PMG Interview with Todd Selman — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:01hello sundevils today we are privileged
- 0:04to interview Mr Todd Selman who is a uh
- 0:07project manager for the bricon
- 0:09corporation Todd thank you so much for
- 0:11joining us today thank you for having me
- 0:12I appreciate it so Todd tell us a little
- 0:14bit about your background well um I
- 0:17actually uh when I got out of high
- 0:19school I went into the Air Force and
- 0:20became a civil engineer so I started in
- 0:23uh in civil and worked in civil
- 0:25engineering
- 0:27until that was from '87 until about 95
- 0:31and then I got out of that and actually
- 0:33shockingly enough went into sales and
- 0:36and so I went into sales and really
- 0:38enjoyed sales but really missed um you
- 0:41architecture engineering and everything
- 0:43like that and so I went back into uh
- 0:45went to into Construction in 99 and back
- 0:48into construction and I have been in
- 0:50construction ever since so what are some
- 0:53qualities that every project manager
- 0:55should have according to you um
- 0:58according to me I mean the best thing
- 0:59you have to have to have is you have to
- 1:01be able to manage people you have to be
- 1:03able to manage your yourself more than
- 1:05anything because there are so many
- 1:07different things that you have to do at
- 1:08any given time um and the biggest thing
- 1:11is really to be personable so that you
- 1:14can actually pass on the information
- 1:16there's a lot of information that a
- 1:17project manager gets um and he has to be
- 1:20able to give that to everyone else and
- 1:22this person may accept it one way and
- 1:25this you say the exact same thing to
- 1:26another person they can't handle it or
- 1:28they don't understand it so you have
- 1:29have to be able to dissimilate that
- 1:31information to everybody so it's those
- 1:33are the probably the most important
- 1:35things so those soft skills those people
- 1:37skills are essential essential yeah
- 1:39essential so a lot of times you don't
- 1:42always get to choose who's on your team
- 1:44and some people are volunt told or
- 1:45assigned to a team but if you get to
- 1:47choose your team what type of team
- 1:50members would you like to have on your
- 1:52team um I'd like somebody that that
- 1:56actually has a can do attitude um I'm
- 1:58not looking for somebody that that that
- 2:00sits back and says oh let's identify the
- 2:02problems or anything like that um a lot
- 2:04of what I look for on a team is somebody
- 2:06that that okay we've identified a
- 2:08solution or a problem let's identify a
- 2:11solution and then move forward with that
- 2:13because what happens is a lot of people
- 2:15will get stuck on the problem and
- 2:18there's a problem and you you you you
- 2:20don't have time to deal with problems
- 2:22you have to move on from those problem
- 2:24so I look that's probably the first
- 2:25thing um the next thing is somebody that
- 2:28you know that you can honestly get along
- 2:30with you can have a conversation with um
- 2:32because you're going to be putting them
- 2:34in front of a client no matter what um
- 2:36as a project manager you're sitting
- 2:38there doing it and then I I want
- 2:40somebody that's technically um that
- 2:42technically can do the job that that
- 2:44that has the skills to do the job I'll
- 2:46take somebody that can read the plans
- 2:48and is nice over somebody that knows
- 2:50every technical spec in the book no I
- 2:53think that's completely understandable
- 2:55because again those people skills those
- 2:57soft skills are like they can be learned
- 3:00but it's very challenging to get people
- 3:03to to actually adopt those same
- 3:06practices and behaviors so that you
- 3:08don't have to worry if they're in front
- 3:09of a client and if they say the client's
- 3:11an idiot to their face so like you don't
- 3:13have to worry about losing that contract
- 3:15and and it's it's not and it's and
- 3:17that's the basis of it but it's not just
- 3:20that um if you have uh if you have an
- 3:23individual that has a tough time getting
- 3:25along with people um instead of 10
- 3:28inspections to get through a particular
- 3:30phase you may have 20 inspections um and
- 3:33they'll nitpick every item that they
- 3:36possibly can but if you're personable if
- 3:38you can get along with people and
- 3:40everything else like
- 3:41that you you create those relationships
