David Makarsky - The People Behind the Profit
“I’m not going to take no for an answer,” came the voice over the phone.
David Makarsky wasn’t convinced, but his interest was piqued. The recent graduate and valedictorian of the Cornell Hotel School had received a number of exceptional job offers from many diverse walks of the industry, but he had decided to accept a position with Sheraton Hotels and Resorts. The company promised a very traditional experience, and David saw great value in beginning his post-graduate professional career with a firm foundation in formal training. Thus, he had to break the news to Rick Stottler, owner of a 300-seat restaurant on a pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida, that he wasn’t interested in running the enterprise. “At least come down and see it for yourself,” Mr. Stottler urged.
David made the trek from upstate New York down to Cocoa Beach and again declined the offer, despite the charm and allure of the incredible waterfront asset. Insisting that he was giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, Mr. Stottler sweetened his offer one more time and then left the decision in David’s hands. The young man considered the rarity of this unique dilemma, struck by the restaurant owner’s words and persistence. “You know what?” he said to himself. “Stop being so structured and inflexible. You’re a young guy; you’re twenty-one years old. Sheraton will always be there. You can fall flat on your face and still rebound.”
David now considers his unconventional choice to accept the position of manager of the restaurant on Cocoa Beach Pier to be among the best decisions of his life. In the three and a half years he spent there, he developed a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a true sense of pride and ownership in his work that lent him an extraordinary and persistent inner drive. Even the most humbling of days—times in the early months of his employment when financial pressures were stifling and he wondered if he ever should have accepted the position—proved to be valuable learning experiences. He came to understand not only the value of offering an exceptional product through exceptional service, but also the value of developing solid and genuine relationships with staff, clients, vendors, and the surrounding community. David expanded upon the pier’s original reputation as a tourist destination by transforming it into a community landmark, addressing the locals by name and celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries right along with them. With revenues increasing from $1 million during David’s first year of management to $3.5 million at the time of his departure, it was truly a transformational time, both for the restaurant and for David himself.
Once he had accomplished what he could at the pier, he was approached by one of his regulars about working at Prime Hospitality, one of the larger hotel and management companies. At that time, Prime was building a new hotel in Cocoa Beach and courted him to become the opening Food and Beverage Director for the property. After working this job for a year, he also assumed management of a beachside diner that Prime had been struggling to implement successfully. “I would go to work in the morning at the hotel, work breakfast, get the banquets underway, and then I would be like Superman and change into a bowling shirt, black slacks, white socks, and penny loafers to run the diner,” he remembers. Once his efforts paid off and the diner was successfully turned around, he was made Regional Director over fifteen hotels at the notable age of twenty-six.
During the seven years he worked at Prime and the subsequent six years he served at Servico Hotels and Resorts, he found himself traveling extensively. He and his wife had been forced to move their daughter, Danielle, five times within the first five years of her life, and with David traveling forty weeks a year, the young girl had begun to refer to the family telephone as “Daddy.” Resolving to strike a healthier balance between the personal and professional spheres and to give his daughter an atmosphere of stability, he and his wife made one final move to the D.C. metropolitan area so he could assume a position with the B.F. Saul Company.
The roots of B.F. Saul can be traced back to 1851, when a renowned horticulturist by the name of John Saul was asked to relocate from his native Ireland to Washington, DC. Saul assumed the role of planning out the national parks on the Mall and its surrounding vicinity, and he purchased land in Montgomery County, Maryland, to grow the various shrubs and plants used in his work. His son, B. Francis Saul, took over after John’s death, and in 1892 B.F. Saul began selling off parcels of the family land. He set up a mortgage company to finance the deals, and in the intervening years the business has evolved and diversified to become what it is today. The company currently focuses on a wide range of real estate considerations, including commercial property ownership, development, construction, management, leasing, and insurance.
The hotel division of B.F. Saul wasn’t established until 1976, but it quickly flourished, currently owning and operating nineteen hotels in the D.C. metropolitan area. Eighteen of these are mid-market business class hotels like Marriots, Holiday Inns, and Hampton Inns. The nineteenth hotel, The Hay-Adams, is a luxury hotel located just down the street from the White House and has grown acclaim as the site where Barack Obama resided for the week preceding his inauguration.
