Yesterday evening, I attended the General Contractors Association of Ottawa (GCAO) annual cocktail reception where the association presented its Integrity and Ethics Award to Mike Rushton, Algonquin College’s Director of Physical Resources. The event is an annual who’s who of this area’s construction industry and is held at the Rideau Club, an establishment where suit and tie are mandatory in the dining/reception area, and you must hide your cellular phones (you can only use them in enclosed phone booths in the cloak room.)
These events always make me uncomfortable. I certainly do not claim to be in my element at social/networking functions and while I know many of the people in the room (and virtually all could be useful clients or contacts) I didn’t feel right in drawing myself into conversations. (I however had a rather substantial journalistic interview with Ottawa Mayoral Candidate Jim Watson, formerly Ontario’s Municipal Affairs Minister, who threw cold water on any hope by the housing and development industry for his support in reducing extreme “intensification” muncipal development targets (restricting the availability land for suburban development or urban sprawl, depending on your perspective.)
You can read elsewhere how to “work the room” in this kind of meeting. In other circumstances, I’ve brought out my camera, taken lots of pictures, and collected business cards. (This seemed a little too forceful here.) I could feel I didn’t make the most of the opportunity, but another perspective is that I did. The association invited me, I saw a few key people and I collected pictures and notes for a story for Ottawa Construction News.
There are other levels to this story, however. Mike Rushton, in overseeing the physical plant for the growing Algonquin Campus since 1990 (that’s two decades now), has built relationships with contractors, engineers, architects and others, and received recognition from the General Contractors because he respected the value of relationships, fair play, and hard work. He of course is a person virtually anyone in the room would like to be on good terms with — the owner’s representative is of course at the apex of the “power pyramid” within the AEC community. Yet he) is characteristically modest as he describes his challenges in co-ordinating building projects on tight budgets and schedules, coupled with extremely time-sensitive renovation jobs which must be completed in brief summer breaks.
Awards programs are great connecting points for associations, members and the community. Notably, the event’s sponsor is a local insurance broker, and the broker obtained further support from one of the major insurance companies which generates a significant amount of work within the commercial construction community. To me, this evening reiterated the value of belonging, connecting and contributing to relevant associations representing your current and potential clients and the importance and utility of thoughtful awards and recognition programs.
Finally, I accept that my personality limitations make it hard for me to network effectively in these large group gatherings. I can still take pictures and remembered to bring the spare camera batteries.
