Maria Coulter
I am a Business Coach and Trainer with over 20 years experience in the industry as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Project Manager and Risk Manager prior to starting my own company, Construction Coach.
Location East Midlands
Activity
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Maria Coulter replied to michael Fowell
That's brilliant @michaelFowell, such a great attitude.
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Maria Coulter replied to michael Fowell
Challenging questions @michaelFowell will this impact what you do moving forwards?
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for taking part in the survey, we will publish the results next week.
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That's a fair point @PaulAllen
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Can you say a bit more about what you mean @AwaisRaza
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Great response @FrancescoDavini
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@SeanLewis is your colleague taking legal advice?
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@DuncanGrimes I'd say it was a combination of the two. What are the gaps specifically do you think?
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Well done @PaulAllen it would be interesting from and HR perspective to see how this disciplinary would stand up legally given that you were disciplined for protecting the public and your Director's interests. If there had been a fatality in connection with this he could have been charged with Corporate Manslaughter
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Did anyone ever blow the whistle or is this still going on do you know?
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Maria Coulter replied to Steve Markham
That's not good at all. Has anyone said anything to the MD?
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
It's a shame you are experiencing that Paul, it's great that you've acknowledged how this is impacting on you and you are doing something about it.
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Maria Coulter replied to Sean Lewis
Has this been raised with management?
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Maria Coulter replied to michael Fowell
This is great to see @michaelFowell how are they embedding the values into the business?
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Maria Coulter replied to Francesco Davini
It's unfortunate that your first experience was such a negative one but the fact is you recognised that this is unethical behaviour and you haven't repeated it. From the sounds of it, you got out of that environment because it went against your moral compass. I will quote Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen.... "let it go"
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Maria Coulter replied to Tom Allcott
That's great to hear @TomAllcott what else are they doing specifically to promote an ethical culture?
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Maria Coulter replied to May M
This is difficult to answer. I don't think companies are being transparent enough about their ethical policies. If you look on the websites of large organisations they are often unclear about their values and ethics. There is also a lot of fear in our industry of calling out unethical behaviour.
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
Based on what you've seen so far, what do you think are the biggest risks in connection with lack of training in ethics and regulations in your organisation? Where are the gaps do you think? I think a company must first acknowledge what the risk is to themselves of not keeping up to date on regulations and training. There will be a wider risk if they are...
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I'm sure there are some out there but they don't appear to be visible
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How has this impacted on their growth and profitability @TomAllcott ?
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Thanks for sharing @TetyanaZholobaylo
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@MarkGreen did he get caught and prosecuted?
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@AndrewPeters do you feel like you are being forced to work 12 hour days instead of your contracted 9 hours?
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Maria Coulter replied to matthew Thomas
Why do you think that is @matthewThomas ?
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Maria Coulter replied to Stefan James
What sort of issues are you talking about @StefanJames ?
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Maria Coulter replied to Mark Green
I think there are a lot of small businesses who aren't aware of their obligations but also there are, unfortunately some very poor trades people out there who are unethical in the service they deliver.
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@matthewThomas can you be more specific about your experience?
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@AndrewPeters are these small companies not calling out the large contractor on this terrible behaviour?
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@michaelFowell have you experienced a situation where your health and safety was being compromised for completing the project on time?
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Maria Coulter replied to Tom Allcott
@TomAllcott here is some info from UK Research and Innovation. We will see if we can add something into the spreadsheet on this. https://www.ukri.org/about-us/governance-and-structure/conflicts-of-interest/
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Maria Coulter replied to Mark Green
@MarkGreen is this what has come out of the enquiry? I haven't found anything online to say people on site knew it was combustible? If you have a link, please post, thanks.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for all your comments so far, glad you are enjoying the course. I'm really enjoying the comments and interaction so far, very insightful.
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
:-)
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Is that the case in other organisations you are aware of too?
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That's great to hear.
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I think It is about how people feel at the time and what their experiences are. If they aren't getting something then they will value it more.
