Latest / Speak In Flow / Mastering Mega Projects: Communication and Leadership Insights with Pratheesh (Prat) Nair

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Mastering Mega Projects: Communication and Leadership Insights with Pratheesh (Prat) Nair · Speak In Flow

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Melinda Lee: Welcome, dear listeners to the speaking flow
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podcast where we share unique experiences to help you unleash
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your leadership voice. Today, I have an amazing leader, you're
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gonna be so excited. I'm excited. We have Pratt Nair, who
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is the Vice President of Operations for Fisk electric.
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Hi, Pratt. Good to see you. Hi, Melinda. Thank you for having
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me. Thank you for being here. Can you share with the audience
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what you do as a VP of Operations?
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Sure. Yeah. So I'm currently the VP of
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Operations for the projects in California to facilitate most of
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the projects actually, all of our projects in California, our
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large transportation transit projects include the California
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High Speed Rail package from Madera to Fresno. The Purple
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Line, section two And section three projects, which are the
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underground subway extending the red line, to the new purple line
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for LA Metro, which includes four underground stations and
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two tunnels under water, some big mega projects, and then we
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also have a division 20 Torn back yard, which is the
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maintenance yard for LA Metro for their third rail system,
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where all the purple line and Red Line trains come to kind of
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get torn back and maintained on before they enter Revenue
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Service. So we're expanding that project schedule. So yeah, some
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really large projects. I mean, right now, there are over $500
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million of backlog in Fasken.
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Melinda Lee: Wow.
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Yeah. Challenging?
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Melinda Lee: Wow. Well, congratulations on your success.
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I mean, some people want more projects, where you you're like,
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Okay, how do I handle all these big complicated projects? Some
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of the huge, there's so many, it's so complicated in your
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eyes, like, what are the challenges that you see?
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: So, I mean, the first challenge is
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finding the finding the right skill set to it's a very
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specialized industry, I think, the rail industry, you know, we
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had a, had a low period, you know, and, you know, what, 20
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years ago, or so, you know, it was probably had a low period,
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and there's not a lot of awareness in the industry on,
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you know, on this amazing industry that generates a lot of
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jobs and generates, you know, just just, there's a lot of a
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lot of action. And while you know, people don't, I guess find
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rail to be sexy in the, in the market of electric cars, and
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Google and all these techies, you know, I think the, I think
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there's a lot of technical skill is required to kind of make, you
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know, make these things work and make sure they're safe. And, you
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know, that at the end of the day, it can serve the public in
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the most safest manner possible. So, I mean, yeah, that's just
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the lack of skill set is, you know, is our biggest challenge.
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So a lot of times, we are constantly, you know, training,
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you know, entry level engineers, and, you know, to kind of learn
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about this, and the advantages, I mean, you know, these jobs are
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typically seven to 10 years, sometimes longer, there's a lot
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of stakeholders involved with the cities and different
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government agencies, utilities, so they take, they take a long
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time, and, and, you know, so it's good that we can, you know,
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get some entry level engineers and train them on some of the
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functions on how to do some of these things. But at the same
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time, you know, the biggest challenge we have is trying to
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keep them motivated, you know, because the end is not there,
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you know, not insight. And a lot of time, a lot of times, they
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haven't seen what the end looks like, they don't really know
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what they're working towards. I think so it's been very
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challenging to keep them motivated. And, you know, and I
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think, especially with the current generation, in terms of
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the current graduates we have, I think they're looking for that
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immediate feedback for everything and they, you know,
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if you ask any one of them, like, hey, you know, what do you
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want to do in five years and like, oh, I want to be a project
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manager, you know, I want to lead people and manage and, and
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you know, a lot of times as well few, you don't know what the end
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looks like, you know, how can you manage something that when
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you don't know what the end looks like, and so, yeah, I
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think I think it's been challenging to keep them engaged
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in keeping you know, routine routine people and keeping them
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motivated. Yeah, so that's been a huge challenge for us. So I
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mean, from I mean, as a leader I kind of might my approach is
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quite, you know, I'm not a very title. I'm not title heavy. Vice
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President does show up and you know, Flex is not I think my
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approach is more you know, I always say my role is a support
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role. My first job is to support the project in terms of what
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they need and and I think I make it very clear they get nothing
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is below me in terms of if I need to go do what an engineer
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does. On the first thing I do it you know, if I if they're
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falling behind, I stepped in So what that does, it does create
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some comfort for people to approach me. So I, you know,
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become, I think I'm pretty approachable to people, you
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know, people reach out to me, you know, engineers reach out to
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me directly asking for help if they need to, and a lot of
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communication, so I tend to be pretty open in my leadership
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style.
