2023 has been an incredible year for OrgMetrics and the teams we serve. As a company we received six IPI Awards, seven San Francisco Partnering Awards, and three Caltrans awards including a $50M+ Best in Class Award for the Redding to Anderson Six Lanes (RASL) Project. We have also been able to help hundreds of teams from Doha, Qatar, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and from San Diego, CA to Crescent City, CA.
As we approach the end of 2023, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate our five most successful newsletter articles based on your level of interest. Sue, Cinda and I work hard to bring you new and innovative thought leadership articles related to Partnering, issue resolution, leadership, and teaming practices. Our mission is to help teams develop routinely collaborative cultures, so you can be more creative and have more fun as you achieve your goals. We are so deeply appreciative for your interest in our newsletter, so in reverse order from 5 to 1… drumroll please!
#5 Servant Leaders in Support of Project Teams – Cinda Bond
In this article, Cinda emphasizes the need for project leaders to, at their essence, serve the teams they are guiding. She frames up the article with Simon’s Sinek’s quote, “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.”
The article includes a fantastic visual related to leadership qualities which helps you understand what the environment is like when you have seven key leadership qualities or when those qualities are absent.
The key leadership qualities include:
- Listening
- Empathy
- Self-Awareness
- Persuasion
- Vision
- Lead by Example, and
- Building Community.
For the article, she developed a matrix that helps you break down your personal level of servant leadership.
#4 Half Dome #5 and the Practice of Misogi – Rob Reaugh
In this article, I shared lessons learned from most recent hike up Half Dome and the practice of Misogi, a Japanese Shinto practice of ritual purification where the practitioner must attempt something both physically and mentally difficult. The concept of Misogi was popularized by Michael Easter’s excellent book The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self.
In the article I also reflect on my key lessons learned from the trip:
- Do Something Hard
- Take a Leadership Role
- Stay Positive-Ish
- Celebrate Victories with Loved Ones
- Enjoy the Thinking Time
#3 6th Annual SF Partnering Awards and the Partnering Awards “How To” Tips – Rob Reaugh
In this article I share four keys to getting the best possible score on your Partnering award applications. These keys to success apply to both the International Partnering Institute Partnered Project of the Year Awards and also the San Francisco Collaborative Partnering Award (and frankly, just about any other industry award). The keys are:
- Start with the end in mind – Look at the task and break it down into bite-sized bits
- Focus on the issues – at least 50% of the points in the IPI and SF Partnering Awards Applications relate to the descriptions of the issues identified and resolved by the teams
- Take the reader on a journey – The image to the right is a graphic of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Judges are people and people love stories. Tell the story of your project to help the judges understand what you overcame.
- Show signs of celebration – share photos of lunches and partnering, and other teaming events. Great teams enjoy the journey as much as the product. Keep that in mind!
#2 Behaving your way to Success – Sue Dyer
In this article, Sue shares how certain project leaders are able to routinely develop high performing project teams, which is through creating a high trust culture. She focuses on how the leader can spread and cultivate that structure. She walks through five keys to success:
- Coordination: They work as ONE team to get aligned on all key project details
- Quality Control: They establish checks and balances and use tools like mock-ups to create a learning environment
- Problem Solving: The team has the discipline to identify and resolve project issues before they impact the project
- Strategy: High performing teams have a set strategy to build the project scope. There is an individual (or group), who deeply understands how the project is put together. That way they can execute their vision
- Learning Environment: They build a learning environment as a team, so they continuously get better each day
Sue also shares IPI’s new Project Leader Certification and how leaders seeking to improve their project delivery and results will benefit from the training it provides!
#1 Construction Conflict for Project Leaders – Rob Reaugh
In our number one most clicked on article this year, we provided an overview of the training we presented to United Contractor’s Project Management Career Advancement (PMCA) program. This was my second time presenting the training to a cohort of leaders in this program and in the article, I shared recent updates on the national and international construction claims statistics and some of the training keys I use to help PM’s become more effective at resolving project conflict.
The key statistics we share:
- According to Forbes, a typical manager spends 25% of their time dealing with workplace conflicts.
- Per Michigan State University, the average jobsite conflict is valued at $10K and takes an average of 161 hours to navigate and mediate.
- Per ARCADIS 2022 Global Construction Dispute Report, the average value of a disputed claim in North America has reduced slightly from 2020 (from $37.9M to $30.1M in North America) and on average extended in duration from 14.2 months to 15.4 months to resolve.
We also talk about:
- The benefits of early intervention
- Common types of conflict and how to diagnose and resolve them
- The STAR approach to conflict resolution developed for mediators
- Other tricks of the trade to make meetings and negotiation more effective.
Overall, this has been an incredible year of growth for OrgMetrics. As stated at the top, we are grateful for your readership and for the opportunity to support you and your project teams. If you have any great ideas for an article, please let us know!
– Rob
Rob Reaugh is President of OrgMetrics LLC. He facilitates the City and County of San Francisco Collaborative Partnering Steering Committee and currently works with San Francisco International Airport, San Jose International Airport, BART, Caltrans, and others. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution.
For more information please contact Rob Reaugh, RobReaugh@Orgmet.com / (925) 487-2404 (cell), or OrgMetrics, (925) 449-8300.
