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ON THE MOVE ISG WELCOMES DIVISION I COLLEGIATE HOCKEY COACH INTO FIRM ISG welcomes Darren Blue, from Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Men’s Hockey, as one of its newest employee- owners. Blue will be joining the firm as a Development Strategist with the Sports + Recreation business unit, bringing a variety of sports experience from high school, semi- professional, and collegiate levels. His years both on the ice and at the bench as a coach, in multiple sports arenas, give the firm a look into the needs and desires of spectators, athletes, and staff alike. When asked where the desire to shift his career from coaching into the private sector emerged, Blue stated that, “Through my experience as a coach at various levels, I have had a behind- the-scenes look into the difference that a well-designed and finished facility can make in the day-to-day attitudes of all users including athletes, coaches, support staff, and spectators. During our renovations here, I was able to work hand- in-hand with the passionate and talented people of ISG and feel fortunate to be joining
this group to aid in the process of getting the ball rolling for future athletic and recreation transformations.” With more than 30 years in hockey, Blue has experienced its perspectives from an athlete, coach, spectator, and administrator point of view. More recently, during his time in Division I men’s hockey, he found a desire to create a positive difference for each team through design. “As we continuously seek to understand our clients and their needs better, there isn’t a better way than to welcome a client to our team. We are thrilled to have Darren join the Sports + Rec team; his thoughtfulness, competitive spirit, and consideration for “better every day” are all fitting traits for our firm,” states Vice President Amanda Prosser, ISG’s Sports and Recreation Business Unit Leader. Blue will support firm-wide growth initiatives by working with sports and recreation clients across the Midwest, specifically on the development of facilities that help teams flourish and grow. With the same coaching mindset carried from his years of coaching,
Blue states, “I am looking forward to helping other clients see what can be and help them understand how that vision and service will impact their program’s success.” ISG, a 100 percent ESOP firm, has a rich history, which extends over 48 years, of building trusting relationships with clients, stakeholders, and the community. As a full-service architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm with 350+ professionals in offices throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, ISG provides exceptional services, strategies, and guidance to a wide range of markets nationwide. ISG was named among the 100 fastest growing firms, best places to work for, and market excellence leader in the United States by Zweig Group, recognized as a Top 500 Design Firm by Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine, and has earned spots on numerous Top Workplace and project recognition lists.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 11
both principals in the same firm. None of these situations are acceptable and they all hurt the business. So if you are actually serious about solving this problem, here’s what I would be looking at (versus trying to do it all with BS training put on by coaches): 1)Organization structure. Do you have geographic office profit centers? Do you have discipline-based profit centers? If so, I would be willing to guess that you have issues related to sharing work or clients between units. The structure is an issue – it’s not just some academic abstraction. 2)Accounting. Do you track and report on the profitability of your organizational units? If so, don’t be surprised when disputes erupt between units or when one unit withholds work that could be done by another unit whose staff is underutilized. No reason to do it. Hurts your P&L to let any work be done by another unit in the company. 3)Incentive compensation. Do you pay people based on their success in selling more work? Do you pay people based on the profitability of their discipline-based or geography-based organizational units? If so, anticipate a lack of willingness on the part of your managers to turn over any client or work to someone else in the firm. These three things are the reason for a lack of cooperation. Of course, there are other reasons for it. A lack of faith in someone’s ability to perform and please a client brought in by someone else is a big issue. How the principals get along with each other is an issue, too, because those feelings and prejudices often get passed down to the people who work for them. The lack of cooperation and collaboration is not a matter of “embracing, engaging, enabling, empowering, and energizing.” I’m calling BS on that one! MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com .
do is have meetings and talk, versus dealing with the actual underlying causes of a lack of cooperation and collaboration inside AEC firms, you will waste a whole bunch of time and your efforts will fail. That’s right. I said that your efforts will fail. “Lack of cooperation and collaboration creates all kinds of problems for firms in this business. You will see situations where two or more business units are pursuing the same project with the same client. You will see a complete lack of cross selling the firm’s full range of services.” They may not fail, however, if you have the courage and fortitude to change some of the things inside your company that are creating the situation, that being a lack of collaboration between individuals and across business units. That lack of cooperation and collaboration creates all kinds of problems for firms in this business. You will see situations where two or more business units are pursuing the same project with the same client. You will see a complete lack of cross selling the firm’s full range of services when the client is currently using only one of their services. You will see disciplines fighting with each other and not coordinating their work which wastes countless hours and creates quality and client service problems. You will see people fighting with each other and speaking disparagingly about one another, even though they are
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THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 15, 2021, ISSUE 1417
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