Voices of Experience
3-5 minute video interviews with industry leaders discussing their experiences with partnering.
Clicking on the link will play the interview (requires Adobe Flash Player).
Partnering Resources
Disputes cost the construction industry millions of dollars each year. Project schedules are extended, money is unnecessarily spent and opportunities are lost. Partnering offers project owners, architect-engineers, construction managers, contractors, and subcontractors a cooperative, team-based approach to eliminate – or at least reduce – conflicts, litigation, and claims.
This page lists various resources created based on the Institute's research to support your partnering efforts.
IPI CEO Dyer presents "Beyond Partnering" at CONSTRUCT2008
The $142 million, 12-building County of Fresno Juvenile Justice Campus Program was completed on-time and on-budget by using a comprehensive approach to partnering that included a monthly accountability scorecard, quarterly partnering sessions, a program level steering team and an on-call neutral. This "Level Five Partnering" method is proving to vastly improve results on large, complex projects. This session highlights the process used for the successful completion of the County of Fresno Juvenile Justice Campus three bid packages. It will also include lessons learned from this and other projects.
Listen using your player (mp3 file, 52.2 megabytes) or with flash below
Articles
These articles are in Adobe Acrobat format.
- Becoming a Trusted Leader
- If I were to ask you what makes a person a leader, you are likely to say...
- The Root Causes of Poor Communication
- For the past ten years I've asked project teams, "from your experience what makes one project succeed and another fail?
- Create an Atmosphere of Partnership
- Did you ever work on a team where it seemed everyone was working against each other?
- Don't Get Trapped in a Chinese Finger Puzzle
- Most children at some time or another have played with a woven straw cylinder about five inches long...
- Expect Chaos
- Man has sought to forecast the future since time immemorial.
- Four Steps for Solving Your Problem
- How many times have you sat through meetings only to walk away wondering if your team could resolve any of the problems they face?
- Mega Project Success Factors
- Very large "mega projects" tend to create their own "weather". There is so much opportunity for chaos...
- The Seven Core Competencies for Partnering™
- Partnering has been a goal for many teams for almost two decades.
- The Three Levels of Cooperation
- ...most people, teams, and organizations settle for a very low level of cooperation when they develop strategic partnerships.
- What Gets Measured Improves
- A recent study done by IPI found that teams that measure their progress, make adjustments... tend to improve over time.
Manuals, Reports, Papers
Collaborative Construction: Lessons Learned for Creating a Culture of Partnership. 
There is no doubt that the construction industry needs to become more collaborative. We lose billions of dollars each year due to loss of productivity, miscommunication, excess administration and claims. All of these dollars could be used to build things. Worse yet, is that the nature of construction is highly interdependent. Because of our interdependence, no one working on a construction project can just walk away from issues and succeed. We must have the cooperation of the other stakeholders who hold our success in their hands as much as we hold it in our own...
Full Report [html]
Full Report [pdf] (requires Acrobat or Foxit Reader)
Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) Guide to Partnering
The Caltrans Field Guide to Partnering is an example of a construction owner that is taking a comprehensive, integrated approach to partnering. Written for the field team, the field guide lays out the program, expectations, and how to succeed.
Field Guide to Partnering on Caltrans Construction Projects
Here's an overview of the Field Guide:
The purpose of this field guide is to promote the formation and success of partnering relationships on Caltrans construction projects. Caltrans and the Construction Industry are committed to making partnering the way we do business. The world has changed – there are more people, from more diverse backgrounds, with less experience working on today’s projects, projects that are more complex than ever before. We can no longer accept that unresolved issues and claims are the norm. We will no longer accept that we are adversaries in a war of wills - the cost in dollars, resources and lost productivity is too great. We are here to tell you, our field crews and their supervisors, that partnering is the way we do business – anything short of a full commitment to partnering is not acceptable.
Special Reports
- Stopping Disputes in Their Tracks: How to Create a Multilevel Dispute Resolution Program.
