The People Part of Planning

Stakeholders 

Your stakeholders are the people that you are working on behalf of in the planning of your project. You can’t have a successful project that ignores your stakeholders. If you find a way to involve your stakeholders in the planning process, your chances of success have just doubled.

Committee vs. Project Manager

Whether you use a committee or a project manager doesn’t matter. The key difference is in the day to day methodology, the politics and the symbolism of the two methods. To have a success the project manager will have to find a way to do everything that the building committee does. You will probably have a more difficult time finding and guiding a good project manager than assembling a good building committee.

Membership – Quality not Quantity 

The ideal focus for the Building Committee is the process. Some of the key skills that your Building Committee needs are Facilitating, Researching, Coordinating, Organizing, and Communicating. Desirable Building Committee Members are people who know how to lead, plan and manage. Involvement in the construction industry isn’t necessary, and sometimes it is a handicap. Examples of the individuals you are looking for are executives, entrepreneurs, educators, administrators, and managers. Specialists who diagnose and implement aren’t accustomed to the analysis of multiple alternatives that need to be explored. Participation in meetings decreases as the size of the group increases – so smaller is better. There needs to be a chairperson who speaks for the committee and communicates with the stakeholders. Be aware that “symbolic” members of the Building Committee will require special handling. The virtues of a committee member are open- mindedness, diligence and perseverance.

Mission 

The Building Committee’s mission normally includes two additional issues besides the 5 Key Issues – Organization, and Methodology. 

ORGANIZATION.  The first task of the Building Committee is to organize itself. Who will be members, who will be chairperson? When will it meet? Will it operate formally or informally? What staff can assist? What does the Building Committee need in order to do its job?  

METHODOLOGY.  An ongoing task of the Building Committee is to monitor and communicate the progress of the Planning for the project and to determine the methods that will be used to design and construct the facility. To a great extent the Building Committee’s work is nearly done once construction starts, but first there is a year or two of planning that they are responsible for before that milestone arrives.