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TRANSACTIONS SANBELL MERGES WITH JENSEN DESIGN & SURVEY, INC. Sanbell has merged with 40-person Jensen Design & Survey, Inc. of Ventura, California. Sanbell, formed by the recent mergers of Sanderson Stewart, Bellecci, Summit Engineering, and Coleman Engineering, is one of the fastest growing engineering, planning and design firms in the western United States. Sanbell has offices in Billings, Bozeman and Helena, Montana; Fort Collins, Colorado; Concord, Pleasanton, and Roseville, California; Elko and Reno, Nevada. Jensen Design & Survey adds one of Ventura County’s most established firms to the Sanbell family of companies. Jensen provides additional strength in land planning and development, water resources, floodplain mapping and land surveying to Sanbell’s already comprehensive multi-
disciplined services, which include civil infrastructure, water and wastewater utilities, multi-modal transportation and geotechnical engineering, community planning, construction management, surveying and mapping, landscape architecture, and communications and visualization services for public and private clients and communities across the West. Jensen will continue to operate under its current brand name but will function as a Sanbell company under the leadership of Sanbell’s CEO Michael Sanderson. Local leadership will continue under Susanne Cooper, managing principal, and the rest of Jensen’s current local principals. “We are excited to welcome Jensen to the Sanbell family of companies,” said Michael Sanderson, CEO. “This merger with Jensen enhances our service offerings, providing additional expertise
and tremendous new leaders for our organization, and it allows us to better serve our clients with additional locations throughout the West. We’re thrilled to be in Ventura.” Donald Jensen, founder of Jensen, echoes this enthusiasm, stating “This merger provides an exciting growth opportunity for the Jensen team within the Sanbell organization. We anticipate significant benefits to our team members and for our valued clients as this team grows and prospers together.” Sanbell is a dynamic and growing engineering, community planning, and design firm comprised of more than 200 professionals in locations across the West. Sanbell is committed to creating responsible, enduring communities and is devoted to integrity and honest hard work, treating others well, and a spirit of entrepreneurship and service.
2. Personal attention and support from leader/manager. High achievers who make stuff happen know they will be pushing limits and making waves, and are going to make some of the existing people upset at some point. They will need to know they have support from management when that happens. 3. Lack of rigid job titles and pay ranges. No sparkplug wants to work in a rigid kind of structure. If they did, they would work either for the government or a mega-corp. 4. Chance to become an owner in the business. Promises of ownership are not the same thing as possibilities. Possibility is all that is required from you as an employer. If the company has no plans or intent of ever selling ownership to employees, they really are sending out a message that opportunities for sparkplugs are limited. Sorry if you don’t want to hear this, business owners – but it’s the truth. 5. Intolerance for low performers. This is a biggie. Many architecture and engineering firms have a very bad record here. We try to keep everyone and find a place for them even if they repeatedly prove they aren’t going to do what is needed. Sparkplugs don’t like working around those who reduce their spark. It’s draining. So yes. Getting sparkplugs to work in your business isn’t just defined by luck or chance. There are definitely signs you can look for in job candidates that they may be one, and to attract and keep one, you are probably going to have to do some things differently than you have in the past. You know this makes sense! Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 5
other activities actually help the sparkplug’s employer because they meet other people through them and keep the sparkplug centered and balanced. Evidence of commitment and enthusiasm for anything is far better than none of that in any potential employee’s history if you want to hire a sparkplug. 4. Currently employed. Let’s face it. The best people are NOT unemployed. They have lots of options. Don’t restrict your candidate pool to those who are unemployed or you are automatically giving yourself a lower quality group to choose from. Not to say that good people cannot be unemployed – they can. But all other factors being equal, someone who is still working is likely to be a lower risk choice. 5. Willingness to do some radical things. Sparkplugs do things like take time off to help people in developing nations. They quit school in their junior year to build a cabin in the woods. They travel across the country on a motorcycle. They change their major in the last semester of college. They are willing to do some big things to change their lives in a big way. Look for this kind of radical action to find a sparkplug for your business. When it comes to an environment that will attract and keep a sparkplug, here are my thoughts on what’s needed: 1. Growth vision and plan. The best people want growth. The best way for them to get that is to be part of a growing enterprise that emphasizes growth over profitability. Profitability is great and no doubt essential for any privately-held company, but it doesn’t inspire people. And a growing business makes opportunities for people to get into roles that they would never have if not for being a part of it.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER SEPTEMBER 16, 2024, ISSUE 1553
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