TZL 1348

BUSINESS NEWS WARE MALCOMB ANNOUNCES CONSTRUCTION IS COMPLETE ON NEW PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY ASSOCIATION OFFICES IN SCOTTSDALE Ware Malcomb , an international design firm, announced construction is complete on the new offices of the Professional Beauty Association located at 7755 East Gray Road in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ware Malcomb provided interior architecture and design services for the project. The Professional Beauty Association made the move to their new office location to accommodate the organization’s growth. The 17,000 square foot tenant improvement project included the creation of private offices, huddle rooms, conference rooms, a gym and a break room. The design incorporated a

feature staircase to an existing mezzanine area that was previously inaccessible, providing a striking focal point to the space as well as increasing its functionality. Prior to demolition, the space had been used as a restaurant. The design features an open floorplan concept highlighting exposed ceilings throughout the space, creating a modern and industrial feel. New skylights and exterior windows were added to bring more natural light to the space. A neutral color palette is accentuated with pops of color that reflect the Professional Beauty Association brand. Modern finishes complete the design, incorporating various materials including ceramic tile, luxury vinyl tile, carpet and quartz countertops.

“It is always exciting to have the opportunity to completely demo and reimagine a space through the lens of our client,” said Kevin Evernham, Principal of Ware Malcomb’s Phoenix office. “In addition to providing more space to accommodate current and future growth, the new offices of the Professional Beauty Association are a perfect reflection of the organization’s energy, brand and culture.” Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is an international design firm providing planning, architecture, interior design, branding, civil engineering and building measurement services to commercial real estate and corporate clients. Ware Malcomb is recognized as a Hot Firm and Best Firm to Work For by Zweig Group.

EDUARDO SMITH, from page 9

over the next two months and developed strategies (more like aspirational goals) that were ready to present to the rest of the group. Our values were simply stated: “We are client-centered, teamwork focused, and we develop and challenge our staff to meet their personal goals.” We fine-tuned the message and words after a couple of months while meeting with staff to get their input as part of the alignment process. After finalizing them, our values were always top of mind. We discussed them in virtually every meeting; they were our rallying cry. We insisted on teamwork and serving the client first. To do otherwise was to cross onto the wrong side of a proverbial line in the sand. The results of these steps far exceeded our expectations. Four months into the process, our region was the worst performing in the company. We lost staff that didn’t believe in the direction we were going. Many were questioning why we were spending the time and money on the “soft stuff,” asking why we were not focusing solely on being more billable. But in the remaining eight months of the year, we turned it around. We ended our year growing our net revenue by more than 30 percent and became one of the leading performers in the company. That mindset, culture, and performance success continue to this day. We have doubled our revenue in five years, which started with our mindset change. We don’t harp on utilization and the metrics many AEC firms focus on; we keep our focus on our overall health. Company health may sound too squishy for our technical profession. It’s hard to measure and track. The results, however, can be quite visible. But be warned, it’s something we can’t take for granted, or we will backslide into old habits. By the way, Lencioni was right. The year I focused most of my time on our transformation into a healthy region, was the most rewarding year of my career. EDUARDO SMITH, P.E. is senior vice president of client success at SCS Engineers. Contact him at esmith@scsengineers.com.

I spent months getting to know our office managers and the needs of their staff and clients. Most of us agreed that we were not satisfied with our performance and we needed to do something about it. We worked as a team to hone in and agree on our message to the staff. We kept the message straightforward, inflexible, and with clear expectations; we work hard, and work as a team. Nothing less would do. If each team member did those two things, they could always count on our support. If they were unwilling, they would quickly find that this region of SCS was not the place for them. “In the typical AEC firm, the focus is often on metrics like utilization, direct labor multiplier, and return on business development expense. The “soft stuff” like culture, employee engagement, and overall health are often overlooked.” Now what? Having participated in SCS’ leadership development program, I turned to Bob Elliott of Transpective, who facilitated the program and remained my coach. We gathered staff in a couple of locations enabling interaction across offices to conduct personality profile workshops using DiSC and to begin formulating a strategy for the region. We discussed general mindsets and blind spots of the different personality types and how best to work with those who have a different way of processing information and the like. That day-long workshop alone began to have immediate effects. We started viewing each other as human beings, each with a story to tell. We discovered that we weren’t very different from one another, and all of us wanted SCS and our region to be successful. After the DiSC work, about 15 of us gathered to start working on strategies to keep the momentum going. A day later, we had some ideas but weren’t close to something that we could rally around. A subgroup continued working

THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 8, 2020, ISSUE 1348

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