My business partner (Ed Woods) and I hired Deb Howard in 2007 to help us reorganize our management structure as we continue to grow the company. We wanted to make a leadership transition to spend less time managing people and projects and more time managing the company. Before Deb, we were managing every employee—including performance and salary reviews for 40 people at the end of each year! We had a great team, but we weren’t able to focus on long-term growth as much as we wanted to.
Deb interviewed all our staff. Then she led a series of discussions that culminated in a new org chart, new job titles, and clear responsibilities for each position. It took about six months. She did a fantastic job, everyone bought into it, and we couldn’t be happier with the results!
Creighton Manning was recognized nationally as one of the 2010 “Best Civil Engineering Firms to Work For,” which is certainly related to the work Deb did for us. If you’re going to have a happy workforce, people need to know what their role is in the organization, what they’re responsible for, and how they’re being rated. They also need good managers. Deb helped us identify and develop our best managers, and now Ed and I directly manage only four people each, instead of 40.
Deb truly moved our company to the next level. Ed and I now focus on how the company’s going to continue to grow rather than managing every staff person. We’re doing fine despite the recession, and we’re well positioned for when the economy rebounds—we have the leaders and structure we need to grow!
John M. Tozzi, PE
Partner
Creighton Manning Engineering, LLP
Albany, New York
