Builders Newsletter - Excellence in Construction Edition

We all know how important buildings and the building industry are. We also all know by now how important excellence is and why it is important to celebrate excellence. I would like to speak just briefly on what it takes to foster such excellence.

In any endeavour there are always a small number of men and women who just seem destined to be the champions of excellence. Whether they were born with it coursing through their veins or have at some point in their lives woken up and realised that this is a calling for them, and have worked with dedication to achieve it, these people make their mark, raise the bar and act as beacons for those around them.

But broad based excellence cannot simply be achieved by relying on these champions. It needs to be adopted by many others - champions in training.  At Master Builders KwaZulu Natal we recognise that it takes thought, dedication, planning and commitment to foster and environment of excellence.

It is probably safe to say that the primary focus area for the Association, commencing earlier this year and for the coming years ahead is that of training and empowerment. We need those who do have the skills to be able to impart them to those who want the skills. We are commencing with a pilot project to upskill foremen in the important discipline of Construction Supervision. To this end we have sounded a call to all of those people with the requisite experience and skill who might be available due to economic situation and in many cases retirement but feel that they have something to add.  We already have a panel of such would be facilitators and are in a structured manner starting to harness these skills for the empowerment of others so that we do not wake up in 10 or 15 years time and find that we need to make do in an industry that has no more crafts people. We are very excited about this venture and will be keeping you informed of progress as we go along.