SMALL PROJECTS HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT
As the facilitators and co-creators of the Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) Partnering Program and the International Partnering Institute’s Working Model for Collaborative Partnering, many in the industry have asked us to take what we have learned to develop a scaled version of our partnering program for Small Projects. These are projects that range in size between $100,000 and ~$3 million. Until now, small projects have been essentially left out of collaborative partnering programs because it was cost and time prohibitive to implement what we know works.
Over the past several years we’ve been developing a model for small projects that can work within the smaller budgets and tight time frames that are associated with these smaller projects. One of the lessons we’ve learned over the years is that the number of issues and problems that a project faces isn’t what determines success or failure. What does determine success or failure is how the team comes together to resolve the issues. We believe that we have created a model that can transform how small projects teams work together toward the success of their projects.
(SPPP) aligns the team members and keeps them aligned so they become one team focused on the success of the project. The follow-up partnering and scorecard ensure that you “realign” and make course corrections to meet your targets, just like NASA does when sending a rocket to Mars (it is only on target 5% of the time; the rest of the time it gyros back and forth to stay on course).
Small Project Partnering Program Elements
Sample Kick-off Session Agenda
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SMALL PROJECTS HAVE SOME UNIQUE CHALLENGES
We worked on multiple smaller projects during the development of this program to better understand their needs. We realized that small projects actually need a collaborative partnering process at least as much and perhaps even more than larger projects do. On a small project there is a shorter time frame and fewer dollars to “throw” at issues. This means that there is no time to deal with delays, issues, or changes and little money to spend on them. Things need to run very smoothly with everyone pulling together. Without genuine team collaboration the stage is set for potential conflicts, disputes, and claims, creating a real risk for each of the project team members.
ON TIME, ON BUDGET
The goal for every one of our partnering models is to develop a means for achieving predictable project success. We have taken the lessons we’ve learned from working on over 2,000 projects and culled out what we think works for small projects. We will deliver the process developed from these lessons through web based technology.
HOW THE SMALL PROJECT PARTNERING PROGRAM WORKS
Each Small Project Partnering session is conducted by a professional partnering facilitator via the web. The facilitator is at her computer and team members are in front of theirs. Each team member will hear the facilitator and the other participants through their computer or telephone (this will be determined during the pre partnering process). In addition to to seeing the facilitator’s presentation slides, participants will be able to see summaries of what they discuss and agree to right on the screen as the facilitator types it. Because of this virtual platform, team members can be located any where. A Small Project Partnering Session will last approximately 2 hours. The cost of a Small Project Partnering session is ½ that of a typical in-person session.
PARTNERING WORKS!
There is no doubt that the construction industry needs to become more collaborative and small projects are no exception. The nature of the relationships on a construction project are “interdependent”. Because of our interdependence, no one working on a project can just walk away from issues and succeed. If we see each other as “adversaries” or as “those people”, we are actually working against ourselves. We must have the cooperation of the other stakeholders who hold our success in their hands as much as we hold it in our own. Based on a highly effective model that has proven itself over the past three decades, the Small Project Partnering Program is designed to help each small project team work together for success.
GET STARTED NOW
To find out more, or to sign your project up for a Small Project Partnering Program, just give us a call at (925) 449-8300, or use the contact us form. It would be our sincere pleasure to work with you and your team to help ensure your project is the most successful it can be.