organizational development Archives - Page 3 of 5

Best of PowerTips: Creating your Business Exit Roadmap with Ashley Micciche

June 16, 2022 00:28:59

Did you know that 81% of business owners want to stop working in their business in the next 10 years?

Yet, most business owners are paralyzed and doing nothing about their exit, because the process seems overwhelming to the point that they don’t know where to begin. So, how does one focus on their business while planning an exit? Guest Ashley Micciche has the answer.

Ashley Micciche is the co-owner and CEO of True North Retirement Advisors in Clackamas, Oregon. She specializes in designing, building, and implementing custom-designed exit plans to help her business owner clients secure their final and most important business decision – the exit from their business.

Victoria and Ashley talk more about:

Understanding how to pick an ideal successor
Determining post-exit financial needs
Establishing a target departure date
And more…

Click Here to Access the Business Valuation Tool

Finish Big, by Bo Burlingham, is the book Victoria referenced during the show.

Are You Ready for Remodelers Summit '22?

This highly celebrated event is the remodeling industry’s premier educational conference, and it sells out EVERY YEAR!

Join over 700 high performing remodeling professionals and experience the Power of Summit, including:

3 Distinguished Keynotes
40 Visionary Speakers
36 High-octane Workshops
28 Industry Leading Success Partners
A Legendary Welcome Party. This Year it Will Have an 80s Theme!
And Much, Much More…

Ep.185: Getting To An 8-Figure Remodeling Business With Ben Juncker

May 19, 2022 00:24:49

Special guest Ben Juncker discusses the lessons he learned and actions he took to go from a roofing employee to the owner of a multimillion dollar business and a best-selling author. After being in business for a while and buying out his partner, he realized that profits are more important than revenue and that he needed to start looking at his business at the macro level. He started focusing proper staffing and creating processes, which led to meaningful growth.

Ben started his company, Craftsman’s Choice, in 1998 and became a James Hardie siding contractor in 2000. Since that time Craftsman’s Choice has grown continuously to become one of the nation’s top James Hardie Remodelers, completing over 175 jobs per year. They have won James Hardie’s prestigious President’s Club award every year since its inception in 2015.

Ben, Victoria, and Mark discuss the importance of:

Knowing what is happening on job sites
Building accountability into all processes and systems
Leveraging technology, specifically Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools
And more…

Ep.103: Positive Growth in Difficult Situations with Kathy O’Brien

March 11, 2020 0:25:42

We talk about the J Curve a lot around here — picture a lower-case J. When you apply change principles to your business — new people, systems, and processes — they can initially send your business on a downward trajectory before soaring with your success. If you want to grow your company, listen carefully!

Our guest today breaks this process down into four stages of development:

Forming: The getting to know you stage
Storming: When conflicts arise (the bottom of the J)
Norming: Common goals are defined, an agreement is reached
Performing: Working toward a common goal and looking forward

In this episode, Kathy O’Brien talks to Victoria and Mark about how to manage your growth strategies and the importance of being a strong leader in challenging times.

Kathy was the founding CEO of the St. Louis Alzheimer’s Association for over 25 years and then served as Senior Vice President of the National Office in Chicago. She received numerous awards and recognition for her work. Kathy now volunteers as a mentor/consultant to 5stone Construction in St. Louis, MO, helping with business growth strategies — she first got to know the company as a client. She was so impressed with the quality of the work and the people, she has worked with 5stone for the last several years, developing systems and processes, determining annual goals and individual employee performance indicators, hiring to get “the right people on the bus,” and managing fast growth over the last four years.

