Partners in Progress Vol 15 No 7

PartnersINProgress SMACNA & SMART—Building a Future Together

July 2021

Pass the torch smoothly with open and honest communication ...

PartnersINProgress SMACNA & SMART—Building a Future Together

JOSEPH SELLERS, JR. ANGELA SIMON Co-Publishers KAARIN ENGELMANN editor@pinpmagazine.org Editor-in-Chief

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JESSICA KIRBY jkirby@pointonemedia.com Editor

CONTENTS

POINT ONE MEDIA INC. artdept@pointonemedia.com Creative Services

3 LEADERS FOCUS ON THE FUTURE Successful partnerships require a keen eye on the future—not a time

Partners in Progress is a publication of the Sheet Metal Industry LaborManagement Cooperation Fund.

4 SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION When it is time to pass the torch in your organization, solid partnerships

All contents ©2021 by the Sheet Metal Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Fund, P.O. Box 221211, Chantilly, VA 20153-1211.

July 2021 - Volume 15, Number 7

machine.

will change the game.

8 SMALL YET MIGHTY

Local 435 and Florida SMACNA have tripled their recruitment numbers this year. Find out how.

10 ARCHITECTURAL LAB ADDRESSES MARKET NEEDS A new architectural lab in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, will help Local 10

Find Partners in Progress online at pinp.org or at issuu.com/ partnersinprogress. An archive of all issues is available and printed copies may be ordered for a minimal fee.

For comments or questions, email editor@pinpmagazine.org.

and SMARCA meet market demand for architectural expertise.

12 A PROJECT TO REMEMBER

Memorial Park is a tribute to veterans and a keen example of how

partnerships make difficult projects come together.

14 HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

Eighty-five years after it was launched, Dale Carnagie’s book is still advising leaders with advice that rings true today.

16 TEAIRRA MARSHALL: MY JOURNEY

After four years of excellent training, Teairra Marshall is ready to take on the world and build the future she wants.

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S HE E T M E TA L | A I R | R A I L | T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

LEADERS

Focus on the Future Successful leadership requires a laser sharp focus on the future. A prevailing theme in this month’s Partners in Progress is leadership, and that had me thinking about a quote I saw recently advising to look and move forward “because looking backwards is for time travelers.” I Googled the source and discovered that I was seeking inspiration from the inside of Dove chocolate candy wrappers. Cynics among us might muse that the candy manufacturer places those messages in the wrapper to distract consumers from the amount of sugar and calories in a single chocolate treat. Conversely, chocoholic optimists recognize good advice when they see it.

Successful leaders want their organizations to prosper well beyond their personal tenure and know the importance of succession planning to advance an organization or an industry well into the future. “Successful Succession” on page 4 provides examples of how to successfully prepare to transfer leadership of contracting firms, Locals, and labor-management partnership initiatives.

SMART and SMACNA leaders recognize their collective future depends on recruiting and retaining the best workers into the industry. Turn to page 8, “Small but Mighty”, to learn how Local 435 and Jacksonville Florida SMACNA contractors have collaborated to triple the number of applicants seeking great career opportunities in the sheet metal industry in the past year.

The most effective leaders study industry trends to predict and respond to future market opportunities. “Market Ready”on page 10 details the collaborative efforts of Local 10 and SMARCA leaders in developing a state-of-the-art commercial service and architectural lab that will allow the parties to provide training to excel in a constantly evolving market.

Focusing on the future does not mean that the past is irrelevant.

In “A Project to Remember” on page 12, leaders from Local 83 and Capital District SMACNA explain why it was important to partner on a community project to honor veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Efforts like those on the Memorial Park demonstrate that building trades unions and union contractors are good neighbors who invest in the communities where they work and live.

Focusing on the future does not mean successful approaches need to be cast aside entirely because they are a creation of the past. A prime example of this is the advice contained in the 85-year-old iconic book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. While times and methods for communicating have changed dramatically since Dale Carnegie authored the book, the article on page 14 explains why leadership principles, such as seeing things from others’ perspectives, using diplomacy, and picking battles wisely may be more relevant in a time when it’s critical to attract and retain good team members.

This month’s “My Journey” on page 16 features a new journeyperson who displays plenty of industry leader potential. Teairra Marshall was the first female in Local 435 to earn the Outstanding Apprentice Award. She credits her experience in the sheet metal industry as making her a stronger individual physically and mentally. She shares her journey and recommends careers in the industry to students at the trade school she attended prior to entering the apprenticeship program.

The key premise of Partners in Progress is that a successful future requires labor and management in our industry to work together on common goals. To do that requires strong leaders who can build strong partnership coalitions to project and plan for the needs of the sheet metal industry in years to come.

When we look back, there is a danger of getting mired in regrets and disappointments. Unless gifted with a time traveling DeLorean like Marty McFly’s in Back to the Future, we cannot go back and change the past.

