Brent Salter offered a unique
prospective to the class. A discussion of his presentation is appropriate to me
for several reasons. First, Brent is a small business owner and a graduate of
the Auburn Building Science masters program. Because I plan to own my own
business someday, and because I will hold the same masters degree that he does,
I took special interest in his presentation to the class and to his situation in
general. In a time where we are constantly re-defining ourselves, it is
beneficial to be able to observe someone whose closely work and educational
background closely resembles my own. Secondly, through our discussions with
Brent, it became apparent to me that Salter Construction Co. is at a crossroads
of sorts. He will soon need to make a strategic decision about the direction
that the company is to go in. The decision could be that he does not need to
change anything about what the company is doing now, but the process that he
must go through to make that decision is important to understand, and therefore
warrants further review. Finally, I am interested in the use of technology that
Brent emphasized in his presentation. Brent was able to offer some unique
impressions relevant to this subject.
There are several things that strike
me as important about the being able to interact with a person like Brent who
has accomplished, or is in the process of accomplishing, some of the goals that
I intend to reach. Brent is a person of similar age and educational background
as many of the graduate students in the program today. Since the graduate
program has not been around for very long, the opportunity to interact with one
of our own is very important and useful. This interaction allows the current
graduate students to get an idea of what the product of our hard work could be
like. In a time when we are constantly seeking to define ourselves in terms of
what we have to offer to the construction industry, this is very important.
Secondly,
we have discussed the presence, or air that some of these executives have. Brent
is in essence an entrepreneur. His manner was somewhat different from several of
the other executives that we interacted with, but was equally as interesting.
Like many in the construction industry, an entrepreneur must take risks in order
to be successful. Brent seemed to offer a more reserved approach to this issue.
The
second important issue that was brought to light as a result of our discussion
was the fact that Brent is in the process of making some important decisions
that will have a large effect on his company’s future. Specifically, he was
looking at some new markets both in the residential and light commercial areas.
This strategic planning and decision making process is important for any
company, but for a smaller company such as Salter Construction Company (SCC), it
could mean the difference between success and failure. Because SCC is small, and
relatively new there are probably not any documented processes for making
decisions of this magnitude, furthermore, this may be the first time that anyone
has done this type of formal strategic thinking for SCC. Brent was able to
utilize the class as a resource of sorts for this matter, as he should. Although
we will not ultimately know the result of whatever decision that he makes, this
situation did bring to light for me the importance of planning and thinking
strategically, especially for a small and relatively young company.
Finally,
the prospect of being the owner of my own business is very appealing to me for
several reasons, but mainly because it opens up many possibilities. One of those
possibilities is the ability to implement one, or many of the useful
technologies available to the professional constructor today. As has been
pointed out many times, our industry is one that is slow to accept change. This
could be because many of the executives of established construction companies
come from a time in which there was not a significant level of useful new
technology available. Brent represents a business owner from my generation. His
comfort with technology is evident in the fact that he relies heavily on it in
order to provide his estimating and design services. I fell that his attitude
toward technology in the construction business represents the way things will be
in the future for our industry.
Drew Yantis offered a very useful and
somewhat different perspective for our class. There are several aspects of our
discussion with Mr. Yantis that that should prove to be very useful to me
throughout my career. For example our discussion on employee recruitment and
retention offered advantages to me that were two-fold. First, to be able to view
the employee recruitment and retention process from the prospective of the
employer is invaluable to me as person who will most likely be participating in
the interview process very soon. The information provided to me through this
discussion will help me to be more prepared for my upcoming interviews. Also, as
a future employer, to have this information presented to me by an executive from
a proven construction company is very useful. When the day comes that I am in
charge of hiring, I should be able to call on the knowledge passed to us by Mr.
Yantis to assist me in making good hiring decisions. Another important aspect of
the discussion is not as tangible. Drew Yantis is a senior manager in a
successful construction company. The information that I was able to gather about
the way that he handles himself in a business atmosphere is just as important as
the other, more physical information that was exchanged.
Employee
recruitment and retention is a hot topic in the construction world these days.
With labor shortages negatively effecting employers in many ways, people are
paying more attention to the process of hiring and keeping good employees. With
the knowledge of this fact in hand, I will soon be entering the workforce. For
the first time in the journey along my relatively short career path, I feel that
I will finally have some leverage when I go into an interview. This is so for
several reasons. First, I am confident that the knowledge that I have gained at
Auburn will serve me will in the future. Because of this, I feel that I have
something special to offer prospective employers. Secondly, through interaction
with executives such as Drew Yantis, I have been given a chance to understand
the situation from the employer’s point of view.