Kathy says those four stages of development apply to making positive growth in professional development, organizational development, and personal development. You go through the stages in every business relationship, personal relationship, and client relationship. She breaks down the stages, and how they present themselves in the remodeling business, including:

How it plays out with employees
Why it’s a continuous process
Getting through the storming stage successfully
How one person can cause a storm
Why leadership and core values are important through all the stages
Making it okay to disagree, and fostering honest dialog
What to do when you’re still sinking
And more …

If you’re finding yourself stuck in the storming stage, Kathy says there’s great value in having support with other leaders, by networking or in peer groups. She also recommends three books to read to boost your leadership skills:

Ep.98: How to Structure and Run a Profitable Design Department with Chris Landis

February 5, 2020 00:27:50

Jobs are won or lost during the design process. With so much on the line, it’s clear that your design department should be running at peak performance. But there are so many ways the process can get derailed.

It all depends on how you structure your design department, and what metrics you use to hold them accountable.

In this episode, Chris Landis discusses about how to build and run an efficient design department with Victoria and Mark.

Chris is a partner (with his brother Ethan) in Landis Architects/Builders in Washington, DC, and is a longtime Roundtables member. He’s a registered architect in four states (MD, DC, VA, NY). Chris graduated from Vassar College, and earned his M.A. in architecture from Columbia Architecture School. Chris is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and has 28 years of experience in residential architecture. He is a current member of the DC Historic Preservation Review Board and past president of the DC Metro area chapter of NARI.

Chris has a design department of nine people after 30 years in the business. When the company got to the point of having three designers, Chris hired a manager for that department to ensure that the work was standardized and high quality. He talks about how to set up your own design department for success and create a quicker process, including:

The metrics to gauge success
The designer’s role in his company
Recruiting and hiring for the department
Working back from net profit
When to hire a design manager
His three-phase process
How he charges for them
Figuring out a healthy close ratio
Taking on a design-only project
Why to conduct a feasibility study — sometimes
Working with design sub-contractors
And more …

Design can be a profit center, not a loss-leader, and you have to know how much you should be charging for it — even if you don’t.

MasterClass: Design Process

You can learn how other successful companies manage their design business, and you’ll go home with new ideas to exceed your clients’ expectations and boosting profits on every job. We’ll be holding our next class here in Baltimore, May 18-19. You can find more details and register here: Building An Effective Design Process.

Ep.92: The Dangers of Burnout and How To Promote Individual Resiliency with Marian Faller

December 11, 2019 00:29:07

No matter how well your remodeling company is doing, how well organized you are, life can get hectic at times. You work through it all, but this can leave you vulnerable to burnout. Which can lead to an avalanche of problems.

In this episode, Marian Faller discusses burnout with Victoria and Mark, sharing its causes, the signs to look for in yourself and others, and how you can promote resiliency within your company.

Marian is a psychotherapist, and owns Cornerstone Consulting and Cornerstone Counseling in Westerly, RI. She also serves as a consultant for individuals, families, and companies wanting to address mental health concerns. She also happens to be married to our own Tim Faller.

Burnout happens gradually, says Marian, and so gradually that you may not notice it until it’s too late. People experiencing burnout can be irritable, miss days of work, and can even get to the point of clinical depression. Burnout can affect individuals as well as entire organizations. Marian talks about what to know to keep yourself and your employees mentally healthy, including:

The signs and symptoms of burnout
How physical health can cause burnout
How burnout can spread from one individual
Why ignoring the causes of burnout won’t make it go away
The genetic and chemical components of mental health
What folic acid has to do with it
Promoting resilience in yourself and others
Focusing on what went right vs. what went wrong
What we can learn from Winnie the Pooh and Cleopatra
Modeling good habits and behaviors
Setting the right tone
Using hardships to promote resiliency
And more …

Knowing the signs and symptoms of burnout — and how to help yourself and others through it — can make a big difference in your own happiness and your team’s job satisfaction.

Ep.90: Inside the Design-Build Movement with David Supple

November 27, 2019 00:27:26

You may have thought that the design-build business model is a recent phenomenon. But years ago, all builders practiced design-build, but something happened along the way to create separate industries.

In this episode, David Supple takes Victoria and Mark on a deep dive into the history of the design-build model, the truths about it, and why it’s been around as long as buildings have.

