Affinis Co-Workers Drive Plans for 2024

In 2022, we kicked off our 10-year strategic plan, charting the course for the next decade. During the first leg of our journey, we made great strides. In fact, we achieved each of the goals we established for 2023.

One of the largest was increasing co-worker engagement. We asked each person to identify how they connect to our firm’s vision, purpose, and values. Each developed their “why” story and set goals to help their community and improve areas of their personal lives and careers. We also hit our goals for revenue growth, elevated client satisfaction, and established our KPI’s for measuring success. A few of those wins were:

• Adding and retaining co-workers.
• Donating 1,270 hours of community service.
• Improving efficiency to increase profitability.

Today, we’re excited to unveil our plans for 2024. This year, we’re focusing on our teams and giving them ownership of what’s next. Find out how these new strategies will support co-worker growth and development in this interview with our President, Kristen Leathers-Gratton, PE.

Why do you think having 10-year plan is impactful?
Most importantly, it gives us clarity in our roadmap for the future. It’s helping us implement succession planning and transition people into leadership roles. Doing this work allows us to show co-workers the opportunities and potential ahead. It also helps us better support them as they pursue their individual goals, while making sure we’re in alignment.

What are your goals for 2024?
We’d like to continue a steady trajectory of growth, building upon the success of 2023. Our biggest change will be putting our teams into the driver’s seat. We’ve asked each discipline group to develop their own strategic plan, making sure it’s in-step with Affinis’s larger goals. They’ll focus on two or three priorities and create 90-day action plans to work towards achieving those objectives.

Client satisfaction is always top of mind at Affinis. We’re reengaging our client surveys and using a third-party consultant to survey them as well. This data will help us make the changes clients want to see, while continually refining our process.

Why were these goals selected?
It was a natural progression of the plan. After spending the last year doing personal pathing, offering our teams a proactive stake in the business was the next logical step. We want them to feel ownership in keeping workload stable and give them autonomy to pursue the clients and projects that interest them. As they make their plans, they’ll look at which projects are profitable and will support growing their team’s capabilities, whether through new technology or strategic hires.

How will these plans affect clients?
Our team is driven to deliver holistic solutions. We want to consider the entire community’s needs – not just the infrastructure solution. For us, that means educating elected officials and the public on the importance of maintaining and improving infrastructure. We also want to consider how we can bring partners to the table that will move communities forward.

Every year, we’re looking for ways to be more engaged in the communities we serve at all levels. That will help us better understand their needs and how we can impact them. We’ll use the same model we’ve been using for years in Overland Park to get to know a wider range of people and places. That could mean getting to know elected officials, participating in Chambers of Commerce, or giving back. Each relationship will be thoughtfully built. A one-size fits all approach won’t serve our goals.

How will it impact co-workers?
We’re giving everyone a voice. We spent the last year doing personal pathing and connecting with Affinis’s purpose and vision. Each person has identified how their personal and professional goals align with Affinis. It could be as simple as conducting thorough quality assurance reviews for clients or as big as piloting new technology or building upon the services we offer. We have a talented group of people in place at Affinis, and I’m excited to see what they accomplish next.