Rather than put all his eggs in one risky basket, Nelson Kohman prefers to diversify. By offering a diverse range of services — from civil
engineering and land surveying to environmental management, landscape architecture and land planning — the president of Evans,
Mechwart, Hambleton & Tilton Inc. says his company has the flexibility to adjust to changes in the market. With 400 employees and
branch offices in Charlotte, N.C., Cincinnati and Indianapolis, EMH&T reported revenue of $44.6 million last year. Smart Business spoke
with Kohman on how he conveys his message to his staff and builds friendship-based relationships with his clients.
Be a strong communicator. We’re a very
hands-on, doors-open company. The ability
to recognize and empower people to
achieve their maximum is important. We
try to provide direction and guidance to
help clients achieve their objectives.
We try to be good listeners, as well. I
spend a lot of my time going around the
building and talking to the various service
groups to see what their needs are and
whether I can help. Collegiality is a big part
of developing the sense of everyone working together. We try to do a good job of that
by being available top to bottom.
We also try to provide a consistent and
deliberate decision-making process. Technology changes so rapidly that we need to
make sure that we consider all the aspects
of our decision-making so we make the
most cost-effective and beneficial decisions.
Build close client relationships. Ninety percent of our work is repeat business.
People trust us to make good decisions,
and we owe it to them to make sure that
when we give them advice, we have
looked at all aspects — not only how
we’ve done it in the past but how the technology in the market is changing to do
things better in the future.
It’s a lot easier to keep a current client
than it is to go find a new one, so client relationships are extremely important. We
want clients to feel they can call us with a
problem or a concern about our performance on a project. They know they’ll get an
honest, direct answer. If there’s a problem,
we’ll take the corrective action necessary
to fix it; if not, we’ll explain why we did things
the way we did. It becomes a friendship-based client relationship.
Listen to customer demand. Our clients said
they needed more service in terms of environmentally sound, green initiatives. We had
people in the company who had that ability,
so we formed a team around those folks and
developed a program. We recently held a
full-day seminar where 200 of our clients
from three states came into town, and we presented this whole green concept and initiative to them; it was very successful.
It’s a trend we have looked at for several
years and decided now was a good time to
offer that service. If you can have 200 clients
come to a meeting to devote a full day to this
on their time, there certainly is a demand
out there for that service.
Just like when you expand your marketing programs, it’s an investment in the
future. It doesn’t pay off Day One, but it’s
certainly something that will reap benefits
down the road.
Remember your leadership responsibility. We
have 400 employees here who depend on
us for their security and their happiness.
They know that they have a job to come to,
and they feel that they have security and
the ability to stay at this company long
term. That’s my key motivation.
Let employees choose. When people come in
for an office interview, we have them meet
with various groups throughout the company and try to understand our culture. Try
to provide a comfortable work environment and show people they have opportunities to grow their own career.
We let them talk to employees who have
experience working here — they may talk
to four or five people — and because we
have specialty areas of work, we let them get a feel for all the groups; then they tell us
where they think they would most enjoy
working. They’ll be more challenged if
they’re doing something that interests them.
Motivate staff with independent work. We give
people a lot of autonomy. We give them the
ability to work independently and to identify a niche for themselves in the marketplace. By that, we have the opportunity to
recognize their success and reward them
financially as well as with job security.
That’s the best motivation we can provide.
You have to be there to help when they
have a problem or need input, but don’t necessarily give them the road map to operate.
Give them the freedom to adjust to the people in the group, and make sure they’re
comfortable working together toward the
same goal.
Share information. We have a company town
meeting every quarter, where we get all the
employees together at the end of the work-day in our atrium and teleconference in our
regional offices as well and give them the
status of the company. We are communicating so they all feel that they are a part of
the company.
It does a lot to establish the fact that we
are one voice. We are trying to get the word
out and do away with rumors. It gives people the opportunity to ask questions about
the different aspects of our business.
Be open to words of wisdom. I’ve gotten a lot
of good advice from previous partners in
the company, which has all been very helpful to me, as well as from clients with
whom I’ve developed relationships. I was
able to discuss our issues and get a diversity of opinions.
One of our founders, Mr. [W.H.] Mechwart,
encouraged me — as a young engineer — to
continue to be forthright and dedicated to
the success of the firm. I’ve surrounded
myself with people who have that same
quality, and today, our people are the key to
our success.
HOW TO REACH: Evans, Mechwart, Hambleton & Tilton Inc.,
(614) 775-4500 or www.emht.com