David began his time at B.F Saul as a Regional Director of Operations, supervising five hotels and focusing on the tandem conversion of two hotels in Crystal City. The experience allowed him the balance he had been dreaming of, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of concern about some of his observations regarding the company’s culture. One of the big draws of B.F. Saul had been its commitment to a set of core values that was referred to as Our Big Three. The company’s mantra entailed a strong commitment to quality, both in its properties and in its team members, and David was instantly struck by the lighthearted yet genuine values embedded in its quality pledge. After actually working at B.F. Saul, however, he found that the words were inconsistently lent life through practice. Consequently, when the position of Vice President of Human Resources opened up, he immediately set his sights on the opportunity. “If we can succeed in developing a robust workplace culture,” he explained to his manager, “it will pay big dividends in quality, in revenue, and in market share performance by developing repeat and referral business and by driving down turnover.” His vision was inspiring, and he continued serving as Regional Director while also assuming the duties of Vice President of Human Resources. In this capacity he was able to instigate a structural reorganization that eventually resulted in a new position of Vice President of Operations, which he assumed and has been doing now for almost four years. The position has allowed him to maintain his first love of hotel operations while also pursuing his commitment to service and quality through the ultimate duty of fulfilling the company’s mission statement—a role he refers to as “the greatest job in the world.”
While David’s current situation is inspiring in itself, it is lent even more potency in the context of his early life. Indeed, in choosing a career path, one oftentimes strives to emulate one’s inner drive. The will to serve is a constant theme throughout David’s life, first apparent at a very early age when he would lend a helping hand with siblings and other neighborhood children. Growing up in a very Leave-It-To-Beaver town, he recognized at an early age that his life was replete with blessings, and he always sought to give back to the community in thanks for his good fortune. He got very involved in his church and served as president of the youth group for two years, always supplementing his duties with community service work. David then pursued his will to serve through academics by focusing his studies on American Government throughout high school, envisioning a future career path in politics, public service, or law.
After he was accepted to the Arts and Sciences program at Cornell to major in Government, he knew he would have to contribute financially towards his education and assumed a work study position with Cornell Dining. What began as a job to fund his education and future career path instead became a new passion and a new vehicle through which David could exercise this inner drive to serve the community, and he found himself changing gears. By the end of his sophomore year, he had switched to Cornell’s Hotel School and assumed a heavy workload that still enabled him to graduate within four years, setting him on the path that would eventually lead to the perfect job he now holds today. His experience in school working for Cornell Dining was perhaps the best opportunity he could have hoped for, as it thoroughly immersed him in both the theory and the real world experience of the field. As a junior in college, he served as the Director of Catering and Special Events for the largest dining unit on campus, working forty to fifty hours per week on top of his course load. He maintained this backbreaking schedule throughout his senior year as well, assuming the position of Student Coordinator and managing all four hundred student workers. With fifteen supervisors and three managers reporting to him, the experience proved a valuable lesson in management and delegation and gave him much of the industry experience that warranted such high-powered job offers upon graduation.
“As I have grown and matured in my career, I have come to understand the power of people and just how important leadership is,” says David. “As much as the technical side of business matters, success is ultimately defined by attracting talent to the organization and then engaging and retaining it.” It is perhaps for this reason that he advises young people today to embrace the process of paying their dues as they enter the business world. In his industry, as with most, countless transactions take place in a day. Money, directions, and ideas are constantly exchanged from team members to guests, vendors, and other team members. A thorough understanding of these processes and how people are ultimately at the root of each transaction is the surest way to success and advancement. One must comprehend the varying dimensions at work in order to understand how to inspire the best in people, compelling them to put forth their optimal performance day in and day out.
Beyond understanding the mechanics of these transactions, however, David’s success can ultimately be traced back to an unrelenting and genuine passion for service and people. It is evident in the personalized notes in the birthday and employment anniversary cards he sends to each of the 180 managers in the hotel division each year. It is evident in the periodic events and projects he plans to promote team member pride and unity, and it is evident in the steady decline of the division’s turnover rate from 77% to 28% since his involvement with HR. “It’s the glue that binds a thousand team members across eighteen hotels regardless of the brand they’re affiliated with,” he says of B.F. Saul’s quality pledge. Perhaps this “glue” really is the statement, or perhaps it’s David himself.
For additional information about this profile and case study, please contact:
Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF®
Bernhardt Wealth Management, Inc.