The best leaders do not spend too much time looking back.

Their goals are not headed in that direction. Great leaders learn from the past and focus their attention and efforts on the future. ▪

Building the Future Together A successful future requires labor and management to work together toward common goals. To do that, we need strong leaders who can build coalitions; have the knowledge and skills to understand the needs and opportunities of where the construction industry is headed in the next 5, 10 and 20 years; and are willing to capitalize on the best practices of the industry.

Above all, the future requires recruiting and retaining the best, most skilled workers into the industry. Partners in Progress 2022 is designed around the skills and knowledge necessary to meet these needs. We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas March 1 & 2, 2022!

Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 3

Passing the torch is one of the most important decisions a business or Local will make.

Do it right, do it with trust.

By / Jessica Kirby Passing the torch, passing the baton, taking up the cause, rising through the ranks, stepping up, or stepping down.

Whatever way an organization looks at succession, it is as much a part of sustaining and advancing a business or Local as payroll and materials, and it has to be done right.

In a business scenario, there are many options for business owners to exit a venture—transfer to a family member, sale to an outside business or employee group, or simply shutting down and walking away. Many business owners opt for ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) under which employees become owners. There are both advantages and disadvantages to that model.

Within the sheet metal industry, where labor-management partnerships are the glue that holds sector-wide successes together, it is important to bring succession planning into every aspect of the industry—business transfer, Local leadership, and special project committees. Although quick turnovers are possible under duress, the more thought and time dedicated to transitions, the more stability and trust afforded the industry as a whole.

In June 2021, Jim Paquette, business manager and financial secretary at Local 280 in British Columbia, decided he would 4 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

Jim and Sonya Pacquette

not seek reelection for a ninth term. Part of that decision was planning far enough in advance to give the Local time to select a replacement and prepare him or her for a smooth transition.

“I promised my wife Sonya after the eighth election that it would be my last,” Paquette says. “So, from that point I knew we needed to start thinking about who would hold this position next. Unions—by their very nature democratic organizations— work on an election schedule, so at a minimum planning should

©Can Stock / olivier26

Successful Succession

“No matter the challenges, solutions are within reach with commitment to one key principle: open and honest communication.”

begin at least a few years in advance if the hope is to transition smoothly.”

Paquette says that when planning for succession, a Local should select someone who is capable of doing the job, willing to take on the added responsibility, and supported by the existing representatives. “Local officers and staff needs or wants should also be considered,” he says.

At the end of July, Richard Mangelsdorf took over Paquette’s position. His decision to accept the role had to successfully make it through his “what’s best for the membership” filter, as do all of his decisions, he says.

“It made sense to me that the person who was likely best suited for the position would be the one with the most experience as a full-time officer, as opposed to someone coming directly from the job site or shop floor,” Mangelsdorf says. “Since I had the most experience, it was a natural fit. I also wanted to make sure that I was taking on this role for the right reasons—to help benefit the membership and the industry as a whole, and to keep my ego out of it. For a position such as this, decisions that are made on a daily basis need to be altruistic and not selfserving.”

The transition has been smooth, namely because Mangelsdorf and Paquette have been having conversations for years about the importance of creating positive situations and developing collaborative attitudes that are important in successful decision making, Mangelsodrf says.

“These more in-depth discussions will help me handle situations Jim may not have encountered or wouldn’t have been able to show me directly,” he adds. “I feel that I have been given every opportunity to succeed in this position.”

The risk of failing to plan is pretty obvious, Paquette says, as it places the Local in a position ripe for turmoil. “Office staff confidence in the new officers may suffer, which ultimately affects the membership and has the potential to negatively affect the industry as a whole,” Paquette says.

Mangelsdorf agrees that establishing confidence in the membership is key throughout transitions. One way to preserve this is to identify potential leaders early and encourage them to get involved in union activities.

“I use the word ʻpeople’ specifically because in a democratic system, you cannot just have one person that you put all your succession planning hopes in,” Mangelsdorf says.

“The membership gets to vote on who they want to be your

successor. If you can identify people early and get them to be involved, it creates options, and the added participation is better for the membership as a whole. Along the way, people may naturally surface that are good fits for certain positions, so it’s also important to be flexible, as well.”

Above all, Paquette says the worst thing to do is keep plans and ideas secret. “Others need to know about what is involved and what needs to be done,” he says. “Only then can the Local hope to be sure that the planned successor knows what they are getting into. With the successor fully aware, others can have confidence that person is up to the task.”

On the business side, family-owned businesses passed down through the generations can be the smoothest transitions if the relationships are well established between successors and those transitioning out and between labor and management.

Nathan Dills, owner of ACP Sheet Metal Company in Oklahoma and past-president of SMACNA National knows all about succession planning. His is a family-owned business started by Dills’ father in 1977. In 1992, he split the company into two, and Nathan worked for both all through school and through college.