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You know, I know, there are things, you know, there are
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things you can share and things you cannot, but in terms of what
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I can share, I tried to share, you know, in terms of what the
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company's doing, where some of the challenges are, how we're
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looking at financials, you know, just try to be open about it.
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And I think it does generate some engagement from employees
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when you, you know, when you share with them, you know, and
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the other thing that, you know, we have a pretty low retention,
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I mean, a pretty high retention in terms of employees, you know,
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are people on your team?
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So, teams, I mean, they vary, you know, even from I think,
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right now, it's from a salaried staff. Probably 60 ish, people.
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And, right, yeah, I think mostly, you know, we have, you
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know, where you're a union contractor, so we have a lot of,
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you know, support from in terms of our craft labor from the
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local unions we work at. So, yeah, so our team's project
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champion, when you could have 100 to 200, electricians, plus
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the staff, and ensuring that everyone does what they need to
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do and stay safe and kind of work through that whole project
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cycle for, you know, the seven to 10 years, you know, can be
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challenging. So,
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Melinda Lee: yeah, well, how have you helped them to feel
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motivated? How can you tell they're not motivated?
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: You can tell? Because it doesn't get
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done, right?
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Yeah, so I mean, we try to keep, we try to do things. I mean,
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there's two types of management style one is obviously, you
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know, there's always these, especially entry level engineers
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that don't have the skill set and know what the what to get
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done. So we have this task based management. And then we have
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these ownership based management where, you know, when they have,
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when they have the experience, we give them the ownership and
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say you own it, and then, you know, deal with it. I think the
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biggest help we've had is we we do a lot of sit downs. And we
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talked to her to talk to employees, right now, I say,
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engineering, but most of our most of our staff are engineers,
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but we talk to them a lot, you know, we have sit downs with
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people to constantly give them feedback on how they're doing
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the people, you're talking to 60 different people. Yeah, we
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talked to a lot of people.
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Melinda Lee: Awesome.
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Now, keep in mind, I mean, you know, you
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know, I think, again, the idea is that as managers, you
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shouldn't be managing one three or four people, right. So but I
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do try to stay engaged with the, you know, the project, and I
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have, you know, they have their own supervisors. And so I always
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bring them in, and, you know, it's not, you know, but I think
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talking to people, you, especially when you have these
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jobs, I mean, people have personal issues they're dealing
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with people have, you know, there's a lot of things can
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happen in seven to 10 years, right, people? Kids, yeah,
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there's a lot of them, right.
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So there's, there's so many variables. So trying to keep
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someone Yeah, I think I think the, the biggest thing that has
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helped is to communicate with them and how they can and not
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and not sugarcoat when they're not doing well, either. But But
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I always try to, I try to, say majority of the time, because
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sometimes you got to be, you know, you got to be a stickler
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and kind of, kind of make a point. But a lot of times I try
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not to put people in a defensive mode, because the minute you put
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somebody and you tell somebody, Hey, you're doing a crappy job,
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and, and they're defensive, then everything that comes out after
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that is I don't, there's no value in that drill. I tried to
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keep it engaged, I tried to say something instantly negative
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about the personnel say, Hey, here's what it is, but here's
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what I can do, you know, here's what we can do to kind of help
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you get back there or, you know, we'll add some resources to help
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you out. So so they feel like they're not alone on an island
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by themselves. So, so that's, that has helped us, you know,
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helped us you know, keep the motivation and honestly because
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I probably are probably more engaged than it shouldn't be the
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level of leadership but I think what that does is it allows me
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to kind of see people and how they perceive things and how
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they take things and you know, and see changes and because I'm
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in the maybe in the reads a little bit more than I should be
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it does you know, I think I have a better idea of how people are
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performing and as a result I can reward we can reward the people
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that are performing and you know, and have them go within
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the company so well I think that that shows that you care that
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you show it shows that you are there for them and you know
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exactly when a museum like that that type of leader because you
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earlier you said you know what type of leadership style and
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some people like when you're there for them more they feel
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more valued. And then you can start to know when it is that
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you give them the ownership like when it is that you let them go
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and just take it off and run with it. Right. So it's like,
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yeah, knowing that I only know I
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And I maybe I'm an emotional leader. In a way, emotional
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intelligence is critical. And I think emotionally being theirs
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is important because I think I think I've seen it because I
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work for people that are engaged in people that are like, high
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level, hey, come to me if you have a problem with this kind of
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stay, you know, away, and that that works in regard to it,
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because it empowers people to make decisions. And so I, I
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there's a fine line between being involved and empowering
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people to do what they need to do. So that so that sometimes,
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you know, I have to sometimes I've pulled myself back and say,
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Okay, well, I'm not going to do it for them, because then all
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you're doing is kind of doing it for them, then they don't feel
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the the satisfaction of completing something on their
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own. So that's a fine line, it really is a fine line is that,
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especially if like you said, there's so this project is so
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long, like, how about celebrating all those small
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little? Do you do that, like small little miles. So really
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celebrate that more? We I mean, we, I wish we do more? Honestly,
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I think as a as an industry, I think we're just so there's time
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is very limited, and there's so much to get done. I mean, you
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know, just the just to get through the design and the
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submittal process to get everything approved. I mean, it
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could take four years into the job. And so there's a lot of lot
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of things. I mean, we have 6000 7000 submittals that we have to
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do. And you know, there's just so much a week, I wish we do
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more. I mean, we know we do the lunches, and you know, we do
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things like that, and you know, but I think as a company, I wish
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we do more. If it's up to me, I probably would I think you know,
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I think as an industry, the culture of doing those kinds of
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things don't really exist.
