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BUSINESS NEWS BURNS & MCDONNELL RETAINS NO. 1 SPOT ON 2018 ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD RANKING OF TOP DESIGN FIRMS IN TEXAS REGION Continued strength in the Power and Oil and Gas sectors allowed Burns & McDonnell to maintain its No. 1 position on the ENR ranking of Top Design firms in a region encompassing Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Burns & McDonnell reported $501.8 million in project revenue for 2017, the time period for compiling the 2018 rankings of engineering design firms. The results were approximately equal to the prior year, when

Burns & McDonnell also earned the No. 1 ranking for the ENR -Texas region. “There are a lot of great firms in our region so it’s always gratifying to see our success recognized,” says Leslie Duke, Burns & McDonnell president and general manager of the Houston regional office. “Our formula is the same as it’s always been – to focus on client service and offer a full range of project delivery models providing risk-sharing, cost certainty and schedule control.” Since opening its doors in 1994, the

Houston office has grown to become Burns & McDonnell’s largest, outside of the firm’s headquarters office in Kansas City. Burns & McDonnell is on track toward adding 1,000 employees in 2018, with many of them located in one of Burns & McDonnell’s six Texas locations. Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world.

JULIE BENEZET , from page 9

their achievements unrecognized, and careers stunted by the bullying manager’s self-absorption. More significantly, the company suffers a cultural impact. When people perceive it tolerates bullies, the message gets out that it has a toxic work culture. That hurts the attraction and retention of talent, as people will leave, or avoid joining in the first place. Therefore, it behooves organizations to confront their bullies. Bully Intervention 101: 1)The big reveal. Somebody has to tell them. An intrepid employee might challenge a bully by asking them to stop a behavior. Sometimes that works. More likely, senior manage- ment has to act. 2)Messaging. “Presume the bullies are blind,” advises Pam Re- chel, an executive coach who has worked with many bullies. Messaging to bullies should be clear and fact based. ❚ ❚ Name and describe the behaviors. For example, “Stop raising your voice, pointing your finger, and pounding on the table.” ❚ ❚ Describe the consequences. “Nobody wants to work for you. If you do not change your abrasive behaviors (don’t say “bully”), it could cost you your _____ (bonus, promo- tion, job, etc.).” ❚ ❚ Propose a plan. Tell them that you value them enough to offer coaching. It is optional, but behavioral change is not. 3)Collect feedback. An interview-based 360 will provide spe- cific feedback on the bullying behavior and its impact on oth- ers. 4)Implement a plan. The plan should include an agreement to target behaviors identified by feedback, a coach to promote learning, and regular progress reports to senior management. Success depends on leadership enforcing the plan. This includes carrying out the consequences of failure to cease bullying behaviors. It’s not easy, but the reward for bully intervention is decreased bad behavior, increased productivity, and a much-improved work environment. JULIE BENEZET spent 25 years in law and business, and for the past 16 years has coached and consulted with executives from virtually every industry. She earned her stripes for leading in the discomfort and excitement of the new as Amazon’s first global real estate executive. She is an award-winning author of The Journey of Not Knowing: How 21st Century Leaders Can Chart a Course Where There Is None . She can be reached at juliebenezet.com .

she wants. They succeed in dominating others by using a variety of behaviors. Five major types are: 1)Overcontrol: “He’s a total micromanager. He treats us like kids instead of adults.” 2)Threats: “She told them if they didn’t like the way she ran things, she’d be happy to write them a reference.” 3)Public humiliation: “He yells at people and belittles them out where everyone can hear.” 4)Condescension: “Her tone conveys ‘I’m bright and right – you’re slow and stupid.’” 5)Overreaction: “He makes snap judgments – makes assump- tions and leaps to conclusions without investigating.” Depressed, yet? As obvious as these unconstructive, obnoxious behaviors are to others, one of the many misconceptions about bullies is that they are aware of their bad behavior and act deliberately. In fact, many do not realize how they come across, much less their destructive impact. “When people perceive [the company] tolerates bullies, the message gets out that it has a toxic work culture. That hurts the attraction and retention of talent, as people will leave, or avoid joining in the first place.” Another misconception is that bullies come from a place of strength. In fact, they tend to be conflict avoidant, often wrestling with insecurity. The property management director in the aforementioned story, for example, may have allowed herself no room for errors and hated hearing that she missed something. Regardless of their underlying issues, the over- compensating behavior of bullies can wreak havoc on their teams and the broader organization. When the company supports them by ignoring the problem, the results are costly. People avoid bullies by finding excuses to exclude them. Ideas don’t flow. Execution suffers. Those who have the misfortune of working with them find their ideas ridiculed,

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 23, 2018, ISSUE 1257

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