- 3:44you need to be create you need to be
- 3:46able to create those relationships
- 3:47quickly no absolutely so conflict is uh
- 3:51almost inevitable and it's going to
- 3:53happen and conflict can be a good thing
- 3:54it can be healthy for a team to go
- 3:56through um but what how do you handle
- 3:59conflict and conflict resolution in the
- 4:01teams that you've LED um I always try to
- 4:03look at it from their standpoint um you
- 4:05know there's what like they say there's
- 4:07always your side the other side and the
- 4:08actual truth um so I try to look at it
- 4:11from their side and identify exactly
- 4:13what is making them you know decide that
- 4:16that I'm wrong or or this is the wrong
- 4:18situation or something like that nine
- 4:20times out of 10 when you do that and you
- 4:21really take you take that Split Second
- 4:23to really think about where they're
- 4:24coming from you know maybe they've got
- 4:26pressure because you know the the
- 4:28budget's tighter or something something
- 4:29like that and you need to you need to
- 4:31attack it in a in a in a different way
- 4:34um you know example would be you know
- 4:36somebody says you you have a change
- 4:38order that you need to get done you have
- 4:40to get this work done but you know in
- 4:42your heart of hearts that the reality is
- 4:44if they don't do this they're going to
- 4:46spend twice as much money later well you
- 4:48go in and you say here's the change
- 4:50order and they blow up and they have
- 4:51conflict because they they say no we're
- 4:53not paying this and not paying this but
- 4:55if you to come in from the fact said
- 4:57listen here's a here's a potential
- 4:58problem that I'm seeing here's a
- 5:00potential issue that we may have but
- 5:02this change order will take care of that
- 5:03problem you will not have that problem
- 5:04in the future that would have been
- 5:06alleviated if you'd if you'd have taken
- 5:08that ta so getting to know the people
- 5:11understanding what makes them tick
- 5:12understanding what makes them think
- 5:14really helps you so when you're creating
- 5:17your team or you have your team how do
- 5:18you create a collaborative positive
- 5:20environment for uh success for the
- 5:23project um give everybody a stake in it
- 5:26um you know you you a lot of project man
- 5:29will go out there and they they want to
- 5:31be the end all be all they want to be
- 5:32they want to finish everything and do
- 5:34everything as quickly as possible but
- 5:35the simple fact is if if the if if your
- 5:38project engineer that's been on a job
- 5:40for six months doesn't feel that their
- 5:42job and what they're doing is is
- 5:43beneficial to the team then you're not
- 5:46going to get anywhere with that person
- 5:48and they're going to they're not going
- 5:49to want to want to work with you in the
- 5:51future so even if it's a small task if
- 5:54they complete the task correctly if they
- 5:55do it well you let them know you you
- 5:58constantly give that that feedback then
- 6:01if you've told them they've done a good
- 6:03job 10 times if you have to tell them
- 6:05that they they didn't do something or
- 6:06that you're going in a different
- 6:08direction they're not near as they're
- 6:10not near as hurt as as they would be no
- 6:12absolutely celebrating those small wins
- 6:14exactly that can like compile to the big
- 6:17wins I'm like everyone always celebrates
- 6:19those milestones and the deliverables
- 6:21and but it's celebrating those small
- 6:23wins that really help team morale and
- 6:26engagement as well it makes people feel
- 6:29appr appreciated um and I don't care
- 6:31what anybody says anytime you feel
- 6:33appreciated you want to go to work and
- 6:35you want to do well for that particular
- 6:37person or that particular client no
- 6:39absolutely so how do you measure pro uh
- 6:44success and team success Beyond just the
- 6:47metrics and the
- 6:48deliverables um one of the biggest
- 6:50things is if if you have people that you
- 6:53know whether they be at the low level of
- 6:54the team or the high level of the team
- 6:56they're comfortable being able to bring
- 6:58an issue to the table
- 7:00without feeling that they're going to
- 7:01get some sort of Retribution um so if
- 7:03there's a problem they bring it to the
- 7:05Forefront they you you get you get to
- 7:07attack that problem directly and move on
- 7:10um so I look at it kind of like okay
