President's Message - October 2015

Once again, I’m a day late and a dollar short. While contemplating a September President’s message (which turned into an October message and now possibly a November message if I don’t hurry), I was listening in on the September session of CSI’s Specifiers’ Practice Group. I think a lot about the fact that CSI is a well-kept secret in our construction industry, and it has occurred to me on more than one occasion that the practice groups are a hidden jewel within CSI. So, I was jotting some notes down about what the practice groups do, how the first one of which I was aware was the Product Representation Practice Group, how we all practice differently and yet the same. Then, as happens with most of us, Real Life took over and the notes were shoved into a Word document in a “possible president’s messages” folder.

At CONSTRUCT a couple of weeks ago I did do my fair share of touting the practice groups to anyone who would listen. The fact that, like our virtual chapter, one doesn’t need to leave the desk to participate is one of the biggest “selling points.” We all want to discuss how we do things in our part of the business and how to make things work more smoothly, with a positive outcome at the end that makes clients happy and our businesses profitable. Maybe it’s a matter of justifying our own processes or listening to others discuss how they’ve worked out how to solve the same issues a different way, but we all want to talk about what we do and how we do it in hopes of developing the perfect methodology. But I didn’t write anymore of this down.

  And I just picked up the latest issue of The Construction Specifier and read an excellent article by Matt Fochs on this exact same topic! It’s entitled, “It’s Time for a Group Discussion” and is a wealth of information about the history of the Practice Group Program along with some statistics. On one recent Specifiers Practice Group webinar there were over 200 participants – how can you top that many construction professionals discussing a topic that’s relevant to our business?

  You don’t even have to be a member of CSI to join a practice group, a great reason to share them with your colleagues who may not know much about CSI or for whatever reason don’t want to join (that’s another topic – why on earth wouldn’t they?). Get the conversation started at your place of business. Invite your co-workers to join with you. Head over to the main Practice Group page and jump in. We all benefit.

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Thursday, 28 March 2024