Building an Organization of Leaders

Each year, the Management Committee meets with DPR’s Young Leaders, a group of individuals identified by regional leadership as people who show great potential as both managers and leaders. DPR started as a young, progressive company, and we do our best to remain that way. Listening to the “young voices” in our organization has become an important part of our culture.

Several months ago when we met with the Young Leaders group, the culture of DPR was one of the topics they wanted to openly discuss. There was some debate, even among the group, that the amount of time and energy dedicated to advancing our culture over the last few years has diminished. Many disagreed, citing strong examples of DPR’s ongoing commitment to training, innovation and community service—from green building and our Web-based Palm Pilot Safety Application to toy drives during the holidays, working with Junior Achievement, and commissioning students from Harborside Elementary School (see article on page two).

One of the greatest things about our culture is that the very nature of it is based on a constant state of change. We will be different from and more progressive than all other construction companies. We believe in continual self-initiated change, improvement, learning and the advancement of standards for their own sake. Good is simply not good enough at DPR. We want to be better—better builders, better communicators, better service providers—and we do that by continuously testing, measuring and further defining ourselves both individually and as a company.

To clearly define the DPR culture as it stands today and to help set expectations for moving forward, the Young Leaders group created a “Cultural Snapshot: A set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterize a company or corporation.” Following are some excerpts:

• Organizational Structure: We are striving to be as flat as possible. This does not mean that we do not have leadership, roles or titles. It means that we are rejecting the conventional pyramid and seniority based promotion structure. We want individuals to make decisions based on knowledge, not on titles. To do “what is right” and not be concerned with “who is right.” Does this mean you have a boss? Yes. Are you powerless? Absolutely not.
• Self Motivation: We expect to hire and work with self-motivated individuals. These people are multi-taskers, are filling voids outside their role, and are humbly working for the benefit of the team.
• Customers: We strive to treat our clients with trust and respect as true partners; we are committed to succeeding together. The long-term relationships with our customers exist and survive due to our consistent effort to improve our service. We strive to achieve the “WOW” factor by building great things. These things are not just structures, but relationships, regional offices and the environments in which we work.
• Feedback: DPR encourages actively honest feedback. We believe in the 51 percent rule—take the responsibility to initiate the feedback process.
• Standards: Standards are the basis and foundation of where to begin. Standards should not be the limitation or boundary to keep you from succeeding.

The clear picture painted by our young leaders provides a good example of the values and attitude that have kept us moving forward as a successful organization. It is critical that we continue to listen to our young voices and take a moment out of our busy days to remember all of the things that make us truly great.