- 7:12I've got a good team they're fine coming
- 7:14to me and say hey you said this in this
- 7:17meeting but in this meeting you said the
- 7:20opposite thing which one is it you know
- 7:22i' I'd much rather be able to to to tell
- 7:25them yeah I want you to bring come to me
- 7:28with that with that criticism as well so
- 7:31so uh what are some of the tools that
- 7:34you use for your job as a project
- 7:36manager um mean you talking software you
- 7:39talk anything and everything you go from
- 7:40software to even your phone or a
- 7:42calendar um it's very funny because when
- 7:45I when I first started back in
- 7:46construction I used to tell everybody
- 7:48you could give me a telephone and a
- 7:50screwdriver and I can I can get you
- 7:52anything you want built um and nowadays
- 7:54it's a little bit more challing a little
- 7:57more challenging um but I mean more than
- 8:00anything I'm on you know I'm using um
- 8:03you know Microsoft Office and any sort
- 8:06of and that that entire suite and then
- 8:08you have to basically work with Google
- 8:09Docs you have to be familiar with all
- 8:11that stuff um the tool I use more than
- 8:14anything right now is probably email um
- 8:17and texting um because a lot of a lot of
- 8:20times when you have conversations with
- 8:22somebody that that conversation gets uh
- 8:25misconstrued after um other things
- 8:28happen and so always it's always very
- 8:30very important to have that data to back
- 8:33up um so I use that and then um we use
- 8:38in the company I'm with now we use
- 8:40Autodesk which is a basically a suite
- 8:43that handles all of your documentation
- 8:45and everything else like that so it's a
- 8:48phenomenal it's just a phenomenal
- 8:49software program it's come a long way
- 8:51since Lotus Notes believe me so um so
- 8:54what I use those and then uh and then
- 8:56frankly you can't go wrong with a good
- 8:59spreadsheet you know you really can't no
- 9:03absolutely they can become very
- 9:04essential and help you in the long run
- 9:07yes they can that's for sure so so how
- 9:09do you as a project manager prioritize
- 9:11any tasks that you have to complete um I
- 9:15start the day before um so my my when
- 9:19I'm leaving work the first thing I do is
- 9:21say okay I'm leaving work what are the
- 9:23tasks that I need need to accomplish now
- 9:25and identify those tasks and in the
- 9:28order that they need to be done and so
- 9:29that in the in the morning I can get
- 9:31those tasks done right away if there's a
- 9:33task that I need to get done that needs
- 9:35to be done immediately then I'll you
- 9:37know if I'm driving home I'll make that
- 9:38call make that text do whatever I need
- 9:40to do but I always start the day before
- 9:43um when you're when you're when you're
- 9:45working from that day and you're working
- 9:47from emergencies you're never going to
- 9:49succeed um you're you're you're just
- 9:51never you're just never going to succeed
- 9:52and so what my brain does and the way
- 9:55I've kind of taught everybody that I've
- 9:57ever taught that is that I've ever
- 9:59trained is if you're thinking about what
- 10:01ha what's going to happen tomorrow
- 10:03you're already a little bit too late you
- 10:05need to look out you know depending on
- 10:07the job it's a multi-million dollar job
- 10:09you may look out a month if it's a if
- 10:12it's a you know a smaller job you may
- 10:14look out something else if you're if
- 10:15you're looking at a task specific issue
- 10:18maybe you're looking out a week but if
- 10:19you're not looking out at those
- 10:21intervals you're going to be in trouble
- 10:23and so I always kind of end my day with
- 10:27okay this is what needs to happen
- 10:28tomorrow so that two weeks I can have
- 10:30this done and in a week I can have this
- 10:31done and everything like that and then
- 10:33in the morning I have a task list of
- 10:35items that I need to take care of and it
- 10:37may be two tasks and it and that I need
- 10:40to that I need to tackle to make sure
- 10:42that work is done but I make sure that
- 10:44those tasks are done in the
- 10:45morning so if a team member comes to you
- 10:48and requires more time to complete what
- 10:50they've been assigned how do you handle
- 10:51that situation um you identify why um
- 10:55because maybe there's something maybe
- 10:56they didn't understand the task maybe
- 10:59the um maybe the task was too much for
- 11:01them maybe they didn't have the skills
