Brad Cahill, Head of Commercial (Digital Beehive), opened the ‘NECtar sessions’ by asking attendees if their Project Managers always reply within agreed timescales. Interestingly, nearly 40% admitted this happens only sometimes or rarely.
Robert Gerrard, Senior NEC Consultant and Accredited Mediator (Thomas Telford Ltd), handled the more technical side of the project manager’s non-response, looking at the NEC Contracts® requirements around responses and practical ways to encourage quicker decision-making.
The webinar then took a slightly different route from our usual ones as Martin Newman, Project Director (Turner & Townsend), and Richard Myers, Commercial Director (VSL UK), delivered a debate-style chat examining the Project Manager’s and Contractor’s outlooks, which made for some interesting points and recommendations.
One valuable piece of advice from Robert when looking at the implications of the Project Manager’s silence:
“What I would recommend to a contractor is don’t wait till the allotted time is up, the 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, whatever it is. See how they’re getting on, touch base from time to time. Actually ask them, how are you getting on with this?”
During the discussion, some standout arguments emphasised the importance of communication, collaboration and understanding the pressures faced by different parties. The overall message the guest speakers shared was that stakeholder engagement and relationship-building stem from people working together openly and clearly.