Even today, after years of working to improve the construction process, many projects remain plagued with disputes and claims. If you think about the unique relationship between construction project stakeholders it is easy to see that you can’t have a win/lose outcome. This is because each stakeholder on your project, in order to succeed, needs every other stakeholder to “perform”. This interdependent relationship means that, on construction projects, there is either win/win or lose/lose – no other outcome is possible! This special report has been developed to help you understand how you can create an almost foolproof process for resolving disputes on your projects. A process that will drastically reduce the chances of a dispute having to proceed to litigation.
Partnering Tool Box
- PartnerGrams - 24 M
onthly Partnering Tool Box Talks - We've been holding tailgate meetings on our projects for years. PartnerGrams applies this same concept to reinforce partnering. These twenty-four tool box talks will help your project team understand and build partnering skills that they can apply daily on your project. Includes a license to reproduce the tool box talks for your project team, binder with 25 tabs, 53 pages or PartnerGrams and a CD with all 24 PartnerGrams in pdf format. $197 plus shipping.
- Partner Your Project
- This award winning book has been deemed "the best book on the topic" and is being used in civil engineering and construction management courses as well by many construction organizations. This easy-to-read, step-by-step guide walks you through how to implement partnering in your organization and on your project. 236 pages $49.95 plus shipping
- Built on Trust - 107 Tips for Building Trust on Your Project
- This small booklet includes a world of tips and advice for you and your project team members to use on your projects. Tips are organized into seven categories: Trust/Fairness; Communications; Teamwork; Negotiating; Resolving Conflict; Cooperation; and Leadership. Each tip can help set the stage for creating a partnering atmosphere (culture) on your project. 20 pages $7.50
Audio
The Future of the Engineering Contracting Industry in California (download mp3 file)
Sue Dyer, MBA, MPF, MDR and IPI's CEO speaks at the Engineering Contractors Association General Meeting, sharing what lies ahead in the next ten years and the trends requiring collaboration and partnering that are creating the future of Construction today. Click on the play button below to listen.
Fundamentals of Partnering on Caltrans Construction Projects Training
A training course entitled Fundamentals of Partnering on Caltrans Construction Projects is currently being presented throughout the state of California. See flyer. By the end of April, 2009, approximately 4000 field personnel (both Caltrans and Industry Contractor) will have completed this course which walks participants through the new Caltrans Partnering Field Guide.
Contractor personnel who want to attend this class can sign up now at http://www.jointctindustrytraining.com.
Speaking Out!
Partnering in the Down Times
I am concerned that many project leaders in this down time, and I include some of my own colleagues, are not utilizing the risk management benefits of partnering on their projects. When a $40 million dollar project is let for $22 million it is a good deal for the owner, but it is a real challenge for the project team to manage this project in a fair way. There is no means for the contractor to “offer” to do things that we might have in the past. We don’t want any favors, but we will need to ask for what is fair and justified.
Incredibly low bids set the team up for a series of project risks that must be managed. Communication is essential. That is why I am concerned when I see Resident Engineers and Project Managers agreeing NOT TO PARTNER their projects to save money!! I am concerned when I hear that the partnering funds are being used for other things. This is just the opposite of what they need to be doing. This is the time to partner, and partner regularly, so that we stay together. We can’t afford to let our partnering process be something that we let go of in these down times – this is when we need it the most.
Mike Costa
Flatiron West, Inc.
Working Model for Collaborative Partnering
At the 2009 IPI Forum, we had many requests to know “how” to implement partnering so that you get the kind of results that were shared. IPI has developed a “working model” for a comprehensive, integrated partnering program that results in a highly collaborative project environment. Sue Dyer walked the audience through an overview of the IPI Collaborative Partnership "Working Model" that facility owners can follow to setup and implement a proven partnering process for their design and construction program.
Video
Collaborative Construction: Lessons Learned for Creating a Culture of Partnership
Presented at the CSI Western Region Conference, whose theme was "Forces for Change", Sue Dyer, MBA, MFP, MDR and IPI's CEO discusses the need and methods for creating a culture of partnership in the construction industry.
Download the audio of this presentation as an mp3 file (right click and select save)