For
example, one aspect of our discussion dealt with submissions from the students
to Mr. Yantis relating to the most important factors effecting job selection, as
we saw them. Through his responses and our subsequent discussion, Mr. Yantis
gave us valuable information about what employers are looking for in employees,
and went as far as to provide us with ideas about what we should be looking for
in possible employers. The ideas exchanged had the effect of actually building
my confidence and helping me to verbalize many of the feelings that I have about
future employers. As a direct result of our meetings with Mr. Yantis, I will be
more organized, focused, and confident for future interviews.
We
have also discussed the value that good employees have to construction
companies. Along this same line, we thoroughly conferred about employee
retention in our meetings with Drew. When I am a business owner, the knowledge
that I gained about that process through these meetings will be very helpful.
Mr. Yantis demonstrated the value of good recruitment and retention practices to
his company, and I plan to translate those values to my own company.
Finally,
and possibly the most important thing that I gained from our meeting with Mr.
Yantis was the perception of how a person in his position carries himself when
he is representing his company. For example, he was extremely well organized and
prepared. This speaks volumes about himself as a manager, but also about his
company. Also, his quiet confidence and his ability to answer questions
thoughtfully and convincingly was refreshing. He portrayed a sense of balance
that caused me to want to trust him. These are all characteristics that I would
like to emulate. I believe that the medium is the message, and Mr. Yantis being
the medium, sent a very good message about his company. By being able to observe
these characteristics in him, I hope to be able to nurture them in myself and
therefore portray the same message about my own company some day.
Mike Waller offered a lot
of information that was very beneficial to the class. He brought with him
several things that are important to discuss, as they will definitely be
subjects that we as professional constructors, will have to deal with on a
regular basis. First, the impressions that I was left with after our discussion
on meetings are very important. In reference to meetings, he highlighted
concepts dealing with preparation, atmosphere, and leadership that I will
utilize in years to come. Also, Mike exudes a practical and straightforward
manner. This carries over into his methods for dealing with situations and
solving problems. This method, or attitude, has helped him to be successful in
his career. For example, having these qualities has helped him in crucial areas
such as meeting deadlines, planning and organization, and dealing with people.
We are in the process of being trained
for management rolls in the construction industry. To be successful in that
future role, we will need to develop many skills. The ability to be involved in,
and successfully run a meeting is of paramount importance. Meetings are about
one thing, communication. This could include communication between individuals
or groups, but the way to gauge the success of a meeting is to determine whether
the idea was successfully communicated between the two or more parties that
required the exchange of information.
Communication in meetings can happen
in many ways. The traditional way is obviously through speaking, but there are
other ways that are just as effective. For example, the tone of the meeting
place and the people involved in the meeting is very important. The atmosphere
of the space in which the meeting is held can send many messages. It can create
a feeling of security within the participants, or it the meeting could be
arranged so that an adversarial situation is nurtured. Whatever the case may be,
it is important to realize these factors so that one can seek to utilize them.
Another form of communication in
meetings is through physical body language. We communicate this way every day,
although we are rarely aware of it. In a meeting setting, the effects of this
method of interaction can be magnified. The amount of information that can be
gathered from observing someone’s body language can be staggering. You can
tell is a person is relaxed or uptight, satisfied or angry, lying or telling the
truth. Obviously, the ability to recognize these signs is very important and can
be very useful in a meeting environment.
Other important factors that effect
meetings include organization and leadership in the meeting. Mike made it
evident, that organization is key to the success of communication in a meeting.
A disorganized meeting can cause people to be distracted and will reduce the
effectiveness. Also, since time is always a factor in meetings, they should be
well organized by the leaders as to maximize the efficiency. Finally, leadership
within the meeting must be well defined in order for the meeting to accomplish
its goals of organization and communication. The leader must be someone with the
background knowledge of the situation, as well as the skills to keep the meeting
on track.
In our discussion with Mike, I was
able to garner other useful information about the way that he handles difficult
situations that come up daily in his job. Mike calls on a direct and sensible
part of his personality to assist him in this area. He utilizes communication
that is to the point and very clear when dealing with other parties, such as
subcontractors, venders, and any other party involved in the construction
process. For example, he sets deadlines for tasks to be completed. These
deadlines have the effect communicating the exact time that something is to
occur so as to limit confusion and to make the other party responsible for
meeting this deadline. Along this same line, he is very timely in his manner. He
gets to planned meetings at the agreed upon time and he expects the same from
his counterparts..
The subjects of meetings, problem solving, and organization are all key issues when talking about success in the business world. These concepts, although different in meaning, all boil down to one thing, communication. Mike has demonstrated the importance of communication in the business world.