Wardrop Engineering

All about culture┬áWardrop Engineering has been providing engineering services for infrastructure, energy and mining industries for over 50 years. Jaclyn Beck reports on the core values that keep the company going and growing. Like any fast-growing company, Wardrop Engineering continues to change as rapidly as it grows. Shayne Smith became its fourth CEO in early 2006 after 20 years with the company, and knowing that rapid growth requires careful management, he was concerned with maintaining its performance levels.  ÔÇ£We had a great culture for people and passion but our overall performance ethic was not where it needed to be,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£We were growing, but we could have easily grown ourselves right out of business.ÔÇØSmith started with an exercise to identify the companyÔÇÖs most important ideals and cultural beliefs. He held small informal meetings with over half of the companyÔÇÖs employees, conversations with his predecessors as CEO, and sought help from outside consultants. ÔÇ£What I tried to do was ask questions I thought I already knew the answer to,ÔÇØ he says, ÔÇ£and I heard things that maybe surprised me a bit. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve never really sold our culture or articulated it in real terms and this was our attempt to do that,ÔÇØ he continues. The self-examination exercise helped foster a culture of asking questions, which in turn helped the workforce become more amenable to change. ÔÇ£Now, you donÔÇÖt hear people saying ÔÇÿWeÔÇÖve always done it this way.ÔÇÖ They are much more likely to be fired up by changes and the advances they can bring.ÔÇØ The essence of Wardrop produced from this exercise was distilled into a manifesto of sorts, called ÔÇÿWe are Wardrop,ÔÇÖ out of which came the companyÔÇÖs catchphrase: People, Passion, PerformanceÔÇöTrusted Globally.WardropÔÇÖs passion comes in part from employee ownership. The company was founded in 1955 as a five-person engineering firm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Today, it has over 1,000 employees, and is a world renowned professional services provider with a reputation for delivering complex projects. The company has been named one of the top 100 employers in Canada eight times, an award Smith says is ÔÇ£all about culture. WeÔÇÖve been recognized as having an ability to rapidly integrate foreign-trained professionals and that gives us a great multi-cultural mix,ÔÇØ he says. A lack of corporate bureaucracy is another plus, with many of those now serving in corporate roles having come from the operations side of the firm. ÔÇ£ThereÔÇÖs a lack of a head office mentality, a real lack of hierarchical arrogance.ÔÇØ The culture has remained consistent over time partly because the vast majority of WardropÔÇÖs growth has come organically, with only a few strategic acquisitions along the way, the most recent of which was the merger with CPG-Franz Environmental Inc. of Markham, Ontario. ÔÇ£This merger strengthens our capabilities particularly in the environmental area and enables us to provide new and expanded services to our clients while maintaining the high standards of safety, quality, and customer satisfaction for which we have become known,ÔÇØ says Smith. Being trusted globally means building on 50-plus years of client success stories in over 50 countries. The company laid the groundwork for its global footprint three decades ago when it was striking deals with tribal leaders in Africa for rural water development projects.┬á Wardrop has recently been working with True North Gems on the preliminary economic assessment of its Aappaluttoq Ruby Project in Greenland. It has also assisted Minco Silver Corporation with its Fuwan Silver Project in Guangdong Province, China by lending its engineering expertise in the management of a feasibility study out of its Beijing office.Today, Wardrop is focused on its three top markets of mining, infrastructure and energy, with 80 to 90 percent of its work flowing through those channels. ItÔÇÖs a natural outgrowth of its maturity, according to Smith. ÔÇ£When youÔÇÖre a young, entrepreneurial company, you grow by adding more services, but as the business matures and you desire to continue to grow, you have to become known for doing a few things very well. You canÔÇÖt be good at everything.ÔÇØ Wardrop believes that with a vision such as theirs, a company large or small can create positive change in the world. ÔÇ£Successful businesses need to share their success with their employees and give back to their local and global communities,ÔÇØ says Smith. ÔÇ£Good companies have to stand for somethingÔÇöwe do.ÔÇØ┬á