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BUSINESS NEWS BALFOUR BEATTY CONSTRUCTION AND BARC JOINT VENTURE TEAM HONORED WITH 2015 ENGI- NEERING NEWS-RECORD NATIONAL BEST OF THE BEST PROJECTS AWARD Balfour Beatty Con- struction has been honored with a prestigious national award for the Dallas/Fort Worth Inter- national Airport Terminal A Phase II Renovation and Improvement Program. Engineering News-Record recognized the project with its national Best of the Best Proj- ects award in the Airport/Transit category. “We are honored to be nationally recognized for our team’s work on the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Terminal A Phase II,” said Karl Joeris, vice president at Balfour Beatty Construction. Additional awards for which the project has

been recognized include a TEXO Distinguished Building Award, a Construction Management Association of America Project Achievement Award, and an ENR Texas and Louisiana Re- gional Best Project Award. FLUOR AWARDED FRONT-END CONTRACT FOR WORLD’S LARGEST PROPYLENE OXIDE/TERTIARY BUTYL ALCOHOL PLANT Fluor Corporation announced that LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refin- ing companies, has selected Fluor to perform front-end engineering and design work for its proposed propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol plant. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2015. The plant will be the world’s largest of its type and will be located at LyondellBasell’s

existing Channelview and Bayport Choate complexes in Texas. The scope includes a 1 billion pound-per-year propylene oxide and a 2 billion pound-per-year tertiary butyl alcohol plant at the Channelview site, an ethers plant at the Bayport Choate site, as well as associ- ated infrastructure. “Fluor is bringing its proven integrated engi- neering, procurement, fabrication and con- struction solutions approach to support this world-scale project’s advancement,” said Jim Brittain, president of Fluor’s Energy and Chem- icals Americas business line. “We will leverage our extensive U.S. Gulf Coast chemicals ex- perience and innovative global procurement and design approaches to develop a capital efficient solution for LyondellBasell.”

BILL MURPHEY, from page 9

❚ ❚ Identify the underlying issues, not the symptoms. When a firm says they’re having a problem retaining talented peo- ple, one assumption is that they’re simply hiring the wrong people. They lament that their internal recruiting staff had failed to find the “right” people. In an attempt to close the gap, some leaders believe that better recruiters will solve their talent-bleeding problem. The gap here is the chasm between the perception about why talented people leave and the actual cause of the brain drain. Perhaps the firm has a much deeper problem. Perhaps the problem is rooted in the firm’s culture or pay and reward systems. An expert recruiter, no matter how talented she is, cannot overcome a weak firm. Who would want to stay with a firm that’s infected with passive-aggressive types or rewards longevity over performance? Of course, your best and bright- est will leave; they’re miserable! Spending time to uncover the underlying issues is vital to your firm’s long-term health. An unbiased assessment of your entire firm may be necessary to find that root cause. Only after you’ve uncovered it can you begin to discuss solutions. Rubbing ointment on a rash will do nothing for you if the real reason for the rash is an allergic reaction to a medication you’re taking. “We all have gaps we don’t recognize. We think we have the skills needed to perform at a higher level, but the reality is that we often have some limitations.” We all have gaps we don’t recognize. We think we have the skills needed to perform at a higher level, but the reality is that we often have some limitations. Those gaps can be overcome by ensuring your team clearly understands your vision, by empowering them to make decisions based on your vision, and by spending time uncovering the root causes of your gaps. Like getting a new pair of eyeglasses, you’ll be amazed at what you’ve been missing when you can see more clearly. BILL MURPHEY is Zweig Group’s director of education. Contact him at bmurphey@zweiggroup.com.

firm to be more entrepreneurial. If so, you need to define what the term “entrepreneurial” means to your firm. Does it mean you want to expand your client base, or does it mean you intend to transform your firm into a high-energy, high- growth titan in the industry? Those are two very different definitions on different ends of the spectrum. “Spending time to uncover the underlying issues is vital to your firm’s long-term health. An unbiased assessment of your entire firm may be necessary to find that root cause. Only after you’ve uncovered it can you begin to discuss solutions.” Close the gap by clearly stating the direction in which your firm is heading and the resources required to get there. En- sure everyone on your team understands both. That will drive their decisions and close the gap between what they’re doing and what they think they should be doing. ❚ ❚ Communicate with and empower your staff. Ensure ev- eryone is aware of your goals. I speak with a lot of human resources directors who tell me what they believe their firm needs. After talking through their challenges and discussing possible solutions, they usually end the conversation by tell- ing me they need to talk with “the principals” before they can make any decisions. There’s another gap. Some HR directors are treated as simple information hunter-gatherers. They’re instructed to find a solution to a vague problem and then report their findings to someone higher up in the organiza- tional structure. Arming these professionals with a clear understanding of the firm’s long term goals, as well as the authority to make deci- sions regarding training programs (which they are usually expected to manage), will expedite the process and ensure the training is completed in a timely manner. Instead, companies waste precious time endlessly debating whether or not a pro- gram is right for the firm.

THE ZWEIG LETTER March 14, 2016, ISSUE 1143

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