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© Garrett Rowland
Empowering people: Kim Heartwell President and CEO of CallisonRTKL, a global firm that has created some of the world’s most successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions, and public entities.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
A t CallisonRTKL (Baltimore, MD), Heartwell is responsible for the strategic development of innovative workplace environments for companies around the world. She has a genuine affinity for working with complex corporations and agencies to create spaces that unify and exemplify her clients’ mission-focused environments that boost morale, increase efficiency, facilitate communication and collaboration, and incorporate green principles. “We’re a company where people love the culture. We’ve had lots of rebound employees – in fact, I’m one of them,” Heartwell says. “People who work here are really purpose or mission driven. We are always asking ourselves, ‘What do we believe in?’ For me, it’s all about communicating, staying connected, engaging, and empowering people.” A CONVERSATION WITH KIM HEARTWELL. The Zweig Letter: Can you give me a recent example that illustrates how the company was able to solve an
operational problem, effect cultural change, or prepare a client for the future? Kim Heartwell: Well, we’re in the problem-solving business and in order to be able to effectively help clients, we have to be well organized ourselves. It starts at home. So, we recently re-organized our operations. We used to be organized by region – it was very silo-like – and we found that we were practically competing against each other. So, we moved to a stronger-based practice model. We evolved again and as we developed a more global reach, we became somewhat siloed again. About two years ago, we entered into a matrix model. It’s a little messier, but it teams up employees with office leadership. It forced us to collaborate across offices and practices and opened us up to create a stronger external message. Our organization now aligns with our key initiatives – resilience, well- being, and human-centric design. We created a level of collaboration and communication that positioned us well when COVID-19 happened. The transition was smooth and positive and helped to further reinforce the matrix model.
THE ZWEIG LETTER MA
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