Representation Matters

In 2006, I received a call from Canutillo Independent School District. The person on the phone asked if I was still interested in the head custodian role for which I applied. Thank God! I said yes.

By coincidence the same day that I started my first day of work, the crew was also waiting for a temp to help with the summer projects. I’m not sure if they were expecting someone older, but when I arrived the crew handed me a putty knife and some cardboard and instructed me to begin scrapping the wax from the edges and corners of the gym floor along the wall. I know that I could have introduced myself. I know that I could have easily stated that I was their new boss, but I figured lets see where this will lead. The crew was respectful, and best of all they enjoyed their job. They laughed and joked and told stories while they worked. They checked on me frequently to make sure I had the hang of it and to make sure I had plenty of break time.

Sometime later that morning, the principal for the campus showed up. She was speaking to the the two gentleman who had taken initiative and took charge of the day. I was able to hear the principle ask the two gentleman if Mr. Reyes had shown up. They replied that the only person to show up that day was a temp. They pointed in my direction and the principle yelled, “Mr. Reyes!”

I was introduced to the team, I said a couple of words, then went on our way. They didn’t take it bad that I did not introduce myself instead they laughed it off–actually we laughed it off.

I didn’t last long in that role, because the same year I was called to the superintendent’s office because of a budget I submitted. Apparently, the administration liked the format and thought that went into the budget that they inquired about my background. When I went into the superintendent’s office, I was told about an objective that they have been unsuccessful in realizing. they wanted to create a centralized soft services department with an emphasize on custodial operation.

The district had a decentralized operation whereby the principal of each campus oversaw custodial staff, training, equipment, supply, training, and SOP. The result is that every campus operated differently, different equipment, different supplies, and different methods of acceptable cleaning and disinfection. The district proposed creating a centralized department whereby the new department head will oversee all custodial operations removing the principals from each site from the decision making process.

I thought for a second, then replied that I am willing to take on the challenge, but that I recommend we create a matrix organization instead of the traditional top down organizational structure. I recommended that the principals remain an active stakeholder in the leadership and decision making process. The principals can retain day-to-day oversight allowing for faster response they need to react to day-to-day needs, while the new department will take on training, SOP, equipment lists/supplies, discipline, and budgets.

Upon starting my new role, there was now a position to fill–the role I just left. The district began the recruiting process–external and internal candidates applied.

Upon starting my new role, I made the time to visit the many campuses in the district. I took notes of the following observations. My first observation is that the leadership roles in the department were held by Hispanics/Latinos. My second observation is that the city is more than 90% percent Hispanic/Latino so it made sense that the leadership team be representative of the city.

My third observation is that I did not see any women in leadership roles in the facilities department–in neither janitorial nor maintenance. The former having a high percentage of women in the department.

I continued to tour the campuses. While doing so I encouraged qualified individuals to apply for the open head custodian role. The men were eager to apply while I found myself convincing the qualified women to apply. I often heard from them that those roles were for men even if it wasn’t written. I didn’t convinced many women to apply, I even had a principal tell me that if it were her campus she’d want a man to oversee her campus’ custodial operation (not this campus’ principal).

I’ll cut to the chase reveal that a woman was selected for the role of head custodian–that was a promotion for her. I honestly believe she was the most qualified individual who applied.

After she was promoted, I visited the campuses and I had many women who held roles as custodians come up to me and express how shocked a woman was promoted. They expressed that they thought it was a rule that men had to hold that position. I now had women ask me what they had to do to get promoted to assistant head custodian or head custodian.

I’d like to say that things were great from that point on vis a vis diversity and inclusion, but things take time and so did it here. The first step was promoting, or hiring, a qualified individual. The next step was following up with her to make sure her direct reports listened to her and her directives.

This was not the only place I encountered resistance. After leaving the school district and moving back into the private sector, I had women in leadership roles express frustration with their direct reports who would not listen to them. I had women in leadership roles call me on the phone and pass the phone over to their male team member so that I would tell them to do as she asked.

To me, this story is a perfect example of why representation matters. The ladies I encountered had not seen a woman in a position of leadership so they assumed they couldn’t and didn’t try. The men hadn’t seen a woman in charge and couldn’t believe they had to listen to a woman. This was the 2000s.

My observation of the cleaning and janitorial industry is that women make up a large percentage of the workforce, but account for a very small percentage in leadership roles. I would often hear that knowing how to perform floor work (strip & wax) is a prerequisite in order to be a supervisor. Yet, women were not encouraged to learn floor work.

