Everyone agrees that custom building is a team effort. Due to the scattered-site nature of the work, however, the bias in the industry is toward vertically integrated, project-focused teams that operate like semi-autonomous companies with a shared owner. That arrangement can work well, but it can also limit communication between teams, leaving their cooperative potential largely untapped. To make the most of his people’s considerable talents, Grant Rhode builds teams side to side as well as up and down. The keystone of this approach is the company’s annual management retreat. Held off-site in a series of inspiring natural settings—the first was on the Maine island where Admiral Robert Peary planned his polar expeditions—the multi-day meetings give Rhode and his managers a chance to share insights and to address big-picture questions that are obscured at home by the daily tasks of running the business.
That first retreat “was more successful than we originally anticipated,” Rhode says. Human resources director Judith Katz facilitated the brainstorming sessions, using the “storyboarding” technique, which encouraged a free flow of ideas and allowed Rhode, his operations manager, project managers, and senior project supervisor to interact as equals. Together they hammered out an analysis of the company’s strong and weak points and an action plan to move toward clearly defined goals. That initial success led Rhode to make the event a company institution, one that continues to prove its worth. “The retreats give us a periodic chance to evaluate our successes and build on them,” he says. “They also give us an opportunity to analyze our failures and modify or abandon our approaches. [They] help us to be proactive … rather than being reactive.”
Equally important, in Rhode’s view, are the team-building effects of sharing time away from the office and projects, hiking or sailing in a beautiful place. Rhode likens the dynamic to that which binds a group of athletes. “A soccer team gels better with an occasional team pizza, where teammates just hang out and fool around,” he says. “At the retreats, it’s nice for us to be together and do some fooling around, as well as talk about the next game, how to win the championship, and how to build the club for continued success.”
GF Rhode Construction, Boston
www.gfrhode.com
Type of business: custom builder/remodeler
Years in business: 10
Employees: 16
2004 volume: $7 million
2004 starts: 6 new houses, 3 renovations
