Our fledgling group had an organizing call last Tuesday, March 17th. Of course, it was a great conversation - the group is full of amazing people! The focus of our conversation was the goals and actions that should drive this group forward. I have a few ideas. Please share your own in this thread!
I start from the belief that we see our work, as sustainability leaders, as leading the AEC industry and communities to a sustainable future. This is our primary work, not something we do to improve the primary thing we do... if you know what I mean.
So, if we are leading the industry to a sustainable future, what should we be doing? I have 3 big thoughts here.
Thought 1 - Drive the cutting edge: We see and test the most up to the minute ideas and technologies. We can, as a group, work together to help move the most important of these forward into the industry. As the SDL group has shown again and again, working together is a very powerful lever. We can decide together what to move to the forefront and then work together to do that.
Thought 2 - How do we get our clients to trust us? A recurring theme in our discussions comes up as a situation in which we, as knowledgeable experts, are relegated to filling out LEED checklists when we know we could bring serious value and effect real movement to more sustainable project. Let's work together to build mechanisms and ways to build trust with our clients. I am not sure what this looks like, but let's hear your ideas.
Thought 3 - What can we learn from the covid and other crises about what we should be doing? This came up in a couple of different settings last night. I bet it has come up for you. I think this is the real driving question for us and this forum is the place to start to find answers. I am thinking about;
- How should we be changing our view of envelope tightness and ventilation systems to increase control of indoor environments?
- Now that we realize that we don't need all those offices, what does an actual office need to be?
- How can we transform the inclusiveness of our processes to be way better and way more inclusive and deliver way better projects?
These are just a few of the things that have come up for my crew over the last couple of weeks. I think this is the time for leadership.
Thanks, and let's hear your thoughts!
-jim
