News Detail

Finding Common Ground

12/1/2021

Life is competitive. According to biologists, our very existence depends on our ability to successfully compete. And our species has survived largely because we have chalked up more victories than defeats.

Our competitive tendencies serve us well under most circumstances. They motivate us to confront challenges. They encourage us to break out of our comfort zones and pursue new experiences. And they provide the motivation necessary to overcome adversity and stay focused on our goals.

Unfortunately, however, competition also has a downside. It can cause us to adopt a win-lose mindset, which can be counterproductive. By approaching all of life’s negotiations with the idea that there will be winners and losers, we overlook opportunities for finding common ground. We compete instead of seeking ways to collaborate, and by doing so, fail to create additional value that could have benefitted all parties.

In the concrete industry, competition is alive and well. And in the main, it is beneficial. It motivates us to improve. Indeed, the ACI tagline “Always Advancing” reflects this. Recently, however, I have had cause to question the level of competition between the concrete industry’s professional and trade associations and ask how we can bring more unity to our activities. We sometimes fail to recognize that the overarching goals of many—perhaps most—concrete industry associations are aligned, and that by seeking more cooperation, all will benefit. We argue over minor differences instead of recognizing the similarities that would allow us to move forward together.

A recent example of the benefit of collaboration is the agreement reached between ACI and the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). Friction had developed between our two organizations regarding code development, leading to a disproportionate focus on our differences. By collectively refocusing the dialogue on our aligned goals, an agreement was reached to proceed together in the development of a new precast concrete code, ACI 319, that will benefit all concrete professionals. It’s a victory for ACI, PCI, and the entire industry.

Another example is the new initiative ACI is embarking on that is focused on addressing construction industry productivity and how to improve it—an undertaking I strongly support. Construction productivity gains have fallen behind those of many other industries for decades. In fact, productivity gains in some segments of our industry have been largely nonexistent. To address this, ACI formed a Task Group (TG) that I chaired, with the mission of exploring how ACI can leverage its resources to participate in solutions to this problem. Our TG identified key action items that were presented to and approved by the ACI Executive Committee and Board of Direction this past summer. And it’s important to note that these activities will benefit from cooperation between ACI and other industry associations. Stagnated construction productivity is a broad problem that will not be solved with a narrow effort. It will require the work of many people.

For example, input from the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) will be welcome in the execution of ACI’s new initiative. Even though ACI and ASCC have different areas of focus, we nevertheless both work for the health and improvement of the concrete industry. And, because construction productivity is our target, the involvement of people most familiar with concrete construction is necessary for our success. ACI’s new initiative will thus benefit from ASCC’s input, as well as the input of other industry associations.

These are only two of the many areas where industry cooperation is beneficial. To cite the psychological underpinnings commonly used in negotiation science, integrative negotiating (collaborating) is more powerful than distributive negotiating (competing). In integrative or collaborative negotiating, the first objective is to find common ground. You set differences aside and identify areas of mutual interest. By doing so, the pie can often be enlarged before carving it up. In contrast, distributive or competitive negotiating focuses solely on distributing the pie. It’s all about value claiming instead of value creating. The pie size is static.

I suggest that our industry focus more on creating value and less on claiming value. More on collaborating and less on competing. More on integrating our interests and less on carving up pieces of a static pie. Our industry is not static, and neither should we be.

Cary S. Kopczynski

ACI President