changes in people’s lives. 25% of our workforce is part-time. There are people at points in their life when they just can’t work full-time. We try to accommodate their personal needs.” They also don’t try to peg people into permanent positions or studios until they are ready to be there. Initially, when they hire young professionals, they hop around a bit between studios, to determine what they do best, what they enjoy most and which people they can work with. This serves both the career advancement of the employee and the efficiency of the firm by ensuring the likelihood of a comfortable fit. By the time an employee becomes a candidate for principal, they already have clientele and relationships. They have teams. Additionally, Leishman says, “We have created a successful succession plan. We are now in our fourth generation and working toward a fifth generation.” When the third generation of principals brought on a fourth generation which included him, he believes, “We were not particularly charismatic. What we were was good project managers.” As there wasn’t one individual in the group that stood out as the designer, “the soul of the company,” they created a very socialistic group environment, and very collaborative environment. As a result, the firm became more corporate — which is not necessarily a bad thing for a large design firm, as it encouraged very sound business practices. legacy is built on our people. We have people who care at all levels.” Leishman says that when FFKR first started, the founders were more in control of what went out the door. As the firm evolved, however, they have learned how to create opportunities for people on project teams to participate at all levels. “We don’t have a design committee, and we provide a wide range of design solutions. We are open with our design.” Keeping the Quality High So, how does FFKR ensure the quality of their product, despite the growth of the firm and empowerment of more employees at all levels? Leishman answers, “It starts with the buy-in of the project team understanding that we have been contracted to do the work from start to finish. We keep staffing the project until it is done right. Yes, we want our projects to be profitable, but we all win when projects are good. The recipe for success is high quality, and no matter what the financial condition is internally, we do the project and we do it right. Some years have been painful. We try to learn from those experiences, from our mistakes.” And how do they leverage quality and a healthy bottom line? Leishman: “One of the things we aim to do is to have design be finished by the end of design development; all the primary design decisions should be made. If those design decisions go into Contract Documents, that is when things go bad; you have to know when to stop designing. The second piece of the equation is applying the ‘Fatal Flaw Test.’ If you are in CDs or construction, will the design change impact the long-time viability of the project, or is it just a preference?” Retention and Succession FFKR has a very high personnel retention rate and a very low turnover rate. Their people often stay with them for decades and settle into the most appropriate career positions as they mature. Frequently, this has meant customizing jobs around both individual skill sets and availability. “Over the years, we have done a really good job creating really flexible work schedules that accommodate the 18 REFLEXION
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