2010 Corporate Ridge, Suite 210
McLean, Virginia 22102
(703) 356-4380
www.BernhardtWealth.com
Dawn Halfaker - The Persistent Patriot
When Dawn Halfaker first opened her eyes in the sterile hospital room, she was stunned. She let her shaken memory sift through what had transpired. A Captain in the United States Army, she had been deployed to Iraq five months before. Her platoon had been assigned to live and work in the city of Bacuba, where they had participated in raids, patrols, reconnaissance missions, forced protection, convoy escorts, and police training. One of her patrols had been ambushed, and a firefight ensued. When her vehicle was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, the shrapnel had splintered through her right shoulder, and that’s where the memories stopped. In her comatose state, she had not been awake to see the helicopter airlift her from the scene. She had been unconscious for the trip back to Washington, DC, and she had been unconscious during the amputation of her arm. When Dawn awoke in that hospital room, she knew her life would never be the same. She was twenty-four years old.
The road to recovery was not an easy one for Dawn, and her progress was further frustrated by the inevitable sense of denial that swept over her. Unable to see past her current condition, she would try to pretend it hadn’t happened. The young woman suffered from a profound sorrow until one day, when her physical therapist led her down to a room where several soldiers were undergoing rehabilitation for their injuries. The first person she saw was a staff sergeant who had lost both his legs and had suffered severe facial burns. As the man wobbled hopefully on his new prosthetic legs, his wife and children chanted, “Go, daddy, go!” From that moment on, Dawn’s perspective changed completely. “I learned that I was really lucky for what I had and shouldn’t be dwelling on what I didn’t have, and I got really focused on my future,” she says.
Six years later, one would hardly imagine that the intelligent, poised, and successful young woman had ever had a moment of self-doubt. After the incident, she knew she wanted to maintain her strong military connection, especially the leadership aspects of her position. After attending several job interviews where nothing really clicked for her, she happened to meet an army colonel who had just started working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and needed a research program manager. He was looking for someone with recent combat experience who could envision the potential for research to save lives by leveraging technology on the battlefield.
Taken with this man’s inspiration and passion to aid war fighters, she worked in a consultant capacity for him as she gained experience and developed a company of her own, which began to take form in January of 2006. Drawing on her unique skill set and nuanced knowledge of the national security community, she served on DARPA contracts investigating new strategies and materials that could be developed, commercialized and deployed to the armed forces to strengthen national security. She worked on these projects for two years while building Halfaker & Associates in the background and also attending Georgetown University at night to receive her Masters in International Security. The U.S. had undergone “a very transformative era throughout the last decade,” Dawn reports, “and I felt that I had unlimited potential to contribute in different areas.”
As Dawn took on sub-contracts with DARPA, she hired people with similar backgrounds and experiences—namely veterans hoping to continue serving the mission who possessed valuable skill sets. In this way, Halfaker and Associates continued on a track of organic growth through the end of 2007, when it began winning larger contracts and adding critical mass to its staff. The company developed departments for human resources and finance, gaining a self-awareness that was strategic rather than tactical.
While Halfaker & Associates originally focused on national security policy, homeland security, and defense solutions business unit, it has since branched off into program management, consulting, PMO support, acquisitions support, IT solutions, and software development and integration. Though they have diversified their revenue streams, the majority of their business still comes from U.S. military contracts. It makes sense, then, that the company remains very mission-driven. In fact, the mission element of their service model accounts for much of their uniqueness as a company. “Personally, this company is a vehicle for affecting change in areas where I’ve been passionate,” she says. “It is powerful that we can address an issue.” From a business perspective, they have established themselves as a trusted partner to their clients through this mission-orientation, allowing them to invest in these clients both personally and professionally. Through sharing a common mission and vision with their clients, Halfaker & Associates is able to offer outstanding and highly-responsive service that tailors solutions to best fit the needs of each individual client. It is a partnership mindset and service model that larger companies cannot offer, allowing them to stand out amidst their competition.
Looking back at her business’s evolution, Dawn points out that little things happen all along the way that cumulatively define the journey. She can, however, put her finger on one notable turning point for the company—a time when it was enjoying success and growth, but without a means to advance to the “next level.” As she reports, “developing a long-term strategic plan turned us into a real business overnight.” When the fledgling group won a considerably hefty contract with the US Army Recruiting Command, they were forced to put infrastructure in place. In the end, they had over fifty employees on the contract, successfully supporting the mission and recruiting soldiers to enter the military. It was indisputable that Halfaker & Associates had come of age, truly developing into a notable force in its field.