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But if it's up to me, I would say that we should try to do
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more in a more engagement and more team building. And like,
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you know, we've done a few like we've done an escape room, and
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we are we've done some things to kind of, you know, sure, but no,
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not enough, honestly. And how about you like how do you as a
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leader stay motivated you to do motivate everybody else? And
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then what about you? It's tough. It's tough. I mean, one is, you
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know, going through the LA traffic and kind of go through
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all these places, you know, it can be quite challenging. And,
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you know, that's when you, you're glad that you're building
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a train line to kind of improve the situation as a whole. No, it
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is, it is I mean, you know, I have, I mean, I have a very
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good, you know, very good relationship with my boss and
12:19
Reena, we talk about strategies and things all the time. And,
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you know, I think we kind of, I always say, We're the yin and
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yang, because we are, we are so different in our outlook on
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things, but it works really well because we are kind of
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opposites. So the challenges he has, you know, I think I have
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the strengths and understand those things I struggle with
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Pete You know, so. So I think that really helps be able to
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talk to someone, you know, not liking by appointment, but
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almost like an open door. We constantly talk and strategize
12:46
things, and we try things and if it fails, we try something else.
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So I think that surely, you know, I think having a
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supportive, you know, the boss helps, you know, because that
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keeps you engaged and kind of motivated. I mean, don't get me
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wrong, I've had, I mean, trust me there, you know, every every
13:02
two or three years be like, I just need to apply for another
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job. And I'm just so tired of this. But no, I think I think
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the I think the biggest thing is,
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you know, being again, I think it really helps that I am
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engaged with the people. Because I think if I was just connected
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with, with the people, I wouldn't have a personal stake
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in the success of everyone and, and people I've hired and people
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have, you know, made commitments to and things like that. And if,
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if I didn't have those things, I probably wouldn't be as
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motivated. Because I'm like, I you know, it's not a place. But
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I think all those things really helped. I think so just to
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summarize, I think, you know, having that communication style
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of being approachable, people can talk to you. But at the same
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time, they know, you know, you're the boss and you need
13:47
something, you need something, you know, having that fine line
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Unknown: being there in front of them to see, you know, so they
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understand you understand the struggles as well. I think all
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those things kind of create a good camaraderie in the group.
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And you know, it helps. It helps oh my gosh, it helps so much.
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Can you imagine them being in a community or an environment
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where there's no manager, they would be gone? They would, there
14:12
is no manager to support them, they would literally be out the
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door. So I love like, you know, we spend a lot of times and this
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goes for everybody in the audience. When we're in an
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environment, we cannot do a mean the environment is what it is
14:25
right? Sometimes we can make move a little bit, but it is
14:28
what it is. So I love that you're finding your why, like
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you're finding the reason for being here. Like you said, if it
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weren't for the people or weren't for your manager, then
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you probably have no stake in it. So you might be doing
14:41
something else. So because you found your why. And you're
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supporting these people, your your your team, your manager,
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all of you lifting each other up. I mean, you're obviously
14:51
building skills and bonds and experiences that may not show on
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the sheet, the bid sheet project
15:00
Melinda Lee: Mind, but they probably will. I mean, I think
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it does in some ways, right, the camaraderie that you can go
15:05
through different obstacles.
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Because you make money if you people are
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motivated.
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Melinda Lee: Yeah. So you have a solid team. Right. So I really
15:16
believe that. And I think that that's all because like you
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said, you're like a sort of like a leader that has high empathy.
