News Detail

Partnering for Better Concrete Construction

6/1/2001

One of the more interesting projects we were involved with at Baker Concrete Construction was a major road-widening project for the State of Kentucky during 1999-2000. The Kentucky State Department of Transportation (DOT) had set up a construction-partnering program, and to get things rolling, all of the engineers, contractors, suppliers, and DOT employees working on the project attended a "Partnering Workshop." To make a long story short, the partnering concept proved to be a great success.

The partnering process continued throughout the project, and the results exceeded all customer expectations. We completed this multimillion-dollar job under budget and one year ahead of schedule. Any problems that came up were solved right on the job site, and the trust level among the project participants was high. There was a pyramid of customer satisfaction that included everyone involved, from the owner right down the line. It was a true partnering effort, and the results were really impressive.

A light bulb went on in my head. Why can’t ACI do this on a local and national level? Why not try a similar workshop with our chapter?

From my experience, to have successful partnering in the concrete industry, we would need to raise the levels of communication, cooperation, and collaboration between the different contributors so they would be willing to work together for the benefit of the whole industry. We’d have to raise the trust level. We’d have to aspire to putting "Better Constructed Facilities" above our own self-interests. If we could work this way, the sum of our efforts would be greater than any individual contribution. To make this happen, we would need to include every discipline: engineers, architects, academics, owners, general contractors, subcontractors, construction managers, cement and material suppliers, testing firms, and so on.

I shared these thoughts with some other folks in the Greater Miami Valley Chapter, and we decided to test the concept at the first opportunity. We originally intended to use partnering the same way as in the project I mentioned above, but our planning soon turned into a collaboration of different ideas and visions. The Chapter established a Partnering Committee to figure out how to approach this. We decided to run a pilot Partnering Workshop with 13 people representing a cross section of our industry.

We brought in professional facilitator Jon Beeson, an engineer by trade who had led many successful design-build programs for Procter & Gamble. He prompted the group by asking questions in such a way that the important issues naturally surfaced. We were very pleased with the results. Many of the issues raised at the local level mirrored the ones I had heard for years during discussions at ACI conventions. The interaction generated some great ideas on how to address these issues that had never been brought up before. We asked the pilot group to provide leadership for a larger event—a Teambuilding Workshop.

We held the Teambuilding Workshop last February with 95 individuals, again from all disciplines. We divided the participants into 13 roundtable discussion groups, with a member of the pilot group leading each table. These table leaders had an incredible impact on the effectiveness of the workshop.

Jim Toscas, our Executive Vice President, was also there and presented an overview of ACI’s vision and values. His comments were very insightful and left the Chapter with a deeper understanding of ACI’s strategic objectives. By the conclusion of the 4-1/2 hour workshop, we identified three major issues, and set up a committee for each one: "Profession and Image," "Certification and Standardized Ratings," and "Quality and Application." After several follow-up meetings, each committee is beginning to jell.

This exercise helped the Greater Miami Valley Chapter define a clear vision of its future that did not exist before. We now have a much better understanding of the needs of the concrete community in our area and the ways we can have the greatest positive impact. We also increased participation and raised the level of energy within the organization.

The Partnering Workshop is one way that ACI chapters can help members of the local concrete community share individual expertise to address their own needs and, ultimately, the needs of the end user. I believe that if similar events were held at other ACI chapters, the rippling effect could have an immense impact on the concrete construction industry as a whole. Partnering leads to better project teamwork and better concrete construction—and this makes for better-satisfied customers.

You might want to consider trying this in your chapter. If so, let me know—I’m willing to help!

Daniel L. Baker,
President,
American Concrete Institute

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