The Business of Design by Keith Granet

Author:Keith Granet
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Published: 2011-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

Human resources is the key to a successful practice. You can’t have a successful practice without understanding the value of the employees. You can have all the documents and manuals in place that tell people you care about them and their growth, but if you don’t practice what’s in those manuals, they won’t matter one bit.

We write many employee manuals, but the best manual should have only four words in it: “Simply use good judgment.” If people would understand those words before reading a manual that tells them how to behave, the employment world would be much easier to navigate. Every employee manual ever written was written for one reason, to protect the firm from that one person who doesn’t use good judgment or simply wants to break the rules. There are important aspects of employee manuals: you should be very clear about benefits, policies, and job descriptions, but it should never be used to police your staff.

I’ve learned many lessons through my years consulting as well as my years as an employee. One lesson I learned very early on was about how important communication—acting quickly and responsibly if something just doesn’t seem right—is to the growth of your staff. This lesson stems from my first ninety-day review as an employee. Gensler had hired me to run the mailroom. I took my job seriously and quickly found ways that the company could save money and put systems in place that helped me advance to other tasks in the company.

But my review was anything but positive. My supervisor was the manager for the San Francisco office. The first words out of her mouth completely shocked me. She said, “Keith, I don’t think this is going to work out.” I was devastated. I loved my job and I loved the firm. The problem was that I talked too much. I asked her how long this had been bothering her, and she said from the first day I started at the company. She thought I was talking too much, but in fact I was telling the people I delivered the mail to what was in their mail to help them address it more quickly.

It didn’t seem to matter: her mind was made up and I had to go. Not knowing what to do, I asked her boss, who was the managing principal of the office, to sit in on the rest of the review. He liked me because I also delivered his mail. He told her that I wasn’t going anywhere and that I was doing a good job.

I tell you this story because the lesson is very simple: you need to communicate your concerns immediately and not wait for ninety days or longer till it’s time for someone’s review. Reviews, I teach my clients, are for goal setting and not for punitive actions. Punitive actions should happen the moment a problem develops.

If you take the time to connect to your staff, your clients, your consultants, then you build relationships. Having relationships with people is ultimately what keeps them around.

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