What other prerequisites exist that limit representation? I think about who I am inviting to lunch. I think about who I call to say hello or check up on.

Since then, I have been involved with helping promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. I joined The National Society for Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) while living in DFW. I appreciated how inclusive the organization was–inviting and working with many other groups. I served on the board of Prospanica (fka NSHMBAs) as the VP of Corporate Relations, then as the Executive Vice President for the San Antonio Chapter. While in Argentina, I moved my organization to participate in events with The Red Shoe Movement to promote women in leadership. To this day, I am involved in my organization’s ERG.

April 18, 2021 0

…start considering those who have high potential, not just top performers

The title of this post is takien directly from HBR’s Hire Leaders for What They Can Do, Not What They Have Done. Josh Bersin and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic recommended three questions to help determine whether you’re considering the right peron:

Does the candidate have the skills to be a high-performing contributor or the skills to be an effective leader?
Can I really trust this candidate’s individual performance measures?
Am I looking forward or backward?

My point is not to summarize the article (the link is above), but to highlight an individual who this made me think of, Jennifer Ruiz, FMP, SFP and take a moment to brag about her and how lucky I was to have worked with her.

I met Jennifer when I was recruited to help guide the operation through change.

The operation I took over was part of a legacy team from a 2007 acquisition that after several years was resistant to change, and was not aligned to the organization’s mission and vision.

Jennifer joined the organization 2011, and after some time in the corporate office decided to transfer to operations in early 2015. She was welcomed into the operations team, but was relegated to the status of junior member who had to prove her worth to the team because of her lack of operational experience. For some reason, her lack of experience was the first thing that was brought up in discussion regarding opportunities for Jennifer–yet I never heard efforts to help her gain experience.

When a leadership role opened up reporting directly to me, I interviewed several people who were recommended by the senior leaders reporting to me. There was nothing wrong with them, in fact they had many years of experience in facility services, and many years with the company, they new the local market, and intimate knowledge of our clients. I also saw that they were being recommended because of their past performance and success.

I also knew that the individuals who were being recommended did not have working MS Excel knowledge, could not read a P&L, and were apprehensive about taking initiative and making a call. I knew that the organization was changing and the aforementioned skills were vital to future plans.

Jennifer did not have the many years of facility service experience, but she can dole out a spreadsheet in seconds, she has an accounting background so she knows a P&L. She was in the procurement department so I can trust her to read a contract. She is also a former teacher so she can present in front of customers, employees, and colleagues, and teach/coach her team.

I promoted Jennifer and did not regret it. She exceeded my expectations and continues to amaze me. In addition to successfully running her account, she sits on the board for the San Antonio Chapter of IFMA where she is chair of Professional Development. She is also on the board for Prospanica San Antonio. She does all that while being a mother to her daughter and wife to Dr. Ruiz.

I don’t know how many times I have had someone ask me how is Jennifer able to be everywhere all the time. Well, let that be a testament to her organizational skills and ability to prioritize effectively.

Rounding this back, I have to ask myself the questions with which I started this post:

Did Jennifer have the skills to be a high-performing contributor or the skills to be an effective leader?
Can I really trust Jennifer’s individual performance measures?
Am I looking forward or backward?

I have not had one regret promoting Jennifer, and I see great things in store for for her in the future.

October 14, 2019 0

She’s Not the One

While working on the backyard, I listened to this episode of HBR Ideacast podcast, “The Surprising Benefits of Sponsoring Others at Work,” and it had me thinking of the different individuals who I have mentored and most importantly sponsor at work. I previously read an article about the benefits of mentoring someone that to summarize stated that mentoring someone can help the mentor see different perspectives and offers opportunities to learn too (there are many out there and I cannot find the original one I read).

I make it a practice to mentor and coach others wherever I have worked, and sponsor some of them. One person stands out is Jennifer. I met Jennifer at the start of a new leadership role with a new organization. I make a point of meeting members on my team, and when I get the chance I ask them what they would change if they could.

At this point, I am going to digress a bit. I was recruited for the role because the operation was made up of employees from an acquisition that took place 9 years before. The operation was resistant to chance and was not aligned to the company’s mission and vision. The operation and its leaders still referred to themselves by the acquired company’s name and kept notepads, pens, and equipment labeled with the old name.

They wanted things to remain the same and wanted someone to protect them from corporate intrusion and their attempts to move them in the direction of company.

