ProTip #4 - Four Stages to Mastery

If you have never done something before it can be quite daunting. Think of it like baking a cake. Until you read a recipe or someone has shown you how to do it, you know it won’t be a great success. You have to think through the processes required to make that cake while reading and being shown and whilst hands-on mixing the batter.

Building your new office premises is the same thing. You must be thinking every step of the way.

I’ve done some thinking about how I have operated for the last 25 years and in my mind there are four specific stages of thinking that you will go through on your office building journey. They are the keys to completing a successful project.

Stage 1 - Big View Thinking You need to start the journey with an overview of what is really required from your new premises. For example:

• How many staff do we have now – how many will we need in three to five years’ time and how much additional office and/or factory space will we need then?

• Where are we located now and is it in our best interest to remain here? Or should we look for an area out of the city where rent might be cheaper?

• Where are our clients based and do they come to us? If so, do we need to have an impressive office or create an image in our premises design that will appeal to our clients?

• Do we need to move within a specific time frame and what are the consequences if we don’t move by that time?

You get the idea. It’s high-level, overview thinking to ensure that you and your team know the reasons why you’re moving, what outcomes you need to achieve and when you need to achieve
them. It’s the GAME PLAN.

Stage 2 - Detailed Thinking As a builder, you never want to hear this at handover of the job, “Hey George, where are those under bench boiling/chilled water units we wanted for each of the four kitchens?”

My usual answer is, “What under bench boiling/chilled water units? Let’s have a look at the plans.” Some of the detailed things are expensive so thinking about them at handover is never good – the budget is usually well done and dusted.

Most instances where a client wants something right at the end of the build, but can’t have it because of budget reasons, is a result of not thinking through the detailed needs early enough. Your detailed thinking at an early stage of the project will ensure you get all the little nice to-haves in your build. It also makes them more economical to buy and install – last-minute stuff is never cheap!

The detailed thinking is vital:

• 1. Sometimes putting it in later is just not that easy. Other services may need altering or moving. For example, what if you now decide you need a doorway there… but there’s a water pipe behind that wall.

• 2. Putting things in after the construction is finished, is expensive. You will always pay more to supply and install something after the building is complete, especially if the builder has left the site and then has to return for minor requests because you forgot to think about it at the design stage.

Go to each area of the business and ask the people sitting there, day in and day out what they’d like. Be careful! Don’t get them all involved or you’ll be f looded with requests and people get disappointed when their requests don’t happen – pick out the key area leaders and ask just them.

Stage 3 - Action Thinking

So the lease is signed and plans are set. You’re ready to start work on-site; the builder arrives ready to strike the first blow and turns on the lights… except there’s no power. You have forgotten to call the power company to let them know that you need the power turned on. Say goodbye to your builder. He can’t get much done without power.

Stage 3 thinking is all about ACTION or ‘What Happens Next’ thinking. Am I ready? Do I have the answers for my builder? Stage 3 is where you’re thinking about all the logical steps that might happen on-site. Your goal is to be ahead of the game with the aim of keeping the project rolling along without any stoppages or delays for things that should have been considered earlier.

Things that will stop a job in its tracks:

• No power on-site.

• No amenities on-site.

• Incorrect paperwork or failing to get inducted by the building manager.

• Non-compliance with the building manager’s Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) requirements.

• Nominated key subcontractor not being informed, e.g., you want a security system installed but tell the company too late,and the gyprockers are delayed because the security guys need behind-the-wall access, but can’t get there until Thursday.

Nobody knows your office better than you, you have been involved all the way along so that makes you the key person to recognise anything that’s just not right or may not work during

the construction phase of the project. By thinking about the logical steps, you are trying to stay one step in front of the builder. This will enable you to identify things that may have been missed or maybe put in the wrong place.

Stage 4 - Completion Thinking

Completion Thinking is like Stage 3 except it happens faster and the consequences for missing something can cause you major headaches.

Completion thinking is the end of the line, it’s do or die; it’s will we be open for business on Monday as planned or will we have to open next week. It’s all about chasing up everything and everyone to ensure that what people said would happen, really happens.It’s the last five minutes of a close sports game where you can be the hero and kick the winning goal or you can miss and be a bum. It’s an adrenalin rush; it’s frustrating, it’s slam the phone down time. Emotions can and will run wild in the week leading up to handover especially when the time frame has been tight from the beginning.

So how do you get through it? Checklists. Write down everything, and I mean everything, that you know has to happen and hang onto this list until completion. Keep reviewing and adding to it as you see things that must be done. Keep marking them off as you see things completed. Your thinking must be about completion – you just have to get things done.

The best advice I ever got about completion thinking was from my old workmate Silvano. Silvano was a fantastic tradesman an Italian joiner with the highest skills who used to work in the joinery shop attached to the office I worked in when I first came to Sydney. He was always there when I would arrive back at the office after my morning site rounds and he would always ask the same question, “George,” he would yell out, then in a quiet voice as he tapped the underside of his wooden workbench, “All under George, all under control?”

Every day, every time I saw him, a tap of the bench and those words… “All Under George, all Under Control?” Just stop and think about this. Completion Thinking is about having everything under control.