Step 1: Communicating and collaborating
The computer is a communication technology, but before we can leverage digital communication we need to understand basic human- to-human communication.
So, we finished the first chapter and can move on to exploring solutions. For this, we will follow a 5-step program:
Step 1: Awareness of the status quo
Step 2: Communicating and collaborating
Step 3: Automating what works
Step 4: Simulating building performance
Step 5: Empowering the business model
Enjoy!
I give classes about BIM management. In these classes, we have many discussions with different trades. Usually, the participants' backgrounds are diverse - clients, architects, various engineers, and people working in construction companies - and they all give feedback that this was the first time they could communicate and understand the different stakeholders’ needs. They are all professionals, and it's not uncommon to have 200-plus years of experience in the room. Yet, it seems like everybody lives in their silo.
The worst are the architects, and I’m allowed to say so; I’m one! This situation concerns the mental framework we were trained in - we are the trade that should combine the art and science of buildings. We believe that we should know everything and tell everybody what they must do. This leadership idea of one telling the other executes is exactly the problem!
Do you remember the movie “The Fountainhead” based on the book by Ayn Rand? Howard Roark is this rock of a man who does not compromise, knows everything, and fights against the world. One of my professors at university proudly told the story of one of his clients who dared to paint the building he designed in a different color. After seeing it, the architect told the client to change the paint. The client refused, so he went there one night and started to repaint. You can imagine they met in court again. For me, this represents the prototypical architect - inspired by Howard Roark and, sadly, many architects in the industry.
The reality is it's not possible to know everything (anymore). The time of the universal genius of the Renaissance men is almost 500 years gone. It's impossible to be good at translating the client's needs into solutions, enabling clients to make (good) decisions and serve the construction site. When you look at a high-level view of planning, these jobs need to be done. Basically, as an architect, you need to combine contradictions. On the one side, the architect needs to imagine something that does not exist (usually a sign of craziness), and on the other hand, the architect needs to make something happen. Nobody can fulfill this spectrum anymore - our world is too complex for it. That's why teamwork is necessary, and the architect's mindset of superiority is counterproductive regarding collaboration.
When architects accept that they can't tell everybody what they have to do and start to build on the strengths of the different trades - to design the framework so that everybody can do the best possible job - great innovative solutions become possible. To do this, they need new skillset - people skills, communication, and collaboration - other industries call this management or leadership.
However, in the AEC industry, we usually do not talk about management or leadership. We talk even less about the underlying values. We only talk about project management. I made the same mistake and thought it was possible to manage a project with task lists, schedules, cost calculations, etc. It took me some time to realize that we never manage projects. We only help (or hinder) that the right person has the right information at the right time.
Next, we will look into what we learned from the experiment and what role trust plays.
The role and critical leadership of the architect is changing. We need to be more collaborative and less egotistical to be sure!