“I started law school in the fall of 1992 and didn’t work for the companies again until 2005,” he says. “In 2008, I purchased one of the companies from my father, and he kept the smaller company. I ran both until he passed away in 2016.”

Dills has two siblings, one of whom worked for the family business from 1999 to 2004, but when his father was ready to start transitioning away from the business, it was Nathan who— with his wife’s support—decided to take on the succession.

Dills and his father had reached an agreement on transferring ownership of the small company to Dills, and Dills became sole owner of both.

Navigating the financial and strategic requirements of the changeover required attention to a firm vision of all the business’s facets.

“My father and I each hired our own accountants and lawyers,” Dills says. “Tax implications, such as gift taxes, capital gains taxes, and estate taxes were the biggest concerns for us. I think you have to determine if the business is profitable and what the short- and long-term market looks like in the industry.”

This also means studying the company’s customer base and whether there are growth opportunities.

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Successful Succession

“For a family business, I think the driving forces were to get my dad money for his investment and hard work without strapping the business for cash,” Dills says. “Finding that balance was key.”

In the event a successor doesn’t know the market or industry, the challenge is getting out from behind that eight ball. For those who do know the industry, it is essential to stay involved and current in order to minimize surprises as the company changes hands.

“Luckily for me, I had worked in the business for 12 years before law school, and then I came back into working in it for several years before taking over,” Dills says. “Even during my time away, I was involved in the business as a board member.”

Someone wanting to transition out to a successor must understand that the business is no longer theirs and be willing to step back, and that takes requires trust. “They may be kept on as a consultant, to preserve legacy knowledge, but a key part of a sooth transition is understanding that the decisions are now being made by someone else, Dills says.

“Also, family businesses are unique,” he adds. “Owners may want to transition to someone who isn’t family or married into the family, but still try to keep some control with the ʻblood’ family which is a huge concern.”

No matter the challenges, solutions are within reach with commitment to one key principle: open and honest communication. “Have an open mind, communicate, and be abundantly clear about the true value of a business and how different people might view that value differently,” Dills says.

Managing labor during a transition is essential, he adds, 6 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

and it can be tough. “Obviously a succession means different management and leadership styles,” Dills says. “Open and honest communication are so important. People need to know where new leadership wants to go and they need to feel they are included in the way to get there.”

In a collaborative setting, representing various and sometime competing interests, carefully selecting members and members’ successors requires important attention. This is also a setting where having a formal plan or process in place can be beneficial.

Ben Watson is a new member of the SMACNA-SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force. In 2021, he took over from his uncle, Mark Watson, who had served on the task force for several years. The decision to step into his uncle’s role was a deliberate part of a larger succession plan in which Ben is set to take over the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, division of Climate Engineers, his family business.

“My uncle asked if I was interested and recommended the Task Force as something I should be a part of as I transition into taking over more leadership roles at the business,” Ben Watson says.

Mark Watson retired more quickly than expected, which meant Ben had to jump right into the role without the benefit of shadowing his uncle or attending face-to-face meetings.

“The group is very good about introductions and getting new people involved,” Ben Watson says. “Obviously after COVID, having those face-to-face meetings and interactions, and having the chance to build those relationships will be good.”

Ben says a succession plan for committees would help

© Can Stock Photo / Vjom

© Can Stock Photo / focalpoint

new members fully understand the nature and mission of a committee or task force, give them a chance to ask questions and gather background information going in, and as a result, fully grasp how they can best fill the role they are entering.

“One way to do that would be in a mentoring or shadowing format where the new member and the person transitioning out can attend a meeting or two together so the exiting members explain who has what role and provide background on other people’s information and perspectives,” Ben Watson says.

“You start to pick up on it eventually, but initially it isn’t always clear how members of a group are related in the industry.”

Watson is currently a project manager and in charge of financials at Climate Engineers. Ben’s father and his two brothers own the company together, and as Ben’s father transitions out of his position over the next three years, Ben is slowly taking on new responsibilities.

This is the long end of an ideal timeframe for transitioning, Watson says, because it provides adequate time for the successor to adjust and to hep the workforce feel comfortable with the switch.

“A longer transition times means the workforce can witness new leadership’s approach to their roles and responsibilities and feel more comfortable and stable in the company.”

“Eighteen months to three years is ideal, depending on how much the successor plans to take on,” he says. “This is most critical our industry because we are working with union employees who can be laid off. Job security is their number one concern, and they want to be able to talk to the person in charge so they know they will have a place to work.”

A longer transition times means the workforce can witness new leadership’s approach to their roles and responsibilities and feel more comfortable and stable in the company.

“A new leader can bring new opinions or leadership styles to the company, but if a transition takes place over time, everyone becomes comfortable with the decision,” Watson says. “It eases anxiety about the direction the company will go and assures the workforce there is a clear path forward.” ▪ Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, mining, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States. She can usually be found among piles of paper in her home office or exploring nature’s bounty in British Columbia’s incredible wilderness.

