NEW! SCL quarterly calls

Candace Pearson

Project Delivery and Contracts Consultant

LEEDuser, BuildingGreen Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

March 29, 2021

Hello SCL,

We’ve heard that some of you have a hankering to connect with this group outside of the Summit and the forum. On prompting by the steering committee, we’ve decided to try out quarterly SCL-only calls focused on a dedicated topic.

The first of these calls will be Tuesday, April 13th at 4pm ET (1pm PT) and the topic will be integrating DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives with sustainability. Kena David and her colleague Halie Colbourne will be in attendance to get us started by sharing BCCI’s experience with the JUST label. But come ready to participate, as we intend these calls to be interactive and facilitate more sharing within the network.

Please register here (and refrain from sharing with non-member colleagues—the “safe space” rules will apply to these calls).

See you there!
Candace

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Candace Pearson

Project Delivery and Contracts Consultant

LEEDuser, BuildingGreen Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Fri, 04/09/2021 - 16:23

Reminder to register for our first SCL quarterly call THIS Tuesday! All SCL members are welcome as we discuss DEI intiatives at construction companies, including the JUST label. Register here.

Candace Pearson

Project Delivery and Contracts Consultant

LEEDuser, BuildingGreen Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Thu, 04/22/2021 - 17:52

Some of you might have missed the SCL call last week on DEI initiatives and ILFI’s Just label. It was such a rich discussion (thanks Halie!) that I thought I would share some of my takeaways. Others feel free to add something I missed--or just share a current thought or challenge around DEI. Our role

For many of us, DEI initiatives are NOT driven by the sustainability team. They are housed in HR or elsewhere.
Yet we know that there are social issues that intersect with sustainability (especially environmental justice). We’re all struggling with how to make sure the equity initiatives that do exist are holistic and how to integrate social sustainability into our day-to-day.
Some are trying to make those connections by affirmatively offering support to our HR colleagues or serving on cross-department volunteer committees.
Some things can be driven by the sustainability team, especially if bandwidth is an issue. BCCI’s JUST label was renewed because Halie stepped up to manage it!

Enabling culture

Developing and implementing DEI initiatives takes time, so make sure leadership communicates that they are willing to invest in this and gives people the time they need away from projects.
If you can, advocate for an institutional position. We should be paying people for this work and not overburdening the people who tend to volunteer for everything!

Lessons re: Just label

Leadership needs to be ok with the idea of transparency and invested even if the indicators don’t look good. (e.g. gender diversity).
Clients are beginning to look up these labels and ask questions about it. It’s crucial to educate project teams so that they’re aware of what it is and can speak about it.
We have to be careful about how we communicate and market progress; overall numbers might be improving, but certain projects might still be staffed with non-diverse teams because of experience and availability. We need to both re-evaluate those staffing policies and manage client expectations.

What did you learn that should be shared with the group?

Christian Mayer

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

Wed, 09/15/2021 - 18:28

Hi! When is the next quartely call scheduled for?