DFI Magazine September/October 2020 - 7

PRESIDENT'S

MESSAGE

Communicating Amidst Adversity
e at DFI have always recognised and

W taken advantage of the immense value
of getting people together to solve problems
and move agendas forward. Meeting face to
face enriches communication, and isn't
always about driving a conversation to find
a solution. Very often what is gained is a
better understanding of stakeholder
impediments and perceived risks. When
we identify why people perceive obstacles,
it becomes easier to melt them away
through collaboration, shifting of risk or
collective mitigative action.

COVID-19 Communications
In our COVID-affected world, we are
relegated to emails and letters (we know
how misunderstood and inflammatory
these can be), telephone conversations
(doesn't a picture say a thousand words, and
a sketch say a thousand more while
eliminating errors of interpretation?) or the
dreaded conference call (where most of the
team is muted and working on unrelated
issues?). That leaves us with the dreaded
video conference.
However ... when
Isherwood staff went home
in March, our company
prepared for a crippling
reduction in production
and efficiency due to
reduced communication
and other challenges. We
generated forecasts of everincreasing economic disaster, diminishing cash flow
and eroding client services.
But somehow our disaster
never came. As we settled
in at home offices and actually mastered video conferencing technology, we found a new efficiency. By not commuting to the office, sites
and meetings, we regained 30 percent of our
day. By learning how to annotate and share
screens, we not only communicated with
pictures, but we also shared our drawings
and hand calculations in real time.

Problems bred solutions.
Technological advancement and
user-friendliness abounded, with
even "greys" like me being able to
share online and host meaningful
tutorials with our junior engineering colleagues. Our tracking tools
showed us that, yes, efficiency
decreased at first, but with savings in commute times and colleagues mastering new
technological tools, production did not
suffer; more importantly, client service was
maintained.

Fostering Professional
Development
But now we face the next problem upon
which the success of our industry relies: how
to mentor remotely? Pre-COVID-19, our
highest-quality internal education came in
the form of personal mentoring, tutorials,
small group learning and project reviews.
More importantly in our office, where
frequent contact and access of junior and
senior engineers is emphasized, how do we
now generate the 5- and
10-minute interactions
between colleagues that
foster relationships,
accelerate learning,
break deadlocks and
solve problems?
The same challenge
is true for mentoring
relationships in academia, contracting and
other areas of expertise
of DFI members. We
value the moments
created at the espresso
machine, at lunch - or
when a conversation
about a project is overheard and a nearby
colleague shares an experience, suggestion
or epiphany. These moments are valuable
to the client, to our company, and to an
enjoyable workday; but most important,
they are valued by younger professionals as
cherished development opportunities.

(DFI's enhanced web)

platform will be of

greatest value to our

young, remote and

international members

who find it challenging

to attend many DFI
events.

Matthew Janes, MBA, P.Eng.
President
matthew@isherwood.to

We are struggling in today's otherwise
successful, remote-working environment
to create rich, vicarious mentoring
moments. The real problem with such
moments is that we cannot plan for them,
because - at their best - they happen by
accident. How do we create these
accidental opportunities?

DFI Web Updates
Even before COVID-19 struck, DFI
recognised the need for an improved digital
interface for members with improved social
media offerings, more navigable wayfinding
tools and easier access to our great content
on a platform that allows DFI to host,
exhibit and promote the new, high-quality
content our members are generating.
Fortunately, the organisation's head start
means the final product should be rolled out
in stages throughout 2021.
While the portal will benefit members
and other deep foundations professionals,
we believe such a platform will be of
greatest value to our young, remote and
international members who find it challenging to attend many DFI events. It is for
these members that our content may be
especially valuable.
Access to our resources will help them
to better serve their employers and clients,
improve their knowledge base, and gain
access to content and authors for further
enhancement and collaboration. This is
DFI's best route to achieving our goal of
industry advancement and finding
common ground. Now if only we can find a
way to make accidents happen online.
"In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity." Albert Einstein.

DEEP FOUNDATIONS * SEPT/OCT 2020 * 7

DFI Magazine September/October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DFI Magazine September/October 2020