The desire for improvement is what drives our growth as professionals. With that in mind, this question was recently posted on the CSI Community page: “What one skill do you think all construction industry professionals should work to improve? Why?”
Here are some of the replies:
“Communication skills.”
Ronald Geren, FCSI Lifetime Member, CCS, CCCA, AIA, CSC, SCIP
“Communication skills, especially written communications.”
Also, someone needs to tell folks to get the heck off their cell phones and computers and do some more-personal interaction, like picking up a telephone or, heaven forbid, seeing someone in person.”
Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA
Kevin,
“I get where you're coming from, but I might make the assertion that emerging professionals might want to actually spend MORE time on their devices, rather than less.
Here's why:
* The business world is only going to continue to go more mobile. Communication on digital platforms is going to continue to grow, no matter how much we ‘old guard’ know that the F2F skills are important, because they’re not going to be important in a decade.
* 10 years ago, almost no one even carried a smart phone. Architecture firms had policies against cell phone usage at work and prohibited participation on Facebook.
* Jump forward to today, almost everyone uses a smartphone as part of their daily work life and a huge majority of folks are very active on social platforms that didn't exist even a few years ago. Those trends are going to continue, whether we like them or not.
Instead, what we CSIers should be doing is looking for new, connective and creative ways to use these devices within the industry, therefore drawing younger members into our ranks, because we ‘get it’ and speak their language...which, BTW, will become the language eventually.”
Brent Williams CSI, CDT
“Ten years ago, my office gave me a cell phone for my use, and the office before that (12 years ago) also gave me a cell phone—and paid for it.
They were both Blackberries, and I used them both as a phone and a way to answer questions when I traveled from one office to another.
I gave a talk the other day and listened to a young person talk about all the various web sites she used to get construction ‘information.’ Thing was—she didn't know anything about products, how they were installed, or how to tell a good one from a bad one.
Digital or not, we need to encourage young staff to actually sit down and talk to people. People build buildings, at least for the foreseeable future. And people have skill sets and knowledge about how products actually work.
If you work in various parts of the country, you'll see that the product you absolutely loved in Seattle won’t work very well in Los Angeles, because the installers are completely different and the climate is different.
I honestly think that "device communication" is completely oversold, and we need to get back to talking to people in person and getting away from exchanging 12 emails where one conversation could finish the job. The older I’ve gotten, the more I rely on voice communication to solve problems.”
Anne Whitacre FCSI, CCS, LEED AP
I am in the construction industry but was a design MEP-FP engineer before that. Have been in this business for 53 years.
Whether you are an architect, engineer, specification professional, manufacturer supplier, contractor management, construction worker who creates what is designed, there are many skills involved for each, but one needed skill is common for everyone.
Understanding the other person’s point of view.”
David Lewis CSI
“CSI could promote desired skills by offering Skills Lunches.
I realize Tech Lunches are probably paid for by people presenting their products, but some of us are not Spec writers looking to learn about new product specifications.
Chapter meetings could be presented by CSI members who are Spec Writers, to introduce the specific skills needed for clear, concise, correct and complete communication. Demonstrating how to write in the imperative would be a good place to start. Giving examples of poorly written spec excerpts, and then demonstrating how to improve them, would be interesting also. There is always more to learn than product information.
Actually teaching speech presentation skills is a bit more involved, but if a CSI version of Toast Masters were initiated maybe it would grow.”
Amy Haynes CSI, CDT