Creating a Sustainable Construction and Building Industry
Here at Morden, we are in the fortunate position to be able to share our real-life, practical construction background to help upskill teams in a real and lasting way. We assist with projects at the commercial and construction management level and help fill gaps in knowledge and experience.
We are always looking for opportunities to contribute to the construction industry which is why we are presenting at the NZ Certified Builders Association’s Leadership Conference in Christchurch on Saturday, 27 May. The theme for the conference is Building Leadership, something we are extremely passionate about. Sharing knowledge and skills and helping tomorrow’s leaders is also a big part of remaining sustainable as an industry. We look forward to seeing some of you at the conference.
In a nutshell, the sustainability of the construction industry relies on attracting and growing a diverse workforce, while also improving the efficiency of the building industry as a whole.
We Understand the Pressures of Delivering Complex Construction Assignments and Projects
As consultants to the industry, we work alongside existing teams to help them with master planning and achieving their vision. By being part of the team, we have turned a number of projects around, ranging from small scale one-off builds, to large, complex multi-million-dollar projects. Areas we are called on to help with are programming and planning, project management, cost and commercial management and construction management.
In this industry, particularly with larger projects, sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees. As pressures grow in striving to achieve an end goal, while managing a growing number of challenges, the completion of projects can at times seem insurmountable. An important part of our role in these cases, is to give the team confidence, and remind them they are doing a great job, because they are. There are gaps in knowledge and a shortage of skills in the workforce which is a huge problem in our industry.
We find coming in with a fresh perspective is invaluable to the team in the midst of it. With our extensive construction industry background and experience, we can help guide and lead the team through to the other side, no matter what challenges they are dealing with. We’ve come in as consultants on many construction projects across the country at various stages of development.
A lot of clients are concerned that when they hand over a project to someone else they lose control of it. We have a very strong view that we’re not here to take a project off a client. We are very much against that approach. We are much happier to partner with and work alongside clients, help subcontractors upskill their workforce and to grow in maturity. Creating high performance teams is important.
Top 5 Tips to Help Create a Sustainable Industry
1. Be flexible and have fun
Thinking like a business owner is quite different to thinking like an employee. Making sure employees have what they need when they need it, no questions asked, pays off and this is not always about salaries. It’s about flexibility, it’s about wellness, training, growing, mentoring, trying out different things and having fun as well. If you’re in a good environment, why would you want to leave?
2. Have a clear purpose and agreed goals
While team growth and development is important, making sure the team is aligned with real purpose, genuine reason and a clear understanding of the agreed goals is as important. When you commit to developing a culture of inclusion rather than exclusion, you avoid silos (groups of experts separated by department, specialisation, or location, operating independently and unwilling to share information).
3. Provide opportunities
Giving people significance and importance creates a feeling of being part of the bigger picture, with opportunities to grow and develop as a team. This is going to be part of that bigger journey for the team as a whole, to operate with interdependence, not independence.
4. Create a supportive environment
Team alchemy is a strength-based philosophy of creating high performance teams in business, operating on the fundamentals of building supportive environments. With appropriate behaviour and respect for each other, looking after each other and having each other’s backs (as opposed to throwing people under the bus), this approach emphasises collaboration and teamwork towards a common goal.
5. Expand organisational values into project values
When the same approach to cultivating a great team is applied to working with clients it fosters collaboration and builds forward momentum for the project as a whole.
If you have a construction project coming up, or one you are already involved with and you recognise a need for extra assistance, get in touch with us today. With boots on the ground building experience in our very early days, combined with consultancy smarts, we are certain we can add value to your next project. No challenge is too great with the right team behind you. Give us a call on 04 210 0340 to discuss your project in confidence.
