Inside The Edge
About
The Executive Chair
The one question you always want to ask a successful person in a senior leadership role is “How did you get there?” In developing your own career, you learn more from hearing what worked – and didn’t work – from senior leaders and hearing their wisdom than from any other source.
We are embarking on a series of interviews with leaders who exemplify success for us. In their words are insights that can give you direction for moving your own career forward.
To read a summary, written by Michael DeVenney, of the past 12 interviews this year - click here.
| Ben Young - Develop Strong Relationships |
Bluteau DeVenney and Company (BDCO): What did you do to move to a leadership role?Ben Young (BY): I watched many of the great leaders I worked with, took note of what they did well, and tried to implement those practices into my own career. There are usually pretty common elements to all of their success stories - hard work, consistency, an understanding of their business, and of course passion. Most of the successful people I have met are passionate about what they do. (BDCO): What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of?(BY): They need to spend more time with their customers, both internal and external. Not to say that the other things aren't important. Training, networking, and working closely with others who are in similar situations - those things are all fundamental; however, in order to be really successful in your own business you really have to get to know and develop strong relationships with both your employees and your clients. (BDCO): What about doing less of?(BY): I think we would all benefit from less meetings. There is a fine balance between too many and not enough, and many meetings can end up being tactical as opposed to strategic. In our company, we hold regular meetings to stay in touch, but we always make sure there is an agenda and that we are focused on a certain initiative. I try to avoid meeting just for the sake of updating each other on our work load. (BDCO): What experience helped you the most in your career and why?(BY): I don't know that it was one single thing, but a combination of a lot of different things that have happened in my life. I think variety really helps. I have been involved in a variety of different industries including health benefits, educational software, commercial furniture, and now construction. Each industry is so unique that I developed certain skills with each experience. (BDCO): What was the greatest challenge moving your career forward?(BY): Finding the right people to work alongside. I think having the right people next to you and working for you is key. You need people who are positive-minded, have a passion for their work, and are able to work effectively as a team. You often hear that leaders move businesses forward. I think leaders find ways of making other people move businesses forward. Finding those people is always the challenge. (BDCO): What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership?(BY): I am very passionate about the business and I am very hard on myself. I believe that you need to be harsh when you judge yourself. Leaders need to set the bar high and always try to reestablish a new goal. I think I do a good job of that. (BDCO): What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role?(BY): The fact that I am still getting surprised at this point in my career is a surprise in itself. Initially when you are in your first management and decision-making position there are all kinds of surprises, but good leaders learn to react. It is very easy to beat yourself up for not seeing certain things coming, but if you are doing a good job you will eventually begin to see things before they happen. That being said, every once in awhile something is going to happen that you can't predict, and the way that you react to those situations is more important than your ability to predict every situation. (BDCO): What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role?(BY): The pure satisfaction of being a part of a team that makes a difference. I think people who truly want to be leaders are not driven by money or titles, I think they are driven by the fact that people look up to them and want to work alongside them. All of those other things come with the territory, and they add to the quality of life, but ultimately I don't think it is what drives people to take on leadership roles. (BDCO): What is the next achievement you want in your leadership career?(BY): I would like to double the size of our business. I have been with the company for eight years, and in this specific role for about a year. Expanding the business while I am in this role would be very rewarding. (BDCO): What is the biggest challenge you face in achieving results in your work?(BY): In our particular industry there are some outside factors that can affect not only our company, but our industry, so dramatically. That is probably our single largest problem. We can all look back historically at what happens in the housing industry when interest rates go off the charts. As a company, that is something we can't control and can significantly affect our growth. (BDCO): What is your greatest opportunity/goal for providing value for your organization?(BY): Creating opportunity for our staff. I need to keep people energized and excited. They need to be encouraged to continue growing. The same trap that exists for companies that stop growing can exist for employees as well. Nobody wants to become stagnant. You want to keep things fresh and keep people moving forward. (BDCO): What added support or capability would help you the most in delivering on your goals?(BY): Government has a lot of influences over our business, and a lot of the processes can be very slow. If there was some way of making those processes faster and more predictable, that would really help our business. Particularly on the land development side, which is again very industry specific. We understand that the government has many different companies to deal with and they are trying to create regulations, but working within that environment can be very challenging at times.
Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Ben’s observations. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Ben. Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed. ______________________________________________________________
Founded in 1985, Ramar Construction is a premiere builder of custom single family houses in Atlantic Canada. Ramar offers a wide variety of home plans or will design or modify existing plans. You can find out more about Ramar Construction at www.ramar.ca. |
