The Principals Roundtable – SMPS San Diego’s Best Kept Secret!
Posted by StarChapter on Nov. 4, 2020 / Subscribe 0
First Principals Roundtable, held May 2, 2017 at the offices of Sillman Wright Architects.
The concept for the SMPS San Diego Principals Roundtable emerged nearly four years ago from a series of discussions among board members about how to engage principals of A/E/C firms to be more involved with our organization.
At that time, an informal survey of principals indicated that many firm owners saw SMPS primarily as a vehicle for introducing their new marketing hires to the A/E/C world; they did not see it as a group that directly benefitted them. That presented a challenge to find a way to change that perception.
What better way to get to the root of a problem than to have a few lively discussions over drinks and snacks? The board invited a select group to meet at the bar after SMPS programs and luncheons to chat about it. From these discussions, the principals concurred that marketing and business development for A/E/C firms had never been addressed in college; it is an area of business they’ve had to figure out on their own.
Excited to learn more about marketing and sharing ideas with one another, they decided to hold a principal-level meeting to see who would show up.
Larry Sillman of Sillman Wright Architects offered to host the first meeting, which the group dubbed the Principals Roundtable. The topics they wanted to discuss were: Go/No Go Decisions and Emerging Technology. The Board members researched the topics and put together a slide presentation to guide the discussion at the first Principals Roundtable, which was held on May 2, 2017.
There were only two ground rules for attendance: attendees must be a principal of a firm, and either the principal or someone from the firm must be a member of SMPS. The response from member firms was enthusiastic and the room was quickly booked to capacity. The Principals Roundtable was a “Go!”
Since then, SMPS has held 12 Principals Roundtable meetings. Topics discussed include How to Recruit and Hire Technical Staff, Transition Planning, the Client Experience, Forecasting and Scenario Planning, Client Relationship Management Systems, Creating a Seller-Doer Culture, Employee Experience, and Litigation & Risk Management.
The group agreed that early morning breakfast meetings were preferred and that meetings should be held quarterly at the office of a sponsoring firm, which would provide coffee and breakfast food. At the end of each meeting, the group reviews possible topics to discuss in the future, with the final topic selection made by the next sponsoring firm.
The Principals Roundtable has garnered positive feedback from many of the principals who have been involved with these meetings:
Brian Dersch, President and CEO of Dersch Design & Engineering, said the Principals Roundtable is similar to some executive coaching organizations he’s familiar with, but it has more value for him because it is industry specific. “I view the Principals Roundtable as high-ROI, low-cost executive coaching,” Dersch said.
Ari Isaak, Principal of EVARI GIS Consulting, said he appreciates the discussions with other principals about issues that concern all of them, which gives him ideas about how to work through some of these issues with his firm. Said Isaak, “Some are expected, like financing or regulations, but others, like COVID-19, are once-in-a-lifetime challenges. I appreciate sharing how others are handling these challenges.”
“Many of the concerns expressed by panel members hit home and we can all share very similar points of concern and experiences, said Farzad Tadayon, Managing Principal of Salas O’Brien. He added that he also appreciates the comradery and friendliness of the group.
Wendy Neri, Principal of Neri Landscape Architecture, had this to say: “I appreciate the relationships I have fostered with others trying to make sense of the best way to run a business, and have found solutions for our firm to implement that have been helpful.”
The next Principals Roundtable, sponsored by Stantec, will be a Zoom meeting on November 10, 2020. The topic is: “Navigating the Path Forward: What do the next six months look like?”
The group decided early on to limit the Roundtables to 15 people to allow each attendee adequate time to engage in meaningful discussions with their peers. The 15-person limit for the next Roundtable was reached about 36 hours after the Roundtable was announced. So, to other interested firms, keep a lookout for future sessions.
Overall, it has been very satisfying to see how important the Principals Roundtable has become for SMPS San Diego and its community. At this point, it is our hope that this mechanism for A/E/C principals to communicate and share ideas will help San Diego firms find a way to get back on track in a post-COVID environment!
The discussions for the Principals Roundtable started when I was President of the San Diego Chapter as a way to reach out to a very important part of our community: the principals of member firms. The same core group of planners has stayed with this effort since the beginning – Sharon Singleton of KTUA; Kamala Kuresman of NV5; Terry Casey of On-Target Marketing, and me. We have added Galit Ryan of Peterson Structural Engineers to the planning team to replace Karen Tournaire of Sillman Wright Architects, who has since retired and now lives in the South of France. We continue to hold out hope that at least one of our meetings can be held at Karen’s place in the future!
Beth Bateman, Owner, Bateman Communications, Past President, SMPS San Diego
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