SMA presentation at 2026 CIC Forum at the University of Alberta

One of SMA’s Senior Facilitators, Dr. Jeff King, presented at the 2026 Construction Innovation Centre (CIC) Forum at the University of Alberta on May 28, 2026. His presentation, entitled “Lessons Shared: The Role of Effective Communication in Robust Project Delivery,” focused on examples of misalignment that can occur between Owners and Contractors on projects and suggestions for effective solutions that have been proposed and implemented on projects that SMA has participated in. Jeff closed with an appeal that organizations find ways to develop a strong “lessons culture” as a way to ensure we can learn from each other and keep the conversation going:

To learn “how to talk so that the owner or the contractor will listen” actually means, “listening so that the other side will talk.” It means imagining our way into their pain points and constraints, giving them the benefit of the doubt (within reason), and recognizing that effective communication that supports strong team alignment is a fundamental value that will help make every project we work on much more likely to succeed.

The CIC Forum is hosted by the Construction Innovation Centre at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Engineering, a network of academic and industrial groups serving as an umbrella for finding opportunities for collaboration.