Base
Realignment & Closure Project
Fort Leonard
Wood, Missouri
Completed in 1999
Partnering Lesson:
Experienced facilitator was the key to initial
teambuilding for multiple stakeholders on this
multi-project site.
Project Description
This project,
which was four separate projects combined under one
contract, was $174 million with 42 buildings, 925,000 square
feet, and 3,500 design drawings. Hensel Phelps and 74
subcontractors logged 2,026,517 man-hours, placed 45,000
cubic yards of concrete, and laid 625 miles of cable. Each
individual project had its own design firm, drawings,
specifications, submittal register, RFI log, and change
estimate log. Both the metric and imperial systems were
used.
Project Challenges:
How do we
have four different project teams work independently, yet be
consistent under one contract? Not only were the jobs
designed by four different architectural and engineering
firms, but each project had its own set of specifications
and drawings. One of our goals was to standardize the four
projects, as many craft and supervisory people would be
moving from site to site - all while being aware that what
was acceptable at one project site was not necessarily the
right way on the next one.
Issue:
Given
the enormous challenge of this complex project, it
was imperative that our partnering workshop be
successful. Each of the four project teams were
represented with their key personnel, major
subcontractors, and upper-level management from the
Corps of Engineers (COE), Hensel Phelps and the US
Army.
The task of selecting the facilitator was assigned
to the respective managers of the COE and Hensel
Phelps. A list of candidates was drafted, and phone
interviews were conducted with the top candidates.
Criteria for the best candidate included the
following:
-
Past
experience as a partnering facilitator.
-
Ability to take charge and keep the group
focused.
-
Flexibility to cover issues brought up during
the workshop, yet still cover our main
objectives.
-
Ability to deal with the process and not the
content.
-
Ability to tailor the workshop to the specific
project rather than use a "canned" approach.
-
Familiarity with military contracting
-
Able
to plan and conduct team-building exercises.
-
Work
to build consensus among the participants.
-
Able
to help identify obstacles to the development of
a partnership and thus a successful project.
A
two-day session was planned with a specific agenda
to be followed. The workshop went very well, and the
outcome was better than expected. The facilitator
proved to be excellent. Given the large number of
attendees at the workshop, there were many times the
conversation began to veer off track. Our
facilitator quickly got us back on target.
As an example, one of the members, who was very
skeptical of partnering, expressed that he was not
confident of the benefits of partnering. Our
facilitator quickly diffused this conversation and
turned the focus back to our agenda. She received
many positive comments after the workshop for the
manner in which she handled this situation.
In summary, one of the key elements in the success
of our initial partnering workshop was having had
the right facilitator. She was able to assist in
molding four project teams, each with its own
autonomy, into being consistent with each of the
other sites under the umbrella of the overall
contract. We were able to combine four charters into
one, with each stakeholder in full agreement.
Regular evaluations were conducted on each
individual project in accordance with the charter
goals and on the project as a whole. The team
building and initiation of relationships begun at
our workshop proved to be the foundation for the
trust and integrity that carried a very difficult
project into one of the truly great success stories.
Partnering did make the difference, and it started
with the right facilitator for the job.
Benefits of Partnering:
- Early
turnover for several partitions of the project.
- Development
of long lasting relationships.
- Completion
within budget.
- Immersion of
stakeholders into local community.
- Issue
resolution at lowest level.
- Great
communication among the team.
Contact:
Randy Barr
Hensel Phelps Construction Co.
713-247-0174
rbarr@henselphelps.com
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