Here's how you can overcome unexpected challenges or setbacks in construction projects.

Identify Potential Issues: Regularly assess and document potential risks, such as weather disruptions, material shortages, and labor strikes. Risk Matrix: Use a risk matrix to prioritize risks based on their probability and impact on the project. Examples: "Identify high-risk areas like complex installations or supplier reliability issues and plan accordingly."

It is all about managing risks. Project owners and contractors need access to information. Simply, the right data, the right technology, and the right skills will help manage risks. It means having the right technology partners and processes in place, those tools to improve document management, budgeting, scheduling, change-order tracking, and overall risk assessment to minimize potential disruptions in weather, supply chain, hackers, and more. Assessing risk at the beginning of any project is key for success when we are talking about people, process, and technology.

It is important to evaluate risks often. Try to think of the out of the box risks when doing assessments. (Example: crew lead/foreman sick, non-communicated customer needs, etc.) Safety risk assessments are an important thought in construction. Try to develop an attitude for safety amongst your forces incorporating the following: - reporting of potentials as saving another’s life rather than a blemish. - last minute risk assessments. - give authority to every level of employee to stop work if they feel unsafe or another is unsafe.

Contingency Plans: Develop contingency plans for high-risk scenarios to ensure rapid response and minimal disruption. Flexible Scheduling: Maintain a flexible project schedule that allows for adjustments without compromising major deadlines. Examples: "Create backup plans for critical path activities and have alternative suppliers in place."

Regular Updates: Maintain open lines of communication with all stakeholders, providing regular updates on project status and potential issues. Transparent Reporting: Implement transparent reporting mechanisms to ensure everyone is aware of challenges and the steps being taken to address them. Examples: "Hold weekly status meetings and use project management software to keep everyone informed."

Clear communication is super important. Many stakeholders don’t understand what it takes to get the job done but bullet pointing the procedure and explaining the impacts to the customer is key in coming out with memorable customer experiences. When I say customer I mean: - internal employees - internal leaders - actual customers Say what you mean and don’t expect that everyone has understood what you say.

Project Management Tools: Utilize advanced project management tools to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and manage resources effectively. BIM and IoT: Implement Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Internet of Things (IoT) for real-time monitoring and predictive analytics. Examples: "Use tools like Procore or PlanGrid to manage project timelines and resources efficiently."

Workforce trends are evolving rapidly. Diversity changes in the corporate population and changes in the American labor pool are leading to changes in pay, mentorship, flexible scheduling options, and training opportunities. We need to address the skills gap and consider how we will reskill and upskill workers, while also actively investing in workforce development programs. Ultimately, this will make for stronger construction teams that are safer and well performing.

Showing employee’s what the career trajectory of any training is important. Continuously sharing updated practices through lessens learned only makes your team better. Making your employees strive to find a better way. Announcing the person that found an easier way and how they did it fosters a want to succeed team.

Skill Development: Provide continuous training to your team on the latest construction techniques, safety protocols, and technology use. Crisis Management: Train staff in crisis management and problem-solving to handle unexpected challenges confidently. Examples: "Organize workshops on new software tools and conduct regular safety drills."

Post-Mortem Analysis: Conduct post-mortem analysis after addressing challenges to understand what worked and what didn’t. Lessons Learned: Document lessons learned and integrate them into future project plans to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Examples: "After a project setback, hold a debrief meeting to discuss what was learned and how processes can be improved."

Find win/win solutions. Not every problem is meant to be a profit making machine. Sometimes mistakes happen and there’s an opportunity to value engineer as a solution to save on cost and have a more efficient project. Clients love when you bring solutions like that to the table, it separates subcontractors from trade partners.

Assessing corporate risk might mean rearchitecting digital systems to be competitive and to avoid unexpected attacks or downtimes from a host of variables. Construction firms must manage global impacts. To minimize disruptions, companies must establish a collaborative environment with both vendors and technologies at the center of excellence, coupled with a regular assessment to maximize as many disruptions as possible and that ranges from assessing cyber risk across multiple areas, such as incident response, vulnerability patching, and phishing simulations. Keep in mind the best risk management strategies look at all aspects from supply-chain issues, weather, workers, and a host of other issues that might arise.