- 11:02maybe you didn't give them the skills
- 11:04and and teach them the skills they
- 11:05needed to complete that task um I always
- 11:08I try to identify why the task didn't
- 11:11get done and then once you identify why
- 11:13the task didn't get done help them with
- 11:16the task make sure that task gets taken
- 11:18care of and then walk them through How
- 11:20To Succeed so that the next time that
- 11:22task comes up or the next time that
- 11:23issue comes up they can they can do it
- 11:26typically it's because you didn't show
- 11:27them something most the time yeah
- 11:30usually if you can help educate them or
- 11:32at least find out what's wrong then you
- 11:34can solve that problem you're a good
- 11:36project manager is only as good as the
- 11:38people that they the people that they
- 11:39work with that's all there is to it so
- 11:42so like we discussed earlier rarely does
- 11:44any project go off without a hitch and
- 11:46usually challenges come up or something
- 11:48might happen can you share a time or
- 11:50experience where you were working a
- 11:52project and something unforeseen
- 11:54happened and how did you handle it and
- 11:56what did you learn from it well um I
- 11:58mean I can give you an example from
- 12:00today um we have a a particular Chiller
- 12:03system that that we're working on a huge
- 12:05vapco system and the pump on the motor
- 12:10um was out it's not part of my it's not
- 12:12part of my purviews so I don't I don't
- 12:13have I don't have hands on it I don't
- 12:15have contract for it I don't have
- 12:17anything but the the the step I need to
- 12:20accomplish is is is is and come that one
- 12:24actually work basically by this and so
- 12:26you know the first thing you do is
- 12:27identify okay what's the problem what
- 12:29can we do about the problem is it a
- 12:30problem that's going to stop any other
- 12:32function and then um you know so I
- 12:35basically called up today and I said Hey
- 12:37listen I need this motor because I have
- 12:39to have this piece piece of equipment
- 12:41functioning to perform my next step and
- 12:44my next step is coming up on Tuesday and
- 12:46so you know I really need to get this
- 12:49motor I talked to the owner explained to
- 12:51him exactly what I needed what what I
- 12:53needed to get done um and I said you can
- 12:56either have me do it and I will gladly
- 12:58do it I have no problem but we need to
- 13:00add that as a change order and
- 13:01everything else or you can handle it
- 13:04with your in-house people and basically
- 13:06tell me that it's going to be done on
- 13:07Monday um he said I don't really know if
- 13:10my in-house people can do it and so we
- 13:12basically collaborated together we
- 13:13identified exactly what needed to be
- 13:15done we went up we got the got all the
- 13:17motor specs and everything like that
- 13:19gave that gave that information to him
- 13:20he identified the motor the motor's
- 13:22coming uh on tomorrow it'll be installed
- 13:25on Monday and so therefore we can move
- 13:28on with our with our task but as long as
- 13:31you're looking ahead and managing ahead
- 13:35if an emergency happens you have the
- 13:37ability to do that if you're working for
- 13:39next tomorrow's work you don't have that
- 13:42that fries everything so you know I was
- 13:44I had the ability to look and and be
- 13:47able to help him because we had that
- 13:49kind of buffer built in so so can you
- 13:51share your experience with like resource
- 13:54allocation and um resource management
- 13:56for the projects that you've LED so
- 13:59resource management is kind of a fun one
- 14:01because as a project manager you're
- 14:03always fighting you're always fighting
- 14:04for resources because um you you either
- 14:07have U you know a budget number that
- 14:10needs it's not realistic not realistic
- 14:13and you need 20 people uh but you're
- 14:15given 10 so you're always having to do
- 14:17that and and what I kind of find is as
- 14:22long as you are upfront because when you
- 14:25first start in project management it's
- 14:26very difficult to to kind of get your
- 14:28hands around the fact that you're going
- 14:30to be that you were underresourced um
- 14:32once you've done it a couple times and
- 14:34it's normally that first one that where
- 14:36you're completely under resourced and
- 14:37you didn't know it right off the bat
- 14:39that you think okay now I really need to