Because Dawn embarked upon her professional journey at such young age, she relied upon the mentorship of several key individuals to make up for the business and consulting background that she lacked at the time Halfaker & Associates was started. “Sometimes it takes people looking in from the outside to see what the possibilities are,” she remarks. She would advise a young entrepreneur to identify their mentors early on—individuals who have your best interest at heart and can answer the “dumb questions” to help you understand how to leverage what you have and what is possible. Now that the company has been operational for four years, she’s looking inward at herself and how she can repay the favor by advising and mentoring others. Focusing her energies on wounded veterans transitioning out of the military, she now knows what questions to ask to help people identify their own unique paths in life.
Consequently, one other defining aspect of Halfaker & Associates that renders it so unique is the fact that it is a service-disabled veterans company, with over 70% of its employee-base comprised of veterans. More specifically, they are part of the Wounded Warrior Hiring Program, setting aside jobs for injured veterans and working to train, mentor, and develop those individuals to assume careers with the sense of purpose that so many of them lost when they left the service. “That was what was so hard for me,” Dawn reflects, referring to the mission-orientation she lost when she was force to resign from the military. The company was a means for Dawn to regain her footing in a new life following her injury, and her efforts in turn now provide similar opportunities to people facing the same obstacles.
Dawn’s current responsibilities at Halfaker & Associates include, first and foremost, the long-term success and strategic growth of the company. By laying out the path to success and honing the primary goals of the enterprise, she aims to set the gears in motion so that her employees can, in turn, act. She also identifies the responsibility she wields for the lives of others—a duty which she takes with the utmost seriousness. To Dawn, running a company is so much more than making sure the nuts and bolts are in place. More importantly, it is ensuring that her employees are receiving the tools they need to be successful and to reach their goals. Additionally, Dawn is constantly considering the company’s role in the community. Through her service on the advisory boards of a number of nonprofit organizations, she extends the boundaries of both the company and of herself.
Reflecting back upon the past several years, Dawn is most proud of the team she’s assembled. “They can do anything,” she marvels, “and that is a powerful thing. Whether it’s focusing on Wounded Warrior, or a charitable event, or getting a proposal out the door, they will get it done.” To achieve this level of success, she warns young entrepreneurs against a mentality of finality. As people enter the workforce, they tend to believe that their entire lives will be locked into the first field they go into. This mindset is misleading and can often be paralyzing. “Just go for it,” she advises. “Take risks. Take chances. This will eventually lead to the path that was meant for you.” If one never goes out on a limb, one never discovers their talents, preferences, and passions. This process of self-discovery coupled with hard work and determination go hand-in-hand with Dawn’s leadership philosophy, which is focused around constant learning and evolution. Not only does this involve the acquisition of wisdom and knowledge, but also learning about your teammates. “Whether it’s a combat mission or a business mission, you must look to people,” she says. “Treat them well, know them well, know their strengths, and know how to pull the best out of them.” When it comes to passion for the mission, it is readily apparent that Dawn’s enthusiasm and commitment are representative of her entire team’s sentiments. “They know it’s more than just a job; more than just getting a paycheck,” Dawn confirms. Indeed, it is a cause, a vision, and a lifestyle that truly unites her team in mission and purpose, allowing for a degree of commitment to their clients’ success that is as sincere as it is rare and as powerful as it is poignant.
For additional information about this profile and case study, please contact:
Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF®
Bernhardt Wealth Management, Inc.
2010 Corporate Ridge, Suite 210
McLean, Virginia 22102
(703) 356-4380
www.BernhardtWealth.com
Joseph Gargiulo - Family Focus with a National Presence
When the folks of Goshen, New York, had a question about hardware, they knew they could trust the young boy working at the local store to serve them with enthusiasm and savoir faire. Joseph Gargiulo had, after all, started working for his father at age seven, helping customers find what they were looking for and keeping the shelves of Goshen Hardware stocked and tidy. Over the years, he observed his father eagerly and absorbed valuable knowledge about everything from plumbing, to electrical work, to paint mixing, to customer service. Joe’s father had gotten into the hardware industry to help support his Father-in-law’s burgeoning family business, Stuart Dean—a building restoration and maintenance company founded by Joe’s grandfather, Edward J. Degan. Now the executive vice president of Stuart Dean and the division president of the mid-Atlantic region, Joe still considers his time at the hardware store as his greatest education, using the service skills he learned as a boy to attain success today.
“Actually, I originally didn’t want to work for Stuart Dean,” Joe admits. When he graduated from Boston College in 1977 with a BS in Accounting and Marketing, he moved to Chicago and worked for several large enterprises that ultimately left him feeling unfulfilled and immaterial. His brother, John, headed up Stuart Dean’s Chicago office at the time and approached him in 1980, posing what Joe refers to as “an offer I couldn’t refuse.” The young professional would have to work significantly longer hours at significantly reduced pay as a salesman, but there would be opportunity to have an immediate impact in his work. Realizing that Stuart Dean was a part of his very blood and heritage, Joe recognized the ambition stirring in his soul and accepted the offer. He excelled as a salesman and was promoted to sales manager in 1984. He directed his small sales crew until 1986, when he was offered the opportunity to open a new office in either Dallas, Texas, or Washington, DC. “DC was a sleepy town, and real estate hadn’t been discovered yet,” Joe remembers. Submitting his proposal for the DC Metro Area location proved to be the best decision he ever made. With its respectable and stable rates, DC has since advanced as one of the most desirable real estate markets in the world, and Joe’s office is now the largest and most successful division of the company.
In many ways, Joe’s personal history resembles a microcosm of the family company’s overall evolution to date. Just as it can sometimes take a single idea to change the course of a lifetime, it can take a single idea to transform an industry. Yet, as Joe’s grandfather demonstrated, this may not be the first idea that comes along. In fact, it took six failed business attempts within a span of ten years before Edward Degan finally founded Stuart Dean in New York City in 1932. The fledgling company served as the sole distributor and applicator of Dupont Synthetic, the first clear synthetic lacquer coating designed to prevent architectural metals—specifically brass—from oxidizing. Later realizing the value in the product, the Dupont Corporation approached Edward in 1934 asking to buy the exclusivity rights. Ed, however, readily signed over the rights without accepting compensation, an act of integrity that would later reward him in spades when the lacquer became a war good during World War II. Though it was taken off the market during that time and distributed solely to the military for use on brass casement shells, a drum of lacquer would appear on Stuart Dean’s doorstep each month, ultimately enabling the company to stay in operation. When Ed passed away in 1954, Joe’s four uncles—Gene, Gerry, Jack, and George—assumed leadership of the company and tested the waters of expansion by opening new offices in LA in 1963 and Chicago in 1969. Another dimension of service offerings was added as well, and as is the case with so many businesses, diversification spelled big returns for Stuart Dean. Until the 1960s, they had focused solely on metal refinishing, building a reputation of excellence through mastery of a narrow specialty. They noted, however, that the buildings they worked on had marble floors and walls. Thus, evolving into architectural stone maintenance and restoration was a natural progression for Stuart Dean. They became the largest provider of architectural stone maintenance throughout the next thirty years, concentrating in granite, marble, terrazzo, and exterior limestone. Then, in the 1990s, architectural wood was added to the repertoire, as well as architectural glass and the curtain systems used to protect building exteriors. With a service portfolio that provides comprehensive attention to the various finishes of a building’s interior and exterior, clients can now rely on Stuart Dean to cover all aspects of a project without having to coordinate multiple contractors.
As time passes, Stuart Dean has also aimed to operate less like a family business and more like a corporation. Though all forty-plus of its stockholders remain family members and all but two of its CEOs have been within the family, it has expanded to approximately 650 employees worldwide and retains three (out of nine) non-family board members from outside industries. Joe recognizes the value of outside leadership and remains committed to incorporating it. The company culture prohibits a sense of entitlement, and decisions are always made in the best interest of the company as a whole. Consequently, Stuart Dean strikes a unique and highly appealing balance. They have successfully taken the personality of a mom-and-pop style small business and translated it to a national scale. With offices in the top twenty real estate markets in North America, they are equipped to offer on-site and personalized service to large clients nationwide. While Joe hopes to establish more uniform procedures to render their services consistent across offices, their national presence remains a great credit to Stuart Dean’s staying power.
Joe’s division, then, is perhaps the quintessence of this staying power. The Mid-Atlantic office is currently about eighty-five employees strong and does approximately $10 million in revenue annually. Joe remains active in the day-to-day operations of the office and also oversees the operations of the Florida office, which has about thirty employees. “This is what I do best,” he says, referring to his current daily duties. In addition to fulfilling the various roles of financial overseer, personnel manager, and policy collaborator, Joe is still out in the field on a regular basis, making sales and monitoring on-site progress to ensure that the company’s vision and quality assurance are maintained. When asked why he hasn’t become CEO yet, he cites his aptitude and preference for the small business mentality and the close relationships it allows him to develop with employees and clients. Recognizing the importance of his brother John as a mentor and role model, he uses his own relationships with staff as opportunities to pass on wisdom and guidance in a similar fashion, exhibiting sincere interest in the lives and careers of his employees.
In developing these mentoring relationships and dispensing advice to young entrepreneurs just entering the workforce, Joe focuses more on character development tips rather than employment instruction. “Don’t be too concerned about getting the perfect job, because the chances of you staying in that profession are miniscule,” he counsels. His words are sure to assuage the fears of anyone entering the job market during these sub-optimal economic conditions. The focal point at such a juncture should instead be the cultivation of one’s moral character and relational skills. “You must deal with people properly and ethically no matter what industry you enter,” says Joe. Learn how to deal with difficult individuals by disarming them with kindness, and practice treating others how you would wish to be treated. This advice fits hand-in-hand with what Joe reports as his greatest professional challenge, which is personnel management. He indicates that it’s hard to find individuals who are driven to do the right thing regardless of short-term interest. Young entrepreneurs who exhibit this strength of character are thus highly sought-after and will enjoy more success than they would otherwise.
Strength of character is even so important as to overshadow more traditional measure of intelligence in some cases. “My number one management philosophy is hiring good, smart, hardworking people,” Joe explains. “I manage by feel more than numbers.” Because the industry is so hands-on and relies heavily upon relational skills in addition to a strong knowledge base, he truly believes that effort can be the key ingredient to success. Even if one didn’t get the top grades in school, there is a future for that person if the right effort is leveraged.
In reflecting back upon the road that led him here and in considering what the future holds for Stuart Dean, Joe’s focus remains not on the success he has enjoyed but rather on the people and presences in his life that have influenced his career—and ultimately his life path—most profoundly. These are not grandiose figures of fame and history, but rather the common figures that occupy his everyday life. “I’m a faith-based person, so the Good Lord has taken good care of me,” he says. He also speaks with a genteel and sincere warmth of his wife, older brother, and parents, recognizing that each has provided valuable skills and support. In a business that has flourished and expanded so far from its roots, its good to know that, for both Joe and Stuart Dean as a whole, the element of family continues to thrive as strongly as the company it created.
For additional information about this profile and case study, please contact:
Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF®
Bernhardt Wealth Management, Inc.
2010 Corporate Ridge, Suite 210
McLean, Virginia 22102
(703) 356-4380
www.BernhardtWealth.com
Taking Care of Your People Takes Care of Your Business
In an economy where every dollar is cautiously and carefully spent, the most important investments become apparent. Companies admit the secret to their success is their employees. Even in a down economy, investments in employee programs are on the rise.
Organizations with strong employee development initiatives achieve a critical competitive advantage. A global workforce survey conducted by Towers Perrin found that companies with the highest levels of employee engagement achieve better financial results and are more successful in retaining their most valued employees. In fact, companies with the largest percentage of engaged employees experienced an increased operating income of 19 percent. By engaging employees with development and training programs, they believe the company values their efforts and feel a part of the organization’s overall success.
For four years, Helios HR has hosted the Apollo Awards, a program dedicated to recognize employers that invest in employee development initiatives. In parallel, leading market research firm, Market Connections, collects survey data from all nominees. This data is analyzed in a best practices program overview. Through the Apollo Awards, executives and human resource (HR) professionals can learn about the actions of enlightened and innovative organizations, which exemplify strong HR programs. Certain commonalities become evident, this year a clear trend emerged: leading companies are offering their employees customized training programs in skill development (i.e. personal, time management, technical) via a diverse array of learning channels.
Offering Multiple Channels of Learning
The finalists for our awards program take very unique approaches to employee development, but one common thread is in offering customized training through different channels. Most of these top organizations offer a variety of employee development opportunities such as peer-to-peer mentoring, attendance at events, seminars, online training and instructor-led classes so that employees can select the training that will be individually most effective.
