Women in Business
Creative genius
How Pam Gaffen inspires her staff at Gafcon Inc.
By Kathy Simmons
Smart Business San Diego | March 2007
Pam Gaffen works hard and plays hard, and she wants her
employees to do the same.
“I am constantly searching for innovative ways to reward and
motivate our employees,” says Gaffen, co-founder and co-owner
of Gafcon Inc., a diversified construction consulting company.
“My instinct is to nurture my staff. I believe employees who work
and play hard and are consistently rewarded for their efforts are
the most loyal.”
As part of those incentives, Gaffen provides lunch each day for
employees and offers flu vaccines each year in the office.
“As a result, we have very few people out of work during flu season,” she says. “This is a real win-win. When an employee misses
several days of work, it costs the company a significant amount of
money in lost productivity. It makes sense to pay a doctor to
administer shots rather than to take this risk.”
Gaffen founded Gafcon with her husband, Yehudi, in 1987, and
today, the company has 100 employees. Gaffen’s husband runs the
business development side of the company, while she handles
operations.
Smart Business spoke with Gaffen about how she motivates her
staff and manages growth.
Q: What key skills does a leader need?
The ability to hire and retain outstanding employees is essential.
We don’t build machinery or sell a physical product. That’s not
where our assets are; our business is all about people. Our assets go
up in the elevator in the morning and go down at night.
To find the best employees, I start by reviewing their resumes. I
tend to focus first on longevity. Our company is not meant to be a
revolving door for employees. We are looking for employees to
invest in our future and be part of the growth and reward of our
organization.
During the interview process, I depend on my managers to
assess technical abilities. I observe the applicant’s interactions
during the process and rely on my intuition when making a hiring
decision.
After bringing the best employees on board, great leaders keep
them inspired and move them forward careerwise. I believe in
allowing employees to expand their horizons. Sometimes a great
employee will become intrigued with a different role in the company but lacks the education to be considered.
I will help him or her get the training and education needed. It
can be the best investment you ever make. Not only does this
employee now bring a broader base of skills and knowledge to the
organization, they also feel a heightened sense of loyalty.
Q: What has been your greatest challenge, and how did you overcome it?
Growth can be a real challenge. We have had years involving 30
to 40 percent growth, and it’s been tough to keep up. Growth
needs to be well-managed. Otherwise, it can get out of control
quickly.
Some years will be flat, and that can be a blessing. You need time
to catch your breath in order to do thoughtful planning for the
future. Continuous huge jumps are not always healthy.
Another challenge was staying ahead of the technology curve.
With changes occurring at such a rapid pace, we decided to make a
significant investment in current and future technologies, giving our
employees an opportunity to truly innovate.
One important area we addressed was the Web-based document
management and collaborative portal environment. Today, we are
starting to see a positive return on those decisions by empowering
our people with better tools to do good work, while at the same
time increasing value to our clients by providing anywhere/anytime access to information.
Q: How do your inspire creativity in your staff?
Creativity flows in properly managed brainstorming sessions. I
constantly invite my employees’ opinions and regularly act upon
them.
During these brainstorming sessions, I throw out ideas that may
seem off the wall or unrealistic. This opens the door for out-of-thebox thinking from the group.
You can’t have real creativity without a comfortable and spontaneous flow of ideas — including what may seem like silly ones. My
job is to take all these ideas and filter out the jewels.
Q: How do you multitask?
I wear many operational hats, including legal, financial, IT, HR
and marketing. I must rely on good talent, but I also need to be
extraordinarily efficient. This includes careful delegation, organization and maximizing use of technology that helps me get the
most out of every workday.
One other practice that has worked well for me is to work hard
while at work but refrain from bringing work home. Especially in
light of the fact that my husband and I are co-owners, it is important to have boundaries.
I want my personal space at home to reflect an aspect of me other
than the professional. If I have work papers strewn everywhere or
constant conversations about work while at home, I cannot achieve
balance.
HOW TO REACH: Gafcon Inc., www.gafcon.com or (619) 231-6100
