June 2023
Over the last few months, McGuire and Hester management has done some homework to define our place in our market better and help us stand out from our competition. In doing so, we asked ourselves, “What qualities do we believe we possess or need to augment to distinguish ourselves from our competitors and thrive in what has become a much tighter market?” We call these qualities our Strategic Anchors.
What is the point of these Strategic Anchors? They are intended to clarify the decisions we make and provide a guide when faced with issues that might have multiple paths to resolution. These Anchors can help us choose which path we should take more efficiently because we know others on our team will already understand why we are selecting the given path.
These Anchors can also help prevent us from spending time going in a direction that doesn’t align with our predetermined priorities. So what are our Strategic Anchors? They boil down to three basic concepts:
- Cultivate an Exceptional People Environment
- Prioritize Client Partnership
- Drive Operational Excellence
In the simplest of terms, these three statements should be referred to when deciding on the path we take that best aligns with how McGuire and Hester wants to run our business. Every issue with a decision to be made may not touch on or satisfy all three of these anchors, but the more it does, the better. If the direction cannot meet at least one of these anchors, it likely doesn’t align with where we want to go.
For a bit more context on the meaning of each of these Anchors, we decided on “Cultivate an Exceptional People Environment” based on the belief that our employees are our most important asset. We want employees and teams with high trust in each other and low fear of making mistakes while getting better at what we do. We want employee unity toward a common goal with the same spirit to win that any sports team should have. We want everyone to be able to celebrate the meaning in our work for what it ultimately provides to others and for what it also brings to each of us personally.
Regarding our anchor, “Prioritize Client Partnership,” we recognize that so much of McGuire and Hester’s current success comes from our client relationships. When we can solve our client’s problems while concurrently solving our own, we have our greatest financial success and are
remembered as heroes. We can uniquely leverage very diverse capabilities for our clients due to the varied self-perform scopes we can build.
And underlying all of this, we must remember that quality outlives quickly. This doesn’t supersede the need to be extremely efficient and quick to survive in our business, but being so quick that we leave mistakes has never resulted in a winning formula. Clients remember quality, particularly when they can still see it years later. For “Drive Operational Excellence”, we must ensure we implement good ideas and in the process, encourage the entrepreneurial spirit from everyone. We need every employee to prioritize effectively sharing our limited and valuable resources. We also have an obligation to train and equip everyone for success. This training cannot all come from the top, it must be part of what we bring to every interaction we have with our fellow employees.
These three Strategic Anchors could be viewed as just a handful of fancy phrases and ignored. But when truly considered and brought into regular decision-making, they really do form the context of what has and can continue to make us a great company. They can also help us from straying into decisions or endeavors that don’t truly align with who we are, compromising our overall chances for success. I encourage all of you to embrace them as part of your daily business and decision-making. If we all understand these are important components of our underlying winning strategy, we will all more fluidly row in the same direction.