Reflection 44 – Learning From Every Exchange

This week, the team has been adding to what we know and sharing with clients some of the insights we have gathered over the years through our work with businesses, authorities and individuals. That includes being open about our own failures and the lessons we have taken from them.

Much of our new knowledge has centred on employment: working through an offer and a contract as we look to grow the team. It has been a reminder that what we have learned in our own roles over decades, together with our many client exchanges, shapes how we lead. It gives us the confidence to discuss matters with clients at director level and to engage just as meaningfully with teams in the field.

We have also learned from the joiners we have worked with this week. They know their equipment thoroughly, and they showed us not only how to use it but how they maintain it. That kind of hands-on insight helps us further develop safe systems of work that reflect how the task is actually done.

Reflecting on our working lives before LCS Project Solutions Ltd, alongside attending a client forum where aspects of the business were shared and discussed with the whole team, showed us what good leadership looks like. It takes courage to present the good and the bad to everyone, and to invite feedback and open discussion.

What struck us throughout those conversations was how quickly the industry is changing as it adapts to new digital and AI tools. Yet what stood out most was that AI is simply a tool, just as a pen, a trowel or a chisel is a tool. Like the joiners and their equipment, the skill lies in knowing your tools well, not in the tools themselves. What clearly mattered to the team were the personal connections: the face-to-face and telephone conversations. Our business is built on personal connection, relationships and trust. AI is one of many tools available to us, but our strength lies in our conversations.

We are always grateful to learn new aspects of other people’s work, to pass on what we have learned, and to gain new skills that help us build our business.

Let’s dive in!

MONDAY — ADAPTATION & OFFICE DAY

Our planned client workshop tour was postponed at the last minute, which gave us the chance to move other work forward and stay ahead of an ever-changing work landscape. We also worked on the three volumes that make up the Health & Safety File for a project nearing completion.

One of the team headed to the airport, bags and bike securely packed, for a month of digital nomad life in South America! This was the very subject of last week’s reflection: the value of taking breaks during our careers, rather than following the standard model of waiting until retirement. This one balances exploration with remote working.

TUESDAY — DIGITAL DAY

We continued developing the Health & Safety File in three volumes: Volume One, the Health & Safety File, as required by Regulation 12 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Volume Two, the Operations & Maintenance Manual; and Volume Three, the Fire Safety File, as required by Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended).

Other duties included a CDM advice and guidance catch-up and developing a Site Supervisors’ Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) presentation to align with the CITB scheme changes.

WEDNESDAY — CDM, SITE VISIT & MORE

The day began with a round of CDM catch-ups with a team of designers working on a variety of Local Authority projects. The purpose? To make sure the duties imposed by the regulations are being fulfilled in a proportionate manner. After the morning’s meetings, we headed to Portsmouth for a compliance tour of one of the heritage projects we are engaged with. It was good to see the progress being made and to continue the conversations about what matters with the team.

We also continued developing the H&S Files ahead of a review with the site team. AI has played its part. Information requested from the various trades and designers is processed by AI and placed into the framework we have developed. Just as a joiner uses a range of tools to shape a tenon and then checks its fit in the mortise, it is our team who shape, check and fit that information, so each volume is accurate and fit for purpose.

THURSDAY — SITE DAY

The team were out in the field carrying out compliance tours and engaging with the various trades. Each project has its own challenges: one is sandwiched between a canal and a river; the other is a timber building of exceptional quality and appearance. The latter is moving into the commissioning and completion phase, hence the development of the Health & Safety File volumes and the site team review.

Digital tools have been used not only to develop the volumes but also to track the information requested. This has made requesting, organising and placing information into each volume more efficient for both our client and our team.

FRIDAY — TEAM DAY

Friday is our non-negotiable team day, but this Friday was a little different! The morning began with our usual team catch-up, followed by a rehearsal of a presentation we had helped prepare for our client’s forum that afternoon.

At the venue we were greeted by the team, and introductions were made to new faces; this is a growing team. The Managing Director and senior leadership team opened the forum with a welcoming address. We reviewed the past year’s compliance performance with the whole team, introduced new initiatives and invited the floor to discuss any of the points raised.

The Project Managers also gave addresses, and the Managing Director closed the forum. The purpose was for the whole team to meet, to celebrate their successes, and to identify the marginal gains that, together, drive the business forward. The day ended with a team dinner at a nearby venue.

CLOSING THOUGHT — VALUES & MARGINAL GAINS

As individuals, we have our values, many and varied: being authentic, being honest, being reliable, treating others with respect. They shape the decisions we make, how we behave when no one is watching, and how we show up for the people around us.

Business is no different. Businesses hold values too, such as being unique in their field and upholding an identity built on integrity and honesty. But values written on a wall or a website mean little on their own. They only count when they are lived, day in and day out, by everyone in the team. Our actions must point towards our goals!

This week showed us values in action. We worked through an offer and a contract with care, because the people we bring into the business will carry its values forward. We saw it in the joiners who look after their tools as carefully as they use them. We saw it in a leadership team with the courage to stand before their whole workforce, share the good and the bad, and ask for their views.

This is where marginal gains come in. No single change transforms a business overnight. Many small improvements, made by everyone and repeated consistently, add up to something significant: a clearer information request, a well-maintained tool, an honest conversation at a forum, a safe system of work refined by the people who carry out the task. Each one may seem small on its own, but together they move a business forward.

When the whole team pulls in the same direction, guided by shared values, those small gains become real progress.

Small steps, shared values, collective progress.