Construction Partnering Session Facilitation
Use of an outside facilitator to conduct partnering sessions is effective when bringing together separate organizations to partner for a project. The purpose is to create an atmosphere right from the get-go that is conducive to fostering true cooperation, open communication and crystal-clear, mutually-agreed-upon expectations about how the project will be conducted and managed among all involved.
For example, almost no one, on any side of a project, budgets for attorney's fees as part of its RFQ or the responses to it. That means that as soon as any attorney gets involved, someone is losing money.
A facilitated partnering session differs from a project review meeting because the focus is on "how" the work will be performed instead of "what" work will be performed. Sessions are scheduled with the intent of including all parties or stakeholders in the project.
An outside facilitator is typically used for construction projects. Typical participants can include:
- Governmental entities (state government agencies, Department of Transportation, EPA, ARMY Corps of Engineering, GSA, NAVFAC, county government departments, city or township representatives, Public Safety representatives)
- Project owner
- General contractor for the project
- Subcontractors
- Design firms
- Engineering firms
- Testing firms
- Utilities and railroads
- Stakeholder groups (e.g., Historic Preservation Commission, Shade Tree Commission, Concerned Citizen groups)
What Makes Doug Brown Stand Out as a Construction Partnering Facilitator
- Doug utilizes pre-session calls with critical leaders to refine the agenda so participants get the most value from the formal partnering meeting.
- He provides additional communication insights and best practices to prevent miscommunication and avoid unnecessary conflict.
- Doug's style fosters and encourages genuine agreement between the parties on ways of operating and interacting with each other during the project. The Project Charter, signed by those in attendance, helps inform decisions, solve project-related problems, and resolve differences.
- Doug's questioning style allows him to challenge traditional thinking when addressing roadblocks, helping to set up improved processes to achieve a successful, safely executed project i.e., within contract parameters, budget, and schedule, and without mishaps.
- His partnering sessions can generate enough new and cost-saving ideas to cover your cost of hosting the meeting.
Doug Brown CAIA, CBC, CDIA, CVIA
Partnering Facilitator
Corporate Headquarters
805 Springfield Avenue
Cranford, NJ 07016-1835
908-276-4547 (p)
908-967-6955 (f)
Doug is the Chairman and CEO of Paradigm Associates LLC, a company he
founded in 1985, and is now represented by professionals in multiple states.
Doug's personal clients are executives, managers and professionals
throughout North and South America, Europe and South Africa. His
experience spans over fifty different industries and crosses the for-profit, non-
profit and governmental sectors. In addition to his work on strategic planning
and leadership development issues in construction-related organizations, he
is appreciated for his combination of facilitation techniques used during partnering sessions.
Doug has been facilitating formal partnering sessions since 1994 with participants from the USACE (ARMY CORP), EPA, NAVFAC, as well as for government departments (EPA, DOT) and authorities (ex. MTA, NYSTA) in multiple States (NY, PA, & MD). He started training others in the overall use of facilitation techniques in 1987, and started to formally certify others on behalf of another international organization in 2000. Doug's LinkedIn page,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-brown-caia-cbc-cdia-cvia-tdc-tdfc-thdc-41b4191/ , contains more than 60 letters of recommendation, video testimonials, and more than 1300 endorsements.
Doug's thinking and communication styles helps people recognize and break through existing paradigms in order to solve stubborn problems and generate non-traditional approaches for working through difficult situations. These sessions have generated ideas that actually helped projects come in “on time and under budget”. Doug is also an experienced speaker at national and international conferences, was a columnist for American Executive magazine (for C-Suite executives running organizations of $50+ million in revenue) and has been interviewed on television and radio numerous times.
A believer in continuous improvement, Doug has received Certifications as a Business Coach, Total Quality Institute (TQI) Facilitator, and Analyst for the Attribute, DISC, and Values Indexes from Innermetrix, as well as certified in Acumen, DISC, EQ 12 Driving Forces, and TriMetrix HD from TTI Success Insights. He has also been Certified by the Institute for Sustainability in order to help organizations remain viable and competitive in an environment where the triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental success) is becoming increasingly important.
His previous career included both line and staff management responsibilities in several
manufacturing companies, including Procter & Gamble. His career experience included
generating cost savings and process improvement ideas that exceeded three million dollars per year. Doug understands the concept of value engineering as a mindset.
Before graduating from the University of Delaware with a B.A. in Political Science and a double minor - Business & Economics and Philosophy, Doug was very active both locally and nationally. He was elected to lead multiple campus-wide, regional and national organizations, earned an internship in the U.S. Senate, and received an Undergraduate Research Grant to study Leadership Styles vs. Group Behavior.
When not working, Doug is active in the 20,000+ member Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) and in 2014 was elected to serve a two-year term on its 10 member international Board of Directors. Subsequently, Doug was inducted into the Mid-Atlantic District Hall of Honor.
Doug remains active in the community of Cranford, NJ where he resides with his wife, Jill. They have two grown sons. In his local parish, he serves as both a Cantor and Lector. In the past, he has coached youth soccer, and served as Chairman of the Citizens Budget & Planning Advisory Committee. He is a president and board member of several non-profit, charitable, educational, and professional organizations and an active member and organizational consultant to the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce.
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