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Case Study: Fast-Tracking Strategic Partnerships in the Construction Industry
August 6, 2024
In the high-stakes world of renewable energy, Clearway Energy and McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (McCarthy) embarked on a groundbreaking partnership for a crucial project that involved multiple complex work scopes, an ambitious timeline, and a high volume of cross-functional collaboration. They turned to AIIR Team Effectiveness to support this alliance and help navigate the complex tasks and tight deadlines that lie ahead. Understanding the importance of a strong start, Clearway and McCarthy leveraged AIIR’s expertise in partnership team building and establishing clear team operating principles. Their mission? To cultivate an effective alliance, setting the stage for project success.
About McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the oldest American-owned construction companies that has expertise in the full process of construction – from the design phase through completion. McCarthy strives to surpass client expectations on the most complex projects and seeks to “positively impact each community we touch.”
About Clearway Energy
Clearway Energy is dedicated to leading the world in the transition to clean energy through the development and operation of wind and solar projects across the United States. Their mission is to “do good by our customers, our communities, our environment, and our people,” and to continue making clean energy even more accessible in the future.
The Challenge: Setting a Strategic Partnership Up For Success
Clearway Energy and McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. joined together for a massive renewable energy project and wanted to establish the conditions for an effective and seamless partnership to position their project for success.
As two companies with different cultures, values, operating models, and roles came together for an extremely complex renewable energy project, Clearway Energy and McCarthy recognized the need to align on working rhythms and establish the conditions that would allow them to start their partnership out strong. Although the companies had worked together previously, the current project would be more technical and complicated than their previous projects combined. It would involve four separate work scopes being completed at the same time and an ambitious timeline, resulting in a multitude of moving parts that would be necessary for success. In an industry that experiences an average of 3 fatal injuries a day and spends an average of 3.6% of their budgets on injuries, it was crucial for these teams to establish clear and effective working rhythms and roles to create the conditions for increased safety. Add to this the ambitious timeline, and it was clear that this partnership and project needed to thrive right out of the gate – time was not a luxury for these teams.
The Solution: A Facilitated Strategic Partnership Session
Both teams were able to increase alignment, trust, and cohesion and create a Partner Charter for their work together through a facilitated Strategic Partnerships Session.
AIIR collaborated with team leaders at both Clearway and McCarthy to scope a journey that would guide the teams in enhancing an already-strong working relationship and establishing the parameters and conditions for an effective and successful collaborative relationship.
To kickoff the strategic partnership journey, the teams from Clearway and McCarthy participated in a “Priming for Partnership” session that allowed them to begin identifying elements of successful partnerships and become familiar with the journey ahead, which would include a Partnership Pulse survey, personality assessment, and full-day offsite to establish the conditions for a successful alliance and project.
Using a unique survey geared specifically towards strategic partnerships, AIIR was able to provide the two teams with concrete and measurable data that identified each company’s key strengths, gaps, concerns, shared and differing values, and best practices.
Following the survey, the teams participated in a full-day strategic partnership session led by an expert AIIR Team Coach. During this session, the coach facilitated meaningful discussions about the survey’s results and introduced a comprehensive strategic partnership model based on the science of AIIR’s Team Effectiveness Model. The model utilizes insights about the teams’ culture, productivity, and shared values to guide the team in creating an aligned vision and establishing working rhythms and operating principles to effectively execute their priorities and adapt in the face of challenges. The resulting discussions elicited insights about the partnership’s dynamics and helped the teams deepen their trust and cohesion and establish better alignment for the future of the project. The teams engaged in a variety of activities, including an interactive exercise to better understand each other’s personalities and work styles, the creation of a Partner Charter and action plan, and the writing of a fictitious, aspirational article for the Engineering News-Record magazine that asked the teams to describe what success for their alliance and project looks like a year in the future.
Following this session, the teams began their work on their renewable energy project, using the Partner Charter to guide them.
Results: A High Level of Commitment to the Partnership that has Empowered the Team to Achieve its Goals
“It was very informative to see how everyone thinks and get crystal clear how we will all work together.”
It typically takes 9-12 months for teams to reach high alignment organically. By partnering with AIIR for this effort, the teams at Clearway and McCarthy have been able to establish a high level of alignment and performance in just 2 months. The teams reported a high level of commitment in applying what they learned from the session to their work. Participants also reported satisfaction with the high levels of collaboration and transparency throughout the journey. The outputs of their engagement and participation in the strategic partnership journey have allowed both teams to quickly get started on the project, and even get ahead of schedule.
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