Getting The
Moose On The Table
Using Partnering Sessions to Lay a Foundation For
Success
Summary:
When we sit
down to a team meeting we all have one common goal: to
complete the project at hand. Yet how many hours do we
waste with trivial arguments that really have nothing to
do with the topic? When was the last time you sat in that
uncomfortable chair and thought, "I have so many other
things I should be doing right now?"
To keep his massive development projects on
time and within budget, Rick Krochalis, director of
Seattle's Department of Design, Construction and Land
Use, uses the concept of partnering sessions. Just a few
hours of preliminary discussions can save days when
conflicts arise later in the project. Krochalis describes
how candid conversations establish a commitment to the
completion of the job as well as to mutual respect.
Read on to see how partnering sessions can
set a precedence for your company and remind everyone
what they are really working
toward.
Surprise has been a
frequent reaction when Rick Krochalis proposes a
partnering session to launch the complex projects for
permitting activity, which his City of Seattle department
oversees. He is, after all, a bureaucrat. But a 20-year
career as a Navy civil engineer taught him the value of
clear definitions and strong relationships as the best
foundation for successful projects.
The projects Krochalis oversees have been key
components in Seattle's growing economy and
infrastructure. They include the Seattle Symphony
Orchestra's Benaroya Concert Hall; a sizeable capital
improvement project for the Seattle Public Schools; the
implosion of the new Seattle Center Coliseum; the
implosion of the Kingdome, Seattle's former sports
stadium; and the construction of a regional
transportation system, Sound Transit.
As director of Seattle's Department of Design,
Construction and Land Use since 1992, Krochalis has been
a proponent of thinking that goes well beyond the
expected governmental bureaucracy. A lot of people were
surprised by his innovations: "They don't think a
regulatory department would be able to involve other city
departments. But wait a minute! Our department is
approving your permits. We're sending inspectors out on a
daily basis. Why wouldn't we be part of that? The city
has an equity position."
Can't We All Just Get
Along?
Krochalis borrowed from models established by the
Associated General Contractors and the Army Corps of
Engineers. "They found, in a construction setting,
contractors, owners and architects all arguing and not
constructing the building right. We established
structured partnering sessions of those entities very
early on, sometimes before we even mobilized our
forces."
By having such conversations about the project's
goals, Krochalis points out, everyone gets better
results. "What contractor doesn't want to finish on time
and on budget? It means he'll probably make more money.
The owner is pleased, and the architect, working with the
team, sees his building built in a good fashion."
The concept is really a simple one: The key
players are assembled in advance of the project's
initiation. "Before any of the controversies are flying,
you sit down and have a candid conversation determining
the real drivers of the project, the goals. We can
actually examine how we are going to work together. We
talk about how we are going to resolve conflict. It gives
us a framework for decision protocols throughout the
project."
In fact, Krochalis says, such structured
partnering sessions typically forestall problems that can
delay or derail major projects. "You can get the moose on
the table that no one talks about," he jokes. "Maybe the
architect thinks the contractor has a bad reputation.
Maybe the contractor thinks the architect's drawings
aren't just right. Maybe the owner's worried about
something else. If you get those ideas out and let people
address them upfront, all of a sudden you're
talking."
Time Saver
Sometimes it's hard to get busy people to commit
to the one- or two-day session required to hammer out a
partnering agreement. But Krochalis says the time saved
over the course of the project is more than worth
it.
"When you get into the heat of the moment, what
partnering will let you step back and say, 'Wait a
minute. What was our commitment to partnering? We were
supposed to work this out at the most responsible
level.'
"This actually happened in the school district
case," he recalls. "I got a call from my law department
saying, 'Gee, the school district attorney just talked to
me about this.' I said, 'That's funny. They never raised
this particular issue or tried to solve it with staff.
That was our commitment to the partnering.'
"So I called my counterpart at the school district
and said, 'Hey, about this issue: You never raised your
concerns with my staff. You didn't call me. We signed
this partnering commitment that we were going to do
this.'
"You could tell on the phone that he kind of took
a step back. He said, 'You know, you're right. I'll call
my lawyer. Don't have your lawyer respond. Let's see if
we can work this out.' And we ultimately did."
Krochalis points with pride to the fact that the
$350 million school district project, about two-thirds
completed in mid-2000, is on time and most of the
controversial issues have been worked out. Partnering, he
adds, doesn't eliminate controversy, "but it gives you a
way to talk about it."
The Partnering
Agreement
Simple, straightforward agreements are drafted by
an outside facilitator with no stake in the project. All
of the parties involved in the conversation sign the
agreement. For instance, the single-page document crafted
before work began on the Seattle Symphony's concert hall
opens with: "We the Benaroya Hall Team are committed to
build a World Class Concert Hall," and then lists seven
key goals:
• Build a
cultural landmark that helps revitalize downtown
• Meet cost
and schedule objectives
•Communicate
and stay focused on the acoustic and other unique
requirements
of
the project
• Work
together and mutually promote individ ual, company and
team success
• Provide a
pleasant, safe and secure access to the facility and
public transit
• Provide
an accident-free work environment
•Create a
garden of remembrance that is an appropriate
memorial
Krochalis recalls how their conversations in 1996
included the project's acoustical engineer, who had
worked on many major projects including New York City's
Lincoln Center. As work proceeded, "he was out making
changes and saying this has got to acoustically be the
best. Of course, the contractor could have a little tally
sheet to argue about the costs, but he heard early on in
the partnering session how important acoustics were,
especially when we were building over a bus tunnel that
generated lots of vibrations.
All these design parameters took some attention to
detail, but they understood that, because it was
discussed in the partnering session how important it was
to the symphony."
Getting everyone involved in hammering out the agreement
to sign on, literally, is how Krochalis concludes
partnering sessions. The symphony hall agreement features
the signatures of more than 20 individuals. He says,
"Pretty much it means that we treat each other with
mutual respect. That's pretty basic. But everyone,
including the key players, has signed on the bottom and
you kind of remember it."
Proven Track
Record
Once organizations have experienced Krochalis'
model for partnering, they see the value in the process.
"The school district is a good example of that," he
notes. "They're putting forth another project next
spring, and they've already said, 'Oh, we want to do
another partnering session.' We found it so rewarding and
so positive when we can talk about the next set of
challenges, the next set of buildings."
Krochalis' success speaks for itself in his record
of working with projects that remain on track and within
budget. This model can be extrapolated to projects
outside Krochalis' usual arena of construction. He offers
several words of wisdom to guarantee that partnership's
succeed.
"Be clear about what your goals are. Convene the
right people-not everyone in the whole organization, but
the leadership and some of the people who will actually
be doing the work. Get a little bit of a vertical slice
through the organizations. Once you've made that
commitment, it's not hollow words. It really means
something."
October 2000 News for a
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