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How you source employees
is vital as well. Defining what you want employees or
partners to deliver and how you compensate your employees
and partners are key to understanding whom you bring into
your organization.
I have a philosophy that
was shaped by the experiences that I have shared in previous
articles and that will be further explained in this article
and the one to follow.
Part VI of the series
concluded with Ed Jr. agreeing to partner with IBEW Local #8
to improve Parker Construction’s ability to compete in NW
Ohio in the electrical construction space. Two members of
the leadership team, including me, were not in favor of this
strategy because of the unpleasant history that our family,
friends and colleagues have experienced with this
‘partner.’
The tipping point for me
occurred when I attended a construction meeting for a
University of Toledo project in the spring of 1990. An
interaction with a member of the construction manager team
was the seminal moment that finalized my decision to exit
the construction business which would require me to leave
Parker Construction, a business that I helped grow. It was
painful but necessary if I wanted to eventually achieve my
personal and professional goals.
As I was packing my things
to move on to the next phase of my life, I reflected on the
amazing things that our team was able accomplish.
Specifically, I am proud of the fact that under Ed Jr’s
leadership, several ‘have nots’ from the central city were
able to acquire skills that would position them to begin a
career in the electrical construction industry, which
allowed them to take care of their families.
Additionally, we were all
exposed to a world that we never would have experienced if
Ed were not a trailblazer. He was laser-focused on hiring
and developing people of color from the central city to
compete in the electrical construction industry.
That journey exposed all
of us to technologies and systems that powered and
controlled complex water and wastewater plants. We learned
how to deal with small town community citizens and officials
that had never seen all black electrical crews. We learned
how to work in teams and overcome odds that beset many
members of our community as it relates to education,
economic opportunity, social exclusion and political
empowerment. In essence, Parker Construction taught me and
several others a variety of things….especially about
surviving.
When I left, a tear flowed
down my face because I was leaving my family and friends.
However, I was leaving with a set of skills, tools and
experiences that I called upon almost every day, to guide
me, drive me, correct me, and motivate me, as I embarked
upon a journey that eventually led me to where I am today -
working as an expatriate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Working in a family
business was not my only work experience. I participated in
a summer minority engineering development program with
several other minority and female students from around the
region and was selected to receive a University of
Toledo/Owens Illinois Minority Engineering Scholarship.
As a result, I was
fortunate enough to be provided opportunities to intern for
the City of Toledo’s Streets, Bridges and Harbors Department
(1980), and Owens Illinois’ Technology Center (1981) and its
Plastics Products Division Corporate Engineering Department
(1982-1983).
So at a very young age, I
had an opportunity to work with a variety of talented
engineering and business professionals from around the world
while I continued to work on projects with the family
business. The take away for me was clear - different
skills, education and interpersonal capabilities are
required for careers in the construction trades, city
government and corporate America. Also, the work style and
culture are all different.
The organization structure
and design were different and I assumed that how they
sourced talent were all different. They were different,
however, many of the people I met in those organizations
deployed a friends and family human capital strategy as
well, just on a different level! At the City, I discovered
several people had relatives working in other city
departments or a class mate from high school hooked them
up.
At O-I, I discovered the
same thing. Fathers, brothers, cousins, fraternity brothers,
teammates or in-laws had recommended or were influential in
many getting hired. I later discovered that I, too, was
hired because the person running the scholarship program was
friends with the hiring managers at the city and O-I!
The question you ask is,
why me? Why not John, Jack or Jill? What did I bring to the
table that allowed me to be selected? What problem skills
did I display? Did I display the ability to work well in
teams? Did I display potential leadership skills? Was I a
self-starter? Would I represent the company well in public
setting? Did they examine my ability to learn concepts
rapidly? etc. How did they know if I could add value to
their organization? What evaluation tools did they use.
Of course I asked!!!!!!!
To be continued in Part VIII - Entrepreneurship – Who should
you partner with or hire?
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