Behaviours 4 collaboration Paul Wilkinson (EEPaul)
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.� (Attributed to anthropologist Margaret Mead)
Behaviours 4 Collaboration • Started by SW Regional BIM Hub • Now a “BIM4” group • A BIM Task Group “community” • led by Elizabeth Kavanagh (of Stride Treglown)
support • BuildingSMART • Constructing Excellence • Mark Bew • Mervyn Richards
•Linkedin Group •B4C stakeholders event - Bath, 28 January 2014
Behaviours 4 Collaboration • Aim: to enable collaboration by specifying the behaviours of collaboration
Outcomes: A Profession CPD Map
Behaviours 4 Collaboration - goals 1) Specify and publicise what collaboration is and how to develop it 2) Engage industry in defining and developing collaborative relationships 3) Provide guidance to appropriate industry bodies and institutions 4) Promote case studies which demonstrate best practice 5) Provide leadership in the development of collaborative capabilities 6) Work with industry to develop current professionals’ capabilities 7) Work with higher education to develop capabilities of future generation of industry professionals 8) Share knowledge and learning between its members
Some desirable behaviours Co-ordination avoid gaps and overlap in team members work Co-operation obtain
mutual benefit by sharing work
Collaboration achieved results which could not be accomplished alone
More definitions
Knowledge - information about a subject
Skills - using what I know in a situation Behaviours - the way I use my skills what you see me do
Competence = knowledge + skill + behaviour For example, sales competence is made possible by knowledge of the industry, the customer and the company, together with the skills of listening and communicating, and the behaviours of professionalism and initiative.
Three observations
1. Behaviour is key to collaboration 2. Others specify the behaviours required 3. Client is part of the team
The factor pairings • Trust / Respect
• Silos / T-shaped People • Openness / Communication • Common goals / New ways of working • Leadership / Interpersonal skills
Building trust and mutual respect Trust: the most commonly mentioned factor: “trust cannot be brought about by means of clauses within a contract, but is created by ‘meeting promises and delivering performance’ ” (British Standards Institution, 2011).
Mutual respect involves an understanding of the roles of the various professionals involved.
Transcending silos “The aim should be to bring people out of their professional silos to achieve better integration with others through BIM enabled processes and tools.�
Connecting as ‘T-shaped’ professionals “When operating at Level 3 BIM it is necessary to operate as a professional in any discipline as a T-shaped person" (IfM and IBM, 2008) Individuals require multiple skills in order to collaborate effectively. For example, they may need research skills, creative thinking and cooperation, as well as expert knowledge in their own discipline.
A series of similarly equipped T-shaped professionals would, therefore, be able to connect across boundaries in an inter-professional (rather than a silo-orientated multiprofessional) manner.
Sharing openly, communicating BS 11000 stresses the need to create operational benefit in a spirit of mutual trust and openness (British Standards Institution, 2011).
There are also close ties with: • honesty - Employees from different organisations need to share the same levels of honesty and openness, especially when dealing with other partner companies. • cross-organisational knowledge - few organisations are entirely independent of those that surround them Potential issues with communicating across boundaries • unfamiliar vocabulary • contrasting approaches to problems • a lack of common understanding of values
Sharing goals, working in new ways Attributes needed for effective teamwork: • commitment to team (rather than individual) success • shared goals Using BIM to its full potential requires the people involved to: • adopt new working practices (ie: processes) • adapt to new demands (eg: having regard to the needs of end users throughout the design phase).
Adoption of BIM is creating new workflows (sometimes less centralised and more organic)
Leading and managing change Consider the management of collaborating organisations, not just the individuals representing them on projects. For example, creating an environment that fosters collaborative practices involves financial investment and provision of resources such as time and encouragement. Interpersonal skills help nurture relationships within the collaborative team: • awareness of needs of other professionals • relational skills • caring behaviour • sensitivity For example, collaborative information retrieval practices
Collaborative BIM leadership Behaviour
What it means
• Redefining success. From narrow agendas to bigger goals
• Collaborative leaders redefine success and focus on goals bigger than their own narrow agendas. They seek common ground, look for pragmatic solutions, and compromise
• Involving others. From autocratic to inclusive decision making
• Collaborative leaders involve others in decision making and exhibit an open mind to alternative divergent views, dialogue and working with others
• Being accountable. From blaming to taking responsibility
• Collaborative leaders hold themselves accountable and also demand accountability from others