In Business

Sustainability drives innovation, lowers cost, creates new market space, attracts talent and advances managerial capacity.  Adoption of sustainability as a strategic framework strengthens these core business drivers.  It is good business AND it benefits communities and the environment. 

In Government

Sustainability provides best practice example, lowers cost and satisfies public demand for environmental protection. 
Governance on a sustainable basis is also inherently strengthens democracy through transparency and stakeholder inclusion.  In Kansas City, my town, a sea change has occurred toward a sustainable governance mindset has occurred over the past three years.  Our Climate Protection Plan is leading edge.  The momentum was built from a volunteer group, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) which advises Mayor and City Council on environmental matters.  The city’s new Office of Environmental Quality has brilliantly operationalized recommendations from the EMC. 

In Institutions

The tenets of sustainability apply naturally to institutions which invest in place for the long-term.  Their vested interest in environmental and community health lead naturally to policy and actions in a sustainable manner. 

Motivations of these three broad categories are quite different, but they all need transformational leadership that touches the habits of every person in the organization.  They all are asking what they can do to improve their sustainable practices and they all are naming their first in-house sustainability directors.  Organizations that are not ready to take that staffing leap are hiring consultants to help them operationalize sustainability in the most efficient and effective ways.

It all bodes well for those of us who have been looking at this for years, wondering when the mainstream was going to embrace these issues.  It is happening.

The typical design and construction process is wasteful of money and natural resources.  It is laced with CYA attitudes and burdened by adversarial players.  In the labyrinthine contractual bindings that typify modern construction project delivery, the focus on client interests is often lost.  Clients typically find themselves working with a team of rivals and receiving avoidable change orders and cost overruns.  Result?  Typically, only super-human effort by everyone on the team provides more than mediocre value. 

Unverifiable Assertion #1

A collaborative project delivery process with an integrated Architectural/Engineering/Contracting (A/E/C) team can help save ten percent on construction cost for a +/- 500% return on investment and dramatically reduced environmental impact. 

Optimizing Value and Quality Outcomes

CONTRACTS

Building owners and clients of A/E/C services can expect more from their A/E/C team by changing the contractual relationship of the parties so that everyone is motivated by the same profit pool.  This is a leading edge trend called “Integrated Project Delivery.”  Profit is shared commensurate with scope of work.  So the contractors get the lion’s share.  If total project costs are below budget, the owner shares savings as negotiated with the A/E/C team.

Primary risks stem from relatively untested legal precedent of the inter-party agreement.  Contractual responsibilities are inter-dependent.  These risks are mitigated by transparent communications, agreed upon protocols and shared decision making.

BALANCED CAPEX/OPEX LIFE CYCLE BUDGETING AND PROJECT GOALS

Paint the whole picture before an expensive A/E/C team is engaged.   Drive effective design and construction decisions that support the required value proposition. 

A/E/C TEAM ACQUISITION

Drive the bus with all the right people in the seats.  Request qualifications and proposals with form of agreement, project goals and requirements clearly stated. 

• Prime benefit: a winning team of partners rather than the typical wasteful team of rivals.

RESPECT THE AMOUNT OF WORK INVOLVED

Identify in-house project manager with extra time on their hands, or hire a Construction Manager to represent Owner interests through the design, documentation and construction process.  Savvy building development experience is required for technical oversight, visionary thinking and financial approvals. 

• Prime benefit: Owner team sticks to core business and the project gets expert, anticipatory representation focused on project goals and requirements.

IN BUSINESS THE BUILDING IS NOT THE POINT

Building projects are undertaken to provide value through improved functionality of facilities, to reduce your cost of business through energy savings and to improve productivity of staff.  Legacy, organizational pride and brand identity are also universal drivers.

The process outlined here can guide a built result that is beautiful to look at, pleasant  to experience and work in and more efficient to operate.  It also leads to multiple benefits for the natural environment.

• Prime benefits
  • Up to 17% higher productivity of your staff,
  • Immediate and long-term reduction in cost of operation.  ROI is dependent on decisions made, but returns range from 10% to infinity (no premium cost).
  • Free press – it’s a story that journalists love to print.

These benefits pay off year after year.  Studies of LEED certified projects show that bottom line benefits are ten times the incremental cost of going green.

Leadership in a healthy professional setting requires respectful collaboration, clearly understood expectations and applause once in a while.  Here is my approach.  This is what I’ve done for over 20 years – rising in the architectural profession as designer, senior project manager, and leader of strategic transformational initiatives.

Brilliant Teams

Creative people work best when the rationales and challenges facing the team are fully communicated.  Everyone becomes better able to more fully and independently carry their tasks forward. 

Magical things happen when the team sits shoulder to shoulder.  Everyone becomes a mentor.  For dedicated full time team efforts there is a leap in productivity when, to the greatest extent possible, team members see what one another is working on and hear one another’s phone conversations.  This is a seamless way of keeping current and engaged.  Moving people to form teams increases churn rate costs, but the benefit of putting team members adjacent to one another is invaluable.  Investing in office furniture systems “on wheels” is the strategic secret to making this an effective office management strategy.

Put these two thoughts together: 1) Good ideas don’t care where they came from and 2) Everyone is seeking fulfillment.  Effective team leaders generously give ownership for success to their team members at every opportunity.

“One-Minute Manager” techniques form great daily patterns for keeping up the energy, exchanging ideas, providing clarity and feedback, and then moving on fairly quickly.  Punctuating this with as needed quick stand up team meetings goes a long way to keeping team focus on the priority issues and targeted on effective conclusion.  Put it all together and everyone on the team moves through their day at their highest potential with their creativity fully invested in the project.  The outcome is brilliant work – way beyond the additive abilities of the members of the team.

Adaptability

Strategies that harness the brilliance of the group depend on team size, capabilities and the tasks at hand.  Leadership challenges are ever present.  Adaptation to more effective paths is always required.

Lead by example with integrity, vision and passion

Great things happen when creative people perform with personal vision and passion.  A strong leader creates energy and enthusiasm for success.  The best way to do that is to live it.  Bring personal vision and passion to the work and it will be reflected back to you by all that you work with.

My consulting practice, blueoceanNOWgroup created curriculum and is teaching the Sustainable Business Leaders Series in conjunction with The Center for Business and Technology at Johnson County Community College.

Next Session

XGR 1011 001        March 26, 2010                 8 a.m. to noon

Sustainable Business Strategies                   

This session will illustrate the broad menu of initiatives and policies being formulated and used today by sustainable business leaders and experts.  Look at how businesses are leveraging facilities and energy saving strategies, operational protocols and transportation strategies, product redesign and material through-puts to improve environmental performance and enhance profitability.  Explore how leaders are creating sustainability plans to organize and prioritize transformation of their organizations toward sustainable business practices.

To register for seminars, go to www.centerforbusiness.org, click on “Upcoming Classes” choose XGR 1011 001 then “Enroll Now” or call JCCC at 913.469.2323

In our conscious, agenda filled, ambitious, complex, victimized and privileged, prostituted lives we leap past these moments of sacred contract to the safety of the well-charted status quo.

I’m no different

John Ware