You’ve been involved with the ACE Awards for many years. Why are you so excited about this year’s entries?
The entries were truly outstanding this year. There was a real showcasing of how consultants can shape communities and deliver great outcomes for their clients and communities.
A few years ago, we were very focused on hard construction as being award worthy. We’re now moving towards the softer skills, which are harder to define but deliver long-term benefits if we get it right.
The industry and profession are maturing and starting to step up to the next level and we’ve the potential to deliver significant outcomes for our communities if we’re empowered to do so. This year’s entries provide exemplars of the journey and pathway that we should be going down.
Did any common themes emerge?
Several themes stood out. One was about delivering efficiencies to clients, reducing the carbon footprint, and delivering better community outcomes in a sustainable manner. This demonstrates how the profession is really stepping up to the mark to help shape the future of our communities.
Another standout feature was the very smart clients who worked collaboratively and gave the consultants space to innovate and deliver the outcomes that we were judging. Consultants were empowered to think outside the square in a manner which can deliver enhanced outcomes for the client and our wider communities. This is quite a change from some of the past years when consultants were just doing what they were engaged to do. It’s exciting because it’s telling us something about the client-consultant relationship that’s essential for us to be able to deliver great outcomes.
Another feature was the clients who allowed the consultants to fully engage with stakeholders and embrace the outcomes that the client was seeking. Some of these great clients are very outcomes focused rather than prescriptive. For example, rather than a client asking for a new pipe in the ground, it might instead ask for a new reticulation system that allows for future growth and reduces costs. This creates an environment where the consultant can actually think, innovate and bring left-field thoughts to the table, and work collaboratively with the clients and stakeholders to get great outcomes.
This thinking is a feature of smart clients and consultants who are willing to have conversations up front and collaboratively explore the possibilities of what can be delivered, as opposed to having a traditional master-servant relationship.
Why do you think collaboration featured so strongly?
I think there’s an increasing awareness among some consultants and their organisations that some of the traditional approaches are not delivering the results that everyone wants.
The way some clients are engaging consultants reflects this change in approach. For example, rather than engage a consultant on a lump-sum or fixed fee basis during the concept and brief development stage, some clients are now doing it on a time and cost basis because they want to have that conversation upfront to get the scope right.
Were there any other common characteristics that really stood out?
Alongside collaboration, another common characteristic that emerged this year was a strong emphasis on knowledge transfer and capability building within consultants’ client organisations. Consultants’ intellectual property is becoming increasingly open source, lifting the capability and capacity within their clients’ organisations and enabling the delivery of great outcomes. The same consultants are also sharing their knowledge within the profession through publications and seminars, which is lifting the game within the profession as well.
Consultants need to be doing things that will make a difference. Educating clients as to how they can get better outcomes, better value and increased resilience among other things, comes through collaboration and knowledge transfer. It’s very encouraging and exciting.