Taylor Studios has an awesome team.  Some of the reasons we function well as a team follow:

• We check our egos at the door.
• We have high integrity and trust each other.
• Everyone wants to produce a high quality product.
• We set goals and objectives.
• Each of us keeps an open mind and accepts criticism and input.
• We are respectful in our communication, yet encourage debate.
• We treat our teammates as trusted advisers.
• We hold each other accountable.

Today, I got an email from Matt Wiley, one of our Graphic Designers.  He was concerned that some of my tweets were not appropriate.  I had posted some silly ones that were probably more appropriate for personal tweeting versus company tweeting.  I often get in a hurry and tweet just to tweet instead of watching the quality of the tweet.  I appreciated his input and made changes.

We are pursuing a very large project.  This week, several of us presented to this potential client.  At the presentation, it was obvious we work well as a team.  After the client asked a question, one of us would start the answer then another would pop in and finish the thought.  It flowed smoothly and we conveyed that we have fun, are passionate about what we do and have an effective team.  I was telling Joe Taylor, the company co-founder, about the opportunity.  He said, “Well if you really want it, why don’t you make them an offer they can’t refuse?”  This morning I threw a brainstorm with Sam, Drew and Kara and we came up with a great idea to present to the client.

Our shop is very busy right now.  We are working overtime and people are on the road.  There are many upcoming installs.  The few weeks before an install can be stressful for project managers.  There always seems to be more details to figure out, more questions and more to dos.  When something goes slightly wrong it is easy to jump on the project manager and say, “Why didn’t you take care of this?”  For example, this week a subcontractor delivered a Great Blue Heron model that was not made to our specifications.  This meant Marc, our Model Shop Lead, had to spend a day fixing the model even though something else had already been scheduled for that day.  Jason noticed that everyone was asking why don’t we hold our subs, clients, vendors, etc. more accountable.  Jason knew this was not the time to add more stress to their plate.  As we often say, he reminded them to offer solutions instead of complaints and criticism.  With that perspective in mind, the team got down to business and came up with solutions.  We’ll look at what we could have done better at the lessons learned meeting we’ll have after the installs are done.

These examples from this week illustrate what good teamwork looks like.   My team rocks!

Tell us about a time when you saw good teamwork.

What does good quality look like?  Don’t all companies say they produce quality products?  How does saying your work is high-quality set you apart from your competitors?

I believe that several factors go into making a product a “Quality Product.”  Some might say that quality means the product has to be built to last.  I would have to agree with this statement and is one reason we offer a five-year warranty.  I think attention to detail plays a role in quality.

I recently visited a museum that just opened a new exhibit.  As I was walking around critiquing everything and comparing it to our work, I noticed some things that I would never accept or approve from our fabricators.  For instance, there were brad nail holes in painted framing that were left unfilled.  These holes stood out and were very noticeable.

I also noticed unfinished cabinets doors.  The inside edge was left unpainted/laminated.  The plywood ply’s were easily seen given the uneven cut of the door.  (No, this wasn’t a design element or accent.)

I could also tell one particular wall was made of MDF given the lack of finish along the edges around an opening.  It looked like they didn’t sand the edge and just paint it.

Needless to say I was disappointed in the lack of attention to detail, but I left feeling good that we pay attention to those things.  I feel it is something that helps set us apart from our competitors and allows us to say we do quality work.  We fuss about the small stuff and pay attention to the details.

What does museum quality look like to you?

Posted by: Jason, Art Director

I had my weekly meeting with our controller, Jane, this morning.  One of the things we talked about is organizing our pay policy.  We have a procedure and a strategy and now we need to organize it all together and make an official process.  Some of what we did to create a pay strategy is the following:

• Written job descriptions
• Establish pay ranges for each position within the company
• Market research on what those positions are paid in our market area
• A process for each department head to request raises
• Pay level spreadsheets for each department head
• Each employee gets an annual review. Raises are not given at that time. Expectations and goals are clearly communicated
• Annual review of pay ranges

There are market forces that affect pay policy.  If there is a limited pool of qualified employees for a particular position we are recruiting for we may modify the pay range.  The profitability of the company and forecast for future work could also affect pay ranges.

