SMACNA recently held the fall 2022 installment of the Project Mangers Institute (PMI) from October 2-5 in Raleigh, North Carolina. PMI has long been one of SMACNA's most popular and well-attended programs. The latest edition was no different as it was completely sold out.
Program presenters Richard Reese and Stephen Staff from FMI Corporation worked with participants to give them the essential skills needed to be effective project managers. This included interactive presentations on management, leadership, project planning, time management, and financial management.
For the program introduction, Mr. Reese led a group exercise with the participants divided into a "design team" and a "build team." Participants learned the importance of the 3 Cs – Communication, Cooperation, and Collaboration from this exercise.
Day one included a session on management and leadership. Participants each completed a profile to identify their management/leadership style and learned how to differentiate between the two concepts. The afternoon included a discussion on customer-focused construction from beginning to end. This discussion included reviews of topics such as project bid, project start, construction, and closeout. Participants also learned about ethics and integrity in project management.
Day two encompassed an interactive team exercise on financial matters, with each team starting a new company. Team members learned hands-on the impact on cash flow, borrowing money from the bank, billings and collections, and common problems affecting closeout. The afternoon session included:
- A discussion on Change Order Management with how to sell a change order.
- Causes of change order problems.
- Managing change orders.
Participants left the program with a personalized action plan to implement upon return to their companies.
Subsequent installments of the Project Managers Institute will occur on February 5-8, 2023, in Minneapolis and March 26-29, 2023, in Raleigh, NC. SMACNA members interested in attending or sending employees to a future PMI program can contact Shelly Dixon to request more information.
