Hope is not a strategy

Hope is not a Strategy

A phrase that has been used in military circles for about half a century is “‘Hope is not a strategy.”

Those words are particularly applicable at the moment for the organized construction trades. We can’t simply do business as usual and wish away our industry’s issues.

Indeed, “hope” is not sufficient to obtain or retain enough work to provide the cash flow that keeps the doors open, craftpersons hours on the books, and pensions funded. Crossed fingers won’t get the right talent to walk through the doors of our training centers, complete their apprenticeship programs, and become effective leaders or open their own union-signatory contracting shops. In fact, desire is only the start to getting a project completed on time and within budget.

Instead of sitting around and thinking or talking about how our current situation could be, we also need to act, making a concentrated effort to address our problems and increase our positive opportunities. Frank Abagnale, the former con artist portrayed in the movie Catch Me If You Can and current security consultant, puts it this way: “You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive.”

Being proactive can be stressful. It means stepping out of the places and situations where we feel safe or at ease. Leaders from both SMACNA and SMART have recognized that embracing technological change will open doors for us, allowing us to move away from musing about market share issues to making strides toward helping our customers realize the value we offer over our competitors. Of course, that means changing mindsets, adapting our training, and investing in new equipment.

The article that starts on page 4 brings together ideas about how we can work together to maximize our opportunities as work evolves. On page 6, we offer an update on the initiatives that SMACNA chapters, contractors, and SMART locals in Houston, Texas, and Washington, DC, are implementing to capture and recapture work, particularly in the hospital and healthcare sectors.

Recruiting is another area where we are pushing hard to get away from doing things the way we always have. We are identifying new approaches for attracting the best and the brightest people. These pages have spent a lot of time lately talking about reaching military veterans, females, ethnically diverse individuals, and youth from disadvantaged communities.

However, the story that starts on page 8 of this issue provides another perspective. It is a reminder that when it comes to recruiting, we can’t always wait until high school to demonstrate the opportunities available within our industry. Girls from ages 8 to 14 are lining up for the chance to attend summer camp where they put on hard hats and tool belts and take on construction projects, even some involving sheet metal.

There is no reason such programs need to be limited to the northwestern United States. Find out what is happening with Girls Build, and you may be able to spearhead something similar in your area. (Don’t forget to tell us about your best practices.)

The final story in this issue is a reminder that movement is not always progress. Structure, in this case using construction schedules, keeps us moving in the right direction. Additionally, communication about schedules, whether it is with the craftspersons on the job site, between the trades, or between owners and contractors, equals more successful projects. And it turns out that is true even when the schedule is on paper instead of in the “cloud.”

What it comes down to is that this issue is about “hope” accompanied by “action”. We have expertise—from HVAC to industrial and architectural to “green”, environmentallyconscious work; we have top-notch training and safety programs; we have a partnership that allows us to progress even when the going gets tough; and we have a strategy and the resolve to carry it out. •

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Our next Partners in Progress Conference will be Feb. 25-26, 2020, at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. This meeting will provide an opportunity for both labor and management to be All In as we position ourselves for success in the signatory sheet metal industry. We’ll share success stories and lessons learned from the efforts we are undertaking now to bolster market share and hours, find out the characteristics of high performing areas, build roadmaps to better relationships, and more. Watch these pages for additional information during the coming months.

Visit pinp.org to keep up to date and find useful resources available to SMART locals, SMACNA contractors and chapters, labor-management cooperation trusts and committees, training centers, and individual members of SMACNA and SMART. Registration is required for full access. It is free but limited to members. You can also find us on Facebook as “sheetmetalpartners”, on Twitter as “smpartners”, and on Instagram as “smpartners”.