This Collaborative Solution Will Supercharge Your Construction Teams

male and female construction workers collaborating

Construction professionals have the power to create collaborative solution environments by using new construction technology. There are many advantages to working collaboratively in construction. Collaboration improves project performance in the following ways:

  • Encourages proactive problem solving
  • Improves communication
  • Builds trust, commitment, and transparency
  • Advances the collective knowledge and performance of all stakeholders

Cooperation, Teamwork, and Collaboration: What’s the Difference?

Most of us learn cooperation and compromise at a young age. We learn how to put our own needs aside and work with others, so more of us get closer to what we ultimately want. 

Teamwork is slightly different. With teamwork, independent team players cooperate with one another. But the difference is, each team member is also an independent player with a specific role or job to perform. Team members think and work as individuals. Which is to say, they’re mainly focused on what they can control: doing their job to the best of their ability.

Great teams can do great things together when they cooperate.  

But even great teams have difficulties. The individual members of a team are still specialists, focused on specific tasks. Because of this single-0minded focus, they may not always be available to communicate with the rest of the team. 

This can lead to problems.

Collaborative Solutions are different in every respect.

True collaboration takes teamwork to a higher level.

Collaborative teams follow a different model for both cooperation and communication. Collaborative teams also rely on decentralized leadership. As a result, team members feel free to communicate with one another and step in to lead when needed. 

Collaborative teams contribute their individual knowledge to the general pool of knowledge also. This practice helps improve the performance of the entire organization. This collaborative knowledge sharing keeps construction projects moving forward with higher quality, higher production rates, less wasted energy and fewer errors.

This is a game changer–and requires a major shift in mindset for everyone involved.

Collaborative teams work together, think together, and lead together for better project performance.

Factors for True Collaboration and Collaborative Solution Building

Of course, collaborative teams need direction and management. So project teams and their work groups have facilitators. The facilitator creates a collaborative environment by maintaining the following key principles.

  1. Understanding:
    Facilitators reinforce a shared understanding of the tasks, goals, and milestones required. They share assignments, procedures, and tasks in print and visual imagery.
  2. Ownership:
    Skilled facilitators create a sense of shared ownership. They reinforce that any challenge to the common outcome is a challenge to every member of the team. Because solving challenges together benefits every member of the team.
  3. Communication:
    Collaborative solution providers are expert communicators, modeling open, interactive dialogue. They use interactive communication to keep all stakeholders engaged and informed. This means that nothing is overlooked.
  4. Team fluidity within a Joint Problem-Solving Space (JPS):
    Successful collaborations use a shared common network as a joint problem-solving space. This interactive space distributes challenges across a shared network. This benefits the entire team. Team members learn from each other and assist in the problem-solving efforts. No matter where or in what discipline the challenge presents itself.
  5. Conflict resolution (aka Repairs)
    Conflicts and roadblocks arise during every phase of a construction project. The collaborative solution is to anticipate conflict before it happens. Facilitators help stakeholders realize that everyone has vested interest in finding the best possible solution. Less conflict means owners, design teams, contractors and subs all benefit.

Collaborative Solutions made possible by Construction Technology

New operations management systems for a digital world: McKinsey & Company, June 21, 2022

The global pandemic accelerated the move to digital. But many construction professionals have yet to adopt a collaborative project management platform into their operation.

Strategy is key here.

Make sure your project management software offers you the tools you need to succeed:

  • Native project scheduling feature:
    Collaborate with owners, design teams, subcontractors and suppliers. Build out your WBS and create your master schedule right within a secure, cloud-based project management platform.
  • Field task management:
    Connect your entire team on one collaborative platform, Link tasks to schedule items. Include plans, images and documents with work assignments and daily reports. 
  • Project financials and reporting:
    Stay in control of your costs, budget and risk exposure. Track expenses against estimates. And use the power of predictive analytics to map your project to a successful financial outcome for all stakeholders.
  • Data-driven workflow management:
    Easily collaborate with your contractors, subs and suppliers. Drive your schedule deliverables with milestones and their dependencies. Pull weekly field tasks and push progress updates.
  • Simple, intuitive interface on desktop and mobile:
    Keep your team informed in the office, on the road, and on the jobsite with live notifications and instant sync on any device. Store documents and plan sheets in the cloud to save data. Access the native schedule, your project dashboards, contacts and timecards all on a simple, easy to use platform. 

All within a collaborative solution building environment

Get an inside look at how you can Supercharge Your Construction Teams with the power of a truly collaborative project management solution. 

Connect – Build – Thrive with Linarc