Today we speak with Darren Denikiewicz about his nomination for Project Manager of the Year 2018 and what it takes to progress in his role.
So Darren, how do you think have you demonstrated organisational ability in your role at WME Global?
“I have been a manager on a number of interesting and challenging projects during my time at WME. These projects have generally been operating in parallel and I have had to carefully manage my time. I also have to manage the time of the design teams, to consistently deliver projects to the high quality our client’s expect.”
“To achieve this I always strive to ensure consistent and transparent communication across the teams and projects. Through this regular communication i’ve been able to identify potential problems and react quickly to prevent these, and where appropriate work to manage client expectations and agree alternative strategies.”
“I also aim to promote a culture of honesty and trust, understanding that each and every team member will encounter periods of difficulty. I expect all members of the team to immediately identify any perceived risks. This will allow me the opportunity to agree resolutions with the team, without fear as we all strive to achieve our common goal of successful project delivery to our clients.”
How do you feel you have contributed to a particular project’s or projects’ success?
“I always aim to lead by example, paying close attention to client and stakeholder requirements throughout the design process and regularly taking the time to understand if we are doing all we can to achieve these requirements. I expect and encourages all the design team members to take pride and responsibility for achieving the clients’ aspirations whilst also achieving our own high-quality standards.”
“I understand that things can and do go wrong on projects and present many varied challenges. The success of projects, therefore, is intrinsically linked to how well I, and the teams react to such challenges. This requires careful communication to ensure relevant people within the client and design teams are aware of a problem and mutually agreeing on how we will solve them, to achieve a shared common goal.”
What do you do to manage your own professional development?
“I have continued to improve professionally by pursuing CEng status in the last year alongside my day-to-day responsibilities. I recently achieved Chartered Engineer status with the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) following the Technical Report Route.”
“This route involved the agreement of a report synopsis with CIBSE, following which the candidate has to produce an original report, presentation and interview. I prepared my report based on the experience on The Address Downtown Dubai project and the challenges faced with the Earthing and Lightning Protection systems.”
Darren is nominated for Project Manager of the Year at the Construction Week Online awards on 4th December 2018. WME wishes him the best of luck!
