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ON THE MOVE BURNS & MCDONNELL MANAGER APPOINTED AIA COMMISSIONING REPRESENTATIVE DavidMeyers, who leads national commissioning services for Burns & McDonnell , has been appointed by the American Institute of Architects as the organization’s AIA representative for commissioning. Meyers will work on AIA’s behalf to inform, guide, and share insights about policy, regulations, and other decisions affecting their members. And just as commissioning is designed to help owners and clients get the most out of their construction and renovation projects, Meyers is ready to help AIA and its more than 90,000 members get the most out of their representation. “I’m looking forward to being able to influence how commissioning is done,” says Meyers, a commissioning manager at Burns & McDonnell for the past four years. “I’m looking forward to continue making a difference on how commissioning is done – to make it better, and to make the requirements fit the
way the industry is needing commissioning services.” Commissioning is a systematic process of verifying and documenting that a facility and all its systems and assemblies are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet a project owner’s requirements. The process works to generate operational efficiencies, extend equipment lifespans, optimize systems, and more. As AIA representative, Meyers will serve as the organization’s connection to two national groups whose decisions and deliberations guide the commissioning industry: ❚ ❚ The National Institute of Building Science and its Total Building Commissioning Program, an industrywide process to develop a comprehensive set of building system commissioning guidelines. Total Building Commissioning is the systematic process of ensuring that the performance of a facility and its systems meet the design intent and the near- and long-term
functional and operational needs of the owner and occupants. ❚ ❚ The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, and its Committee for Standard 202: Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems. The standard describes how to plan, conduct, and document successful commissioning efforts. Burns & McDonnell ranks No. 3 in MEP commissioning on Consulting-Specifying Engineer’s MEP Commissioning Giants Report. Five years after establishing its commissioning practice, the firm now has more than 120 professionals who work on commissioning projects in the U.S. and abroad. Meyers has worked in commissioning for the past seven years, after a decade as a project architect and program manager. He has served as chairman of the Building Enclosure Council in St. Louis and, in Kirkwood, Missouri, has served on the city’s Architectural Review Board and the city’s Landmarks Commission.
and seek clarification. If it’s a simple misunderstanding, you’ll be able to move past it quickly. If a teammate’s motives don’t benefit the team, you can discuss this directly and give them a chance to redirect their efforts. 2)Encourage people to bring their issues out in the open. If someone is constantly complaining about a teammate, push them to bring their issues out into the open. Tell them that nothing will be better unless they address it directly – and let them know that conflict and disagreement are the only ways tough issues can get resolved. 3)Be a good role model. Don’t talk about your co-workers. If you want to be on a healthy, productive team, you need to unlearn bad habits. Learn to talk to your teammates instead of about them. Even if you’ve tolerated (or participated in) gossip before, let others know you have changed your ways and aren’t going to tolerate it moving forward. Make it clear that you’re putting the team first. Gossip is truly one of the most damaging behaviors on any team – it prevents us from trusting our teammates, being our best selves, and achieving explosive success with our team. If you’re the team leader, your job is to set the standard. And if you set the standard that gossip isn’t tolerated, you’ll quickly see this mentality spread throughout your team. LINDA ADAMS is a partner at The Trispective Group and the co-author of The Loyalist Team: How Trust, Candor, and Authenticity Create Great Organizations . For more information, please visit trispectivegroup.com. “If you’re the team leader, your job is to set the standard. And if you set the standard that gossip isn’t tolerated, you’ll quickly see this mentality spread throughout your team.”
LINDA ADAMS, from page 9
together closely on projects. These types of sub-groups are fine if there’s a clear business purpose behind them. But sub- groups will begin to see each other as enemies when gossip is tolerated. On great teams, individuals see the team’s suc- cess as their own success. On a team with gossip and warring factions, groups and individuals view success as a zero-sum game. People will start to see the success of another “faction” as detrimental to their own. Cohesion and a true team men- tality aren’t possible on a team that gossips. ❚ ❚ You won’t have the tough (and necessary) conversations. Talking about coworkers behind their backs is a habit that allows us to avoid conflict. But open conflict and disagree- ment are at the heart of the world’s best teams. In fact, in our research on hundreds of teams, the highest-performing teams (when compared to low-performing teams) are: ❚ ❚ 106 times more likely to give each other tough feedback ❚ ❚ 50 times more likely to openly discuss conflict when it arises If you gossip or tolerate gossip from your teammates, your team will never have the tough conversations that make it possible to push through major challenges and grow. “Gossip is truly one of the most damaging behaviors on any team – it prevents us from trusting our teammates, being our best selves, and achieving explosive success with our team.”
What are some easy ways to prevent gossip from infiltrating your team? Here are three quick tips:
1)Work on assuming positive intent. If you’re ever unclear on a colleagues motives, it’s your responsibility to ask questions
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THE ZWEIG LETTER January 8, 2018, ISSUE 1230
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