David is the founder and CEO of New England Design & Construction in Boston. He’s grown NEDC to be a leader in design-build excellence, winning more than 30 awards and being written about in more than 30 publications over the past 14 years. In addition to expanding the company, David has started the DesignBuild Movement, a forum with the purpose of educating the public on this topic with the end goal of creating better buildings.

David has had a fascination with creating buildings since his art history teacher in high school showed the class slides of landmarks in Europe like Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. He decided he wanted to build those types of spaces, and was steered into architecture. He graduated from college with an architecture degree, and started practicing. Then, he says, he realized he didn’t know what he was doing. So he went to work as a carpenter to get a foundation in actual building before he opened NEDC. David talks about the history of architects and builders, and how the industry got to where we are now, including:

What an architect used to be
The historical apprenticeship process
How the industry separated into architects and builders
What social status had to do with it
Why design-build almost went away
The efficiencies of design-build as a process
How to position design-build with consumers
Design-build vs. design-bid-build
And more …

It’s a fascinating look at the history of building, architecture, and remodeling, and will make you better prepared to discuss what design build really means. To learn more about the DesignBuild Movement, check out the pages on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Ep.72: [Unscripted Back-Up] Building a Successful, Profitable Remodeling Company with Brandon Bailey

July 17, 2019 00:27:19

It’s time for another Unscripted Back-Up. It’s a chance to revisit some of our best and most informative episodes. They’re jam-packed with information you can use — so if you missed it the first time around, here’s your chance to catch up.

Growing your remodeling company is filled with pitfalls and challenges that can prevent you from getting to the next level successfully. So many of our Roundtables members say it takes hard work, yes, but also a concentrated focus and a willingness to look for help from outside your organization when you need it.

In this episode, Victoria and Mark talk to Brandon Bailey, who’s a textbook example of a successful remodeler who made the right moves after deciding to significantly grow his business.

Brandon is an owner of Bailey Remodeling & Construction, a design build company in Louisville, KY. After starting his business in 2005, Brandon was where many of our members were when they were starting out — producing good, reputable work but spinning their wheels with long hours, no systems in place, and no predictable revenue model. Sound familiar?

In 2009, Brandon and his business partner, Jon Steimel, set out to significantly change and grow their business. They’ve done a fantastic job, their awards include being named the 2017 Remodeler of the Year by the Building Industry Association in Louisville.They won two project awards from BIA in 2019. They are now have 10 team members and are looking for more.

Brandon talks about how the company has managed its growth, things to look out for, and what it has meant for the business and his life, including:

The specific challenges when growing
Finding outside resources to help his business
What it was like working with a business coach and peer group
Which KPIs to keep an eye on
Growing his team beyond the two partners
Building a sales system
Establishing a consistent and predictable revenue model
Increasing net profit
What his business and day-to-day life is like now
And more …

Brandon’s story will sound familiar to so many remodelers, and the steps he has taken to build a more successful, profitable remodeling company can be guide your own journey.

Join Remodeling’s Top One Percent

Brandon is a fantastic example of a business owner who took advantage of the Power of Roundtables. Our program is a world-class peer advisory service that brings together smart, motivated remodeling professionals, just like you, to help one another grow.

Want to learn how you can participate in this experienced braintrust? Learn More Here >>

Ep.61: How I Revamped My Design Process with Chris Fox

April 24, 2019 00:27:03

Systems and processes rarely scale when your business grows. So you have to go back and create new ones that will — at least for now. Your design process is no different.

When hiring a new or additional designer, it may be time to revamp your process in preparation for that new team member.

In this episode, Chris Fox talks to Victoria and Mark about what he found when he dove deep into his company’s design process. He learned so much from his examination that he created a new self-guided training plan for designers that doesn’t require constant oversight and management by supervisors.

Chris is the founder of Fox Home Innovations in Manhattan, KS. Chris started this company during his junior year of college and ran multiple projects and crews while completing his degree in entrepreneurship from Kansas State University. In school, he met Matt Carlson, who later bought into the company. Today, they both run the organization with Chris focusing on sales and design, while Matt is the general manager.