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! Get your Local, Chapter, company, or training center recognized in a whole new way! Share your industry images with Partners in Progress to use in marketing and promotional materials. As an advocate for business and workforce development on behalf of SMACNA and SMART, we often need photos that are new and engaging. That’s where you come in. We need your help expanding our photo catalog. If you have images that you would like to appear in Partners in Progress communications, please read below about how to work with us on this request: Benefits: Wherever and whenever your photo is used, it will always be accompanied by a credit to the original copyright holder. Displaying as “Photo courtesy of {X}”.

Examples of Images Needed: • Residential and light commercial service work • HVAC fabrication and installation • Architectural metal projects and job sites • Industrial work • Shop floors with people and equipment • Welding • Sheet metal work related to energy efficiency installations • Craftspersons working or in training while wearing appropriate safety equipment • Jobsite meetings between labor and management Formats Required: • 300 dpi at 2550 x 3300 pixels or larger • JPG or TIFF file format • Please also provide how you would like your name to appear in the credit.

Permissions Required: By giving SMACNA and SMART permission to use your photo(s), you are agreeing to: • Allow SMACNA and SMART members and organizations to use all or part of the photo in products, publications, advertising, and social media.

• Allow Partners in Progress to alter all or part of the photo, including cutting, coloring, overlaying, or altering the photo from its original composition, dimensions, or color.

• In order for you to give us permission to use your photos, you will need to be the original copyright holder. This means we cannot accept images from stock photo websites, photographers who have given you express permission, other companies that have given you express permission, or if you are unsure of who the original copyright holder is.

To submit your photo or if you have questions, contact info@ pinpmagazine.org.

Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 7

MIGHTY

By / Natalie Bruckner It has been said that as long as you have the passion, the drive, the focus, and the support, you can do anything. SMART Local 435 in Jacksonville, Florida, and its Florida SMACNA contractors are exemplary in this regard.

Being a smaller local union hasn’t stopped its members from achieving big things since founding 82 years ago. Like the rest of the country, the SMACNA contractors in Jacksonville are facing recruitment challenges. However, some reports indicate that the situation is especially dire in Florida as construction in many cities remained on an upward trajectory during the pandemic (up to 15.5% in some cities), while 80% of contractors say they are facing difficulties finding skilled labor, predominantly driven by a mass exit of Baby Boomers retiring from the sector. And these figures, some trades experts have contested, are way off.

It’s fair to say that the demand for skilled labor in Florida, including Northeast Florida, continues to outpace the size of the industry workforce, and by a wide margin.

Yet Local 435 and its Florida SMACNA contractors have managed to nearly triple new applicants in just over a year.

“Last year we interviewed 64 people for our apprenticeship program,” says Ray Burnsed Jr., president of Ray’s Metal 8 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

Works Inc. “That’s a big increase from the 25 to 30 we usually recruit.”

This success comes down to strategic and focused recruitment efforts, some additional funding from a National SMACNA and SMART Partners in Progress Strive to Succeed Grant, which recognized Local 435 and Florida SMACNA for their excellent labor-management relationship, as well as some thinking outside the box. Most importantly, it was a joint effort.

“We have organized more than 150 members since January 18, 2021, so marketing has been a top priority,” Local 435 Business Manger Lance Fout says. “From the union hall, Apprenticeship Committee, and Florida SMACNA, we have spent more than $30,000 on TV, radio, billboard, news station, newspaper, and social media advertising. This year we had 82 apprenticeship applicants and interviewed 64 applicants. We have not had those numbers in probably 15-plus years.”

The fact that their efforts have focused on multiple areas is also paying off. “We have been able to recruit members from the nonunion sector, and now we have non-union contractors calling our contractors for pricing,” Fout adds. “We have also reached out to community groups. One, Wealth Watchers of Jacksonville, had two of their students start apprenticeships on July 1, 2021.”

© Can Stock Photo / JuliaSV

Small Yet

Even the apprentices are involved in recruitment efforts.

When Teairra Marshall, a fourth-year apprentice with Local 435, was asked to visit the local trade school where she graduated prior to applying to the Local, she jumped at the chance.

“During the visit it felt good to share the knowledge and truth about our union, as I was sitting in that same chair four years ago without a concrete plan,” Marshall says. (Marshall recently became the first female in her local to win the Outstanding Apprentice Award.) “I’m proud to be a part of Local 435. It’s like family. If I need the help or encouragement on and off the clock, my brothers and sisters are always there.”

In addition to growing awareness around recruitment, Local 435 and Florida SMACNA have worked together to overcome other challenges during the past year by using Market Recovery Funds to help offset labor costs.

“This makes us more competitive in the market,” says Jon Croft, general manager at Ferber Sheet Metal Works.

