Real Estate and Construction
Building blocks
How to train your employees for future greatness
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Northern California | April 2009
Page 1 of 2
John F. Eller, president and principal
SB Architects
John F. Eller first experienced a leadership transition when the two founders of SB Architects retired from the firm and left him in charge.
“The thought that scared me to death was, ‘The founders are going away; now what?’” he says.
But Eller rose to the occasion. The principal and president of SB assembled a strong team around him, and with his guidance, SB Architects has become a 98-employee, two-office enterprise that earned $28.8 million in 2008 revenue.
Smart Business spoke with Eller about how to motivate employees and how to tell when they are ready to be promoted.
Q. How do you motivate employees?
Each member of our management team defines that a little differently. For me, I define it in terms of what motivated me. What I’ve found successful in motivating other people is describe to them and encourage them toward opportunity.
Try to eliminate for them and encourage them toward really demonstrating their particular talents and capture the opportunities that will come by that demonstration.
I usually define it in terms of, ‘Do your job, and as best you can, do your boss’s job.’ My advice to them as part of the motivation is, ‘Always be learning.’ Always be focused on trying to do their job as well as they can, be in command of that responsibility, but always look to do their boss’s job, so they learn while there is a safety net. The security is that their boss is responsible for their own performance. But the more that person can do their boss’s job, they learn in an environment with a certain level of safety — but they take on the opportunity to improve the performance of their boss.
Then, when they are given the opportunity to step into that position, they’ve already been doing it. They’ve already demonstrated their capacity to do it.
Q. How do you handle an employee who doesn’t want to take advantage of those opportunities?
Every company has people who find their comfort zone. It is incumbent on the person to engage in the company.
For those who want to come punch the clock and do their job and do it well, they can be valuable people in the company. Very talented people who participate in the company at that level — you tolerate for their talent. You provide them with a certain level of reward.
But the people who really want to participate in the company, who take that extra step, are the ones who reap the greatest benefit just in personal return and also in the reward the firm provides and acknowledges them for their efforts.
