The Aquaterrian

Changing Our Identity

2010-02-19T06:00:09-08:00

After a great session with clients in our annual ritual of the Ground Hog event, we are finalizing our transition to Terracon. Of course our merger occurred some six months ago, but we maintain Aquaterra, LLC as an on-going entity to facilitate the change.

Since our future will be identified with Terracon, we don’t want to hesitate in transitioning our identity to this name, logo, etc. So clients, when you hear the name Aquaterra less and less, just know that it is with great pride that we become to be identified as a strong participating member of the Terracon family.

In our time with clients last week, I shared some key thoughts about our merger into the much larger Terracon organization. It is without question that Aquaterra and Terracon share the same values, and our work composition is virtually identical. Terracon makes us more capable to serve our clients as we can now call upon a network of some 120 offices across the nation to help us meet the expectations of our clients.

For example, just this the other day I hosted a webinar that included many senior geotechnical engineers throughout the company in an effort to present an intriguing and complex slope stability issue. This was a first for me. I was able to review the work done to date, summarize our findings and conclusions and our suggested mitigation options, then we opened the floor to other intelligent engineers who offered their opinions regarding the project. What a great way to not just meet, but to exceed the expectations of our clients!

Another example of our enhanced capabilities is our ability to take on a number of large-scale construction monitoring, engineering and testing assignments. Our environmental consulting practice now includes a portfolio of experts in the various facets of the environmental field. Additionally we will expand into the facilities practice to provide even more services to our clients. The integration of our services and capabilities will continue to occur throughout 2010 with the confidence that we have the resources to staff all of the projects with trained and experienced staff. In spite of a lingering recession we have been blessed with a greater than normal work load in our CMET business segment, and the resources of Terracon allow us to take this on with confidence.

Terracon states a mission dedicated to delivering success for clients and employees. These are excellent examples of our fulfilling this mission.

Aquaterra joins forces with Terracon

2009-10-06T12:00:57-07:00

Dear Clients and Friends of Aquaterra,

I want you to be among the first to know about a very exciting merger that Aquaterra has entered into to better serve our clients throughout the Southeast and nationally. By joining forces with Terracon, we have expanded from our five-office network to a national geotechnical, environmental, construction materials, and facilities firm with more than 100 offices in 37 states.

You have come to know Aquaterra as a trusted firm with a drive to serve our clients and our profession. This merger will further enhance our ability to do both. As a result of this significant expansion, the combined team of Aquaterra and Terracon will offer the following enhanced capabilities.

Continued working relationships with the same people, but with new access to experts across the country.
Significantly increased staff and equipment resources, with the ability to quickly mobilize to address changes in workload.
Ability to take on larger and more complex assignments, including multiple sites simultaneously.
Knowledge of soil conditions across the country with our network of engineers and geologists who practice locally.
Expanded relationships with regulators, building officials, and business partners.
Access to Terracon’s National Accounts Program for clients who do business across the country.

We are very excited about the many ways in which this merger will increase Aquaterra’s ability to serve you better. But some things will not change at all. The appreciation of our clients’ choice to trust us with their important projects, and our devotion to being preeminent in what we do will remain steadfast.

Sincerely,

Victor R. Donald, P.E.
President, Aquaterra Engineering, LLC

To learn more about Terracon, please visit www.terracon.com

Confidence

2009-08-22T06:50:38-07:00

Sunday afternoon I watched the PGA Championship. I wish I could play golf, but I can’t. Still, it is sure fun to watch the intense competition in the PGA. Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer to play the game. He is a fierce competitor. Do you ever wonder how he can be that good, for that long?

Tiger went into the final round of the PGA Championship in a familiar position; in the lead. He was paired with an unknown, a golfer from South Korea named Y.E. Yang. Tiger is number 1; Yang is number 110. Yang trailed Tiger by two strokes when the day began. Tiger has never lost a major tournament when going into the last day with a lead. I suppose that when you combine his competitive nature with the confidence of that accomplishment, you can’t see him breaking that string.