His company has been signatory to the sheet metal local union since 1939. Croft adds that the Local’s involvement in speaking to the city council and school board members about the importance of requiring local contractors and participating with registered apprenticeship programs has also helped boost recognition, traction, and ensured stability.

While Local 435 and Florida SMACNA contractors have faced their fair share of challenges over the years, their relationship has stood the test of time, and it continues to grow stronger.

“The relationships I have with the union members and representatives working for and with me are symbiotic,” Ferber says. “We rely and depend on each other and cooperate very well. Even our CBA negotiations are pleasant and are usually settled within two sessions. Whenever specific training

is required for a unique project, the union always steps up and helps us get our personnel properly educated for those tasks. The union’s management has been proactive by looking ahead at what’s coming down the road and making sure their members are prepared for these jobs,” Ferber explains.

Burnsed agrees, adding, “The Local is doing a great job going out on the sites. I was in a SMACNA meeting recently and they were talking about two other Locals that have lost work, whereas Local 435 has maintained work.”

The excellent relationship between labor and management extends beyond the work environment, too. It was 40 years ago now that Local 435 started a Voluntary Death Benefit Fund, which was member funded. Over the years the membership in the fund was dropping, but when Fout was appointed business manager, that was one area he wanted to improve. “One idea I had was a corn-hole tournament, so we held one,” he says. “I reached out to the contractors to get their vendors to help with sponsorships, and it was a great event. Over the last six years it has grown. Now we have other Locals and members come down to participate and other union groups also come out.”

The 2021 event was the sixth tournament, and while COVID made it more challenging, with SMACNA and contractor assistance, the Local was able to raise more than $4,000, for a grand total of more than $22,000 in six years.

Local 435 and Florida SMACNA continue to work together on these and other initiatives that will help them maintain momentum and traction into the future. ▪ Natalie is an award-winning writer who has worked in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Canada. She has more than 23 years experience as a journalist, editor, and brand builder, specializing in construction and transportation. When she’s not writing, you will likely find her snowboarding, mountain biking, or climbing mountains with her rescue dog.

Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 9

Architectural Lab Meets Market Demand Advancing the industry by providing hands on architectural training By / Robin Brunet

A jointly-funded commercial service and architectural lab in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, serves several key purposes, all under one roof. “We needed this facility in order to build on the work we do in the architectural realm,” says John Quarnstrom, CEO of SMARCA Minnesota.

For Matthew Fairbanks, business manager/president at Local 10, the lab will help his organization get into the commercial service market. “We were holding classes to achieve that goal but didn’t have commercial equipment that newcomers could work on,” he says. “The new lab rectifies that shortcoming.”

While classroom training for apprentices is crucial, the 10 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

lab provides training on the true skills that can only be gained doing the work. The trouble is, on site work must be done more quickly and efficiently than ever, leaving newcomers with little time to cut their teeth. “The new facility allows them to acquire practical skills prior to them venturing into the trenches,” says Scott Grossklaus, superintendent at SMARCA MN member, Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal.

Equally important, the lab demonstrates what labor and management can achieve in a relatively short time when working together. “The building would not have gone forward without the support of both sides,” Quarnstrom says.

“Thankfully, SMARCA and Local 10’s relationship is based

on a mutual determination to solve problems and advance our industry.”

The 3,700-square-foot lab is located behind the Metro JATC’s main school and ties in with the new welding lab. It contains an air handling unit (in addition to a roof-mounted system that services the building), fans, variable speed drives, pumps, and motorized variable air volume boxes, all of which provide the closest possible approximation to what apprentices can expect in the field.

Two sides of the building’s exterior are covered by an iron structure with overhangs and door entrances. “Apprentices can install a variety of exterior panel systems on this structure and fine-tune their coping, flashing, and other skills,” Fairbanks says.

Quarnstrom credits long discussions between SMARCA MN and Local 10 for the facility’s development. “Matt had a wonderful vision for the building, and from our perspective, it was crucial to move forward on this project, because 19% of our sheet metal hours in the Twin Cities region are in the architectural realm,” he says. “There is constant pressure from other trades to take the work we do in this field. The learning lab demonstrates that we’re committed to the highest industry standards.”

Fairbanks agrees. “Our members perform about 800,000 person-hours per year of architectural sheet metal work, so we needed to improve training in a unique and effective way,” he says.

Although it is one of the very few trades to custom-make complex systems out of raw material and then install them, the sheet metal industry is rarely called upon to service what it creates. “The pipe trades have claimed servicing, but really, it should be us doing the job,” Fairbanks says. The lab ensures the workforce is well-trained in service, helping to address this potential market share.

Grossklaus, who has been in the sheet metal industry for 25 years (his father was a 40-year veteran of the trade), also believes servicing would be of enormous benefit to sheet metal contractors’ clients. “By offering servicing and inspection, we would essentially become a one stop shop,” he says.

