Most construction companies know what really makes a project a success, and increases profits: It's communication and collaboration.
When all members of your team are working together--whether on site or not--everything goes more smoothly. You can see problems coming and then also react to them more quickly when they arrive. But if you’re in construction, you also know that keeping communication flowing can be tough.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can make collaboration easier in construction project management, and how construction project management collaboration software can help.
One of the quickest ways to kill communication and collaboration in your construction company is to make it hard to figure out who does what.
Make sure that all your processes and procedures are clearly defined and that everyone knows who they should talk to and what they should do in any given situation. When people don’t know what to do or who to ask, everything falls apart quickly.
If the people in charge of running various processes and departments aren’t approachable when things go wrong, it’s likely to take a lot longer for information about problems to get to them--and in an industry where time really is money, that’s never good news.
Employees are much less likely to report problems quickly if they think they’re going to be blamed for them, and this is a very fast way to turn small problems into major catastrophes.
When things go wrong on a construction site, blaming people should never be the first thing anyone does. Find a solution, get things back on track, and then tackle any accountability issues.
Another way to kill collaboration and communication in your company, no matter what the flow of information looks like or who is involved, is for the recipient of the information, suggestion, or comment to ignore it and not respond.
If your people don’t get answers in a reasonable time frame, they’re going to stop asking questions, and that’s a surefire way to create more challenges for your whole team. Don’t demoralize your team by not providing feedback. Create a process that people can use when they're kept waiting too long for answers. Whether it’s a second-in-command or permission to give you a nudge, that setup goes a long way.
Very often, managing construction projects feels a lot like herding cats, and it can be frustrating for anyone in that position. However, if you only ever communicate when you’re angry or upset, or when you’re complaining about mistakes or delays, your team won’t want to communicate with you at all.
While it’s perfectly understandable and acceptable to take action when things go wrong, you should spend just as much time celebrating when your team does well on a project. Even something as simple as an email to say thank you or recognition during a site meeting goes a long way.
The good news for everyone in construction is that communication and collaboration are a lot easier than they used to be.
You don’t have to wait for faxes to get information from out-of-town job sites, and no one is using duplicate books anymore. But even email is not as reliable. It’s porous--making it easy for things to get lost--and doesn’t encourage collaboration.
Construction project management collaboration software takes information out of data silos, and provides everyone on your team with a single source of truth. Easy-to-use dashboards mean you can’t miss messages and comments when they arrive, and you can find them easily when you need to. It’s perfect for file sharing, and with real-time updates, everyone always has the right versions of drawings, specifications, and more.
If you’re on the fence about construction project management collaboration software and you’re not sure it will help your business, there’s one thing you need to remember: better collaboration and communication equals greater profits.
It really is that simple.
Construction companies that have better communication and collaboration across different divisions, departments, and job sites tend to react to problems and challenges more quickly. They can take corrective action sooner, which means there’s less impact on budget and timeline, and they can manage their contractual obligations better.
Good project planning is a great start for your construction project, but it’s everything that happens after you get boots on the ground that will really determine how each project goes. So investing in tools that make it easier to work together just makes good financial sense.