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And, and and also, it's rare to have to have both the
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engineering skill set and capacity and also the people
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capacity. So kudos to you. They're lucky to have you. Thank
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you. Yeah. Yeah. So So could you share? What is one leadership
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tip for the audience that you can share? To help build their
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voice to help build them as a leader?
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Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Yeah, I think stay engaged. Yeah, you
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know, because I think I think, you know, I think that's a big
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problem I've see is that, you know, when people get promoted,
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they, they tend to look, I mean, again, as leaders, we need to be
16:03
looking ahead and looking at the big picture and those things,
16:06
but at the same time, I think we need to communicate those vision
16:09
clearly. To your employees, I think it's, it's, you know, when
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we're falling behind, I mean, someone needs to someone needs
16:16
to talk and we need to give the talk, but at the same time, you
16:19
know, you need to do it in a, in a compassionate way, and
16:22
understanding and I guess, have a pulse on the things you do.
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Because if you if you get disconnected, then then really,
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all you're getting is a story that someone else is telling you
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and painting a different picture. You know, and I always
16:35
say that, you know, it's like pink playing telephone, right?
16:38
By the time you get the final news, it's like, you know, the
16:41
word is like something else. Right? So, I think it's
16:44
important to stay engaged, and you know, and be approachable,
16:47
but it's not really, you know, not to break the chain of
16:50
command and, you know, kind of respect the chain of command,
16:53
but at the same time, stay engaged enough that, that, you
16:56
know, you know, what's going on. And I think that I think that,
16:59
you know, changes the trajectory of, at least in my experience
17:02
has helped me, you know, grow. I mean, I'm 39 years old, you
17:06
know, right now, and, you know, I think, you know, quite doing
17:09
quite well for, for these large projects, you know, he's not a
17:12
30 year guy in the industry now. So, I think a lot of that comes
17:15
from, you know, being engaged, you know, being engaged with
17:19
people and, and not letting go, I think that really helps. And
17:22
people are having also having, like, said, empathy, you know,
17:25
people are going through stuff, you know, work is not the only
17:28
thing they do people want to do other stuff, and, you know, have
17:32
offerings and flexibility in that regard, you know, helps and
17:35
goes a long way. And, you know, if someone works a Saturday,
17:38
I'll be like, okay, you know, take a day off, you know, no
17:41
problem, having those kind of things because, because reality
17:44
is like, you know, like, one of the things I do is if someone
17:47
has to work a Saturday or Sunday, because some things come
17:50
up, I will say, you know, what, take another day somewhere, you
17:54
know, we understand you're away from your family. I mean, having
17:57
those little things, you know, they help, you know, they help
18:00
keep your employees engaged. And hopefully, hopefully, they
18:03
respect you at that time to you know, stay with you. So,
18:06
Melinda Lee: yes, yes, yes. Well, obviously, you, you're
18:09
successful, and you've done a great job, because your
18:13
retention rate the people that guess that they're really there
18:17
to support you. So congratulations on your work
18:20
with that, by taking so much pride for sharing that
18:23
knowledge. So stay, engage, stay engaged, stay curious with your
18:28
people connected to your people, right? Go far, you don't want to
18:32
you we don't want to climb this mountain alone, we want to be
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you want to.
18:38
Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: I mean, that's the thing. You want to be
18:39
on the top of the ladder, you need all the rungs and you need
18:41
somebody on the ladder.
