Things are really starting to hot up! I spent the day at one of the UK's busiest construction sites today, which on the face of it runs as it has for the last 6 months, with a ruthless efficiency that we now expect from our major principal contractors up and down the country.
We start the day with a safety briefing chaired by the Project Manager and attended by the management and supervisors of each sub contractor and client representatives. This is an important part of the day to highlight any safety concerns over the previous 24 hours, and to ensure we have a firm knowledge and control of any issues arising. Today we take particular note of the weather forecast, Thunderstorms! Thunderstorms can play havoc with major construction projects in that the risks of lightening strike around plant and machinery are clearly evident. Our program today also includes the excavation of some low voltage cabling, for now we decide to continue and will review the forecast at 12pm, about two hours prior to the predicted change of weather.
Following the brief then its down to work. As I stand on the hill overlooking the contractor village, multiple activities are now hard at work. Grounds teams are busy unloading their equipment for the day, The piling rigs have begun the now predictable thumping of daily pile driving and many other contractors are moving around site head to toe in personal protective equipment. At 9am it is 26 degrees and in the absence of rain it is humid and already feels uncomfortable.
We have approximately 900 personnel on site on any given day, and the site is as is typical in the UK, around 98% male to female split. Frustration is common on a long project, it is not unusual for disagreements on methods of working, delivery schedules, quality, timings to name a few examples. It is also very common that many of these contractors are working long hours, particularly during the long summer days when light is most beneficial, program is tight and contractors face the same commercial challenges as any high street in terms of productivity and output. Speed is important to the contractor, and quality is absolutely paramount to the client.
So add the key ingredients we have already discussed above together, and without care and careful management, you have a recipe for failure. Hot & humid long summer days, long working hours away from loved ones, pressure and scrutiny around the quality of workmanship and speed of process. Tired, sticky and now becoming frustrated by those around you, your just not quite sure why!
And then....that wall you have been building for the last 5 hours is pulled apart by the site manager on a quality inspection. He asks you to take it down and start again....CALM!
In that moment people are faced with a very real personal challenge. Your own emotional intelligence receptors are working in overdrive. Your absolutely livid inside, but who with? partly yourself, partly the Site Manager, partly the guy building another wall near you for not warning you...partly anybody, anybody at all within a few yards of you! but the outcome for every response available to you in that moment can lead you down very different paths.
In the UK we have approximately 93000 men, women and children incarcerated in prisons from the North East to the South West and everywhere in between and the very same situation is facing them every day. Perhaps not in the context of building a wall, perhaps not construction but CALM is the difference between a successful new beginning following release and a trip back to the judge, its the difference between progressing onto re categorization and the opportunity to build family links and future working prospects. The emotional intelligence to react in THAT moment, that will change the course of your future.
When the kitchen gets hotter...we must find a way to stay calm and carry on.
Tonight as I leave site just after 6pm, the mercury begins to drop as does the pressure and mist of frustration on another busy day. We have had a good day today....CALM will be needed tomorrow and every day after though.
For now though the troops are off home, back to their digs or indeed to the pub...and there lies the next chapter!
Keep Calm all, and stay safe.
Think Change Team :)
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