He also points out that the lab’s ability to approximate work site conditions is an important asset. “Today, more than ever, new talent needs to hit the ground running, and there’s nothing more attractive to me than to have students assess a real life situation and tell me, ‘I’ve done this before,’” he says.

With all parties eager to turn the lab from an idea into reality, the elements necessary for the project came together fairly quickly. “Once we resolved to go ahead with construction, we reached out to local companies for help, including MG McGrath and Berwald,” Fairbanks says.

Grossklaus adds, “We donated composite systems, flatlock metal systems, corrugated systems—about five systems in total that students could work on.” Construction began in March of

2020 and was completed in time for the commencement of that fall’s training season.

While the commercial service and architectural lab may go a long way in fulfilling numerous goals, Fairbanks points out that one of the keys to its success moving forward is contractor input. “Just as foremen gave us input on optimizing the content of our courses while the building was being developed, we need their continued participation,” he says. “That’s because our industry is constantly changing, and the so-called ‘people in the trenches’ can provide updates to our instructors on a variety of training issues.”

Grossklaus and his colleagues are ready to lend a hand when required. “Trends change and so do standards, so we consider this to be a work in progress,” he says. “I only wish I were less busy in the field. I would love to do speaking engagements.”

As of July, the lab was being used several times a week by Local 10’s pool of 500 indentured apprentices. ▪ Robin Brunet’s journalism has been published in over 150 magazines, newspapers, websites, and other media across Canada and the United States since 1982. He is also the best-selling author of two books: Red Robinson: The Last Deejay and Let’s Get Frank, as well as the upcoming The Last Broadcast.

Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 11

Local 83 and SMACNA Capital District partnered on a Memorial Park to honor Americans who have paid the ultimate price for their country The Town of Malta in New York state wanted to honor those who have served and paid the ultimate price for America. In recognition, they built a Veteran’s Memorial at the entrance of the town hall to include a piece of the steel from the Twin Towers that fell on 9/11. In June, visitors paid respects at the expansion of that project to include a memorial brick walkway with benches and a future fountain for veterans, service members, and their families to enjoy.

Visitors included a gathering of community members, government officials, and veterans, and the dedicated tradespeople who volunteered their time to contribute to this place of recognition and remembrance.

Local 83 Organizer Phil Stenglein was approached in March by Renee Farley, chairperson of the the Malta Veterans Appreciation Program. She wanted to dedicate the Town Veterans Park to a decorated Marine captain and Vietnam veteran, who is also MVAP’s founder and who has been a champion of veteran causes for his entire post-war career and life.

“He was dying of cancer, and they wanted to do this before he passed away,” Stenglein says. “First, Renee had to get permission from the town to do this, and there was a lot of work to do in the park ahead of the tight deadline.”

12 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

Local 83’s part was constructing an entrance way to the park.

Renee asked Stenglein to coordinate with the trades and he agreed, overseeing the entire project with three other trades and four contractors, which included signatory sheet metal workers, ironworkers, painters, and masons/bricklayers.

“I was given a rough sketch, a due date of June 6, and some old wrought iron fencing from the old town cemetery, which dated back to just after the Civil War,” Stenglein says. “The fencing was stacked up about 100 feet behind a resident’s house underneath a grove of pine trees. We had to trudge through over a foot of snow to look at it. Let me tell you, it was in rough shape. I picked out some sections of fence and the two or three finials or posts on the end, though no two pieces were the same or fully intact.”

A powder coating contractor completed the initial sandblasting on the fencing, the ironworkers completed building and welding the entire gateway at their union hall and training center, and a painting contractor sandblasted and painted the gateway. At the same time, masons and bricklayers were building the brick pillars to which the gateway was to be mounted. All parties had to coordinate the dimensions and timing, including time after it was mounted to pour the caps on the pillars.

Stenglein approached Josh Monahan, vice president with Monahan Metals, to complete the wording on the entrance way

© Can Stock Photo / cammep

By / Jessica Kirby

© Can Stock Photo / stockgiu

Remember

A Project to

gate, and he did not hesitate to get involved, Stenglein says.

“He donated the material and labor for the sign that would be attached to the fencing plus all the wording.”

Monahan says becoming involved was a natural choice. “We feel it’s important to help support the community and people we share a home with,” Monahan says. “Everyday we send our products all over the country trying to make an impact on our market. However, more importantly, everyday our team members are part of a sports team, a fire department, or a veterans program. It’s important to to support and build those organizations up when possible because they bring purpose and unity to a diverse group of people.”

Monahan’s team needed to take the design and convert it to a usable format, then cut the letters and back plate so they could be mounted on the refurbished fencing. “With the help of AutoCAD, we converted and scaled their design to fit the desired dimensions,” Monahan says. “From there, the parts were sent to our laser table where our operator cut everything.

The parts were then cleaned up and delivered to Phil for their final assembly. The trickiest part was getting the parts done in time to meet the schedule. At the time, we were very busy but felt this was an important cause and that deserved the support.”

