VOICEThe Issue 1, 2023 The official magazine of The Construction Users Roundtable Register for Upcoming CURT Events! https://www.curtevents.comThe Construction Users Roundtable 5 COVER STORY WORDS OF WISDOM: 7 A Message from Jim Ellis, CURT President THE COVER: FEATURES 11 Massive Infrastructure Improvement: It’s Finally on the Way, Let’s Get it Right! 16 Looking Through the Lens of an Asset Owner: Making the Case for Asset-Centric Project Management 19 Does Your Company Culture Support Women? Women Are an Untapped Resource, if Given Safe and Supported Opportunities to Thrive 22 The Same Ol’ Is Not Enough: Your Organization’s Benefits Program Can Play a Major Role in Preventing New Opioid Use 26 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS LEADERSHIP Construction in a VUCA World: Navigating Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity is the Name of the Game in 2023 8The Construction Users Roundtable 7 A Message from the CURT President WORDS OF WISDOM If one of your goals for 2023 is to share your wisdom while learning from others, I’d like to invite you to a CURT Committee meeting this year. They are held in-person during the CURT National Conference and the September Member Meeting, as well as virtually during the rest of the year. W elcome to 2023! We made it! And welcome to the 2023 CURT National Conference in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. It is exciting to gather, reminisce, look forward, share triumphs and learning moments, and break bread with colleagues. Whether you are here with us in San Antonio, or if you were unable to attend this event, I would like to personally invite you to all of the CURT Member Meetings, Summits, and learning opportunities CURT is hosting in 2023. Check out our in-person events and those offered by Zoom, http://www.curtevents.com. A new year means new beginnings and the opportunity to start fresh. How this looks is different for everyone. For some, the focus is on health. For others, learning a new skill or crossing off a bucket list item will be the priority. Looking at this idea with a construction lens, might I be so bold as to suggest that as leaders, we should also take the opportunity to begin anew? Again, how this looks will be different for everyone, but I’d like to recommend that if you’ve had an idea on your mind, but haven’t moved forward, now is the time! If you’ve considered mentoring, or implementing a mentoring program, work to make it happen. I believe that labor (or the lack of labor, to be precise) is the number one issue we face as an industry. How can you help? Mentoring, ensuring that your people are taken care of once they’re under your employ, and following through on your worksite promises (growth, advancement, safety, etc.) will help keep your people on the job, and will bring new hires into the mix. Perhaps there is a topic you’re interested in learning more about: sustainability, ESG, workforce development, lean project delivery, safety, wellness, technology, productivity, off-site construction/modularization, procurement and contracting. The list of subjects we, as leaders, need to be fluent in can be daunting, ever-increasing, and changing, but if you prioritize learning, this sort of growth can become a natural part of your day. Follow experts on LinkedIn, research online courses that you can do from the comfort of your office (and then actually attend!), meet with experts at your company (at all levels) and soak up the information they are passionate about, and attend in-person meetings. I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you to be active in CURT! Our committees (open to members only) cover all of the above subjects. There are endless opportunities to grow your mind – prioritize the time. It’s worth it, I promise! If one of your goals for 2023 is to share your wisdom while learning from others, I’d like to invite you to a CURT Committee meeting this year. They are held in-person during the CURT National Conference and the September Member Meeting, as well as virtually during the rest of the year. Many of CURT’s most recognizable tools have come through the committees, including the Owners’ Safety Blueprint. The committee environment is the perfect place to share your lessons learned, while also discovering how your colleagues in construction are navigating today’s built environment. Contact Ronna DuBro, CURT Director of Membership & Member Services, rdubro@curt.org, 513-981-2773, to connect with your committee of choice. I would like to close this greeting with well wishes for a prosperous 2023. I’d also like to remind you – our industry’s leaders – to take time for yourself to ensure that your own mental health needs are being met. It is no easy task being a leader and it’s not for the faint of heart. The work we do is important, but nothing is more important than taking care of yourself and those you love. All the best! ‘‘ Make 2023 the Year of You!Navigating volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity is the name of the game in 2023. ON THE COVER V olatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. If you were to pick any words to describe the last few years, these four words – or VUCA – might be at the top of your list (or at least they might be the four words most fit for print). As a concept, VUCA is nothing new. The term was first coined by the U.S. military in the late 1980s to define the state of the world post-Cold War and it has since been adopted to describe a wide variety of