Before starting the Panel discussion on “State and National Advocacy”, the class took few minutes to discuss the strategies and goals of the City Walk Class project. The group decided to meet the community life team before meeting the resident groups.
Pete started by recapping the panel discussion and then took it further. We all experienced the fact that things taught at Architecture and other engineering-based schools are different than what we really need to know and use in our professional life. Now that we have been out of school for several years, it is time for us do some mentoring at the schools and try to bridge the gap between - “fresh graduate with software knowledge and experienced professionals with technical knowledge”. His word of caution on the topic:
“Work comes to excellent people until they submerged themselves in talking about oneself, instead of promoting oneself.”
We refreshed our memory on the Awareness-Influence-Commitment triangle and discussed how one can influence with or without authority. The old farm gate model of progressing within an organization was also brought up.
Pete discussed the Book, “Evergreen Project” on “what really works” is a compilation of study by academician on companies who has been profitable for more than last 20 years. What is their secret? The 4-2 formula.
Sticking to 4 primary Practices:
1. Strategies- Make your strategy clear and focused
2. Execution- Execute flawlessly
3. Culture- build a performance based culture
4. Organization- Make your organization fast and flat.
Paying attention to 4 Secondary practices:
1. Talent of employees- make talent stick around and develop more
2. Leadership & Governance- Make your leaders committed to your business
3. Innovation- Make industry-transforming innovations
4. Mergers & Partnership- Make growth happen with mergers and partnership
How are strategies are different from tactic? Strategies are long term plans which will bring the “most bang for your buck”. Steve Jobs’ Apple office layout was brought in as an example. When Steve took over the office, he relocated all the bathrooms to one central spot, next to the Agora of the building, which forced different isolated groups within the company to see each other and exchange ideas.
Paying attention is key, otherwise the company may end up getting boiled like the west Texan “Story of the Bullfrog”, which could not jump out of the pot on time as he was not paying attention to the water heating up slowly. Andy brought up the example of Blockbuster, struggling to survive.
Beware of the unaware. Kim brought up the example of Chili’s - how they needed to understand what their customer wanted before they tried to provide something for them.
When the topic of execution came by, Andy commented on how the design industry is taking advantage of the 3D modeling in fabrication. Ryan added how BIM is helping to resolve conflicts upfront and saving money.
Pete brought in the example of a 400-room hotel project where empowering the front line people eliminated the micromanagement problem and finally made the hotel profitable. Wal-mart is on the opposite end, constantly striving to minimize waste. Chris shared his experience of working with Wal-mart.
The culture of the firm should inspire each person to do their best. Provide feedback with positive and constructive comments. Andrew shared how his boss recognized his contribution publicly, which inspired him to do a better job every day. The management looks forward to feed back too.
Finally, promote transparency, exchange information across the whole company. Put the top performers in the frontline and eliminate unnecessary layers of management. Keep growing with partners who complements your experience and strength.
It was an ideal session for me as I dream of growing and sustaining the growth in my future. I am sure each of us was reminded of some things we know, and some strategies we do not think of on a day-to-day basis. Most of the members in the class are already holding frontline positions in their firms. This session will help them grow into key role players in their organizations hopefully within just a few years.
Mahbuba Khan
MnK Architects
