Simon Naylor


When AMEC Paragon Inc. was created two years ago, it brought together two very different companies and two equally different cultures,
Simon Naylor says. The key to melding the two groups into one healthy culture was identifying people who excel at bridging those kinds
of gaps at the project management and engineering services company. By finding those talents within its own ranks, AMEC Paragon Inc.
achieved 2005 revenue of $80 million and 2006 revenue of $100 million with 625 employees under Naylor’s leadership. Naylor has been
given expanded duties this summer as president of AMEC Natural Resources in Houston. Smart Business spoke with Naylor about
creating a culture of open communication.

Be visible. Treat people fairly and be clear and communicative about that. If people
are doing a good job, tell them they are
doing a good job. If people need support,
give them support. It’s about clarity.

People come to work to be challenged but
also to have fun. I believe our staff is looking for interesting wor that challenges
them, to be paid fairly and to work in an
environment, which encourages them.

We pay attention to our people. How are
they doing? What are we doing for them?
How are we moving them forward?

A large part of a manager’s role is the
encouragement, motivation and challenge
of the people. Be clear and have clarity in
the purpose in where you’re going and how
effective you are.

It’s really clear how we made money, it’s
really clear what our proposition is, and it’s
really clear how we deal with each other. If
you have got clarity in that regard, you’re a
long way toward success.

Be engaging. I’d rather not just send e-mails. Management by walking around is not just
walking around but stopping and talking to
people and working with people to be supportive. That means being visible and
engaging people.

It always impresses me when someone
recognizes my name. I had a situation
where I hosted a dinner, but I was more of
a surrogate host. It included somebody who
was extremely high-powered. That was on
a Friday.

This person went and then had a huge
number of social engagements over that
weekend. I was walking through a huge
event with thousands of people on the
Monday after, and I walked past this person
and I recognized him. He just grabbed me by
the arm and said, ‘Simon, I’d like to thank
you for dinner.’ It was the first time he had
ever met me on that Friday, but he knew my
name, and that made me feel really good.

How would you feel if this happened to
you? Why wouldn’t you do it to engage with
someone else?

Plan ahead. Recognize the balance between
internal leadership and external leadership.

We know who our customers are. Spend as
much time and as much energy with your
customers as you do with your employees.

When I’m talking about customers, am I
talking about spending time with them?
Yes. Actually, it’s also about planning those
conversations. Plan engagements that the
company has with customers.

We’ll analyze, discuss and conclude, and
be very clear what we are going to leave in
the conversation. What do we want to learn
from the conversation? What do we understand our customer’s issues are? What do
we understand of opportunities from that?
What can we do to support the customer?
What do we want from the customer?

It’s those types of assessments that we
undertake prior to any meeting.

Support ambition. Culture has become more
important in a company. People have
changed, and the demands of an employee
have changed. If we’re dealing with younger
employees now, for them, they are geared to
what is the company going to do for me?
Development is very important to them.

Being paid right and fairly is important.
But development is very important to them
to see where they could go and how they
can get there.

I have some ambitious people who work
with me. I think that’s good. Do I feel threatened? No. Do I feel comfortable? Yes. Part
of the challenge with real ambitious people is to keep their ambition and drive going. In
general, I’d like to have a team that has a
good element of ambition in it, both for
themselves and in the company. It comes
back to being clear.

Individuals within the company, be they
management or employees, want to succeed, and they want to support others to
succeed. We’ve got some excellent (managers) that earnestly believe that a key part
of their role is to develop individuals, and I
think that swells through the organization.

Find the glint. We look for someone who has some background and had success in the
past. Did they have both the academic and
the business record?

The other key to me is the will to succeed
and the glint in the eye, as people would
say. If you have got someone who maybe
has less experience, but they have a real
will to be successful, and they have a drive
in that regard and a real open manner, I
think they will be successful.

Look for the opportunity in risk. We do risk assessments both for the company but also
for our customer. The opposite of risk is
opportunity. When people talk about risk,
they always see threat. Our process does
encourage the use and view of opportunity
as the opposite of threat.

It’s an inherently difficult process
because, in general, when you deal with
these things, you don’t have all the information. You are dealing with the cards you’re
dealt. You might not have the whole pack.
In any risk assessment process, that’s a
threat in itself to try to understand that.

We have a very thorough and robust risk
assessment process within the business.
Should we be pursuing this prospect? What
are the risks and opportunities associated
with pursuing and securing this prospect?

We’re in a competitive environment. We
make offers to customers to do work for
them. Sometimes they choose us, sometimes they’ll choose a competitor. I think it’s
a case of learning from it and moving on
and not dwelling on it.

HOW TO REACH: AMEC Paragon Inc., (713) 570-1000 or
www.amecparagon.com