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These lyrics perfectly describe the opportunities I embrace in the engineering and construction field each day. It is truly rewarding to have the opportunity and empowerment to make choices to improve the lives of many people for years and years to come.

Responsibility

With great opportunity comes great responsibility. How do we know that the decisions that we make today are the best decisions for the future? We don’t! We always make our best effort. To do this, we enlist the input of others and a collaborative team endeavor to create the most optimal solution. We simply cannot innovate and create a world of “pure imagination” alone.

Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

An open, collaborative team environment is critical for success in today’s competitive environment. How are you and your company encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing in your organization? How are junior team members trained and mentored? What is your succession plan for key positions?

Engaging Employees

Not all employees are enthused by the prospect of knowledge sharing in the workplace. We also saw this in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” when Willy Wonka became disillusioned and terminated his current employees because they sold his secrets to his competitors. In the poor economy of the past few years, have you noticed technical experts on your team seem to guard their knowledge more closely? Could it be that they are not comfortable with teaching others because of their fear of being made redundant? It is crucial to engage this group to foster knowledge sharing in today’s environment. Praise, incentives, appreciation, and reassurance would work wonders to involve this important group to accelerate collaboration and knowledge sharing in your organization today.

Obtain Results

How is collaboration fostering innovation and design optimization in your organization? What barriers are currently keeping your team from achieving “pure imagination” in the workplace? Providing open areas, meeting places, an open “idea friendly” environment, engaging senior experts, encouragement, reassurance, and other tools can change your workplace environment immediately. Take the steps now, because: