations to your teams lets them know you care about them but also about the financial profitability of the firm.

4.  You Mentor Your Staff. Part of being a strong manager and strong leader is recognizing that you need to find and develop your replacement. The architecture industry is riddled with firms whose owners never planned for ownership transition. At some point, the sole practitioner or partnership pair realized they were old, tired and needed to transition ownership, only to find that they had run off all the bright, entrepreneurial minded architects and were left with a group of worker bees. Or, worse yet, they so over value the worth of the firm that their employees cannot afford to purchase the firm. 

That ownership transition plan starts at the project team level. If the hot shot project manager aspires to   be a firm owner then they need to replace themselves with the next hot shot project manager so that they can move up to firm owner or leader without a drop off in revenue. Its difficult to look over your shoulder, but it is critically important. 

These are just four notions that I have on project management. I'm currently working with one of our senior principals at work to do a presentation to our project managers about what we expect from them. Each of these notions is covered in that presentation. 

More Thoughts on New Leaders

Last weekend, I wrote about Do-Nothing Leaders. This post will expand on that leadership notion from last weekend by adding some new thoughts from an experience I had this weekend. Many of you know that I was in Boy Scouts growing up and both of my sons are in Boy Scouts now. My oldest son and I are in an honor society of scouting known as The Order of the Arrow. This society is almost as old as scouting itself and is comprised of only those scouts who are elected by the scouts in their troop for their work in living the Scout Oath and the 12 Points of the Scout Law. As OA members, we are committed to living the Scout Oath and Law, providing cheerful service to mankind and taking our ideals and experiences back to our troops to make them stronger. 

My son is currently Chief of our local OA chapter meaning he is our youth leader. He is learning much about leadership in this role. He and I spent this weekend at Conclave which is a gathering of scouts from the Del-Mar-Va region and was held at our local summer camp in northern Maryland. In addition to fun activities, meeting new people and having some great fellowship, Saturday morning was spent in training sessions. Most were for our youth, some were for both youth and adults and one that I attended was tailored just to adult advisers. 

As with all things in scouting, OA activities are meant to be youth planned and youth led. Many "scouters," as adult leaders are referred to, cannot help themselves and take too heavy handed an approach to their leading. In OA, the youth are older as you have to be First Class in rank to be elected and the "youth" designation is extended from 18 in Boy Scouts to 21 in OA. Many of the youth leaders in OA are 17 years old or older. For that reason, the youth who asked the person to lead this training session gave him the message of "OA is youth led so you need to tell the adults in your session to butt out!" That didn't exactly happen, but he did give us some nuggets that dovetail into my message from last week. The italicized phrases are directly from my notes from this training sessions. 

Failure is learning. In CSI, as in scouting, we should provide our new leaders with a controlled environment where failure is okay. We are a non-profit so there are not many financial penalties to failure, other than that which the individual chapter or region invests. In our chapter and region, we primarily rely on our sponsors, so we must always be mindful that it is their investment and they need a minimum return on that investment in terms of access to other construction professionals or advertisement of their brands. However, activites can be structured to allow for well-controlled failure to minimize financial impact. 

Many organizations choose leaders who have failed & test them in no win situations to gauge reactions. A well-known government agency was used to illustrate this point. Whether that is true or not, it is an interesting notion. If you have never failed, you may not know how to act or how you will react to that failure. This is the problem with helicopter parents. They have shielded their children from any adversity to the point where when the children are in high school or college and face real adversity and even failure, some are unable to handle that adversity and the cycle of parental over-involvement is perpetuated. 

The same can be true of new leaders. In Silicone Valley, there is a culture of failure and learning that should be respected, if not replicated. In CSI, our new leaders need to be given the latitude to fail so that when they reach higher positions of authority in their careers, they know what happens when they fail and can control their actions and emotions accordingly. 

The other interesting notion of the previous italicized note is the idea of putting new leaders into no win situations to see how they react. I'm not suggesting that anything as bold be performed on our new leaders in CSI, but by stepping away and perhaps allowing some adversity to occur, seasoned leaders can help new leaders learn and therefore learn how they will react to adversity. These become coaching moments that can be greatly beneficial to the new leader.  

Create an environment where success can happen - but let new leaders lead and ultimately determine level of success or failure. As a parent, I tell my children all the time that my job is to put you into a position to succeed. Whether in school, extra-curricular activities or learning to drive, I must always help you succeed, not put you in situations to fail. The same is true of me as a leader in CSI, in scouting or in my firm. Our new or young leaders need to be put into a position to succeed and then be allowed to determine their level of success or failure through their own actions. 

Don't allow other people to define your role or define your new leader's roles. This may seem a funny thing to say as I'm giving advice on leadership development, but the point made by the trainer is that everyone has an opinion but only you can determine what is right for you and for the leaders that you coach and mentor. I think the unspoken portion of this idea is that you should also not define your new leader's style. There are many kinds of leaders and each person must find their own natural leadership style. Success is determined not so much by style of leader, but by execution of leadership skills. 

