Year: 2011

Holiday Wishes and Extraordinary Outcomes

Dec 15, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Operations, Planning

Happy Holidays! I really enjoy the holiday season. Friends, food, gifts – and the annual regathering-mash-up of the Doehring family diaspora. It’s nutty, hectic, stimulating, tiring – and much fun. What’s not to love? [Also, I’m truly thankful for the underlying meaning – and true reason – for the season itself]. Meanwhile at work, this time of year is always crazy – a strange mix of busy (how will we get all this done)? – and not busy enough (just one more engagement and we’d hit bonus)! It’s this time of year that I’m reminded that all project schedules slip […]

Wake-Up Calls! Change, Improvement, and the Fast Future Ahead

Nov 8, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Planning

Two weeks ago I delivered an all new presentation – Fast Future! Fifteen Uber-Trends that Will Rock Our World, and What Leaders Must Do to Survive and Thrive on the Road Ahead – at ACEC’s Fall Conference in Las Vegas. In it I review today’s economy and business context, outline the fifteen most important large-scale trends affecting our business and world, and map out a plan of response – for both individuals and organizations. My goal is to shake things up – to provide a wake-up call, and a real sense of urgency for professional services firm leaders – to […]

AEC Business Development – A Role, Not a Title

Oct 18, 2011adminBusiness Development, Business Improvement, Planning

Have you ever thought about business development in the firm, using a simple equation like this: But if it’s this simple, then why – when you ask, plead, or demand the effort of others – does it rarely work? The answer lies in two parts. First, it’s wrong to believe that “sales calls” will lead to prospects. It’s occasionally true – but most often not. Initial calls with existing or new clients track first to leads – our one-way ideas and desires. These leads must be further nurtured and developed before they become true prospects – opportunities where the interest […]

AEC Leaders: Are You Moving Forward – Strategically?

Oct 3, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Leadership Development, Planning

Now is the time for leaders to move – with bold vision, aggressive plans, and inspired action – towards a successful, sustainable, and exciting future. That’s what I think. How about you? When the economy turned down in 2008 many leaders froze. Indeed, the magnitude and suddenness of the collapse was halting – and caught most of us by surprise. Stopping or slowing longer-term investments and initiatives made sense, was understandable and predictable, and was – for a time – even defensible. Staying afloat – to live and fight another day – became for many the modus operandi – and […]

Excelerate: Business Development Success for AEC Professionals

Aug 22, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Operations, Planning

It’s late summer – 2011. How does your company (and your desk) look right now? Across the years, I found this time – late summer – to be an important point of recharge and renewal. I’m invigorated by the ‘back-to-school’ energy, and promise of the coming Fall. It’s a good time for review and adjusting the business plan – highlighting important goals still left to be done this year. Likewise, it’s a good time to update the business development plan – focusing on clients and prospects I’d like to connect with in the next sixty days. Some AEC firms are […]

Managing Professional Services – Simple, but Hard

Aug 1, 2011adminUncategorized

Many design and technical professionals are attracted to complexity. Engineers, scientists, architects, and consultants often seek out larger and more complex projects – and eschew the simpler ones. These professionals are invigorated by using their experience, expertise, intelligence, and creativity to attack and solve challenging problems (particularly those that others can’t readily solve). With this paradigm, design and technical professionals envision that the opposite of simple is complex. Complex is good, interesting, and necessary. Simple is simplistic, unchallenging – and boring. In contrast, experiences in the business of the firm suggest a different model. Managing a professional services firm focuses […]

AEC Leaders – Is it (Really) the Economy, Stupid?

Jun 20, 2011adminUncategorized

Yes, the economy stinks. Not for all of course, but most sectors of the US economy remain weak, uneven, and uncertain. Moreover, many economists now believe that both low growth and ongoing uncertainty could be with us – for a good long while. Ken Simonson, Chief Economist of AGC – the Associated General Contractors of America – recently characterized April’s modest rise in construction spending as “deceptively positive,” [http://news.agc.org/2011/06/01/construction-spending-figures-highlight-how-government-funding-cutbacks-are-limiting-industrys-recovery/] – pointing to weakening public sector demand and the still slow residential construction market as important underlying factors. Simonson further noted that the relatively flat construction market was “uneven” – a […]

The Extraordinary Potential of AEC Firm Business Improvement

Apr 12, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Operations, Planning

In a recent post I asked this question: is investing in AEC firm business improvement really worth it? There I offered four of the most common objections to working on improving the organization. Today I’ll look at the first of these – the belief of some that the opportunity in their own firm is relatively small – and test whether that perspective really holds up. And even for those who don’t see the opportunity as small – it’s useful to look straight away at the numbers, and the magnitude of the opportunity at hand. Step 1: An Opportunity for One […]

Is Investing in AEC Firm Business Improvement Really Worth It?

Mar 8, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Operations, Planning

My question today: is working on the firm – those internally-focused initiatives of planning, training, and individual and organization development – really worth the time, energy, and financial investment involved? At some level the answer is (for most all of us) yes – since few would argue that they or their firms are perfect. That said, it’s common that leaders believe business performance improvement is both possible and worth it – while at the same being unwilling to invest in the actions required for change and improvement. There are of course many reasons – or justifications – for this lack […]

AEC Recovery – Bears and Bulls in the Early Going

Feb 7, 2011adminBusiness Improvement, Operations, Planning

As usual, economic pundits disagree on the direction and pace of the economic recovery. Still –perhaps you’ve noticed as well – fewer seem to be arguing for a decline (the so-called double dip) than before. In fact, most forecasters describe the road ahead (for the general economy) as encouraging, albeit perhaps too slow for most. In the AEC industry, future outlooks and levels of optimism remained varied. As has been the case throughout this recession, the forecast for an individual firm is highly dependent on that organization’s service capabilities, market focus, and geographic reach. A sense of cautious optimism defines […]