18:46
Melinda Lee: Thank you so much. I've learned so much. And I
18:49
trust also the listeners who are here. Hey, if you want to get
18:54
into railway and engineering, I mean, it's a lucrative, like you
18:58
said
18:59
Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: it is right now. I mean, just to give
19:01
you a heads up, I mean, you know, we are right now building
19:04
for the Olympics and 28. Yeah, I mean, if you look at if you if
19:08
you get curious, if you go to LA metros website and look at all
19:11
the capital projects that are coming. I mean, there's projects
19:14
all the way to 2045 2050 just just in LA, right. So I mean, I
19:18
mean, that's just the construction side of it, then
19:21
there's the maintenance side of keeping these things up, you
19:24
know, LM Metro has a lot of openings. You know, on the
19:27
contractor side, there's maintenance programs. And so
19:30
it's a very lucrative industry. It's a very specialized
19:33
industry. And the good thing is, we kind of know other players in
19:36
the industry, because it's such a small community. And, and I
19:40
think, I think from a conversation I mean, you know,
19:43
we, you know, it's hard to keep up with the tech companies and
19:46
all that stuff. But, you know, but also I always say that tech
19:50
companies is an up and down industry. While construction is
19:53
like you know, when the when the economy is booming, they spend
19:56
on infrastructure when the economy is going down, they
19:59
spend on infrastructure, right so there's Always that
20:02
continuous, you know, secure security in the in the
20:05
workplace. And, you know, I think there's a lot of sort of
20:08
stability in what we do. And I think there's, honestly, I think
20:12
we pay, I think, as an industry, the transportation industry tend
20:15
to pay more than the standard construction industry, because
20:19
we understand the challenges of, you know, working on these long
20:22
jobs. And, and, you know, we, there's a lot more, you know,
20:25
compensation available, available for that. So I really
20:28
hope that if, you know, if you're interested, you can
20:31
always reach out to me or, you know, I mean, I'm on LinkedIn,
20:35
and if you have questions about the industry do reach out, and
20:38
I'd love to talk to you, and help you kind of understand the
20:41
industry and, you know, the potential options available to
20:45
grow within the industry. So I mean, I'm hoping my son, I'm
20:48
hoping to retire in this industry. It's, it's, it's
20:51
challenging. And, you know, it's political in regards, and
20:54
there's a lot of a lot of things happening. And I will surely say
20:57
that, if you're considering the industry, I think, a strong
21:01
communication and I mean, being type A, having the skill set of,
21:04
you know, you need to be able to communicate, I think, I think if
21:08
you're a I mean, it's perfectly fine. If you're, you know, you
21:11
know, like, introverted person that, you know, I don't think
21:15
it's that's the issue. I think it does, it does require a lot
21:18
of communication, because you're working with so many elements in
21:21
so many disciplines and contractors, and if you don't
21:24
have a strong communication, you tend to not be successful in
21:28
this industry, you know,
21:29
Melinda Lee: right, right. Right. So So yeah, even if you
21:32
are an engineer at heart and love the numbers and loves
21:36
sitting behind the spreadsheets, it's still, we all need to have
21:40
that communication, and especially if you're, like,
21:44
you're a woman you're gonna stand out.
21:46
Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: So it's funny, I do see it, I mean,
21:48
that, you know, since that topic, you know, so I have two
21:51
daughters, you know, I always know when I drive to these
21:54
construction sites, and I always point out, like, Hey, that's my,
21:57
and the first thing they always ask me what I don't see any
22:00
woman construction worker. So, you know, I mean, it is good,
22:03
like these LA Metro jobs. I mean, you know, surely woman in
22:06
construction is it hasn't been, you know, thing, and now. Yeah,
22:10
it's coming in, actually, we have several electricians that
22:13
are, you know, that a woman, and actually, even on these big
22:16
projects, there's actually a requirement to engage more women
22:19
in the industry. So I'm hoping, you know, I'm hoping we can
22:22
motivate more women and honestly, you know, in my
22:24
experience, I mean, not to be, you know, taking a position, but
22:27
when it comes to, I think women are required in the construction
22:31
industry, because I feel like their, their, their skill sets,
22:34
there's some skill set that women bring that I haven't, I
22:37
think, you know, in terms of organizational in terms of
22:40
tracking stuff, and, you know, there's things I've had that I
22:43
think woman do a better job. And I mean, I'm hopefully no,
22:46
shouldn't be saying that, but really, they do a better job of
22:49
keeping things organized, that, you know, that I tend, I think,
22:52
I think we, you know, we as men struggle, you know, sometimes
22:55
and so I think it's a good, I wish and I hope, you know, more
22:58
women can come into the industry, and it's changed. You
23:01
know, it was a, you know, the change from before, I think was
23:04
kind of tough for women to be in the industry. And I think, you
23:07
know, people have changed and I think the outlook on woman in
23:10
that regard has changed. And we both on the owner side, and on
23:14
the contractor side, you know, I think there's more. I'm glad to
23:17
see more women coming into industry. And I think my younger
23:20
daughter has already told me she wants to be do what I do for a living.
23:23
Melinda Lee: So that's so cute. So cute. I love that. Oh, good,
23:27
good, good. I love that. And on that note, we're gonna we're
23:31
gonna end it. I think that was a great positive message to share.
23:36
And so reach out to Pratt, if you have any questions about the
23:40
industry. He's looking for great workers, engineers, and so, so
23:45
reach out. Thank you, Pratt so much for your time for your
23:49
expertise. It's been great.
23:51
Pratheesh (Prat) Nair: Thank you, Melinda for having me.
23:53
Unknown: Thank you. Bye. Listen, until next time. Take care.
23:58
Bye bye