Challenges
Stage 2 of the 2008 Constructions Future Leaders competition involves a series of challenges. These are based on the business/industry challenges that CEOs from within Engineering face over the coming year.
Sustainability and the Skills Shortage are two issues that currently pervade the industry as a whole and therefore these themes make up the two challenges that must be answered by all entrants.These obligatory challenges are detailed below.
In addition to the obligatory challenges, a series of four weekly challenges will be emailed to entrants. Of these four, entrants must choose two to answer. These challenges will also feature on this page as they are announced. In total each entrant should answer four challenges during the month period, (two obligatory challenges and two chosen weekly challenges).
All answers to all challenges should be no more than 200 words. Once completed, please email your submissions complete with your username to futureleaders@emap.com for collation.
Graduate attraction & retention
In the last few years the construction industry has enjoyed a period of continued growth. The investment from both the public and private sectors has made the construction sector form 8.1% of UK GDP.
At face value, the future outlook appears bright for the built environment with high profile and prestigious projects on the horizon such as, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, the redevelopment of major cities, Crossrail, huge housing plans and almost every football and rugby club in the land seemingly requiring a new home. It would appear an industry in full bloom. Delivering these projects requires a continuing and ever increasing stream of talented young professionals.
Why then does the industry struggle to capture and retain talented graduates? Maybe it's a question of wages although many pan-industry reports would argue otherwise. Maybe it's a question of perception - the construction industry is not one that graduates deem glamorous especially with the bright lights and allure of "city jobs" catching their collective eye. Maybe it's a lack of marketing - graduates are not aware of the lucrative and fulfilling careers on offer in the industry. You decide.
Future leaders will need a future workforce so here's the challenge:
As the leader of your company how would you address the issue of attracting and retaining graduates in your business? What can the industry collectively do to improve its reach and appeal to graduates?
The Sustainability of Sustainability
The term sustainability is used with ever-increasing regularity. Yet it can mean different things to different people.
The general theory is that sustainability refers to the maintenance and protection of our environment as a whole and the impact our current practices have on its wellbeing. If we don't change the way we work we will not be able to sustain our environment. So it is clearly something that construction is duty bound to take a lead in through its design and building practices. We build for the future.
Construction clients, both public and private sectors, are increasingly putting sustainability high on their agendas. They require companies to be sustainable in all areas - from the way they design and build to the way they source and select products. Sustainability even encompasses the way organisations behave. It is a commercial reality - without following these steps businesses are in danger of losing work.
However, creating a organisation that is fully sustainable may entail reviewing & overhauling working practices, installing new IT systems, employing new staff, retraining existing staff, engaging new suppliers. It is clear that the changes required come at considerable cost both culturally and financially. This begs the question - is sustainability in design and construction a necessity for all businesses to adhere to at any cost?
As the leader of your organisation how do you balance the need to be fully sustainable throughout your business against the commercial realities of making a profit and maintaining competitive advantage? How would you communicate this message externally and internally?
Engineering Weekly Challenge 1
Cul de sac for consultants and engineers
This week the Government announced a huge U-turn in its plans for the £500bn overhaul of the UK's transport infrastructure. This announcement has caused shockwaves throughout the industry and fears for the financial future of many of its' companies both large and small.
The plans have been hit by the Government's fears of a looming recession.
Your company specialises in transport and was relying on this spending for its continued growth and possible survival. How do you manage this catastrophe and what do you do to survive?
Engineering Weekly Challenge 2
This week saw the most severe stock market falls since the attacks of 9/11. The value of blue chip shares plummeted £70 billion in just one day. This has sent business leaders, government and economic forecasters into a tail spin. While a US recession seems inevitable should we, in the UK, also be preparing for the tidal wave from across the pond?
Outline, with reasons, whether you think there is cause for concern, and what steps, if any, you would take to protect your business?
Engineering Weekly Challenge 3
Fees
"Consultants must resist client pressure, stand their ground and push for higher fees, according to Association of Consulting and Engineering (ACE) chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin.
In response to concerns from ACE members, Ogunshakin said that current fee levels were unsustainable, with consultants typically only charging 10-12% of the final cost of projects.
"In the past, we could go to Poland and other parts of the world to source skilled workers. Now we cannot do this."
Ogunshakin is this week leading a delegation to the US and Canada to examine how the system of negotiation, rather than "backwards auction", has resulted in higher fees.
"Because of the need to keep staff, salaries are increasing. Other costs are also increasing, but clients put the pressure on and squeeze their costs, meaning lower fees for consultants," he said. "Clients who will not pay will not get the best solutions for their projects."
Challenge: As the leader of a consultancy business, how would you address the balance of maintaining high margins against winning work from cost conscious clients?
Engineering Weekly Challenge 4
You win a company award of £250,000 to create and develop a project that will make a difference to the business. What would it be and why, and how would you move it from concept to delivery?
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