Construction Curiosities #65
and now you know... the rest of the story
Hey! Happy Saturday! Matt here.
Welcome to the Construction Curiosities newsletter.
This weekly Newsletter explores my Curiosities about the Construction Industry. It's meant to make you think, smile, and become a better, more thoughtful Construction Professional.
Summary
This week we will look at:
One Guest Post: The Rest of the Story
Three Articles: Importance of Preconstruction
One Meme: Draw 25
One Guest Post
A few weeks ago, I announced I was going to start a guest post series to help spread the spotlight on some other folks. The only catch is I get to add memes and gifs into the article.
This week’s guest article comes from Cory Thomas-Fisk, Construction Education Curator of Construction Management Online and CM Mentors Ep 10 fame. 😁
She reached out and wanted to write an article in the style of Paul Harvey's “The Rest of the Story” stories. And I was all in!
Take it away Cory!
Understanding the Importance of Perspectives in Construction
In the bustling world of construction, where timelines are tight and stakes are high, emotions often run hot. Beneath the hard hats and steel-toed boots, we, as human beings, are weaving intricate life stories that clash with the daily grind of our careers. It can be easy to respond in a reactionary, defensive mode when we are so used to taking care of issues as they arise. This often puts us in a place of assumption, where intentionally, or sometimes – reactionary or subconsciously – we make choices that may not have all of the information necessary to make a good decision.
It's a quiet, brisk morning. The young field engineer is at the jobsite about 45 minutes before the sounds of hammers and clashing steel start to fall into their daily rhythmic beat.
Flipping through the latest edition of the Construction Yeti Newsletter and learning the secrets of the trade, out of the corner of the engineer’s eye, is a yellow hard hat, moving quickly past the bars of the jobsite trailer window.
All of a sudden the door bursts open and slams against the wall, through it a man with a seasoned scowl burrowing deep into his forehead. Veins look as though they are about to burst from his neck as the red from his face begins to deepen to an unrecognizable scarlet fire. At this moment, the young engineer, having seen this common response from this superintendent, begins to feel uneasy and begins preparing for a hip firing gun squad of insults, criticisms of incompetency, and irrational yelling, usually followed by the flinging of a hard hat across the room.
“How can I help you?”
“Well, you can start by not shooting off letters about things you know nothing about.”
It is apparent that the superintendent received the denial of a Change Request for an Unforeseen Condition that had stopped all work in that area of the project. Two days earlier, the Superintendent had discovered an unmarked gas line that was impeding on the new foundation layout and it needed to be relocated. The young engineer thought back to the wording used in the letter.
Everything was by the book, proper documentation had been referenced, the gas line may not have been marked but the contractor could clearly see the shutoff valve box so they should have been aware that a gas line would be present. It is possible that the letter could have left out some additional language, like “…it is the responsibility of a competent contractor to have discipline knowledge on projects they are claiming to have expertise in completing.”
Nonetheless, this is no way for an experienced Superintendent to be reacting and the young engineer thinks, “This is a guy who could really use some additional behavior comprehension and soft skill development through the transformational education curriculum taught by Construction Management Online.
The Superintendent continues to yell at the young engineer, but it is almost as if he is in a fog of his own. His mind is racing while uncontrolled words are leaving his mouth. In his mind, a more logical voice is asking, “What is the problem? Respond to the letter, why do we need to be yelling at this kid? What is it really going to resolve? It is not even that big of a deal.” – Meanwhile, intimidating tongue lashing continues to impact the young engineer dealing with their own internal dialog wondering, what to say, how to confront, defuse or defend the situation.
The interpretation of the situation begins to play out in each of the opponent’s minds.
Superintendent thinks “Entitled, know-it-all college student, fresh out of college, thinks they know everything.”
Young Engineer thinks “Grumpy old man, past his prime, always taking shortcuts and not wanting to take responsibility for anything.”
However, The situation may not always appear as it seems……
Earlier that morning, driving to work, the Superintendent got a call from the office. “This gas line is killing our schedule, you need to get this job done – I don’t care what it takes.” The Superintendent calls the plumber – “I can’t be out on the site until next Wednesday.”
A beep on the line cuts in before the Superintendent can rip into the plumber, it’s a familiar number, one that he has known for over fifteen years, “Good Morning, I know this has been hard finding out that your dad has cancer but I can’t live like this anymore – I am filing for divorce.”
The Superintendent, in a daze, struggles to keep his blurry eyes on the road until the next off ramp where he pulls off and lays his head on the steering wheel. It’s been a hard two months. Finding out his best friend and dad only has a short time to live, and the volatility of the construction market causes him to have to layoff several key employees. His workload feels like it has doubled spending long hours at the jobsite and now, paying the toll with his wife leaving him.
God will not give you more than you can handle, or will HE. This seems like a test that cannot be beaten. What is the purpose? The stress from work, the anxiety of losing his dad, that old back injury that started the use of a few opioids, and now, popping a few extra pills that might help out with this feeling of constantly being slammed up against the wall. All to be capped off by the only consistent thing in his life for over fifteen years. She is gone ….. what is life worth living?
We cannot always know what is going on in the lives of others or control how they respond or react to their own circumstances. However, we can control ourselves, our actions, and the impulse to “be right”, or “have the last word. Practicing the awareness that the experience, the situation is separate from the meaning that we give it. Removing our emotion or ego or feelings and addressing the experience for what it is without allowing outside influences to impact our response will provide a critical foundation for building solid tools for future conversations that may be much more difficult than relocating a gas line.
Understanding and appreciating different perspectives does not mean that you have to agree with them. It simply means that you allow space for shared contribution toward the conversation. Our men and women in construction, in all positions, onsite/offsite, are under tremendous stress and performance requirements. If you do not like how someone is talking to you or treating you, then teach them how to treat you, but also recognize that they may be facing larger demons in life that are stealing their clarity in how they are responding.
The situation may not always appear as it seems……and now you know The Rest of the Story.
If you have an interest in writing a guest article and are brave enough to let me meme it up. Shoot me an email at matt@constructionyeti.com
Three Articles
This week Construction Dive ran a 3-article series on the importance of preconstruction since the COVID-19 pandemic.
They do a great job of explaining the importance and value of bringing the whole project team on board as early as possible, especially in this crazy Post-COVID environment we are in today.
1️⃣ Shared challenges: Why preconstruction is suddenly so important
General contractors such as Mortenson, Messer and PCL say project collaboration is happening much earlier and with greater transparency than before the pandemic.
2️⃣ Shared lessons: The promise and pitfalls of preconstruction technology
Tech has turned a corner during the planning stage of projects, but more work remains to meet schedule and budget constraints.
3️⃣ Shared outcomes: How preconstruction impacts projects from start to finish
Beyond technology adoption, systemic changes to the building cycle have been spurred by behavioral and process swings.
One Meme
FOOTBALL IS BACK BABY!
AND THE RUGBY WORLD CUP STARTED YESTERDAY!
