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ON THE MOVE CASEY SVEIVEN JOINS WGI IN AUSTIN OFFICE WGI is pleased to announce that Casey Sveiven joined the firm’s MEP Engineering Division as a project engineer in its Austin office. He comes to WGI with over three years of experience, and specific expertise in commercial and residential electrical design the majority in national retail rollout programs. Sveiven passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam and holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from California State University, Chico. As a multidisciplinary solutions-providing consulting firm,
3)Trusting teams and trust in your team. If your people can work at their highest and best use, they will take care of the clients. It is not the responsibility of the senior leaders of the organization to take care of clients, it is to take care of their team. If the team feels they can work for someone they trust, they will produce results. In toxic cultures, where this isn’t the case, your team will feel the need to protect themselves from leadership. Build an environment where people feel safe to express their needs, concerns, and fears without worrying about repercussions or condemnation. Otherwise, you will get a group of people who come to work every day lying, hiding, and fak- ing. Do you need to be copied on every email, especially when you’re on vacation, or do you trust your team to handle it? 4)Find a worthy rival. This is someone whose strengths point out your weaknesses so that you can work harder to fill in the gaps within your organization. The goal is not to be number one, it is to create an organization that will outlast your leadership, to leave a legacy. Your firm ex- ists to achieve something that could very well last beyond your lifetime. 5)The ability to pivot. You must be able to adapt, change, innovate, and evolve given the environ- ment, technology, resources, and resolve you have. If you are focused on your vision, you are more likely to withstand change as a result of the decisions you are making. If done right, you will create the infrastructure and lay the founda- tion for an organization/leadership that gets spoken about as visionaries. Others will wonder if you can see the future, but you simply adopt practices that further your belief rather than waste resources chasing fads or the whims of your “competition.” I recommend taking your team through the exercise of setting a 100-year vision. Things will only get harder if you fail to take some time for introspection in order to find the root cause of your problems. This is a continual process that needs to be revisited frequently. Don’t be afraid to look in the mirror. PHIL KEIL is director of strategy services at Zweig Group. Contact him at pkeil@zweiggroup.com. WGI has 18 offices in six states, serving an active client base in more than 30 states, specializing in the following disciplines: Land development/municipal engineering, traffic and transportation engineering, parking solutions, geospatial services, subsurface utility engineering, structures, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, architecture, land planning, MEP engineering, and creative services. Zweig Group ranked WGI No. 11 on its 2018 Hot Firms list and No. 23 on the 2018 Best Firms to Work For list.
STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISING Zweig Group’s experts work directly with company leadership, guiding firms toward defining and achieving their important business objectives. Zweig Group’s strategic planning experts begin with a detailed assessment of the firm, then compare operations – inside and out – to Zweig Group’s comprehensive data set of industry benchmarks and best practices. Armed with this current assessment, these experts work with leadership to craft a rich and compelling plan for the company’s future, including vision, mission, goals, strategies, and actions for execution. Areas of expertise include: ❚ ❚ Revenue and profit growth plans ❚ ❚ New market and assessment and operations audits ❚ ❚ Client research and client perception surveys ❚ ❚ Financial and operations benchmarking analysis ❚ ❚ Strategic business plan development geographic area expansion plans ❚ ❚ Comprehensive management and planning meeting facilitation ❚ ❚ Shareholder value assessment ❚ ❚ And more To learn more, please call 800.466.6275.
PHIL KEIL, from page 3
This is certainly a much larger topic than can be covered in this article, so I will give you five things you can begin implementing in your firm. I would also encourage you to reach out to start a conversation. We need to get together and have these philosophical discussions if we are to elevate our industry. 1)Your firm needs a just cause. What is your mission and why does your firm exist? This is the higher moral calling that will be used as a rallying cry, serving as a beacon that brings the best team members together. This cause is why people will be willing to sacrifice their self-inter- est in service to the cause: their blood, sweat, and tears. One of the best examples is the Dec- laration of Independence. All men are created equal: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You are looking to generate a thirst for the ideal you are striving for. “What is your mission and why does your firm exist? This is the higher moral calling that will be used as a rallying cry, serving as a beacon that brings the best team members together.” 2)Courageous leadership. Look for people who talk about who they are, not what they do. These people know what their values are (and the firm’s values). We do not want people in leader- ship positions who are only interested in money, position, or power. If you are constantly market- ing how great your bonuses are, you are only go- ing to attract people who are interested in more bonuses and other superficial things. If we are the aggregation of the five people we spend the most time with, who would you rather lead your teams? We want people who are capable of sacri- ficing in the short-term to achieve the long-term vision. Leadership should be willing to sacrifice their own interest or money from a client who doesn’t further propel the shared vision. This type of leader would never sacrifice their people in service to their self-interest. It shouldn’t need to be said, but title isn’t leadership.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER May 6, 2019, ISSUE 1295
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