Wellness Inside and Out | Clinic Program Mentors Minority Construction Firms

By Stephanie Davis

Cleveland’s minority business enterprises (MBE) are hardly a minority player today when it comes to bidding new construction projects for the Cleveland Clinic as well as the greater metropolitan area, thanks to a partnership between the Cleveland Clinic and local construction firms and architects.

“Essentially, we recognized a gap in the available opportunities for minority business owners with construction at the Clinic,” Hermione Malone, Supplier Diversity Director at Cleveland Clinic, says. “We are really looking at how we could grow capacity of these smaller businesses to be competitive in the construction field – on a larger scale.”

In 2013, Cleveland Clinic was inspired to pool together resources from its Buildings and Properties, Operations Administration, and Diversity and Inclusion into a partnership with a goal to grow medium-sized businesses through the Clinic’s construction projects. Out of that emerged an initiative that was launched last September and is known as the construction Mentor/Protégé program. 

Representatives from one architectural services firm, five construction management companies, and six minority business enterprises (MBEs) are now involved in a multi-year partnership designed to boost capacity of smaller minority firms through a structured mentoring process. Participating mentors include Gilbane Construction, Krill Construction, Turner Construction, Skanska, Whiting-Turner and Robert Bostwick (Bostwick Design Partnership Group). Participating mentees include AKA Construction Management Team, The Coniglio Group, KBJ Construction, Key Construction, Roma Designs, and Ubiquitous Design.

The ultimate goal of the program is to enable MBE firms to bid competitively on larger construction projects in the future, both within and outside of the Cleveland Clinic. 

 “The major benefit of the mentor/protégé program is addressing the core issue of minority business capacity in Cleveland,” Frank Aucremanne, Executive Director, Cleveland Clinic Buildings and Properties, says. 

Aucremanne says the capacity issue is being addressed, thanks in part to the vision and input of Ron Lawson, Cleveland Clinic Director of Construction, who explains that growing capacity in the case of MBEs may entail an ability to grow individual firms from a two-man office to an eight-man office, for example. 

According to Malone, each of the firms collaborated to create a series of benchmarks and capabilities that protégé firms needed to meet to build skills and capabilities. “Those identifiers create the mentoring experience,” Malone says.

Lawson adds that the mentor program really relies on the leadership of the established construction and design companies for its continued success. “Cleveland Clinic does not have the manpower to train people to become a better contractor or architect or to get into the big-league end of the construction business. Instead, we need to increase the number of diverse organizations to compete on projects.”

So the leadership of the Clinic went to key players — architects and construction managers — and requested that they consider becoming mentors. “We said we want you to bring on a new or young diverse firm – and teach them how to work with us — on hospital construction,” Lawson says.

Once the mentor firms were identified, those firms, in turn, selected the protégé possibilities. 

The mentors were then given a list of criteria to fulfill in selecting mentees, criteria such as a) had to be more than a one-man firm; b) be in business for at least five years; c) had to have a business plan and interest in growing the company; d) not just working for immediate income, but for the long term. 

 “We accepted every minority firm that mentors brought in, six organizations in total,” Lawson says. 

Since the program is less than a year old, there’s been little time to provide an overall assessment. However, there was a check-in earlier this year. Mentors can indicate on a quarterly metrics template where they think mentee firms are in acquiring skills and capabilities.

In the process, Lawson mentions the learning curve for all parties. “We don’t know their organizations and they don’t know ours. We need to know what their current capabilities are as well as where we need to provide more guidance to help them take on larger more involved projects,” he says.

The mentor/mentee relationship is projected to last three to five years to have “sustainable impact,” Malone says. “The idea is to repeat the program once we’ve successfully carried out the first round.” 

Aucremanne notes that he is already beginning to see mentee firms operating at a higher level in terms of business planning. This can only benefit the Clinic’s goals in the long run, he projects.

“Cleveland Clinic has a strong diversity program internally and externally in the Cleveland community that is about supporting growth of minorities. We view this mentor/protégé program as one of many tools to pursue and help diverse firms to be successful,” Aucremanne says. “We want the MBEs to be successful, make a profit, and be able to reinvest in the business.”

Lawson adds, “The ultimate goal for me is to have more diverse firms that are capable of bidding Cleveland Clinic work direct. We want more firms and more competition. We want them to be able to complete it on time with a quality level to truly become a competitive diverse firm.”

To date, some projects (all northeast Ohio based) are already being inked as a direct result of this program. Already, three protégé firms have been awarded direct contracts for smaller projects. In the 4th quarter of last year, Malone also cites how protégés were able to bid on five out of 11 projects and won four bids.

As for potential areas of improvement, Joe Strauss, Cleveland Clinic Director of Planning and Design, says “There is a need for the MBEs to advance in terms of technology. Obviously, bigger firms have more resources and access to resources, such as more sophisticated technology. Now the smaller firms are identifying what they need to grow.” For example, he mentions CAD and BIM technology, an area that bigger firms have adopted in the last several years, but which is pretty new for smaller firms. 

“As minority firms grow their businesses and staff — they’ll grow technology with it. There’s an expected growth period of up to five years. Then these firms can compete with the bigger players. None of this will happen overnight,” Strauss says. 

For more information: my.clevelandclinic.org/about-cleveland-clinic/diversity-inclusion/supplier.aspx

Published by: CBC Magazine