Once an employee reaches the top of their pay range for any position they would have to offer value in some other way in order to be paid outside of their pay range.  This also applies to making progression within your pay range.  An employee that has diversified skills may be more valuable.  If you can sculpt, paint and do woodworking that may be more valuable than someone that can only do woodworking.  If you can produce something fast you may be more valuable (this applies more to hourly workers than salary, but counts in both).  If you have not offered more value than you did in the previous year your raise may match that year’s inflation rate.  In 2009 there was no inflation.  According to the BLS it was negative .4% for 2009.  In 2010, it has been 1.1%.

Pay may also vary depending on what other benefits we are offering individuals.  We offer a variety of training.  If we are sending someone through extensive and costly training that may affect their pay for that particular period.  If we have to train someone extensively that may affect their pay level.  The pay strategy includes all benefits (health insurance, 401k, life insurance, etc.).

The work that we do is very unique and very competitive.  We compete with companies across the U.S.  Our competition often bids lower.  We assume part of their ability to do this is based on their pay strategy.  If you have to pay workers less in Atlanta for the same work we produce in IL that can make it difficult for us to compete.  We consider the unique work we do as a competitive advantage.  How many people can work at a place in which one day you learn about dinosaurs and the next the civil war?  It’s a very creative environment which also makes it appealing to come to work every day.  This advantage may mean we pay slightly less than the contractor down the street.

Do you have a pay strategy?

We are a process oriented firm.  We see this as one of our strengths and one of our differentiations.  Not many creative firms seem to understand the value of process.  We spell out several of our processes (interpretive planning, design-build, quality control, etc.) in most of our proposals.  We’ve heard from several of our clients that one of the reasons they hired us was because of our processes and procedures.  While that’s a great thing for us, we’ve noticed that these are typically the clients that have gone through the process of building exhibits more than once which means they have probably worked with other firms that were not process oriented (or the project manager has a business background and appreciates a thorough plan of attack).  These clients understand the importance of process and procedures and the benefits of working with a firm who believes in them.

My question is, how do we make the clients who have never worked on an exhibit project before understand the importance of a well-defined and thought-out process?  Well, it’s difficult.  As a proposal writer, it’s something I’ve been trying to improve upon for the past three years.  Something I had never considered before, until a meeting earlier this week, was that some clients may glance over our procedures and immediately see dollar signs.  Is that true?  I see them as a cost saving measure - they keep the project on schedule, within budget, they keep the team on track, all decisions are documented as to avoid miscommunication and costly mistakes, deliverables are spelled out so there are no surprises at the end of each phase, etc.  For example, at our kickoff meeting (our first meeting with a client) we may spend an hour filling out our extensive measurement checklist. This may ultimately save time however, because by depending solely on the architect’s floor plan, the client’s grand opening could really be spoiled if we arrive for installation and find out we need to re-fabricate something because something doesn’t fit.  A few of us visited a museum last week where one of their exhibits had to be re-fabricated because the designer mismeasured something by four feet!  It seems inconceivable that a professional could make a mistake like that, but we’re all human, so procedures help guard against human error.

Our processes and procedures are in place to help.  Not to add red tape for the sake of red tape and not to waste time just to run up the bill.  We have taken the lessons learned from every project we have completed over the last 19 years to formulate a plan for every project going forward that helps us avoid the mistakes made on previous projects.  Mistakes happen, but we learn from them and try to not let them happen again.

If you’ve been the recipient of one of our proposals, I’d really appreciate hearing from you.  One of our core values is constant improvement, so any reactions or constructive criticism would be useful.

If you haven’t received one of our proposals, but have thoughts about processes and procedures, I’d love to hear from you, too.

Posted by: Kara