Collaboration

The rescue of the Chilean miners is a remarkable story of collaborative teamwork.

Thirty three miners were trapped more than two thousand feet below ground after hundreds of tons of rock collapsed and isolated them. Rescuers persevered for seventeen days before the miners were located and confirmed to have survived. The miners subsisted on milk and a spoonful or two of tuna fish rationed every two days and somehow maintained their unity and optimism. Hundreds of engineers, medical personnel, and construction workers collaborated on a bold, untested rescue plan that few thought would succeed. In the end, all thirty three were extracted safely sixty nine days after the ordeal began. Even NASA helped. A spokesperson for the mining company called it “a triumph of the human spirit.”

At TRO Jung|Brannen we realized long ago that talent, experience, and even hard work are simply not enough to ensure remarkable outcomes. Collaborative teamwork alone is omnipotent. It is not hard to imagine how the miners’ fate may have been different had the rescuers worked in isolation, or bickered over authority, or put their own interests before those of the miners. But none of that happened.

This month TRO Jung|Brannen is beginning its first major project, MaineGeneral Hospital, involving the Integrated Project Delivery {IPD} process. Like the rescue of the Chilean miners, IPD is a bold, but largely untested methodology and many design firms are reluctant to embrace it. IPD requires all project participants – owner, architect, and contractor – to unselfishly subordinate their own interests in support of the project’s welfare, to willingly trust one another, and to relentlessly collaborate until a successful outcome is achieved.

The Chilean miners would love it.

Gather No Moss

As everyone in New England now knows, the Patriots’ star wide receiver, Randy Moss, was recently traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a fourth round draft pick. For those of you who follow this blog but don’t necessarily follow professional football, a fourth round draft pick isn’t worth very much. So, how come smart people like Owner Bob Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick traded a future Hall of Fame player for such a bargain basement price? The answer is simple: Randy Moss may be talented but he has a bad attitude! And, attitude trumps talent every time.

At last week’s meeting of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable I had lunch with a CEO colleague who expressed frustration with one of his top design principals. It seems that the guy just can’t keep his ego in check and is causing enormous frustration within the firm and compromising client service. He asked for my advice. The more this CEO talked about his problem, the more I realized that not once during my thirteen year tenure as CEO have I had to deal with a bad attitude from our immensely talented design leaders. They are among the most collaborative and selfless employees at TRO Jung|Brannen.

I told him to get rid of the Moss.