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By Rachel Gresham | Culture erodes when organizations ask people to behave one way while systems, incentives, and authority structures reward another.

By Mark Zweig | Better project management isn’t about new systems, it’s about disciplined leadership, clear decisions, and relentless execution of fundamentals.

By Brad Wilson | ESOP success in AEC firms depends on financial discipline, clear governance, and treating employee ownership as a lasting cultural investment.

By Kyle Ahern | Recent survey data reveals a surprising dip in satisfaction among mid-career professionals.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Neumann Monson Architects (Iowa City, IA), a firm that creates exceptional spaces for living, working, learning, and playing.

By Sara Parkman | Compensation trends reveal critical strategies to boost employee retention and satisfaction.

By Kyle Ahern | The Best Firms To Work For survey provides a comprehensive view of the organizational climate across the industry, highlighting achievements and areas for growth.

By Leisbel Lam | We need to strive for a leadership style that is centered on emotional intelligence and finding common ground, connection, and growth within our teams.

By Ezequiel Tovar | Transition planning takes time, and the results are gradual – but if you do it right, the rewards are endless.

By Jennifer Haddad | If you can approach the situation with empathy, compassion, and an open mind, you can create a positive experience and leave the door open for future opportunities.

By Kraig Kern | Identifying and fixing crucial problems is the job of leadership, but sometimes the most debilitating problems are with the leaders themselves.

By Mark Zweig | There are some things you can do to “tune up” your organization structure, even if you don’t completely overhaul it.

By Kraig Kern | Too much of a good thing can lead to a crisis for you and your staff and dissatisfaction for your clients.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | This year’s cohort has picked up where last year’s group left off – taking on creative ideas to solve both historic and emerging challenges.

“Satisfaction with the status quo leads to complacency. Complacency is the enemy of motivation.”

“Top management is largely responsible for HR’s ineffectiveness on many levels in the typical A/E firm.”

“Social media is a virtual world. It’s a false world. Spend more time in the real world and less time on your individual PR program, and encourage your staff to do the same.”

President and CEO of Stonebrooke Engineering (Best Firm Civil #41 for 2017), based in Burnsville, Minnesota. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We have found that ‘growing’ our employees has been much more successful than bringing in...

Five types of unnecessary practices that are making you lose big bucks, Mark Zweig writes. I’ve always thought there was a lot of time wasted in the typical AEC firm’s office, especially for the managers....

Your job is to instill harmony between those who thrive on change and those who prefer the status quo. After working with A/E firms for about 35 years, I have come to the conclusion that...

Any business— be that A/E/P or otherwise— survives and prospers to the extent it meets the needs of its clients. That is so incredibly fundamental it borders on the obvious— yet firms falter (and occasionally...

As the fall air turns crisp and cool here in Northwest Arkansas, many folks’ thoughts turn to football, leaf raking, and the upcoming holiday season. Owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, however,...

When it comes to keeping clients truly satisfied and coming back year after year for every service your firm provides, most A/E/P and environmental firms have a long way to go. Creating a genuine experience...

I had a revelation the other day: I don’t know of a single top manager in an A/E/P or environmental firm who is completely thrilled with every one of his or her partners, shareholders, or...

TQM (Total Quality Management) for A/E/P firms is nothing more than a fad. I’d be willing to bet right here and now that in two or three years, you won’t hear anything about it. TQM...

Although I’ve been trying to preach the gospel for years now, most principals of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms still do not understand what human resources management is all about. First, there’s the way so...

Last week, I spoke to an engineer laid off from the consulting firm where he had been employed for the past 18 years. Unfortunately, his layoff was the direct result of a recommendation contained in...