But not this Sunday. The confidence was apparently with Yang. You could see it as the round unfolded. Both of these guys could win, but one seemed to have more confidence that he would. You could see it in the faces of the two golfers. Tiger would miss a putt, and he would anguish; talking to himself. Yang would make a bad shot, but you didn’t see the same anguish. At times Yang worked to lighten the mood, waving at the camera, throwing the golf ball to the crowd at times.

Probably the strongest display of confidence came on the last hole. Yang held a one shot lead as they came up to No. 18, and he took a very aggressive strategy, attempting to birdie the hole, and not just hold the lead. He did birdie No. 18. Tiger, on the other hand bogeyed the hole. So, a confident Y.E. Yang wound up defeating the undefeatable Tiger Woods by three strokes!

Do you think that confidence had a lot to do with this unusual victory for the unknown golfer? If you agree with me that his confidence, and to some extent Tiger’s frustration and perhaps lack of confidence were factors, do you think that confidence can help a company, even Aquaterra, be successful? I reflected on this subject to prepare this message, and it seemed very apparent to me that confidence is a critically important aspect of our corporate culture.

This week we will be faced with challenges. These challenges may look like a potential client who is hard to convince to use us, a difficult engineering assignment that takes more effort to accomplish, a contractor who is second-guessing our test results on a construction site, or a day in which our priorities are difficult to define. If we have confidence in our ability to meet this challenge, we will do just that. We must guard against over-confidence, which can be described as reliance in abilities that are not quite what we believe that we have, but the necessary measure of confidence that we can meet the challenge is very important.

How do we maintain confidence in these days when work is hard to find, and client’s are under their own set of stresses that are often conveyed to us. We have to look at ourselves; as individuals and as a team, and know that we have what it takes to perform our jobs well. You know that I have always had confidence in our company, and that I believe that we provide a superior service to our clients. I mean it. When you combine our focus on meeting a client’s time needs with our ability to provide a clear, well documented report with the necessary information, I’m sure that you will agree with me that we can be confident in our capabilities. When you see our drillers, our technicians, and our laboratory teams doing their work in harmony with each other and with the company as a whole, you can feel confident that we can get the job done.

It is comforting to know that we are not up against an opponent as intimidating as Tiger Woods on the golf course, but we do find ourselves facing intimidating circumstances from time to time. When you find yourselves facing such situations, find that confidence that you (we) have what it takes to succeed. If you find yourself lacking in some manner the tools, or the team to render the necessary confidence, let someone know. We are a team, and we need to help each other. We will work to find the team that it will take to succeed. Sometimes it is the confidence that makes the difference.

Professional Progress

2009-07-06T13:52:16-07:00

I have some great news to pass on to everyone. We have some new professionals on staff. Please join me in congratulating Scott Barrentine, P.E. and Lem Dial, P.E. They have been notified that they passed the Principals and Practice in Engineering Exam this spring, and they have received their professional engineering license. In a similar manner, we are also pleased to inform everyone that Ty Anderson and Lane Cox passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, and they are full-fledged engineer interns now.

In case you don’t know, in order to become a professional engineer one must complete a B.S. degree from an accredited engineering school, pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, serve four years as an Engineer Intern under a professional engineer (or 3 years with a MS degree), and then pass the Principals and Practice in Engineering (PE) exam. The FE test, taken about the time an engineer graduates, tests the knowledge of the “wanna-be” engineer in a broad range of engineering subject matter. It is not enough that the engineer had to suffer through all the calculus, physics, statics, dynamics, structures, etc. classes, he or she must confirm that they didn’t forget it when they graduated. (Now what we may remember a few years down the road is another story entirely).

After the internship period, the engineer must take the PE exam, which tests his or her knowledge of more practical engineering applications, and their ability to use engineering judgment as they apply the fundaments of science to real-world problems.

