Great Visions Consulting

Great Visions Consulting

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Partnering Facilitation Services

Types of Meetings:

    Pre-construction Retreats

    Follow-up Sessions

    Special Conflict Resolution Meetings

Services Summary:

Partnering Overview

Mission of Partnering (sometimes called "teaming")

Partnering in the construction industry is designed to replace the traditionally adversarial relationships among owners, generals, subs, architects, and engineers with more cooperative and collaborative ones.  An explicit desired outcome of partnering is to avoid the possibility of litigation resulting from disputes which arise either during the design or construction phase of a project.

The final outcome of partnering should be:

• a high-quality product for the owner, delivered on-time and within-budget;
• the protection of design integrity of the project, with all specifications met or exceeded; and
• the realization of a fair profit to the designers and contractors for their services.

Objectives of a Partnering Retreat

1. Get to know the fellow team members.

2. Identify and discuss issues of concern on the job.

3. Develop solutions to head off potential problems.

4.  Develop a process to manage those problems which cannot be avoided.

5.  Develop a Partnering Charter to guide interactions on the project.

Non-Objectives of a Partnering Retreat

1. Discuss and/or resolve details better handled in a pre-construction meeting.

2. Eliminate all problems from the job.

3. Create some sort of "free-lunch" program. If the project is under-funded, under-designed, or inadequately scheduled, no amount of partnering or good intentions will make up for these problems.

What is "Partnering"?

It is a team building process designed to promote and ensure a win/win outcome for all the "stakeholders" ( the owner, architects, engineers, contractors, subs, and suppliers) of a construction project. At the heart of partnering is a signed "charter" which guides team member behavior and attitudes throughout the life of the project.

What is a "Partnering Charter"?

It is a psychological contract or a "handshake" among men and women of honor, which defines how they agree to work with each other, and the major objectives they are attempting to accomplish.

What does a typical Charter look like?

A typical Charter starts with a mission statement for the project. The mission statement contains references to any unique aspects of the job, plus the commitment of the team members to build to the job safely, on-time, within budget, and in a quality manner which meets the owner's requirements.

The mission is followed by a set of team goals, such as, but not limited to, the following:

• Develop an optimized design which meets all of the owner's needs.
• Develop and utilize a problem resolution process which resolves problems quickly, at the lowest possible level, and avoids all litigations.
• Maintain open and honest communications with each other.
• Work together cooperatively, collaboratively, and in a non-adversarial spirit.
• Commit to "building it right the first time", and to do everything possible to promote pride-in-workmanship on the job.
• Commit to meet regularly (at least quarterly) to review the team's success at living up to the Charter.

How is partnering done?

Partnering involves two types of meetings, in which all stakeholders must participate:

• An initial retreat in which major design and/or construction issues are discussed, major project concerns are identified and resolved, and the foundations for on-going teamwork are established.
• A series of follow-up review sessions (typically quarterly, or as dictated by the needs of the project) in which problem solving takes place, substantive and human issues can be resolved, and the spirit of the charter is reinforced.

Lessons Learned From Partnering

Partnering began to appear in construction projects in the late-1980s. What have we learned?  The following items seem to have a major impact on the success or failure of the process. It is essential that they be discussed and agreed to during the course of the initial retreat. All parties must agree to attitudes and behaviors which:

1. Focus on fixing the problem, and not the blame.

2. Set absolutely honest suspense dates.

3. Avoid the use of "ASAP" - and instead specify a real date/time for the task to be completed.

4. Summarize the agreements made before adjourning any meeting.

5. Get explicit closure on problem resolutions - who will do what, and when will they do it?

6. Work to resolve issues at the field or lowest practical level.

7. Use the chain-of-communications to escalate problems which resist resolution.

8. Never pass a suspense date without mutual agreement to change the suspense date or to escalate. Always estimate time to resolve and allow for that in setting suspense dates.

9. In general, establish open, honest, timely communications.

10. Never let a problem fester in the hopes it will go away.

11. Escalate in tandem up the respective chains of command, and never unilaterally.

12. Notify the next level in the chain if ever a suspense date must be slipped.

13. Avoid any surprise bad news. (Avoid putting issues in a letter which haven't already been verbally discussed with the other party.)

14. Encourage keeping good documentation.

15. Tell each other directly if you see a problem.

16. Avoid hidden agendas.

17. When subconsultants/subcontractors need to be involved, use joint meetings to be sure that the engineer/general is kept in the control loop.

Partial List of Partnered Projects: