Leadership - The Sixth Core Value

CSHQA's core values are incorporated into the interior graphics of our office.

Collaboration | Knowledge | Creativity | Integrity | Excellence
 

These are our core values as discussed, debated and finally selected by CSHQA in December 2012.  It was a challenge to limit to five only. In the end, a few words missed the cut, including Leadership.  We are definitely Leaders.  In design and innovation, in our profession and in our communities. Three recent stories demonstrate what we might call our Sixth Core Value.
 

Helping Clients Win Valuable Grants

Jim Murray, AIA, LEED GA has been assisting Colorado school districts with BEST Grant preparation for five years, even for districts that aren’t our client, and even if they don’t technically owe us the resulting work.  We have a growing record of accomplishing essential projects such as roofing, kitchen remodels and security.  Not glamorous, but very valuable to our clients.  And the conversations are now turning to new schools and classroom additions.  This  May Jim was two for two for districts awarded funds for 2015-2016 projects.  We are already on board for one and hope to win the second, who happens to be talking high school planning in the near future.  Congrats, Jim!

Moving the Needle in Urban Design

In a recent meeting with Boise’s Capitol City Development Corporation [CCDC] Project Managers, Doug Woodruff and Karl Woods, CSHQA received a very nice compliment.  Kent Hanway, John Maulin, Kyle Hemly, Jeff Ward and I were meeting to talk about urban planning and place making projects on CCDC’s agenda.  The conversation turned to our efforts to get approval for diagonal parking and a paver storm-water management system at the Boise building.  Long story short – it took patience and persistence from civil engineer Jeff Ward PE (and others) to bring several agencies to the table and persuade them of our ideas.  Doug Woodruff commented “You are innovators.  You made things happen and moved the needle in [Boise] urban design.”  Our efforts are now examples of best practices and part of the urban took kit.  Jeff modestly says the timing was right. I say Jeff was the right person.

Inspiring Young People to Think Big
Canyon Springs High School in Caldwell is working to broaden horizons and share new experiences with its students.  It is challenging freshman to get out of their comfort zone and visit area businesses for short tours to learn about different professions.  Two small groups of students recently toured CSHQA, learned about our building, and met and talked with staff at their work spaces.  Amy Dockter, PE, Jose Gallegos, AIT and Andrew Lauda, AIT each shared how their early interests in art, music, math, science, drawing and/or engineering led them to their professions.  They explained they didn’t always know what they wanted to do, but they kept looking, kept doing what they really liked, and found ways to add it together.  We know it was inspiring because three students wrote to thank us.

One wants to switch from mechanical engineering to architecture; another, who wants to be a lawyer, listened and asked good questions; and a third, who was a bit shy, really liked the computer animations and found them very interesting.  Sometimes we lead by simply doing.  Thank you, Amy, Jose and Andrew.  –

KK Lipsey is Business Development Director for CSHQA.  She welcomes your comments, feedback and thoughts on leadership, innovation and design.

 

New Perspective, New Energy - An Interview with Kent Hanway

Q)  You held the position of executive vice president at CSHQA for just over 10 years.  Now you’re 10 months into your new role as president.  What are you most surprised by?

Not so much surprised as pleased.  The change in leadership has sparked a new energy.  I am seeing a lot of buy-in, a willingness to step up to new roles by our Associates and Sr. Associates.  We expanded CSHQA’s board of directors from seven members to nine, and elected four new directors.  Some who haven't been involved in firm management are now getting involved in charting the direction for the firm.

I hadn’t seen this energy in the past.  People are volunteering to get involved.  Difficult times in our industry pushed down on people’s ability to control their future.  Now I see internal collaboration and brainstorming; an attitude exists that we survived, now we are focusing on the future.

It’s exciting!  We’ve tackled a lot of issues in the past 10 months.  The company had pent up needs and pent up energies. During the downturn, our business foundation remained strong and we kept our brain trust of seasoned veterans.  This means we’re now growing our staff with the next generation of architects and engineers.

Q)  Design and construction are gaining ground again after a long period of stagnation.  Where do you see potential opportunities?

Sustainability and green architecture are staying.  Even though green washing by companies jumping on the band wagon has created negative press, the real work does have an impact.  Our prospective clients have to prove value - or ROI - to get building loans and operating funds.  We bring value to this design process.  Sustainability and energy efficiency are starting to drive investment, which drives our business.

Q)  How is technology affecting the role of the architect in today’s construction market?

Tremendously!  There’s a big push to integrate BIM – building information modeling – into the design process.  Staying relevant in the market, means staying on top of this skill set.  In 2006, I gave a presentation at an industry conference about this “up and coming” technology.  General  contractors were already on board and had been using BIM since 2001, but the A/E community was slow to see the value.  Not anymore.  But clients need to understand the process and the tools to derive what they want out of the end product.

As part of BIM, technology is enabling teams to move to a more balanced risk model called IPD, or integrated project delivery, where risk and reward are spread more evenly across the participants.  Meaning the owner, developer, design team and contractor are all players sharing the risk and reward.  This form of delivery can be more economical, fosters better collaboration amongst all team members and results in greater constructability.  This process is starting to gain attention with more complicated and complex projects.

Q)  Has the economy permanently changed the landscape?  Is there a new normal?

Yes, there is definitely a new normal.  Everyone is very cautious.  Recovery is partly a matter of time, and mostly a matter of re-education.  We have to reset our risk tolerance.  Many banks and developers were over-leveraged at the downturn and are now overly cautious.  As the building industry re-assesses and learns how to access capital markets, we have to know what makes a good project and assist the client with this evaluation.  It’s not enough to just know architecture.

The other normal, for the time being, is the loss of four or five years of new talent.  Some call it a lost generation.  As new and recent grads were turned away or let go, they migrated to other industries.  We’re feeling this impact now as we re-tool our employee capital, and the concern is it will get worse as more firms start hiring.  Add in retirement and lower interest in the construction industry and you have a talent pool gap we’re going to see for a while.

Q)  Where will you focus your efforts in leading CSHQA over the next three to five years?

We’re taking note of the new paradigms and moving forward.  We have to make good long term decisions to adapt to the new normal.  At CSHQA we’re focusing on our value proposition and leveraging key vertical markets.  This means applying resources and training where they bring the most value.

We have always stated we are the firm of "people who listen, design that speaks."  We are refocusing our efforts on the needs of our clients, listening to what they are telling us, actively seeking their feedback, so we can better align our resources to meet their needs.  We have significant experience amongst our team and can bring value to our clients when we understand where we can best leverage this knowledge base - add value to their process.

We will also focus on key vertical markets we have traditionally served and ensure we understand the direction each is heading.  We will allocate our resources to serve those markets most promising.  This takes time and research to understand new trends, identify key funding cycles, and evaluate the socio-political climate that guides these markets.

Q)  Do you see a good future?

Yes, I see a good future, but we have a lot of work to do.  The competition is fierce, our profession has allowed itself to become "commoditized", and the marketplace is still full of uncertainty.  But with adversity comes strength; we've done a lot of work in 10 months and the momentum is building.  We’ve woken the sleeping dog and are confident in our future, now planning again and making decisions for the longer term.

With new leadership has come a new perspective.  I see a renewed energy in pursuing the next phase of our history.  There’s tremendous opportunity in our company, in the changing economy and in the future of design.  In the midst of uncertainty our value as trusted advisors is paramount.  We are confident in our abilities to learn and adapt.  Our clients trust us to do that.  –