TZL 1405 (web)

ON THE MOVE WINSTANLEY ARCHITECTS PLANNERS APPOINTS LEEJUNG HONG, LEED AP, TO PRINCIPAL Winstanley Architects & Planners has announced that Leejung Hong, LEED AP, has been appointed to principal of the firm. In her role as principal, she will direct and oversee the design studio’s projects and manage the day-to-day operations of the firms’ two design workshops. & She was previously the studio director and has been with the firm for 12 years, working on various projects such as master planning and building designs for both academic institutions and private developers. Lee has always tackled complex responsibilities smoothly and effectively in both architecture and various planning assignments. Her work ethic is extraordinary and organizational skills are unmatched, and the Winstanley’s team cannot be more confident that she will provide much needed value in her new role as principal in the company. Throughout her career, Lee has demonstrated her interest in sustainable and resilient projects.

She has also led some of the firm’s most crucial and complex projects as team leader, such as the Old Dominion Boat Club, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Mullins Hall, Wolfgang Puck’s Cut at the Rosewood Hotel, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and much more. Lee’s knowledge and expertise in academic planning, infrastructure and historic preservation has given her the opportunity to lead the Stone Ridge School Master Plan and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Master Plan projects. Some of the current projects on the boards include: ❚ ❚ 1300 King Street – a mixed use development integrating two historic structures. ❚ ❚ King and Henry – four buildings across two sites in the heart of old town which features an automated parking garage. ❚ ❚ Torpedo Factory Art Center – re-

envisioning the complex with a broader and more inclusive vision that better aligns with the diversity and interests of the city. ❚ ❚ Parcel 15 - Interim Retail – collaborating with Adjaye Associates on delivering a community hub in St. Elizabeth’s East, DC with Emerson Collective and Redbrick as the developers. ❚ ❚ Floating Community – a special interest research project on resilient water-based living. Winstanley Architects & Planners is an award- winning architectural and planning design studio specializing in projects of distinction from a design, cultural, environmental and political perspective. With design workshops in Washington, D.C., and Miami, the firm is renowned for its ability to seamlessly integrate planning, architecture and interior design in projects across the academic, civic, commercial, hospitality, mixed-use, renovation/ historic preservation, and residential sectors in North America and the Caribbean.

TIM SCHROEDER, from page 9

feedback from the principals, as well as a cross-section of their peers. The success of this system inspired us to increase our level of client feedback. We utilized the Client Feedback Tool, which tracks stakeholder expectations throughout a project’s lifecycle, and created a team to oversee its use. “Since adopting this approach, we have increased employee engagement and elevated our position in the industry in terms of design excellence and client experience.” PROVIDING LEADERSHIP. Our initiatives and staff-led teams developed over time. With each team, the principals were heavily involved in the early stages to provide crucial leadership until the teams could operate with minimal oversight. Our 360-reviews also facilitated the process. By receiving feedback from a group of their peers, the team became more coachable and learned how to work together. Today, our firm sustains a non-hierarchal culture amid the necessary hierarchy, and each team continuously seeks new learning opportunities that evolve our firm with the industry. By creating a team-oriented structure, we deepened employee engagement, enhanced our communication, and improved our agility. These changes occurred over a decade, demonstrating that change is not immediate. In his 1996 book Leading Change , John P. Kotter argues that transformation is a process – not an event. Our story is proof. TIM SCHROEDER, AIA CDT LEED AP is president with Neumann Monson Architects. Contact him at tschroeder@neumannmonson.com .

excellence. The principals, however, wanted to increase the staff’s engagement with clients. Although changes were not immediate, the retreat resulted in two major steps that furthered the staff and principals’ goals. First, we used resource planning software to organize teams around individual strengths and deepen the staff’s involvement with each project. Second, we began our design quality initiative. FINDING A NEW STRUCTURE. Initially, the design quality initiative consisted of two principals reviewing projects and leading critiques. Although it may seem hard to believe, this was the first time we started a formal firm-wide process for reviewing our work. Implementation was disruptive at first. The project reviews slowed our internal processes, frustrating both clients and staff members. We shared the staff’s interest in design excellence and continued refining and developing our system. As we evolved, we invited staff to the team, which set the stage for the design quality team, now a staff-led initiative. Other initiatives evolved alongside design quality. Good design relies on good documents, so we helped seasoned staff form the quality assurance team. This team sets standards for construction documents and design specifications and reviews all projects before groundbreaking. Our preexisting sustainability initiative gained new momentum as other teams emerged with a newfound level of empowerment. Lastly, our client experience team evolved through an internal culture of feedback. In addition to rethinking our management structure, we implemented a new system for employee reviews. Rather than annual top-down reviews, we began 360-peer-reviews where everyone receives

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 23, 2021, ISSUE 1405

Made with FlippingBook Annual report