As an engineer who has entered my 25th year as a P.E., and observing two new ones on a similar track, and two more getting that track underway, I am compelled to consider the stream of professional progress. Coincidentally, just last week I had a brief encounter with my mentor who had guided me through my three-year EI process and into the role of a PE. That conversation was about the compressive capacity of a concrete shaft, and it brought forth the specific things that he had shared with me in my little office in 1982. And we had to consider the practical use of engineering judgment in this particular case.

The intern period was created for a reason. The young men and women who graduate from engineering school know a lot about the theory of engineering, but really they know very little about the practice of engineering. I consider them a blank slate, but fully equipped to learn the profession. So you can see the tremendous responsibility that they have to pick (a) mentor(s) and to understand the thought process behind a decision. You can also see the responsibility that the PE must take on to provide a good source for instilling that professional understanding that must be conveyed. This mentoring process is far more than how to calculate a flow rate, a pile depth, or a pipe size. It involves how to understand a client’s needs, how to manage a project profitably, how to communicate with team members, how to obtain the information that is needed for the design, how to judge what is correct and what is suspicious, and the list goes on and on. When you think about it, a four-year intern process is really not that long for the equipping that must take place.

The professional engineer must take on an incredibly important role. Every job has some degree of “best engineering judgment”. Nothing is ever cut and dried. The text books become good references, but reality lies in forming an opinion about what will work and what won’t.
Our ethical responsibility to the public and to the environment is great. We must never become complacent in our effort to provide the service that we have gained these professional credentials to allow us to provide.

It doesn’t stop there. We have trained technicians and administrative assistants to perform vitally important tasks that comprise the practice of engineering that we perform on a daily basis. The data that a soils technician collects, the interpretation that a CAD designer must develop, the data assembly that the administrative assistant must perform; these are all vital parts of the professional practice. Although their internship is less formal, it is very similar to that of the engineer intern. As P.E.’s we carefully consider the ability of a technician or any assistant to exercise good judgment in particular assignments. So the professional progress of this important subset of our business is more judged by the professional engineers and professional geologists that oversee their work.

Aquaterra is a professional services firm. Everything that we do is devoted to providing quality professional opinions, recommendations and designs. The professional engineer bears the ultimate responsibility for the completed product, but they must trust in the good work of each and every person involved in the project from start to finish. So everyone reading this message take heart. Never, NEVER let complacency invade your work. The chain breaks at the weakest link. That part of the project that you do today is a link in the chain of the completed project. Make sure that your link is strong.

So, Scott and Lem, I hope that your intern period has provided you with the tools that are essential to execute best engineering judgment; that Aquaterra has provided the mentoring that you need to be the engineer that our profession deserves. Likewise, Ty and Lane, use your time effectively to glean from your P.E. supervisors what the practice is telling us to do.

You know, at times, I find myself pausing and looking back; thinking, “have I fulfilled the responsibilities of my professional credentials?” I’ll bet that you will too, many times in your professional progress. You don’t want to answer that question with anything but an emphatic “YES”.

Let us all remember that this is a professional progress. We never stop learning unless we choose to. We always have that responsibility to the public to do our job correctly and with integrity. Let’s all do a job that we can be proud of.

Do You Matter?

2009-06-17T08:06:14-07:00

As geotechnical engineers, environmental engineers, civil engineers, geologists, environmental scientists, technicians, designers, etc. we easily get wrapped up in the technical details of the project at hand. Don’t forget the non-technical skills that “matter”. Those skills make your job more enjoyable - for you, for your client, for your fellow employees, for your direct reports, for your boss, and down the line.

Seth Godin has this to say about mattering:

“You Matter

When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.

When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.

When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.

When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.

When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.

When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.

When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.

When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.

When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.

When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.

And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.”

Now go out and matter!

The Economy is Falling! ?

2009-05-01T07:18:07-07:00

I wanted to pass along a good article from Jeffrey Gitomer entitled “The Economy is Falling! The Economy is Falling!” Although not directly aimed at the professional services industries we serve, the principles certainly apply.

See the article here.