The benefits of offering different learning approaches can include increased retention, a positive effect on company culture and productivity, improved ability to effectively recruit, enhanced quality of work, and increased organizational expertise. Reduced opportunity cost also occurs when employees are assimilated into an organization more rapidly. Two of these forward-thinking organizations, Dewberry and Métier, offer customized programs, with a variety of channels to cater to individual learning styles and preferences.
Dewberry’s Blended Learning
Dewberry, a professional services firm, recognizes that people learn different ways; therefore, they utilize a blended learning approach. This approach offers employees a variety of learning channels as part of The Dewberry Learning Center including: classroom, software, mentoring, coaching, one-on-one, seminars and brown bag lunches, among other approaches.
One key to Dewberry’s blended learning success is in involving internal resources such as corporate leadership to host or participate in the programs. The active involvement of top executives impresses upon employees the seriousness of the training and demonstrates that their efforts are valued.
Métier’s Development on Day One
Métier, a project portfolio management solutions provider, doesn’t have an assembly line. Tweaking and fine-tuning the organization is all about polishing their greatest asset – the employees. Métier considers each employee’s learning abilities and needs with customized development beginning on the employee’s first day. Every new employee attends a two-week orientation known as Boot Camp, where each individual’s strengths and weakness are assessed to provide a benchmark for their career-long professional development activities. The Boot Camp also provides instructive and interactive orientation in a variety of learning ways such as instructor-led, computer-based, seminars, webinars and on-the-job-training.
Métier’s approach paid off: the company witnessed greater employee camaraderie and improved knowledge retention. In fact, when Métier shifted Boot Camp from one week to two weeks, the percentage of employees with tenure of one year increased 25 percent and tenure of two years increased by 12 percent.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Dewberry and Métier are just two companies finding value in offering their employees multiple development opportunities. It’s no surprise that both organizations are service providers that understand their success is tied to the performance of their employees. Both provide innovative employee development initiatives. We can look to these companies as models in implementing strong programs.
Companies that don’t explore developing their greatest resources – their employees – will loose a competitive advantage that can be a costly loss. Organizations are quickly finding that there is no “one size fits all” approach to learning.
Hubert Humphrey, former Vice President of the U.S. put it very simply, “There are incalculable resources in the human spirit, once it has been set free.” And it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who quoted, “The mind, once stretched, never regains its original dimension.” Innovative employee development practices offered through multiple learning channels provide an organization the opportunity to stretch beyond “its original dimensions.”
~Kathy Albarado
The Neuroscience of Leading
One of my leadership coaching clients had a challenging week. A direct report filed a grievance against her that my client feels is completely unfounded.
How would you react in that situation? Thanks to what neuroscientists refer to as the “negativity bias” of the brain, most of us wouldn’t handle it very calmly.
I recently interviewed two experts on the neuroscience of getting along with others. Dan Goleman (author or Emotional Intelligence, Social Intelligence, and several other best-selling books) described the brain’s natural reactivity. He explained, “The brain is wired so that if the amygdala [the threat detection center in the limbic system] thinks there is danger, it can hijack the rest of the brain in a second. The neocortex, or the thinking part of the brain, takes much longer to get the message. So, the amygdala is able to use kind of a hair trigger mechanism when it thinks there is danger to take us over before we have the full rational understanding of what’s going on.”
My client was initially upset when she heard about the grievance. Because she understands how her brain works, she caught her reaction pretty quickly and was able to stop herself from saying or doing something that would make matters worse.
In our coaching conversation, she was even able to keep her direct report’s mind in mind.
Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. Rick described my client’s ability to create a Theory of Mind. That’s the capacity to construct “a notion of what in the world is going on inside the head of other people…If someone is treating you badly, a really effective thing to do is to pause, have compassion for yourself, get on your own side and then try to look clearly at what in the world is going on here. Because you have paused, you are buying yourself time. Try to sense what the hurt is in the other person.”
When I asked my client what she thought was going on for the woman, she replied, “I don’t know exactly. I just know that something is wrong. She doesn’t feel safe enough to come and talk with me about what’s bothering her.”
My client decided that her best strategy was to give the woman a cooling off period while the grievance is investigated. In the meantime, her direct report has been performing her job well and talking with my client in a very professional manner.
Whenever possible, keep the mind in mind.
You can hear my interviews with Dan and Rick on Peace Talks Radio at http://www.goodradioshows.org/peaceTalksL85.htm.
Suzanne Kryder