It was painstaking work. First, arranging and taping, then welding, grinding, buffing, painting, and mounting the sign.

“Josh did a wonderful job and even etched the outline of the letters onto the sign so they could weld every letter on straight and evenly spaced,” Stenglein says.

Once complete, Stenglein and two ironworkers installed the sign. Local 83 provided the Genie lift used to hoist the fencing onto the pillars and lag it down on a Thursday. The mason came and poured the caps on the following Monday, and the event was held that Saturday.

“I asked Renee if I could speak to thank all the union trades and contractors who helped with the sign and gateway,” Stenglein says. “I wanted to make sure that we got everyone's name, Local, and contractor names right.”

When the deadline is tight, emotion is high, and several trades are working together, strong partnerships truly shine.

“Labor-management partnerships diversify and broaden your reach,” Monahan says. “We wouldn’t have known about this if it weren’t for Phil. He has a different agenda than I do, and that’s helpful in understanding our market.”

“As a Labor Representative, we have plenty of opportunities for volunteer work and helping our community members,” Stenglein says. “However, as a Union, there is only so much we can do. Most of our participation in these projects comes by the way of volunteer labor. When we need material, equipment,

and product, we have to reach out to our contractors for all of, or most of that.”

This is one of the most important ways labormanagement partnerships can help communities, he adds.

“Because of those partnerships, I can pick up the phone, without much hesitation, and ask our contractors, who are already busy enough, to volunteer their time and resources in order to make the project a sucess.”

This goes both ways, Monahan adds, because contractors can count on exchanging resources with their Locals. “Whether it’s meeting labor needs, a customer that may need a project quickly, advanced equipment, or a local charity organization, we can come together and provide quick top quality solutions.”▪ Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, mining, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States. She can usually be found among piles of paper in her home office or exploring nature’s bounty in British Columbia’s incredible wilderness.

Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 13

© Can Stock Photo / Zinkevych

How to Make Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie’s often-maligned self-help book not only stands the test of time, it also demands to be read again.

By / Daniel Akst When I was a young man, I discovered a magic trick. I found that by listening patiently and remaining calm, I could convert angry callers from enemies into friends during a single fraught phone conversation.

Turns out, I had merely reinvented the wheel. One of the 20th century’s greatest psychologists discovered that trick long before I was born. His name was Dale Carnegie.

It’s a name that inspires cynicism. Although his best known work, How to Win Friends and Influence People, has won countless acolytes, from the outset his detractors saw him as little more than a proselytizer for sycophancy. Worse, they blamed him for a supposed shift in the nation’s business culture from Puritan rectitude to shallow likability, and from character to personality. One critic, writing about Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, argued that Carnegie’s book was just the sort of thing that might have influenced Willy Loman in ways that led to his tragic end.

Yet How to Win Friends and Influence People—the title itself has entered the cultural lexicon as the basis for parodies and spin-offs—remains in print 85 years after its initial publication.

Translations have carried its message around the world. Revised editions have taken account of changing times. There is even 14 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org

a version called How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age. How could a text so widely reviled retain such enduring appeal? To find out, I decided to read it—and to track down the original, or as close as I could come, to better grasp what the author was getting at in the first place.

Chalk up another member of the cult of Dale Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the bestselling business books of all time because it is one of the best and most useful you will ever encounter. And it is perhaps even more useful today than it was in 1936. Carnegie’s insights are unerring and his folksy style irresistible. Most of all, How to Win Friends and Influence People has a deeply moral core that challenges readers to do better in business by being better people. “You might think his techniques are superficial and manipulative, appropriate only for salespeople,” writes Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “But Carnegie was, in fact, a brilliant moral psychologist.”

Calling his book self-help is like calling Moby-Dick a book about a whale. Carnegie understood that the purpose of insight is action, and that we are what we do. So why shouldn’t he help us change for the better? Instead of concocting fanciful theories like those of Freud and Jung, Carnegie relied on observation

and experience in the manner of such brilliant contemporaries as Erving Goffman, Eric Hoffer, A.O Hirschman, and E.M. Delafield. That he communicated his ideas in shrewdly crafted plain English—never resorting to self-important jargon—is all the more to his credit. Haidt said of Carnegie’s book, “It gives you superpowers.”

Of course, How to Win Friends and Influence People is a product of its times. The earliest versions included a chapter of marital advice that was darn progressive for its day but unsuitable to ours. Carnegie is also repetitious, if engagingly so, perhaps because, like all great communicators, he understands that nothing sinks in unless we hear it again and again.

The book’s central notions are profound in their simplicity.

Carnegie asserts, probably correctly, that dealing with people is often the biggest problem in business. And in order to deal with people effectively, we have to understand them. That means seeing things from their point of view. To do that, you have to talk to them about their lives and interests, and you have to listen with your undivided attention.

