Ongoing and frequent dialogue not only fosters collegiality and a collaborative spirit but can also stimulate innovation. Jim Oswald, a senior associate and senior business strategist within Gensler Consulting, shares Leers’s perspective with regard to engaging staff to ensure their commitment to advancing the firm’s goals: “Informal discussions held in staff meetings, individual coaching sessions, and conversations around the water cooler about the firm’s strategic purpose and direction all help to strengthen staff’s grasp of the ‘why we do what we do’ and proactively engage them in ‘living’ the firm’s vision and goals through their work.”
Exposing staff at all levels in the firm to clients as often as possible can be an effective approach to leading teams. William Rawn, FAIA, founding principal of William Rawn Associates in Boston, uses this approach. “This is a powerful way for staff to understand client and consultant goals, and why the principals are leading a project in a certain fashion. If they hear it directly from the client, they are truly invested in the project, which facilitates collaboration and a sense of control.” The essence of Rawn’s transparent leadership style is to engage the office with clients and consultants to impart the values—and reap the rewards—of teamwork. One of the firm’s goals is to develop among all staff members the ability to listen intently to clients from the very start when they express what they need their project to do for them. Rawn believes engagement and inclusion translate into employee satisfaction and make his firm an interesting place to work. This is noteworthy in the context of today’s tight labor pool, where retaining employees who are members of a talented, creative workforce presents special challenges.
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