Highlighter Summer 2015

6 | Pond & Company Have you ever stopped for a moment and pondered, “Why do our customer’s choose us to deliver on their needs?” “What is it that keeps them coming back?” If there are many other firms in the market that do what we do, why is it that our customers pick us? We know the answer because we ask, and what they tell us is it’s all about the people…the relationship. We are not just architectural, planning, constructing, engineering, accounting, marketing or administrative professionals; we are professional consultants. Whether your most direct customers are inside or outside the firm, we are all consultants here at Pond. We have made a choice to take our core talents and abilities and use them in a business that is all about people and relationships. We did not choose a career in a remote manufacturing plant where our days are spent in a room solving systems problems with infrequent human interaction. Instead, we produce very tangible end valuable intellectual property. Production is still important and each and everyone one of us is held accountable for results. That makes us all “doers”. We all have long lists of “to dos” which not delivering on will result in unfavorable consequences. Likewise, we all manage as well – at least at some level. If nothing else, we must manage our “to dos”. But most of us manage workloads, timelines, budgets, processes, or teams. Managing is all about planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring, controlling and being responsible for outcomes. Even if you spend less time at work managing, likely you spend a fair amount of time outside work doing just that. Notice, not much has been said about people or relationships in all of this. If one person could produce all we do, then why would we need 520 by 2020? Of course, we know that one person cannot do all we do and achieve what we have set out to accomplish. Building a succesful company requires a diverse force marching in sync toward a common objective to achieve our mission. This is where leadership comes in. Leadership is all about painting a vision, inspiring action and fostering an environment where people can achieve desired results. It’s about effecting behavior, building confidence, and removing obstacles. It’s about ownership at every possible level in any given environment or in the most random unexpected situation. It’s about how we treat people, resolve conflicts, settle disputes or inspire different perspectives. Effective leadership demands integrity, maturity, urgency, sacrifice and attentiveness. Every one at Pond is a leader. I had the opportunity to hear one of our clients say, “The reason I chose Pond is because they gave me confidence in achieving our challenging goals and making me a winner in the eyes of my stakeholders.” Pond is going to grow. We will achieve our objectives because we have an incredible force of dedicated professionals who are committed to the mission. With growth comes enormous opportunity to build careers. Look around. If there are 10 people on our team and we can simplistically predict there to be 20 in a few years, what will our structure be when we get there? Where do we fit into the future? If you intend to move forward and progress, you must be developing yourself while at the same time developing your successors. If you want to be part of achieving our objectives, you must be maintaining and expanding excellent client relationships. If you want to sustain the growth momentum, you must be pioneering new markets and services. We are all leaders in some capacity – inside and outside the firm. If you want to stand out among your peers, be recognized by your talent, and build your career – work on your leadership skills. n Pam Gower - Director of Human Resources It’s Our Competitive Advantage People Relationships & “ Doug recalls the experience [shoveling out a sheep shed] strengthened his determination NOT to do manual labor for a living. ” -First/Worst Job at age 11 on a farm in Virginia LEADER POND P Doug Hannah, AIA, LEED AP 2015 Emerging Professional Award - AIA, GA The purpose of the Young Professionals program is to get young architects involved in AIA and enable them to get the most benefit out of their membership. Under Doug’s leadership, they sponsored events to promote the profession. For instance, they held studio tours of different firms so that young architects would have the chance to observe different workplace environments. They also held design competitions like 10 Up or the 48 Hours project. He is proud that many of the programs he started have remained in place. “I wanted to leave a positive impact on the group, so seeing that was rewarding.”