Jennifer had been in the operation for two years, and transferred there from the corporate office. She was genuinely looking for an opportunity to gain some operational experience in hopes of developing her professional career. She was seen as an outsider by the rest of the team, and relegated to someone that did not have enough experience nor knowledge to advance.

Jennifer was honest and expressed how she wanted the operation to resemble how the company looked in marketing material, social media, and the company’s website. I told her that I would do my best. In talking to her, I discovered that she transferred from the procurement department, and that she also was an accountant and a school teacher in the past. Oh, and she was a TCU graduate.

She’s Not the One!

Some time had passed and an opportunity for an account manager role managing a large regional account became open. I asked Jennifer’s immediate supervisor (the Director of Operations) what she thought about Jennifer for the role–it would have been a promotion. The response surprised me! The Director of Operations mentioned that she was not the right person for the role–that she lacked experience and know how and that up until this point she had only managed a portfolio made up of small local accounts. She offered the name of one of Jennifer’s peers as someone she thought was perfect for the role.

I thought about the person for a second, then replied that I disagreed. I mentioned that although her recommendation was a hard worker, dedicated, and the customers loved him, he did not have the P&L knowledge and did not seem to show interest in learning the skill during our training sessions. Additionally, he did not know MS Excel, and usually needed someone to resolve conflict. I told her that I disagreed with her and that I was going to approach Jennifer about the role.

I was surprised to find out that Jennifer did not believe herself qualified to take on the role. I actually had to convince her that she was a perfect candidate. I told her that she had ops experience to manage the day-to-day; her accounting experience translated to P&L knowledge; her procurement experience would allow her to read the contract and determine the deliverables, and negotiate with vendors and the client; her teaching background would help her coach and develop her team. I told her that the best part would build her team and make sure it matched what she saw on social media, marketing material, and company website. Jennifer was convinced and accepted the role.

She reiterated how she lacked experience...I made a mistake

I informed the Director of Operations and immediately she began telling me how I made the wrong choice. She reiterated how she lacked experience, and underscored how I made a mistake. News got around before I made the formal announcement, and the Office Manager met with me in order to echo the Director’s concerns. She too emphasized how I made a terrible mistake and that it was going to have a negative impact on the client relationship, service delivery, and morale as a whole.

Professional Development

Jennifer took helm of the account and immediately started to have an impact. I’d like to say that I guided her throughout the whole process, but the reality is that she was a natural. Jennifer came to me with situations for which she used me as a sounding board, but her ideas and direction were sound and I agreed with most. She was a natural, like I said–when I say natural I really mean that her combination of experience, knowledge, and education prepared her for this. She just needed some encouragement.

During this time frame, I offered and encouraged my leadership team to sign up for an Emerging Leaders Series course offered by the San Antonio Chapter of Prospanica (formerly the National Society for Hispanic MBAs). Jennifer was the only one to sign up.

I invited my team to attend a Texas LEAD event in Austin hosted by the Austin Chapter of Prospanica. This is a one day event of professional development with distinguished key note speakers and presenters. Jennifer was the only one to sign up.

Credit Where Credit is Due

I should have prefaced that the account Jennifer took over was running at a loss–taking a 12% loss at the close of the fiscal year. I in turn took over the whole operation also taking a loss so turning around this large account was an important part of my strategic plan for the operation.

The account started to generate a profit under Jennifer’s direction and finished the fiscal year with a 12% margin. That’s a 24 point swing! My other initiatives were having positive impact too and the operation closed the fiscal year with a positive margin for the first time in a couple of years.

Jennifer taking over the account, allowed me to focus on the bigger picture. I truly believe that had it not been for Jennifer stepping in to tackle the account I would have been too involved in the account to effectively navigate and transform the whole operation. I was congratulated for the turnaround for which I in turn mentioned that it was a team effort and that Jennifer along with others helped me achieve my goals.

Reputation

Jennifer has since developed into a confident leader who gains loyalty and trust from her team. She now sits on two nonprofit boards, and has received two professional credentials. Additionally, she volunteers for roles within company projects–in reality she agrees to those roles after I tell her that I threw her hat in the ring when speaking to other senior leaders.

I was speaking with someone from corporate yesterday, and when I mentioned Jennifer’s name they mentioned how well liked she is at corporate. I am very proud of Jennifer and I am genuinely excited for her professional future.

July 18, 2019 0