It is no secret better alignment of engineering and construction teams enhances productivity and workflow transitions on any projectâs site. But establishing and employing strategies that effectively ensure the project team is following the execution plan can be considerably trickier.
Manny Walters, global contracts manager for Phillips 66, offers a multipoint strategy for defining â and sticking to â a solid execution plan. Assuring senior leaders buy into the project is the first step, he explained.
âAnd not only the buy-in but also making sure they understand that execution plan, so that when they nod their heads and say, âYeah, we support that,â they really understand what they are nodding their heads in agreement to,â Walters said to delegates at the recent Refining Engineering & Construction event in Houston. âI know I might be being a bit facetious here, but Iâve seen that lack of understanding come back and bite that project team in the rear end down the line.â
Scheduling is important, Walters added, but it is secondary in importance to assuring understanding at top leader levels.
âAnd senior leadership understanding and buying in is not necessarily something you get in your 30-minute stakeholder/ management meeting or whatever you choose to call it,â Walters said. "Thereâs a depth of understanding that has to take place, and that usually doesnât occur in a 30-minute, check-the-box kind of meeting.â
Walters further believes stakeholders and senior leaders buying in and understanding is critical because it helps drive the next execution strategy piece: accountability of the entire project team.
âThe project engineers, the control system engineers, the operations people, procurement folks, etc. â all of these people need to live and act according to that project execution plan,â Walters said. âWhen they know they are going to be held accountable, people pay attention in the front end and actually start developing and including what needs to be in there from the get-go. They think, âOh, I better make sure I spend more than twenty minutes putting this together.â
âIf it is just a piece of paper where you have to check the boxes, people are going to see it as a token check-the-box exercise, and theyâre going to cut and paste the one from last year. It is not going to be anything really meaningful or robust, and it wonât be tailored to that specific project.â
Making sure team members fully understand their roles and responsibilities is also critical to the successful execution of the plan.
âEverybody must understand their role, not only vertically but also horizontally, and not only to their specific discipline but also to the team as a whole,â Walters said. âAnd they must be able to intervene as they see things that cut across organizational or discipline boundaries to provide input for the greater good.â
Teamwork, Walters said, is the final essential piece to the strategy puzzle.
âInvesting in teamwork and in team building early and often is critical,â he said. âA strong team is a robust team is a resilient team.â
Interactive sessions are a valuable tool for spurring facilitation and building an effective team, he added.
âThat is very much an art, but it is critical,â Walters concluded. âWe have all seen good project teams that are functioning effectively and efficiently, and we have all seen ones that are not. If you do not have a real sense of team on that project, when you stub your big toe â and you will, you do on every project â things will start to fall apart. And they will fall apart quickly.â
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