- 14:42talk about resource management at the
- 14:44beginning not not the middle or anything
- 14:46like but the beginning of the project
- 14:47and identify that Resource Management so
- 14:50once you once you kind of identify that
- 14:53resource management and and those those
- 14:55holes that you have what you can do is
- 14:57really bring them to the Forefront as
- 14:59quickly as you can I mean as project
- 15:01managers you you don't run the company
- 15:03but you can definitely say listen you
- 15:06want to make x amount of dollars on this
- 15:08with this resource I can't make that
- 15:10money um but you have to have that
- 15:12knowledge and you have to have the
- 15:13experience to really identify that and
- 15:15like I said your first couple yeah it
- 15:18might be a little bit rough it might be
- 15:19a little rough on those first couple
- 15:20because you know most projects that
- 15:23you're given you are underresourced and
- 15:26you know they want to pull x amount of
- 15:28money out of it yeah it's it's fun so so
- 15:31can you discuss your experience with
- 15:32budget management for the projects that
- 15:34you oversee uh well I've I've had budget
- 15:37management all the way from p&l on the
- 15:39entire project all the way down to um
- 15:42you're not handling anything just send
- 15:43me your bills so um budget management is
- 15:47is one of those things it is so job
- 15:50specific that you just a lot of times
- 15:52you don't even know if you're going to
- 15:53end up with it um whenever you come into
- 15:55a project um we have a project that we
- 15:58they're talking about doing um down at
- 16:00an airport down there and they're
- 16:01talking about basically handing you the
- 16:03p&l and basically saying this is it so
- 16:05you're handling every line item you're
- 16:07having every budget item you're having
- 16:09to identify what the budget items are
- 16:11you know in the original scope and
- 16:13everything else like that so sometimes
- 16:15you have to do that um I would
- 16:19say most of the time that's not the case
- 16:22most of the time you're kind of in the
- 16:23middle you have the p&l they have given
- 16:26you the items they have given you the
- 16:28budgets and that you have to fit within
- 16:30those budgets so you know if my dirt
- 16:33is a number of 1.2 million and I can get
- 16:37my dirt guy at 800,000 and he and I can
- 16:41make sure that all of his scope in there
- 16:43well I have 400,000 for another budget
- 16:45item that might be a little lower might
- 16:48be let's put it this way might be a
- 16:50little
- 16:51tighter it's always nice to have that
- 16:53buffer yeah and I'm a big fan of buffers
- 16:57um and the biggest thing about buffers
- 17:00is just when you're when you take your
- 17:02scope and you take your contract and you
- 17:05make sure they line up yes and I can't
- 17:07tell you how many times I've had where
- 17:10the scope and the contract don't line up
- 17:13and and you're like oh well I'm I made
- 17:16saved 400,000 on this job on this on
- 17:19this line item and it's like not really
- 17:21because now you have time and materials
- 17:23for all the stuff that you didn't cover
- 17:25in the scope so so one of the things
- 17:28that project managers have to do and
- 17:29like their teams have to do is engage
- 17:31with Excuse me various types of
- 17:34stakeholders and so they can be internal
- 17:37external they can have like high power
- 17:39and influence or low power and influence
- 17:41how do you engage with stakeholders and
- 17:44can you share a time where you might
- 17:46have had a difficult stakeholder and
- 17:47what did you do to either mitigate them
- 17:50or bring them aboard and want to be a
- 17:53part of the project so I did uh I don't
- 17:56know if you're familiar with fresh and
- 17:57easys I built I was project manager for
- 18:00pretty much all of them in Arizona and
- 18:02probably half of them in California um I
- 18:05was the director of a company that we
- 18:07did all all that work um and the the
- 18:12specific owner rep from Tesco was a he
- 18:16was a he was a challenge um he was a
- 18:19challenge but we did an enormous about
- 18:21of business and we and and and he did it
- 18:24uh and and he respected us but I don't
- 18:28not quite sure that he ever liked us um
- 18:30and so the best thing that that we ever
- 18:32did is identified exactly okay what
- 18:36would what would this person like what