The old design process was often on the fly and not totally repeatable at all times. They had nothing to train to or repeat when it came time to hire another designer. There was no time to train, either, because everyone was so busy. Chris details what they did and how they did it, including:

Evaluating the process you’ve got
Creating a trainable, repeatable process
Building in the details
How to create a training document
The time it takes, and why to take the time
Involving your whole team
The significant changes it made
What the onboarding and training looks like
Creating teachable moments
How to boost competence and confidence
And more …

The process is working well, so Chris plans to use it as a model for onboarding and training new hires for other roles throughout the organization as it grows.

Ep.59: Empower Your Team to Help You Build a Great Business with Jason Blenker

April 10, 2019 00:27:04

If you’re going to build something — a building, a company, a team — you owe it to the world to build something great. Identify what makes you exceptional and empower your team to help you build a great business.

In this episode, Jason Blenker tells Victoria and Mark about how and why he put his organization on the path to greatness, how he defines the term, and inspiring your team to carry out that mission.

Jason is the president of Blenker Companies Inc., a Midwest provider of housing solutions designed to make the building process easier, faster, and better with one mission — to Build Something Great® — great buildings, great communities, great companies, great leaders, and great team members.

About five years ago, he set out to grow his business and build a leadership team around him to make it happen. Jason looked at what world-class companies do, reached out to mentors and coaches, and got to work. A great organization is one that people want to work with and for, and is active in the communities it serves, he says. Getting everyone on the same page is the first step, and he talks about how he did that, including:

Creating your roadmap
Planning for success
Communicating to get employee buy-in
Breaking down what it means to individuals
Evaluating who does what best and letting them
Overcoming the fear of change
The changes coming to the industry
Why profit isn’t the only driver for success
The time you need to take to work on the organization
How to let go and trust others to make great decisions
Getting past analysis paralysis
And more …

Taking the time to invest in yourself may mean taking time away from working in your business, Jason says, but it’s the only way to propel your organization forward.

We are now on Spotify!

As you can see by the logo on the right, PowerTips Unscripted is now available on Spotify for those of you who might be using that app on your mobile device. Enjoy!

Ep.58: How LEAN Principles Have Improved My Business with Paul Kowalski

April 3, 2019 00:29:32

We’ve talked about LEAN before on the show with our own experts, but you may wonder what it looks like in the real world. Today we’ll hear about using LEAN in the remodeling business from an award-winning design-build company that focuses on residential remodeling.

In this episode, Paul Kowalski shares his experiences in applying LEAN in his business with Victoria and Mark. His company recently implemented the process, and he says the results have already been eye-opening.

Paul Kowalski is the owner of PK Builders in Charlotte, NC, and a member of our Remodelers Advantage Roundtables group. PK Builders has a team of eight, including Paul, with four Project Managers, an Estimator, and a Draftsman.

PK Builders was experiencing growing pains in 2018 — bottlenecks in the design-build process, some cash-flow issues, higher overhead, so they called in Doug Howard for help. Paul says it was intimidating at first, but soon becomes second nature to look for ways to speed up processes. It started with 16 feet of paper festooned with sticky notes detailing steps in the design process. They began by diving into the design process, and he discusses how they did it, including:

Explaining it to your staff
Sharing in chunks
Finding the hiccups
Why the people closest to the work have the best feedback
Getting over the intimidation factor
Timelines and swim lanes
Not including time for revisions
Building in collaboration up front
Unintended consequences
And more …

Paul and his team are deep in the LEAN process, and excited to see what their future brings, including how it affects their positive cash flow. They’ll be looking at the Production process as their experience with LEAN continues. We’ll check in with Paul on how it’s going in the future.

Here’s that 16-ft. piece of paper!

Getting LEAN

See the video Paul talks about outlining LEAN principles from the Food Bank For New York City on YouTube.

If you want to learn more about LEAN, and download the free process mapping tool, go to leanremodeling.com.

organizational development