Duty to Public - as the Public

2009-04-28T09:00:22-07:00

At Aquaterra we have a mission statement that challenges to exceed the expectations of five distinct groups that we consider to be paramount in our business. They are:

•    Our clients,
•    Our employees,
•    Our suppliers,
•    The public and
•    Our professional peers

Let’s talk about exceeding the expectations of the public. How do we do that? The mission statement says that we will exceed the expectations of the public by maintaining vigilant awareness of the welfare of the public and the environment. Vigilant is defined as keeping constant watch for possible danger or difficulties. So that means that the public should be surprised (we should exceed their expectations) with our watchful care about their welfare by looking out for things that can be dangerous or difficult. That is a noble thought. Aquaterra, as a professional engineering firm must hold to ethical standards that require us to use our professional expertise and capabilities to protect the welfare of the public. It is right and proper for us to mention this ethical responsibility in our mission statement.

But what about situations when we are involved with the public simply as a part of the public? I want us to think about our responsibility as a company to the public when we are driving our vehicles, when we are identified as an Aquaterra employee, when we have the opportunity to assist the public or the temptation to be a menace to the public. Let’s do whatever we can to exceed the expectations of the public in these cases too.

Just this past month we read of a situation where an Aquaterra employee, Andy Polk, noticed a rather frantic woman. As he approached her she immediately began requesting assistance: she had a flat tire, no idea how to change to the spare and was late for something important. Andy changed the tire for her, and she was very appreciative and offered to pay him $50, he refused. Apparently reluctant to simply let him leave without appropriate compensation or recognition, she asked for a business card, and inquired about what he did for Aquaterra and what Aquaterra does. After brief explanation, they parted ways – Andy assuming that he would never hear anything else about it.

A few days later, the lady called our Jackson, MS office and asked to speak to Andy’s manager. Of course those calls can be a problem, so she was immediately connected to a leader of the company. In that conversation she spoke highly of Andy for what he did, and she said that she would recommend/speak highly of Aquaterra as a result.

What are the chances that the call that this thoughtful lady made to our office was referring to you? Everyone has the opportunity to be of service to the public. Let’s do our best to exceed their expectations. Let’s take this one step further. We are all seen wearing our Aquaterra shirts. When we do, we have that same chance to reflect an impressive positive image for our company. We should do it. You have heard me brag on the fact that our reputation is a part of the reason for our success. All of these type encounters can build or degrade our reputation. It is up to you.

I take us back to a very prominent response to our survey: We are proud to say that we work for Aquaterra. These responsibilities that I have listed here today are very simple and yet very effective ways of showing this pride.

Expectations

2009-01-29T07:43:43-08:00

Coming into work this morning I heard an interview with Tom Bloch, former CEO of HR Block, who had stepped out of the corporate environment and become a teacher. He then opened a school that has a much higher success rate among students than most schools.

During the radio interview they asked him why there is so much success with his school.
The following quote was something that really stamped into my mind.

“People do not rise to low expectations.”

It is a simple quote and it is something we all already know, but like a picture on the wall eventually just blends in with everything else and gathers no attention, this is something each of us can be reminded occasionally as individuals and as a team. Much like the weekly “Aquaterrian” does.

He went on to say what we have heard so many times in the past about setting the bar low ends up with just enough effort to clear the bar, but to set the bar higher there is just that much more effort applied in order to clear the bar. I find this true as I used to consult competitive athletes in training and in my own training. I find it true in the work environment. What I like about Aquaterra is I look around me and see not only a management that is trying to motivate folk to raise the bar, but I see individuals trying to raise the bar for themselves and what they do on a daily basis. I see it in the Atlanta office where Chanc is constantly raising the bar or the expectation to improve what we deliver to our client.

The manner in which the expectations have been inspired by the management is a pleasant method by planting seeds of thoughts in individuals to rise to the top rather than a harsh method I have seen in past work environments. In the Atlanta office, I see a team that seems to be inspired to work toward the raised bar. The suffering economy changes the aspect of supply and demand from what we have known for many years. Demand is low and expectations will be higher from those few that have something to offer to the many that want to supply.

“People do not rise to low expectations.”

…..anyway that is the quote of my week with some expanded thoughts that I thought I would share.

