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Robert remembers clearly the day his construction jobsite had to shut down after an injury.
“Luckily, the team member was fine,” he said. “But it was a scary day—and busy. I had to reach everyone, share the news, and answer questions. It was stressful.”
It was also time-consuming. Robert says between all of the phone calls, text messages, and emails, it took hours to reach everyone.
“The text message thread was—in a word—intense,” he said. “And then, I kept getting well-intentioned phone calls from people checking on our colleague, that also threw me off. It was not easy.”
Those who manage communications for jobsites know how challenging it can be to reach multiple people – especially when that update is time-sensitive or urgent. Getting the message out to various teams, subcontractors, or team members who are in remote locations is logistically challenging. How do you ensure information is shared correctly if you rely on a phone tree? How do you provide understanding if a team member is not proficient in English? Ensure that everyone is reached? And what are the legal risks involved when there is little documentation to prove outreach occurred?
Effective communication is vital to the successful completion of any construction project. Good communication can improve teamwork and lead to better project collaboration. Poor communication can result in misunderstandings, delays, safety concerns, and issues down the road.
We’ve all heard it: Communication lines need to stay open. But finding ways to keep the lines open? Less than easy. Spreadsheets tracking communication attempts? Time consuming. Phone trees? There are too many opportunities for confusing the message. Text messages? Difficult to track.
“I knew there had to be a different way,” said Robert.
Fortunately, there is. Robert and his team decided to invest in a platform that served as a central communications hub, pushed notifications, tracked acknowledgments, and was easily accessible.
“For us, one of the advantages was that everyone has a cell phone, and the platform we used is an app that you load onto the phone,” he said. “Once everyone is used to it, they love the convenience of getting information immediately – and (the admins) love being able to see who has received the information.”
A few months later, Robert has shared how the new platform has been transformative for his team.
“Honestly, I don’t know how we lived without it,” he said. “The other day, we had to make a project team aware of a weather delay and the information went out to everyone within 20 seconds. Before, that would have been an hour for me tracking everyone down. The technology is there, and we need to all work smarter, not harder. If it’s there, why not use it?”
When evaluating platforms, look for the following features:
- Ability to reach multiple teams simultaneously – Ensure the same messages are shared at the same time, in the same way;
- Customization – Can messages be tailored based on job site, function, and role?
- Acknowledgment tracking– Making sure team members can simply and easily acknowledge messages were received is essential.
MindForge is proud that our platform was created with the feedback of industry experts. If you are interested in learning more or want a check-in to ensure you are using MindForge to its full capabilities, go to mindforge.live, and we can help get you started!