Here at Gilbane, we kicked off June with our 2019 Federal Division Summit in Denver, bringing together employees from across the globe for team collaboration and education. In my welcome, I addressed Gilbane’s executive leadership, Federal Division leaders, subject matter experts, and other key staff with a topic near and dear to my heart: Geese. Do you know why geese fly in a v-formation? The v-formation serves two important purposes. First, it conserves their energy – the formation creates “lift” and reduces air resistance for the rest of the flock. Consequently, the flock can fly 70% farther than they would expending the same amount of energy flying solo. Fighter pilots use this formation for the same reason; the improved fuel efficiency has made the v or “vic” formation a standard on military flight missions. The second benefit to flying in a structured formation is that it supports communication and coordination within the group. So, why do we care about the secret efficiencies of geese and fighter jets? We care because they are proof positive that when we work together, sharing common values and a common destination, we reach our goals faster and with greater ease, lifting each other up with our combined energy and enthusiasm.
In leading Gilbane’s Federal Division, my priority is growing each of our Business Units by leveraging our common strengths to drive flawless execution. Gilbane’s Federal Division Summit served as a powerful catalyst to align our global leadership at all levels, who met to develop solutions, introduce new strategies, and fuel continued collaboration across our organization to bring our capabilities, coverage, and culture to our clients and industry partners.
Capabilities
Using the divisional organizational structure of Gilbane Building Company, we have never-ending opportunities to pull together experts from across our company to deliver highly complex and specialized projects. An excellent example of this kind of cross-functional-collaboration is Gilbane Federal’s Environmental and U.S. Federal Facilities Business Units, which are currently working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University to support infrastructure upgrades to the linear accelerator. Likewise, Gilbane Federal’s rapid response and recovery experts are joining forces with GRS to best address reconstruction needs at several of our military bases across the country, including recent responses to the effects of Hurricane Michael. These are just two examples of Gilbane aligning our resources to the specialized needs of our clients.
Coverage
Did I forget to mention that the flight speed of a flock is also determined by its size? The larger the flock, the higher the speed, and with approximately 2,964 employees in more than 45 offices servicing clients in 11 countries, Gilbane is moving at the speed of life. In addition to our commitment to delivering federal projects nationwide, we actively partner with host countries worldwide to deliver complex federal projects in unique overseas environments. Consistently over-delivering on our international projects, we understand that, as on all projects, the people make the project. By engaging local labor pools, supporting personnel training and development, recruiting individuals for permanent positions, and assigning these staff to future projects, Gilbane drives a continuous exchange of information, improving our capabilities as well as the capabilities of our diverse workforce.
Culture
At our Federal Summit, Paul Choquette III spoke on Gilbane’s history and values, connecting the foundation of our successes with our culture, our people, and our clients. Gilbane’s family ownership, leadership, and values span more than 146 years. We trace our federal legacy back to World War II, when on April 22, 1943, Gilbane was presented with the Army-Navy ‘E’ Award for “…outstanding performance in wartime…”. Our service to the U.S. federal government has continued on since then with the construction of federal facilities, national monuments, and memorials, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Our core values, some of which include Integrity, Toughmindedness, and Teamwork, are a big part of the reason that in 2018, 99% of our owner evaluations told us that we met or exceeded their expectations, and why we are ranked No. 2 by Building Design + Construction magazine in Military Building.