- 18:37would they you know what what is what
- 18:40makes this person tick and so what we
- 18:42identified was he liked certain things
- 18:45um he he liked um the numbers to be
- 18:48round numbers he didn't like um you
- 18:51know
- 18:5362,000 he lik 60 or 70 and so and so we
- 18:57identified kind of some of the these
- 18:59things that he really kind of hit on and
- 19:02and really and and really did and then
- 19:05we identified one of my project managers
- 19:07that actually really got along with him
- 19:09very well and so we kind of said okay
- 19:12well then we're going to shift a little
- 19:13bit of this a little bit of this other
- 19:16work onto this project manner moved a
- 19:19little bit of his projects off and then
- 19:21it kind of made him the person that that
- 19:23dealt with this person um and it worked
- 19:26out fantastic I mean we we
- 19:29there are a lot of fresh and easys that
- 19:31poed up in a short amount of time
- 19:33believe me so so what would you consider
- 19:36your most successful project and why my
- 19:40most successful
- 19:43project everybody has their Sentinel
- 19:46project so my Sentinel project is
- 19:48probably the the uh Plaza Hotel in
- 19:50Denver Colorado
- 19:53I when we topped it out it was
- 19:57unbelievable
- 19:58Colorado is a beautiful place and we
- 20:00topped it out in a snowstorm with a
- 20:02crane that we had brought up from Denver
- 20:04Colorado it was it's it was stunning it
- 20:06was unbelievable um we built it for the
- 20:08Pras and so we I mean they spared no
- 20:12expense and it was just a really cool
- 20:13thing um so that's
- 20:17my Mountain I guess you could say but
- 20:20truthfully I'm prouder that I can drive
- 20:23around Phoenix Arizona and any part of
- 20:25town and I can say I built that I built
- 20:28built that I did that that entire
- 20:31subdivision of 700 homes out there I did
- 20:34all the Land Development for that I
- 20:37there's not a street around that I can't
- 20:39drive around and identify a project that
- 20:41I've had my hands in and it's just it's
- 20:43a great feeling it is a great feeling no
- 20:46that's absolutely wonderful because you
- 20:48can see the
- 20:50tangible results of your hard work and
- 20:52dedication exactly so what would you
- 20:55consider your most meaningful project
- 20:57and why um most meaningful project I did
- 21:01um I I've I've done a lot of uh
- 21:03volunteering work and stuff like that
- 21:04and so you know Habitat for Humanity is
- 21:06just a great thing I like going in and
- 21:09just helping them out um I haven't done
- 21:11it in a few years because I have other
- 21:13volunteer things that I do but Habitat
- 21:15Humanity is is kind of one of those
- 21:17things where it's just I have a skill
- 21:20that I can really help them out with um
- 21:23so that was good I I I enjoyed I enjoyed
- 21:27Habitat for Humanity stuff
- 21:29so if you could give advice to your
- 21:32younger self or if you want to give
- 21:33advice to Future project managers excuse
- 21:36me future project managers like these
- 21:38students that are watching this
- 21:40interview what would you want to tell
- 21:41them um I think that the biggest thing
- 21:44is is that you know the technical the
- 21:46technical aspect of of project
- 21:47management is is phenomenal um and you
- 21:50need that technical expertise there's no
- 21:53question about it because I couldn't do
- 21:55what I do without that teex technical
- 21:57expertise
- 21:59but the most important thing you have to
- 22:01be able to do is be be a person that can
- 22:03get along with people because you deal
- 22:06with every style of person across the
- 22:09board um I am a huge fan of not
- 22:14self-help books I guess you could say or
- 22:16anything like that but I have read um
- 22:19Dale Carnegie's uh how to win friends
- 22:21and influence people probably 15 times
- 22:24um yes it was done in the 30s and it's
- 22:27an old book and everything else like
- 22:28that but the simple fact is is every
- 22:31concept that he has in that book you can
- 22:33bring to work and you will
- 22:35succeed well thank you so much top for
- 22:37taking the time to share your
- 22:39experiences your wealth of knowledge for
- 22:41our students and for this um for your
- 22:44work in the construction industry and as
- 22:46a project manager so thank you so much
- 22:48thank you very much appreciate it all
- 22:49right
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