Project Facilitator

Project Facilitator

The Project Facilitator maintains cooperation.

Once the project agreements are executed, a neutral could be engaged as a “project facilitator”.  In this role he or she could run partnering workshops during the course of project to foster and maintain mutual trust, communication and collaboration. When conflicts or disputes arise over the course of project implementation, the project facilitator could function as a negotiation coach or even a mediator in helping to resolve disputes.  In all of these roles the project facilitator will have the benefit of knowing the history of the development of the agreements, as well as knowing the major participants.  If the project facilitator is contracted to visit the project and meet periodically with the participants, there can be early access for “real time” resolution of conflicts, before disputes escalate and relationships sour. The project facilitator would thus assist the parties in reaching agreements in a timely and efficient manner, while maintaining focus on relationships and the long term interests that meet the project’s overall goals first set during the consensus-building stakeholder process.

Project agreements in today’s construction projects frequently incorporate one or more methods of resolving disputes in a collaborative manner. Formal mediation, advisory opinions, and dispute review boards, are the primary methods and are described under Services.

Since project success depends on business relationships built on trust and commitment, collaboration must be a key ingredient built into the project management plan and contractual framework. Collaborative methods of conflict resolution should be used at all phases of the project life cycle, beginning with the decision-making process through a consensus-building approach to deciding what, where and how you are going to fund and build the project; then shifting to the deal making needed for complex project agreements; and finally during the multiple years the project  is implemented, collaborative methods and alternatives can implemented to provide “real time” cost effective conflict management and dispute resolution.