Deflect - don't let people or situations have a negative impact on new leaders - no Eeyores. This may be the most important notion and the best continuation of my last post. Those of you who are familiar with the Winnie the Pooh stories know what Eeyore was the donkey with sad face and floppy ears who was always slow and usually had a negative attitude. Eeyore can be of particular concern to new leaders: the sadness, slowness and negativity can be deflating to new leaders. 

If you are developing new leaders, you must deflect the do-nothings to allow only positive people and positive situations to assist your new leaders. That's not to say that new leaders should not be exposed to negative people and negative situations, they should. However, as the seasoned leader, you are in the best position to use that negativity as a teaching moment on how to handle it and also as a moment of positive reinforcement. 

Another point made in this training session was about coaching and mentoring. I've written on those ideas in this blog and on the Baltimore Chapter CSI's blog, Felt Tips. You are never just a coach or just a mentor to young people and new leaders. That role can change as often as the weather. However, by being present, engaged and thoughtful, you can make a difference in the lives and careers of young people and new leaders. That maybe the most important lesson of all. 

Leadership: Do Something

Blogger Note: Its been awhile since I posted. I've been busy! Seriously, I did take an intentional step back as I joined the Board of Directors for CSI, but I have 2 ideas in my head and 3 drafts on the dashboard, so look for an onslaught!  

Also, on this Mother's Day, a very Happy Mother's Day and a huge "Thank You" to the moms out there, especially my own mom and the mother of my three wonderful children!

~ MK

I recently retweeted a tweet by Dan Rockwell, The Leadership Freak. He's a great follow on Twitter @leadershipfreak. Dan said, "Do-nothing people tell do-something people to slow down!" My comment on the retweet was, "Volunteer leaders should think on this." I think there are several ideas to unpack from this simple statement on leadership. 

We all run into "do-nothing people" in our daily lives. They are either in jobs that they are not passionate about or their passions lie elsewhere. They float through their days doing just the minimum effort or trying to hide and just get by. That is fine in some instances. I had a boss once who said, "we need worker bees, too!" Every firm cannot be filled with leaders no more than every person can be a leader. In our AEC industry, we need folks to produce the work as well as leaders to lead them. However, when the minimum effort is provided, minimum compensation and limited room for growth follows. Not all do-nothing people get that and they crave more than they are willing deliver in the workplace. 

These "do-nothing people" can come to occupy leadership positions in our volunteer activities. Their "provide minimum effort at work" attitude leaves them behind in the work place so they try to get ahead in their volunteer activities. I've seen it time and time again: the idea that "its my turn" to lead because I'm next in line and I've paid my dues. 

This is a terrible way to pick leaders. It can lead to lack of organizational focus, inability to recruit other leaders and even to recruit or retain members. I recently served a three year term on my church parish council. We were supposed to help our pastoral director lead the parish. I encountered a number of "do-nothing" people on that council and felt they were looking for a social outlet not a strategic leadership opportunity. I spent one year as chair of that council and for the first time in my life, left a leadership position feeling that I accomplished nothing. 

As a leader, anytime you have to use words like "voluntold" to get people to help or "it's time someone stepped up," the leaders of that organization need to take a long look in the mirror. There may be things that you are doing or saying, there may be ways that you conduct your business that are causing smart, passionate and talented individuals to not help out. It does not have to be merely you as a person or a personality; it can be as simple as making new thoughts and ideas unwelcome.  

The biggest harm comes when, as Dan points out, the "do-nothing people" slow down the "do-something people." If your firm does not have an entrepreneurial spirit in its leadership, that is okay. Many firms simply do the work they have always done and do not look to move ahead. If you seek entrepreneurship in business and are a "do-something" person, the "do-nothing" leaders of that firm may cause you to find another firm to work with.  

Similarly, in our volunteer activities, these "do-nothing" people can cause "do-something" people to leave the organization or to certainly not seek other leadership positions. I left our parish council because I was not able to use the resources of that council to make our parish better. They "do-nothing" members did just what they do, nothing, and I could not change that.

As a leader, if your first response to a new idea is "we tried that and it didn't work" or "we don't do things that way" then you are a "do-nothing" leader and you should step back and let others lead your organization. If you feel that no one wants to help you and you have to "voluntell" people to do things, you should probably step back and let others lead. 

I've said a million times that I am in a leadership position in our firm because of CSI. Ten years ago, my chapter needed leadership and me, along with many others, took control and led our chapter out of a very uncertain period of time. I worked hard, I made mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes. CSI offered me a friendly and nurturing avenue to learn how to lead. 

I have sense moved on to lead CSI at the national level but I always try to let our chapter leadership make their own decisions. They value my opinions and input, but I try to make clear that this is their chapter and they should lead it as they believe is best. It is that notion of the friendly and nurturing environment that "do-something" people need. CSI can be great if the "do-something" people are given an environment to test their ideas, make their mistakes but also to learn from those mistakes. We need entrepreneurs in CSI, not obstructionists.