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The Paradyne Approach to Partnering

Paradyne has facilitated formal partnering (both project & executive) for, with, & between public & private entities connected with construction projects for decades.  These entities are as diverse as the CA Department of Water Resources, Tualatin Valley Water District, Mission Springs Water District, Portland Water Bureau, Oregon DOT, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power,  Arizona DOT, Utah DOT, Caltrans, LA Metro, Cities of: Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davenport, the US Navy, Army Corps of Engineers, Sundt Construction, Kiewit Construction, Ames Construction, Skanska, Watts-Granite, Tutor Perini, JF Shea, MWH, IHI, HDR, Jacobs, Stantec, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Statoil, & Anadarko.

Projects that utilize Paradyne for facilitated partnering are safer & more likely to meet their schedule & budget goals. We ensure that alliances are structured correctly from the outset with a clear shared vision & a solid understanding of mutual dependencies, goals, & economics. We help both project & executive teams create a collaborative culture utilizing innovative partnering strategies & tools while ensuring that partners make firm commitments to each other, agree on collaborative problem-solving processes, & exhibit healthy partnering behaviors.

Click here if you’d like more information about our partnering features!

While every partnering endeavor is different, & many of the elements of the approach/tools are universal, what we bring to the partnering approach is unique & effective in the following ways:

1

Understand the Project:

 

Paradyne has an extensive engineering & construction background with over 20 years of experience with oftentimes complex & layered projects that include multiple important goals including those of meeting the needs of the community as well as to improve safety & the environment. Understanding what the project is all about, the contract delivery mechanism, & who the players are that comprise the teams is critical to successful partnering. 

2

Understand the Contract:

 

Paradyne has extensive experience with a number of contractual & delivery methods including Progressive Design Build, Design Build, CMGC etc. We understand how to reduce complex contractual issues to easily understandable economic or process concepts for those that may be new to an alternative delivery model. We also ensure that those from the engineering & contractor side who may be more familiar are equally & understandably represented in ongoing discussions.

3

Build Relationships:

 

A key element of successful partnering involves the partnering facilitator getting to know each of the partnering session attendees. It is essential to understand their role, their project responsibilities, their organizational goals, their personal objectives, their communication style, how they prefer to problem solve, how they prefer to address difficult issues, how much decision-making authority they have, & how they do or do not get along with other members of the executive teams. 

Paradyne prides itself on its ability to forge these relationships based on confidentiality & mutual trust. We will approach this project as with numerous others: as an unbiased third party there to help the project achieve its goals so that ALL the parties involved are successful.

4

Identify Objectives & Ongoing Issues:

 

From the start, Paradyne likes to identify not just the project goals, but the commercial & contractual goals of the parties involved so that everyone is on the same page regarding their desire to avoid claims, poor relationships or bad publicity moving forward. Our approach is to raise issues consistently & transparently to the forefront that have the potential to derail the project team, impact schedule, impact budget or result in claims to any of the parties. We call these the “tough conversations” & we specialize in our ability to not only identify issues, but to guide the conversation & help to resolve any issue, no matter how complex or expensive, in a diplomatic, direct & fair manner.  

What differentiates Paradyne from other partnering facilitators is our extensive knowledge of both the contractor and owner/agency side of running construction projects across a wide variety of projects. Not only do we understand contracts & alternative delivery, but we also know how to build an estimate & a schedule, as well as navigate a wide array of personalities. Paradyne understands funding issues, budget issues, design issues & field issues. Having worked with multiple state & federal agencies, Paradyne also intimately understands the processes, culture & demands inherent within those organizations.

5

Accountability & Follow-Up:

 

Paradyne is known for its tenacity & unwillingness to leave issues unresolved. Our approach to partnering is to keep issues alive & under discussion until effective resolution is reached by ALL parties on an ongoing basis. We will reach out, follow up, ensure action items & commitments are tracked & completed, & serve as the team resource for anything & everything as required or requested. This direct & focused approach has resulted in an excellent reputation as a seasoned project & executive partnering facilitator.

Partnering Objectives

  1. Identify and align goals for all parties

  2. Stay on Schedule and on Budget.

  3. Avoid REA’s or LD’s

  4. Establish a regular process for identifying and resolving issues before they become disputes

  5. Build camaraderie and teamwork

  6. Commit to a collaborative, non-adversarial relationship

  7. Provide a system for monitoring all of the above

Kick-off Partnering Meeting

Executive session (2-4 hours) – if desired

Project team session (4-5 hours)

  • Partnering Charter created

  • Goals, Risks, & Issue Resolution Ladders

  • Collaborative Action Plans developed

Monthly or Quarterly Partnering Meetings

Executive and Project Team

  • Action Plans followed up on and parties held accountable to Action Items

  • New issues identified and addressed

  • Communication and trust strengthened

  • Surveys can be used to identify issues and measure partnering effectiveness

Special Purpose Partnering Meetings

  • Support collaboration with other stakeholders, design firms, subcontractors, regulators, etc

  • Surveys to identify hidden or difficult issues that need to be resolved 

  • Discipline or functional teams form their own commitments and partnering plans

Executive Partnering Option

While we have extensive experience with project partnering, we also specialize in executive partnering – a partnering methodology that requires an entirely different and nuanced facilitation and consultative skill set than project partnering.

The purpose of executive partnering is to elevate operational, commercial and contractual issues to a select group of executives with decision-making authority. This group serves to ensure that the project team can continue to function seamlessly, while managing outstanding issues that may stand in the way of collaboration or project progress. Executive partnering utilizes and prioritizes the output and feedback from project partnering to ensure that the needs of both the project team and senior project managers are being met. Commercial and contractual issues are identified early and resolved to the satisfaction of both client and contractor before they can become LD’s or REA’s. Executive partnering is an effective tool to use to avoid potential litigation. 

We offer executive partnering as a supplement to project partnering.

Sample Projects

Paradyne has facilitated hundreds of partnering projects over the last 20 years and is certified by the International Partnering institute.

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