We Should Be More Like Little Kids

We Should Learn Like Kids DoAs a parent, you learn so much from your kids. As babies, they teach us the wonder of creation and thus bring out our protective instincts. Later as they start to grow, we enjoy the simple things again as we see them through their eyes. Suddenly we find ourselves looking at the water coming out of the faucet and enjoy the expression of wonder on their faces and then the laughter as they touch it and splash it.

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Never Stop Learning

learningThere’s an idea that we go to school to learn. (And it’s true, of course, that we learn at school.) But the flip side of this idea is the notion that we no longer need to continue learning once we are done with school. Sure, work and other aspects of our lives educate us about certain things (and perhaps allow us to acquire some wisdom along the way), but many of us don’t go out of our way to keep learning–maybe because we don’t know there is more to learn about something that could benefit us. (One statistic floating around on the Internet says that 42% of college graduates never read another book again.)

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Risky Business

stressed manIf projects, especially large-scale projects, are your business, you know that there is a certain amount of risk involved in getting to the finish line. So many things can go wrong! The wrong specs or plans can be inadvertently approved; the budget can be revised by a person without authorization; an outdated version of a file can be followed; work can be done without the proper permits; communication can break down among team members; cost increases can sneak up; certain people can be left out of hearing new, critical information; due dates might pass without notice; and unavoidable delays might cause changes that wreak havoc unless they are monitored and compensated for correctly.

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“Oops! I Didn’t Know!!”

collaboration teamHas this happened to you? Someone in a group meeting throws out an idea. You muse about it for the rest of the day, then do some work to make that idea happen. And then you find out that two other people are also working on it, each independently and unaware of your work. Or, perhaps worse, you find out that the other two people had a chat after the meeting and are collaborating on the work, duplicating or contradicting the work that you just spent hours on.

In any group endeavor, communication is key and collaboration just makes sense. This is particularly true in the construction industry. On a construction project, there are many decisions that need to be made, much work to be done, and often, changes to the work along the way. Everyone involved needs to know what is going on, what work is needed now, and who is responsible for it.

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