Chris Avant, President of Canyon Construction and John Caletti, President of Caletti Construction shared some secrets behind their individual company’s success at the May 20 Splinter Group meeting held in the Truitt and White Conference Room. In this interview, they continue the discussion on critical leadership qualities, strategies common to most organizations and how they have implemented them in their own companies.

Talk the talk, walk the walk. Don’t make rules and not live by them.

Chris: When you talk about leadership, the leader must act in a manner that is consistent with the required rules and behavior. We start work at 7:00 a.m. and we get off at 3:30 p.m. So you can't really come in at 10:00 a.m. and expect the field to follow you when they've been at work since 7:00 a.m., even if you are working late, there's a certain defined work ethic that you have to embrace and help define over and over again throughout [the] company.

Be clear about the goals of the organization.

Chris: What can be successfully accomplished must first be clearly seen and understood. It's that ability to explain to people where it is we are and where it is we intend to be going. For the employees, it needs to be that clear vision of where they are within this organization and within the overall vision. So it's within the organization but it's also within the plans, the overall vision of where the company will be over time. Then once you've clearly created that vision, people can be part of it and can help you accomplish it.

John: A company has to have a vision that directs the excitement level for the employees. The vision would be along the lines of “developing high-end custom homes in a particular area for discerning clients.” That's it. You have your vision, you have your goals to reach those visions, and a leader in the company has to be aligned with that influence toward those employees. So the leadership revolves around putting the ideas, direction and specific goals in front of the employees and inspiring them.

Know what employees want.

John: Everybody has different needs. You have to look at each person individually. It's very important, especially the employees on the higher level of the leadership scale to motivate them properly.

So what do employees want? They want respect — respect and appreciation for what they are doing. They’re not just a cog in the wheel. Each person in the company provides a critical role. That has to be seen as clearly the direction the company is going in appreciating all the employees.

Employees want compensation. They want it to be commensurate with their talents and their abilities they show on the job. We pay our employees what I call a fair wage. We augment that with various benefits, you know health plans and dental plans and our simple IRA plan, which is a matching plan. Also for employees that have been with us a year or more we have a profit sharing plan and we distribute half of the profits of the company to the employees on a quarterly basis.

Employees want job security. They want to know they have a full-time job, not six months out of the year but 12 months out of the year. If they want to take a vacation it's their choice.

Employees need to be challenged in order to improve and progress. So we have to find ways to meet these needs with the employees and motivate them with those individual elements.

Know that you’re there to support the employees in doing great work, not the other way around.

Chris:A lot of companies think that the field and the people in the company are supporting the President and the CFO and the Administration, right? Our view of it is that the field is where the magic happens — where the creation and quality control takes place. So our whole company is set up to support that activity and to help those people both on a personal level and on a professional level to build quality work— the managers are there to make the field activity as smooth as possible so they can achieve the highest level of quality and value for the customer.

Understand that organizations have a rhythm.

Chris: I've been reading a book called Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawkins. It's a great book about designing your business around natural systems. It's about abundance. There's no waste. A sunset has no limitation on the amount of colors. If you use nature as your model in designing your business, it integrates it into that natural world and you create a cyclical, natural rhythm.  It begins in sales and estimating, goes through the management system, into production, and the quality of that work then brings it around to accounting. Then follow up service brings in new work that starts the cycle again.

And then, in terms of impact, it's the same way. If you create a model within your business of sustainability and education it will have an impact on the greater community as well.

Be a risk taker.

Chris: The other thing that you want to do is create an environment of entrepreneurial risk-taking. That comes from your own passion about what you do. If you enjoy it, if you're passionate about it, it's a contagious thing and people will want to be part of that, will contribute to that energy. No matter what's happening, no matter what bad stuff might have gone down, you need to look at it as a good learning experience. In terms of risk-taking, all of the most highly successful people have taken many risks and have failed over and over again. Guys like Doctor Seuss with 23 books that didn't happen to get published or Thomas Edison who failed, I think, 1,000 times. The difference between highly successful people and marginally successful people is that successful people have failed a lot more often.

John: It's really scary. We've all done it. All companies go through a period of wondering whether or not they should take a big job or go in a different direction. You have to make those decisions logically but you also have to just kind of go with the gut once and a while and say this is what we're doing. Boom. To hell with the safety nets, let's try. Otherwise you stay very stagnant in your comfort level. There’s nothing wrong working within your comfort level, but you do become stagnant after a period of time. You can't do that and advance your goals.

Stay true to your basic principles.

Chris: The other idea that I wanted to convey is if you look at our company, it's much bigger than any individual. A company is built on principles, not the ego or efforts of any individual. If anything draws people to this company, it's our legacy of outstanding service, the integrity and fairness that we work with internally and with our clients and subcontractors, our history of craftsmanship, and sustainable or environmental awareness. It's those principles that are common to everyone within the group and everyone can get behind and promote.

The best part of heading up a construction company.

Chris: It's being part of the dynamic environment. Everyday I'm seeing things created. I'm going out to jobsites and seeing plans that we've been working on for years and seeing them come to life. Rather than just being on one project, I'm going from project to project and I'm seeing these buildings take form. To me that is extremely exciting. I get a real jazz out of that.

It's that same creation of when you're designing a business and when you're working within a business, it's watching that business grow. It's creating those systems and then seeing them take a life of their own. So it's both the creation of watching forms take place in the physical world but it's also that company and seeing an organization grow and take form and watching people in that company or in that organization grow and realize their vision.

John: I enjoy the satisfaction the client gets when they move back into their house or we finish a project and it's just all smiles. Their dream has been met. They know and I know that we were able to help them realize what their dream was. The architects are critical, the owner is critical, the design team and subcontractors in our company, we all work together. Construction is not rocket science but it is very difficult because there are so many moving parts. And to put all those moving parts together in a cohesive system that comes together at the end is really fun. There are always problems throughout each job and difficulties but we just solve them one at a time and move on. The fun part is being able to solve those problems. That's what I enjoy. And solving the problems before they happen is the best part to reach that goal.

Have fun.

Chris: I think it's very important to always take a moment and have fun and have humor because people can get so stressed and so intense. A very intense group of individuals work here and we’re all striving to be at the top of our game, but if you don't step back every once and a while, take a deep breath and enjoy the day, what’s the point?

John: We have fun 80% of the time. We really enjoy what we're doing. Even though there are times when it's difficult and stressful, 80% of the time it's just a joy to be in the business. One of these days we'll realize it's simpler than we think it is now and we'll have even more fun.

Founded in 1966, Canyon Construction specializes in professional remodeling, custom home construction, historical restoration and structural repair. Of the 72 people they currently employ, Canyon maintains a year-round carpentry workforce of 50-55 journeymen carpenters with a wide range of expertise to address custom work. For more information about Canyon Construction, visit www.canyonconstruction.com.

John Caletti established Caletti Construction in 1987 with a very specific goal in mind, which is to provide professionalism and enthusiasm in construction on every project. With 40 employees, the company develops commercial and residential projects in Northern California. For more information about Caletti Construction, visit www.caletti.com.

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