Firms must blur the lines between business units to allow for better collaboration, client service, firm growth, and sustainable returns.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my family and I often felt cooped up and longed for opportunities to get outside, exercise, and enjoy the outdoors while maintaining social distancing measures. At the same time, we wanted to diversify our financial portfolio by investing in real estate. We decided that investing in a modest hobby farm or recreational property could meet both needs – providing recreational opportunities while also offering long-term financial appreciation. Fortunately, we found a property within our budget that met our criteria, and we officially became part-time “farmers” alongside our careers in environmental engineering and accounting.
Our farm consists of an equal portion of oak-hickory forest and native warm-season prairie grass pasture. From a financial standpoint, the grass portion of the farm provides an annual income stream through hay production, and the timber holds potential for longer-term selective hardwood harvest. As an environmental engineer, I’ve always had a passion for environmental stewardship, including soil and water conservation, sustainable agriculture, and wildlife conservation. This past week, I had the opportunity to host two wildlife biologists from Quail Forever, a not-for-profit upland wildlife conservation organization, to discuss management practices that could be employed to increase biodiversity, maximize wildlife habitat value, maintain soil conservation, and otherwise be a good steward of the land.
The biologists suggested using “edge feathering” to create a softer transition between the grasslands and timber areas on the property. This practice aims to reduce the sharp divide between the forest and grassland areas. Species such as quail, wild turkey, and deer thrive on the edges between habitats, which provide travel corridors, shelter, food, and escape cover. The process involves selectively cutting some trees along the field edges to create a more jagged edge, increasing the linear feet of habitat transition. This softer transition benefits the wildlife species utilizing the farm.
Our firm has recently undergone a major transition in executive leadership, and I have been fortunate to expand my role to serve on the executive team leading our company-wide strategic initiatives. Over the past year, we have been working diligently to build upon the successful legacy left by our predecessors. This involves uniting as a team around the envisioned culture and strategic anchors needed to continue our success and adapt the firm to thrive in our rapidly changing internal and external environments.
Over the past 50 years, our company has experienced significant growth. We have expanded both geographically and in terms of the services we offer. What started with three founders has now grown to more than 1,300 employees working across 11 business units throughout the country. While this model has been beneficial for us, it also comes with its own set of challenges. The business unit model has allowed for financial accountability, leadership autonomy, and a culture that fosters entrepreneurial spirit.
As the firm continues to grow, we are facing challenges with consistency, resource sharing, turf wars, limited opportunities within business units, and missed chances to utilize our collective resources effectively for our clients. The size and scope of the projects we are taking on have steadily increased as we deliver more work through alternative mechanisms such as EPC (Engineer, Procure, and Construct). These larger and more complex projects require better collaboration across the firm, utilizing resources from multiple business units. To achieve this, I believe we need to “edge-feather” the boundaries between our business units, blurring the lines and softening the boundaries that exist, real or perceived, to allow for better collaboration, client service, firm growth, and sustainable returns for our employee-owners.
Edge feathering involves hard work and sacrifice. As an environmental professional, I understand the need to remove some trees and established vegetation to reduce competition, allow more sunlight to reach the ground, and promote the growth of understory plants for the greater good. It can be a struggle to decide which trees to remove, and there’s often a feeling of guilt associated with removing something that’s established.
Leading a consulting firm also involves “edge feathering,” softening the edges of our business units by deciding which processes, procedures, and incentives should be kept and which should be sacrificed for the greater good, to evolve our thinking and interactions for the benefit of the firm as a whole rather than just individual business units. As leaders, we must consider both immediate financial pressures and the long-term horizon to ensure the company’s success.
It’s interesting to see the connections between environmental consulting and farming. Business lessons can come from unexpected places, and the interconnectedness of all elements in the environment can teach us valuable
principles.
Nathan Hamm, P.E. is senior vice president and strategic initiatives leader at SCS Engineers. Contact him at nhamm@scsengineers.com.
