Shane Forward from Wingate Architects is an Owner Manager Programme 53 cohort alumni.
This Kiwi Business Story is based on a podcast from 03 December 2021, and all figures quoted are from that time. You can enjoy the complete podcast here.
Tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a business owner, how did it all happen?
I worked in Hamilton for a little while for the Education Board before it became the Ministry of Education. When they closed down, I took off to London, and did five years over there, came back to Auckland, and worked for a large national practice. I got to a point where I was doing the role of a Project Architect, but they could not call me an architect because I was not one. So, they created the position called “Project Team Leader”, I was doing the equivalent of a Project Architect, which is all the site stuff. I worked for them for 16 years, moved back down here with the family through that period, helped set up practice offices down here. I then realised that I had been working for the same company for 16 years, which is not good for anyone. I decided I had to have a dabble in project management. I was off and on for about three years, keeping my hands in architecture as well, doing a bit of contract work here and there. Through that time, I met David Winger who is the Founding Director of Wingate Architects.
David is about a year older than me, and through a little bit of contact and a drink here or there, we personally clicked straight away. So, it was an easy transition for me to leave project management, to go back to a contract basis, working for David. I did that for about a year. A couple of projects down here, and Auckland frequently. Things had started to change at David’s practice at the time. David and his business partner had quite an amicable split. They wanted to do things slightly differently. The business was being reformed. I got brave and took the opportunity to say to David that I would love to move forward with the company. I did not want to be an employee anymore. I wanted to work out how I could be part of the business moving forward, and that is where it all began.
What is one piece of advice you would have given yourself at the start of your business journey, knowing what you know now?
I would probably go right back in time. I should have learned more about accounts, and I underestimated how important people are in a business. As a worker in a business, you realise that you are part of what is being created. As a business owner, you need to think about what effects everything we are doing has on each one of those people. Because if one of them falls away, a chunk of your business may fall away. The importance of not just keeping staff happy, it is giving them challenges, it is making sure they are learning. Wellness is a big thing now, and totally, you can look at it globally, and think that you are just doing stuff for a certain part of your workforce. But the fact is, when you bring a wellness initiative into a business, everyone receives it well. It is not like it is just a few people. It is the old, “you do not know what you do not know”. So, wellness for me is an important part of the business.
How do you integrate wellness initiatives into your business, authentically?
A simple thing that made a difference for me was when we did the wellness part of The Icehouse programme [Owner Manager Programme]. An explanation of how important sleep is, and how everyone knows it is important. But for me, my working life has quite often been those intense periods where you are working for long, lengthy periods of time. As a result, I did not sleep very well, because my brain was not shutting off. I cannot remember who it was on the course, but he said, a simple technique, a breathing exercise. He said it is what brings your heart rate down and it's going to help you get to sleep - instantly, I was falling asleep. With that, I try and do a little bit of yoga now. Instead of going to the gym all the time, I will even do some simple stretches for 15 minutes in the mornings, and I feel so much better for it.
How did you first hear of The Icehouse? And, how did you have that first point of contact and then decide that the programme was for you?
The whole time I have known David Wingate, he has been spouting these little terms. Most of them are from good to great. He was introduced to these terms through OMP. We decided that for the business it was a worthwhile investment that all the directors completed OMP. It had been a long time since I sat down to learn anything, I was a little bit hesitant about what the value was going to be. But, I could see that if I wanted to contribute to the business, I need to know more about how the business runs.
You think you know how a business runs, you pay bills, you are seeing the invoices, those sorts of things. But, it is like filling in these blurry bits that were there between the bits of knowledge. While you are by no means an expert, in the end, you have a more holistic view of the whole business.