The Western Washington DBIA Chapter gathered for the monthly program on March 9th and took advantage of meeting in person to engage and connect by way of interactive roundtable discussions. The central theme was “Back to the Future” and explored what might be compelling changes we’ll see in the future of Design-Build.

The meeting was opened with a new impactful segment that will be a part of all our monthly programs: a DE&I Moment. Jennifer Eckert, McKinstry’s Director of Preconstruction, candidly and passionately shared information on gender equity in the workplace informed by her experiences working in male dominated industries. She has seen positive changes in recent years, yet the large gap is still present across our industry.

The program was supported by 13 volunteer table captains representing all sectors of the Owner and A/E/C community who facilitated the conversations, logged their responses on whiteboards and SLIDO, and reported their findings to the greater group. The overarching themes that were revealed:

  • Increased DE&I Engagement and the removal of barriers.
  • The future of assembling teams will use Strength Assessment tools to understand team members work styles to create better collaboration and cohesion.
  • Balancing Time: virtual/in-person, intentional meetings, time management, and collaboration tools.
  • Earlier involvement of trade partners to the Design-Build team is needed to understand and mitigate some of the enormous supply chain issues the industry is currently facing.
  • Exploring material and equipment options to meet schedule and budgets.