Dear Dave,
Our engineering firm is a mess. Morale around this place is about as low as it can go. We have two principals who, bless their hearts, are two of the kindest, most generous people you would ever want to meet. The question is, is it possible to be too kind? They go out of their way to avoid confrontation with the staff to the point that staff pretty much does what it wants, how it wants, and when it wants to. The principals will eventually address issues, but often by the time they do a lot of needless damage has been done. The office atmosphere is very uncomfortable with a clear lack of discipline and accountability. There are so many low-key conflicts between various cliques formed amongst the staff that it seems like junior high school all over again. Do you have any suggestions?
F.R., Texas

Dear F.R.,
Sounds like the inmates are running the asylum. The conditions you’ve described are the direct result of your principals abdicating their leadership and management responsibility and creating a serious void. By ducking their duties and trying to keep everyone happy, they’ve ended up with an extremely toxic environment, which is probably as disturbing to them as it is to you.

It is one thing to try to create a pleasant and low-stress workplace, but insufficient management and control has resulted in a vacuum filled by the individuals in your firm, each setting their own priorities, expectations, and rules. In this age of employee empowerment, giving people lots of space is in vogue, but you can go too far. Nuclear energy is a good thing too, as long as it is contained and controlled.

Leadership by its very nature requires staying a step ahead of the firm and the people, not losing control and forever chasing along behind it. Staying ahead means management charts the course, makes the rules, and sets the priorities, not the staff. Effective leadership is keeping people up on their toes, leaning forward, and forever trying to reach and live up to the standards of performance and contribution expectations that have been clearly set for them to achieve. Staff needs to be properly focused and challenged at all times.

Assuming your principals are willing and capable of turning things around, getting back in control will need to done patiently and gradually. Management will need to pick its battles carefully. The behaviors that exist are probably pretty deeply ingrained, so yanking back on the reins too quickly in an attempt to reverse course can stress out the organization and result in even more problems than you have now.

Once leadership comes to agreement on what changes are to be made and establishes the order in which they will be undertaken, communicate the changes to all involved in the clearest terms possible. In the spirit of openness, entertain questions and discussions, but at some point, end the discussion and insist on compliance.

The key is to stay the course and not buckle. There can be no backing down. Any out-of-bounds behavior must be immediately addressed and corrected. Some staff will purposely test the new rules just to see if management is really serious. Others will innocently screw-up out of habit. Either way, the first couple of times an exception occurs, be sure to call it out, but give the transgressors the benefit of the doubt. If non-compliance persists, the owners will need to ratchet up their response until they’ve convinced people that they are serious and not going to cave in—up to and including letting those individuals go who either cannot or will not understand that there is a new sheriff in town.

Daily timesheets

Dear Dave,
How many firms require their employees to fill out timesheets daily? Our firm began using a new software package earlier this year that came with an electronic timesheet feature that allows individuals to complete their timesheets at any time. Before the new system, we were each responsible to complete a paper timesheet and turn it in at the end of the week. Now, management insists that we do this each evening before leaving the office. I’m so busy most of the time that I often forget to fill it out routinely, and just generally find this to be a real inconvenience.
H.G., Neb.

Dear H.G.,
Sorry, no sympathy here. Be it paper or online, timesheets should be completed daily. There are numerous benefits. The breakdown of time recorded is probably more accurate than if you were to wait until the end of the week to complete your timesheet—less Creative Writing 101. Also, project cost records are being updated in near real time from one day to the next, which can be important when budgets are tight. Daily updating might make it possible to get time- and material-based projects invoiced a few days earlier by not having to wait for the next timesheet cycle to get the history to bill.

Unfortunately, I have no statistics to share with you as to the percentage of firms who require this, but I would venture to say daily timesheets are becoming a much more common practice since online electronic timesheets are a common feature of all modern job costing and project management software packages. Hey, if you have the ability, you might as well use it.

Get answers to your questions about design firm and project management, finances, marketing, and related topics by sending them to Q&A c/o: CE News, One IBM Plaza, 330 N. Wabash, Suite 3201, Chicago, IL 60611, or faxing them to CE News at 312-628-5878. Include your name and telephone number in all correspondence. Your name will not be used in connection with published questions. David Wahby is president of Wahby & Associates (www.wahby. com), a management consulting firm serving A/E clients. He can be reached at 616-977-9756 or via e-mail at wahby@wahby.com.