Panel members discuss collaboration at SBJ’s Power Hour

Collaboration was the word of the day at Springfield Business Journal’s inaugural Power Hour event held Oct. 13.

SBJ interim Editor Gregory Holman interviewed three guests on stage at Grooms Office Environments’ outdoor space in what was designed as an interactive, live-journalism session. The panel members were David Cameron, Springfield city manager; Jeff Phillips, chief operating officer of Paul Mueller Co.; and Crystal Quade, executive director of the Downtown Springfield Association.

Quade and the Downtown Springfield Association are currently drafting a strategic plan “with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for not only our organization but our partners and stakeholders in downtown.”

“Part of the struggle that we’ve had for our downtown is that clear identity of who we’re trying to serve,” she said. “Columbia is very easy; they’re a college town, and that is an easy answer. For a community like Springfield, it’s a little more difficult because we do have our big institutions ... our universities, our hospital systems really rely on a thriving downtown for recruitment.”

Quade said stakeholders may feel that they’re not part of the decision-making process.

“The convention center is a great example of this,” she said, referencing Springfield voters’ rejection, in two recent elections, of proposed lodging taxes to fund a downtown convention center. “We have to create spaces where those impacted the most are in the room before decisions are made, help them craft that decision.”

Mueller Co.’s Phillips discussed collaborating with competitors in the region.

“In general, we all want work to come to this community,” he said. “Life is better when work is in this area.”

Phillips said collaboration with undisclosed competitors filled needs on all sides. That led to a handshake agreement, he said.

“We were strapped with labor. We were having issues getting the right number of people on particular jobs,” Phillips said. “I knew I had a good relationship with a couple competitors in our town. I knew they had gaps in their production. Just through a relationship and talking, we agreed to, ‘Hey, why don’t you bring some of your workforce over into our facility, and let’s work on this project together.’”

Phillips said it comes down to treating people like human beings.

“We have to have some level of rapport with one another. Then we start trusting each other. Then doors just start naturally opening,” he said.

Regarding the workforce, Phillips said creativity is needed.

“If you’re a hiring manager, you know that talented employees are hard to come by,” he said. “You have to keep being creative.”

At the city of Springfield, Cameron said government getting out of its own way can be key to collaboration.

“Government does not have to act as a gatekeeper,” he said.

Cameron additionally espoused the need for regional collaboration.

“We’re a regional city,” he said. “We need the success of other cities. That’s what we need to work on. I don’t care who gets the credit. Let’s just get it done.”

Cameron also said storytelling to community constituents, done early and often, makes for good policy.

“I don’t trust anything that I don’t get updates on,” he said. “When people buy into a story, they want to invest into it.”

Cameron said “listening is a skill I’ve had to deploy a lot of.”

“I pivoted my leadership a little bit from what I’ve historically done to say we better get into the neighborhoods and we better collaborate with the neighborhoods, not just the businesses,” he said. “The convention center told me one thing: there was a disconnect between that aspect and the residents that vote.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was CoxHealth, and Don Harkey, CEO of People Centric Consulting Group, facilitated questions from audience members.