International Partnering Institute

Interview with John Thorsson

IPI sat down with John Thorsson, Partnering Manager for NCC, keynote speaker for the IPI Awards, and newly minted IPI board of Advisors Member, to hear his thoughts on the

IPI Awards Ceremony and the surrounding events.

IPI: "John, you just completed two full days of Partnering activities. We began with the IPI Owner's Roundtable. What stood out to you about that event?"

JT: "It was inspiring to hear just how committed Mark Leja of Caltrans, Ivar Satero of SFO, and Dan Himick of C.C. Myers, Inc. all are to collaborative building--just like we are at NCC!  I have quite a lot to take with me back to Sweden!"

IPI: "Some owners have very sophisticated Partnering Programs and others who attended are just starting out. What is your best advice for agencies who are adopting partnering for the first time?"

JT: "Whatever you do, do not be afraid of involving your contractors early in the process and also let the building community know what you are trying to do. As an agency, make sure to identify a contractor who is able to and is interested in working in this way. Also, make sure to get executive commitment in order to make sure that this will work on your projects and that you are supporting the field team. You cannot just "manage" the partnering effort."

IPI: "We had you keynote the Awards Ceremony - and along with that, what were your favorite moments from the event?"

JT: "My favorite moment was watching Taina Sunnarborg of Telge Fastigheter and Matti Virkki of NCC Construction hoist the trophy for the Strategic Partnering Achievement Award. They looked so happy! And they should be proud, because they worked very hard to build this program over 6 years. I also liked hearing about the obstacles and the challenges overcome by the Diamond Level project teams. That was really inspiring."

IPI: "This morning, you attended your first IPI Board of Advisors Meeting and accepted a position on our Board as our first International Board Member. What stood out to you from that meeting?"

JT: "What stood out to me was that this is a truly extraordinary gathering of really intelligent people. I was really impressed by how they worked together, particularly since it was such a diverse group of companies with owners, contractors, a CM and others."

IPI: "We discussed a number of new initiatives from this year - what are you most excited about?"

JT: "Of course, I am really excited about the new International Committee which I will be co-chairing with Zig Rubel (Aditazz). Also, the way NCC describes the IPI Awards is that we won the World Championship of Partnering! We truly want to make IPI even more international and get companies involved from places like Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, the U.K. of course, and see if we can get them to join in our efforts and mission.

At the end of the day it is so nice to be in a room where everyone has the same objective. We don't have the same perspectives, but we have the same goal in mind.  That is, to give IPI the direction it needs to progress and develop and I'm proud to be a part of that."