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We've just realised the link is broken to the paper, will get that fixed so you can read their suggestions. Would recommend looking at the Barrett Values Centre website, they have some great resources. Richard Barrett's book, 'The Values Driven Organisation' is really good too. It was through reading that book that I had the idea to reach out and interview...
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Are you looking to achieve more balance in future?
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Do you feel you need more of a balance?
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Thanks for sharing @KazY
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Maria Coulter replied to Awais Raza
Can you say a bit more about what you mean @AwaisRaza ?
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Maria Coulter replied to Steve Markham
I'm the same, I still consider myself as working class, I'm from coal mining stock in the North-East of England.
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Maria Coulter replied to Duncan Grimes
Thanks for sharing this quote
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
Sorry to hear about this Paul, is there anything being done about these issues?
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Sorry to hear your wife is unwell and good luck with the job hunting.
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Those are long hours, are you expected to work those every day?
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Maria Coulter replied to michael Fowell
Great comment and very true.
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Maria Coulter replied to Francesco Davini
If you have any specific questions @FrancescoDavini I'm here to help.
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Maria Coulter replied to Steve Markham
There is a movement to change this. The Construction Leadership Council in the UK are looking at the 5 Capitals Procurement model. If you check out a recent report by the Association of Consultancy and Engineering called "The Future of Consultancy" they talk about it there too.
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Maria Coulter replied to Francesco Davini
What exactly did he do? If he'd been found out when he worked there would that not have impacted on the reputation of the company he worked for? Could the consequences of his actions have repercussions now if they were found out?
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
This is so true and companies really need to realise this. With so much competition for talent, companies really do need to look at how they treat their people.
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Maria Coulter replied to Itika Vardhan
So true. Are there people of authority in India pushing for businesses to address this?
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Lamento que você esteja passando por isso e estou feliz que isso esteja mudando com seu novo governo
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Hi Adriane, I've put your comment into an online translator, I hope you can do the same. I will try it now in Portuguese
Olá Adriane, coloquei seu comentário em um tradutor online, espero que você possa fazer o mesmo. Vou tentar agora em português
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Maria Coulter replied to Uzor Onyia
That's interesting. If you didn't find the visits beneficial to yourself would you have pulled out?
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Maria Coulter replied to Steve Markham
Can you say a bit more about what you mean here Ian?
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Maria Coulter replied to Duncan Grimes
What did you find difficult Duncan? That's great that you are talking about values and behaviours. What impact do those conversations have?
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Maria Coulter replied to Paul Allen
I agree, I never had a conversation in the day to day workplace about ethics when I was a QS/PM. Is this something you could bring into your workplace?
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I agree, I never had those conversations when I was working as a Quantity Surveyor and a Project Manager.
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Maria Coulter replied to matthew Thomas
I very rarely spoke about ethics in my workplace when I was working as a Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager. When I interviewed Andrew Leigh for this course he said something really simple which makes so much sense. "how are you meant to learn about ethics if you don't ever talk about them" In his experience, the most ethical companies are those that...
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Can you say ab it more about that? What happens if the societal norms are, in your opinion unethical?
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Maria Coulter replied to Diana Stuebig
I think it depends what the internal regulations say. If they are internal codes of conduct setting out standards for ethical behaviour then that will definitely influence people's behaviours.
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So true. It can be hard under pressure. Ideally you would be in alignment with your moral compass. The 'acid test' questions later are great to check your decision against, however, some people may feel under pressure to act in a certain way that isn't in alignment with who they really are. Have you every been in that situation?
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That's so true, people can be influenced by peers to act in a way that is not in alignment with their moral compass.
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So true, have you experienced this? It would be interesting to know how international companies are handling these scenarios.