chaotic working environments within many different sectors, including construction and especially in the wake of COVID-19. Does VUCA have to be the reality of doing business into 2023 and the foreseeable future? What can construction owners and contractors do to mitigate the impact these four words can have on project planning, design, execution, the workforce, and future growth? When an industry changes quickly it is said to be volatile, and the more volatile the industry is, the faster it seems to change. Having experienced many ups and downs in the past, the construction industry is no stranger to volatility, but the arrival of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery has been something unprecedented. The pandemic delayed many capital projects in the heavy industrial construction sector, which has recently seen a significant rebound in capital spending. While this has led to capital projects moving forward, they are doing so with very demanding and – in some cases – unrealistic schedules. Geopolitical strife, too, is wreaking havoc on volatility. In early 2022, the war between Russia and Ukraine disrupted global construction operations, raised fuel prices (especially diesel), and further shook confidence in the global supply chain. According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis has caused both costs and availability issues to rise for domestic construction through 2022 and – barring a peaceful resolution – will continue to do so into 2023. Compounding the situation, the growth of residential construction in the United States and Canada has been a catalyst, increasing the demand for materials such as concrete, cement, and other aggregates needed across the board – creating shortages and further driving up project costs for the construction industry. “I’ve been in the industry a long time and the only thing remotely close to this was maybe the 2008-2009 recession,” says Terry Hulet, Senior Director of Operations at Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company (AG&P). “In 2008 and 2009, most of the capital work came to a halt with no new capital opportunities on the horizon. The difference between then and now is that in 2008, we didn’t see all of these multi-billion-dollar brownfield and greenfield alternative energy and manufacturing projects breaking ground here in the United States. This has led to where we are now, where there’s an extreme shortage of resources to manage these projects.” To counter this severe volatility, and to reduce the risk of construction projects for both owners and contractors, the industry is being forced to make meaningful strategic changes to the way it approaches procurement and supply chain management. Patrick Ryan, Executive Vice President Americas at Linesight, said in a press release, “Many are looking to overhaul their approach, with some projects moving away from the ‘Just in Time’ model. Others are looking at reducing waste within the supply chain, building out back-up plans rather than being reactive to disruptions, building stronger and more diverse supplier relationships, and engaging early with all stakeholders to put in place strategies geared towards greater certainty regarding cost and schedule.” If there is something that contractors and construction owners appreciate, it’s certainty. Unfortunately, we currently live in very uncertain times. VUCA Construction in a By Paul Adair, Staff Writer for The VOICEA World Closely linked to volatility, uncertainty is what keeps analysts awake at night and tosses a wrench into what the construction industry can expect in the future. The more volatile the world becomes, the more uncertain the future seems – to the point as to whether or not even something as impactful as a recession might be on the horizon wholly depends on whose advice you happen to heed. “With borrowing costs likely to increase during the coming months and materials prices set to remain elevated, industry momentum could easily downshift further in 2023,” said Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu in November. “Time will tell whether this lingering optimism is justified,” added Basu. A few weeks later, in December 2022, ABC reported that commercial, institutional and health care construction drove their Backlog Indicator to its highest level since Q2 2019. In response, Basu said, “The rise in backlog is remarkable and unexpected. A number of contractors have been reporting that their backlog has risen rapidly over the past three months, which is counterintuitive given the pervasive view that the broader economy is headed into recession. What’s more, many contractors expect sales and staffing levels to climb over the next six months, while profit margins are projected to remain stable.” This uncertainty around a recession – will there be one, or won’t there – makes it next to impossible to plan for projects, supplies, and labor needs in 2023 and further into the future. Labor is, indeed, one of the biggest factors adding to the general sense of uncertainty within construction, particularly around retaining and recruiting skilled workers. While this issue predates the pandemic by decades, COVID-19 has certainly helped widen the gap between the labor construction industry currently has, and the labor needed for the future. “With the potential of so many capital projects moving forward, the uncertainty will be how to staff,” says Doug Omichinski, Corporate Manager of Construction at Bechtel Global Corporation. “This would 9Next >