Crucially, Carnegie’s book is built on a very clear idea of what humans are like. Long before behavioral economics rose to prominence, he noticed that people were irrational slaves to their desperate needs for attention and admiration—and that, contrary to popular belief then and now, they were motivated by many things besides money. “When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”

Yet Carnegie didn’t see people as just means to an end. On the contrary, he demands that we see them as they are and accept them on that basis. As such, he places people at the center of his value system, which was premised on the idea that humans are essentially good. And because people want to believe they are good, they are highly susceptible to appeals to their better angels. “Few of the criminals in Sing Sing regard themselves as bad men,” the prison warden noted in a letter to Carnegie. “They are just as human as you and I. So they rationalize.”

The rest of us are no different, which is why Carnegie says criticizing breeds only defensiveness. Wherever possible, use positive reinforcement, especially praise. “There is one allimportant law of human conduct,” he writes. “Always make the other person feel important.” Arguing with people is a waste of time, since nobody wins. Positions harden, hostility increases, and victory can only come at the expense of far more important goals, such as a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship.

That doesn’t mean being a doormat; just pick your battles and use diplomacy. You might even be at fault.

“Do you know someone you would like to change and regulate and improve?” Carnegie asks. “Good!… But why not begin on yourself?”

One of the most startling aspects of the book is how much it demands from us. Again and again, Carnegie asks us to refrain from judging, to exercise understanding

“Anyone in charge of managing people ought to read the book twice. One of its most interesting points, made implicitly throughout, is that relationships—and success—are built on trust.”

and restraint in dealing with others, to lay aside our parochial problems and interests, and to get genuinely interested in our fellow humans by rising above the self-interest that is our common lot. He also insists on what is now fashionably known as epistemic humility—the very real likelihood that you might be wrong, something you ought to admit promptly and cheerfully whenever it’s pointed out to you. “I believe now hardly anything that I believed 20 years ago,” he says, “except the multiplication table.”

Feel superior to others, particularly those in other cultures?

Remember that they feel superior to you too, often with good reason. So get over yourself. “We ought to be modest,” he says bluntly, “for neither you nor I amount to much. Both of us will pass on and be completely forgotten a century from now.”

Implicit throughout is the radical belief that you might as well keep your troubles to yourself, because hardly anybody else really cares about them. Besides, getting interested in other people’s troubles might be the most effective way to counteract your own.

Anyone in charge of managing people ought to read the book twice. One of its most interesting points, made implicitly throughout, is that relationships—and success—are built on trust.

Trust your subordinates to tell you what they can accomplish, and you’ll be surprised how hard they work to achieve their own ambitions.

Besides, the day of the authoritarian manager is past. In free and affluent societies, executives will more and more find themselves dependent on a complicated blend of highly educated and self-absorbed workers and consumers. If Carnegie’s insights were effective in the 1930s, they will probably be even more effective today. ▪ “How to win friends and influence readers” © 2021 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. No reproduction is permitted in whole or part without written permission of PwC. “strategy+business” is a trademark of PwC. Partners in Progress » July 2021 » 15

TEAIRRA MARSHALL: MY JOURNEY Journeyperson Ferber Sheet Metal I met Local 435 business manager Lance Fout after graduating from local welding school at a career day event.

I was employed at a warehouse, but I wanted to learn a trade and get into construction. After a brief conversation with Lance, I was sold. It was something different and also something I never really knew much about, so I was willing to give it a try.

I did my training here in Jacksonville and am currently employed by Ferber Sheet Metal Works.

Most of my on-the-job training was in the field, which consists of some major hospitals, a couple of schools, and correctional facilities. I love working in the field, as I get to meet new people, work with different trades, and see how all of our skills coordinate in order to meet the same goals.

The most important lessons that I have learned from my apprenticeship, training, and work is safety. We practice safety not only in school, but also at work. Knowing good safety practices will prevent you and others from getting hurt and it can also save lives.

A career in sheet metal is advancing right along with the other trades. This trade is interesting and very different from others. Even though it’s the same concept over and over, you have to go about it different ways. I have noticed that this trade has also made me into a better and stronger person, mentally and physically. My self-reliance, interpersonal skills, and problem solving abilities have enhanced tremendously. A

career in sheet metal has so far been very rewarding, especially going through the apprenticeship, which is 100% free. I can live comfortably and take care of my family comfortably.

My future plans are to continue to retain as much information as I can and keep learning will into the future. Even though I’m done with the apprenticeship, that doesn’t mean the learning stops. I plan to grow within in the company.

When I was a fourth-year apprentice with Local 435, I was asked to visit the trade school where I graduated from before applying to the Local, and I jumped at the chance. During the visit it felt good to share the knowledge and truth about our union, as I was sitting in that same chair four years ago without a concrete plan. I’m proud to be a part of Local 435. It’s like family. If I need help or encouragement on or off the clock, my brothers and sisters are always there. ▪ 16 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org