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Maria Coulter replied to saeed re
These are the things that make you who you are such as values, beliefs etc.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Welcome everyone, really looking forward to interacting with you over the coming weeks
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Hi Steve, we've got some great videos coming up. James Pellatt from Great Portland Estates talks about how they've created an ethical culture. I also interview Jay Blithe from the Barrett Values Centre and Andrew Leigh author of Ethical Leadership which is a book I would highly recommend. We all have some ethical dilemmas coming up in future weeks as well.
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Maria Coulter replied to Maria Coulter
Thanks Symon, I believe so, I will ask Adrian to confirm
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Hi everyone, welcome to the course. Am really looking forward to hearing from you over the next 5 weeks. The content has generated some great and thought provoking discussion from past cohorts and I look forward to interacting with you as the course progresses.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Hi everyone, slightly behind with my comments as I was on holiday last week. Thank you so much for your contributions, I love reading all of the comments which really bring this course to life and I've learnt a lot from you all too. It's encouraging to see that there is a lot of good practice happening in the industry and where there isn't, hopefully this...
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Maria Coulter replied to John Hall
Great idea John
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Maria Coulter replied to John Hall
That's great to hear John. So how has this great culture been created?
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Maria Coulter replied to Lee Merriman
I think the ridiculously low profit margins in construction definitely impacts on ethical behaviour.
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Maria Coulter replied to Bill Holden
Interesting question, I don't know enough about Blockchain to comment but the EU will have to address to give guidance on this.
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Great addition Elle.
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It is challenging but ultimately it's about creating a culture where everyone can be themselves 100% without any bullying or harassment.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for your comments, some great responses here. I was in a scenario similar to A when someone assumed I worked in an office of an organisation I was representing rather than being a board member.
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Great response Iain.
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This is terrible behaviour, but well done for standing your ground.
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That is far too common unfortunately.
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This is terrible Takalani and definitely illegal in the UK. Was anything ever reported to the appropriate authorities?
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There is definitely work happening in the UK regarding sub-contractor payment that the Construction Leadership Council are working on which will hopefully influence change on this.
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Maria Coulter replied to Alex Will
That's great to hear Alex.
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Maria Coulter replied to Takalani magoro
That's terrible Takalani, do you work for a different organisation now?
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This is terrible behaviour. I have heard of something similar in that the company would look for excuses not to pay that person but this was not unique to just one project, it was standard behaviour.
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I agree. Public and Private Sector Clients need to address this in their procurement policies.
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I agree, money, greed, the environment they evolved from, their values and how they choose to live them.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for your comments. In my experience it depends on the individual company and their values. One of my Clients is a micro-business (employing 8 people or less). They are a building company and one of their values is 'work like everyone is watching', they are setting standards of behaviour that match their values which is brilliant to see and a great...
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Maria Coulter replied to Andrei Muntean
Do you think it's dependent on the business leader of the company?
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Maria Coulter replied to John Hall
I agree. There is definitely a need for a small SME / micro-business toolkit to make sure these companies are acting legally and ethically.
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They have tried to address this with the fair payment charter but there have been a limited number of sign-ups to this. The Construction Leadership Council in the UK is looking at this but I'm not sure if anything is happening in other countries.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for your participation again this week, I've really enjoyed reading about your experiences as you've progressed through this week. Next week in the UK (and internationally maybe) is mental health awareness week. When people feel that they can't live their values and have to go against what they believe in, that can really impact on mental wellbeing...
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Maria Coulter replied to Mark Smith
Great response @MarkSmith
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I hope you're in the best of times now @ElleIdan
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I would say that it's more likely that companies who say they live their values but really don't are the ones that are squeezing their supply chain of profit.
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Maria Coulter made a comment
Thanks for your comments and I'm glad you found the questionnaire to be accurate, I did too when I did the survey. The way I spend my time now definitely reflects my values, my number 1 value is fairness which drove me to do what I do now and hopefully make a positive impact on the industry.
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It can be difficult @BillHolden my advice would be, when managing difficult conversations is to stick with the cold, hard facts.
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Maria Coulter replied to John Hall
I agree @BillHolden thanks for sharing @JohnHall
