Masonry Magazine June 1992 Page. 10
Reviewing the Job
A good practice to develop is that of reviewing a project after it's complete. You should review every project when it's finished, no matter how small, preferably in a brainstorming session with the people that estimated it, bought it out, and had to build it. If "the people" are all one and the same person, he should still sit down and review the documentation and the history of the project. This review can serve many purposes and it must be done as coldly and as objectively as possible with the aim of learning and improving without in any way "blaming." A completion review not only points out weaknesses. It highlights areas that require special care on new and ongoing projects, it points out extra work that may not have been picked up during the project itself, and if properly claimed for, will more than pay for the review of a project.
Give A Hoot. Don't Pollute.
Forest Service-USDA
"Do It Yourself"
BY CHARLIE SILVER
Senior Consultant, FMI Corporation
AS A MANAGER, ONE OF YOUR most difficult tasks is time management. Sometimes the pressures are so great and the problem so immediate that you forget some basic management principles that could be of tremendous help.
One of the most important self-management and time management tools is delegation, and it is one that can easily be forgotten in the day-to-day demands of your job. Many management texts, like The One-Minute Manager, encourage managers to delegate whenever possible. That would be great, you say, if I just had someone to delegate to. That's one of the most common reasons for not delegating.
So, what can you do to be a more effective delegator?
Effective delegation requires a great deal of advanced planning, beginning with employee selection. If you are hiring someone as a project manager, ask yourself these questions: Can you see him/her growing into a more responsible role? Do his/her plans include more responsibility? Does he/she have plans that include further training? Does he/she seem eager? Does he/she ask lots of questions?
Once you have hired a project manager who demonstrates this potential for greater responsibility, you have taken a big step toward solving the problem of delegation. You have selected someone you can delegate to both now and in the future.
Another key to successful delegation is letting your subordinates learn to solve their own problems. Resist the urge to do tasks for them-not just so they can solve the problem, but so they can learn abstract problem solving techniques that they can apply in the future to larger and more sophisticated problems. That means you're going to have to let them fail occasionally.
A word of caution: To let someone fail is expensive and risky. If you are going to encourage this type of learning, you need to have tight controls in place. You need excellent reporting systems. You have to have flexible employees who understand the need for managers, above and below them, to fail from time to time.
While you have just been encouraged to "let" employees learn, you must also teach them. Provide every opportunity for them to increase both their technical and management skills. Effective training requires a combination of techniques.
Your own employees are your most immediate source of expertise for training people above and below themselves. You may also want to take advantage of seminars open to the public, sponsored by associations, or purchased specifically for your in-house use.
Mentoring is another excellent vehicle for training. Send your up-and-comers our with an "old pro," or take them with you so they can learn what what you do, and then you can say with confidence, "Do it yourself." FMI Corporation is the nation's largest management firm exclusively serving the construction industry. Their offices are located at 5151 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, North Carolina 27622. Phone 919/787-8400.
FOUNDER and president of Fogel and Associates, a New York City based consulting engineering and project management firm, Irving Fogel has served as construction claims consultants to architects, engineers, owners, contractors, insurance companies, government agencies and attorneys. The firm, with a branch office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, offers other construction consulting services. A registered professional engineer in twenty-two states, the District of Columbia and Israel. Fogel is co-author of several books and author of numerous articles in professional and trade magazines.
MID Donates Money for Research
THE MASONRY Institute of Dayton (Ohio) and area masonry suppliers donated funding moneys to the University of Dayton for a research project on anisotropic finite elements in masonry. Presentation of the award was made at the recent MID architectural awards program. The research project constitutes the first master's degree thesis about masonry in the university's civil engineering department.
Dayton and Springfield, Ohio area suppliers who donated money for this project were: Bryce Hill, Taggart Builders Supply. Dayton Builders Supply, Stone Centers of Ohio, Southwestern Portland Cement, Wilson Concrete Products, Gem City Brick and Block and Snyder Concrete Products.
COVER
HALLER AND LARSON, Limited, are the architects who designed the six story outpatient Health Center for the Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, a pediatric health care facility serving the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains region. They repeated the gray brick banding already established on existing structures and reiterated nearby curved edge corners. Setback requirements inspired the facility's courtyard, and the architects lightened the building by complementing the gray brick with bands of buff brick, underscoring expanses of windows. The architects also slightly recessed windows, returning the brick on sloped sills to convey a sense of extra depth and solidity. General contractor was Gerald H. Phipps. Mason contractor was the Lakewood Company. Photo by Charles Cordine courtesy of Brick Institute of America.
10 MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1992