- Jesse Aldridge
Senior Designer, Woodstock, GA Office

Pay a Compliment

2009-01-14T08:09:13-08:00

The expression “to pay someone a compliment” is an interesting choice of words when you think about it. If I pay someone, I normally think about tendering money (or something of value) for a product or service rendered. I paid my barber $10.00 for my haircut. I paid $25.00 for a new hammer, and so on. If we provide advice to someone, we don’t say that we paid them advice. When we have a question for someone, we “ask” it, we don’t “pay” it. OK, you get my point.

So, that would mean that the act of paying a compliment is like providing something of value to someone for their actions. Yet, when we finish “paying” the complement, our checkbook balance is no lower, we still have the same amount of cash in our wallet, and our credit card balance did not go up. Wow, what a deal; we give something of value to someone else, and it costs us nothing! Then compliments should be paid without fail for all good actions, right? Well, yes, they should, but they aren’t always paid. What a shame.

This past week, Steve Greaber (Baton Rouge office manager) had a meeting with an architectural client, and he mentioned to Steve that our construction monitoring services were the best that he had seen. That made Steve feel great, and he passed it on to others, including me, and it made us all feel great. It encouraged us; increased our resolve to show our clients that we really are the best. A simple statement, that took about 10 seconds to communicate, did all that. It really did.

The concept of paying a compliment is nothing new, but I think that the need for compliments has increased a great deal in the last few months. Why? The recession. Money is tight everywhere, people are being laid off, businesses are failing. Bad news is everywhere. We should look for opportunities to send positive messages, and what can be more positive than a sincere compliment? I have found myself on numerous occasions looking at how businesses are doing. Maybe I’m in a restaurant, or a hardware store. Diana (my wife) may have dragged me into a gift shop. Whatever the place may be, I am very aware of the amount of business. When the business seems to be good, if I am communicating with an owner or a manager, I make mention of this observation. When a particular service or product is satisfying, I try and compliment the provider. It is really amazing how this little, simple gesture evokes such satisfaction from the person who receives the compliment. A compliment is a bit of good news when so much bad news abounds.

I expect that bad economic times like our country (world) is experiencing are a part of cyclical nature of business. However, the effect of poor economic times can be influenced by our reaction to the conditions that prevail. We should not be spendthrifts, but, on the other hand, if we hold back too much on our basic expenditures, it impacts someone down the line, and that will come back to negatively impact us. So, when I hear the media telling me that 2009 is going to be dismal, I am negatively influenced, perhaps holding back on spending or hiring. However, If the media begin to amplify some of the positive aspects of the economic picture, I am more inclined to take a risk of a new asset, a new employee, or enjoy a restaurant meal more often. The media should be complimenting our economy, not insulting it. Maybe it would make a difference. But I read what they write; not vice-versa.

But you read what I write. Perhaps these words can be put to good use with our actions. Let’s try an experiment within Aquaterra. Let’s find reasons to compliment. Whether you have a co-worker who is doing their job exceptionally well, a vendor has gotten you just what you need on time, or perhaps a client has assisted in a manner that made your task easier; stop and acknowledge the action with a well-deserved compliment. I am one who is quick to find fault, and I am prone to let good actions go unnoticed. I will take the lead in doing my best to compliment those of you that I see doing the right thing.

So, these days when cash is tight, unemployment is high, and paying the rent or mortgage is difficult, go out of your way to pay that one thing that just may be at an all-time high in value, pay a compliment. It won’t cost you a dime.

The Season of Merry

2008-12-15T21:28:02-08:00

Well our company Christmas parties are behind us. I hope you all enjoyed seeing each other in a non-work environment as much as I did. I look forward to those parties every year, especially those where I see co-workers I have not seen in a while. A special thanks goes out to those who coordinated the event and worked deligently to make them happen. We appreciate your efforts.

Well, if you’re not in the Christmas spirit yet this year, perhaps this little ditty will help. It’s one of my favorites.

Enjoy the season. Spread some Merry! It’s contagious you know.