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Value You Can Feel: How The Primestone Group’s Core Values Shape the Client Experience
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When Values Impart Value: How Culture Creates a Competitive Edge at Lowe Engineers
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By Kimberly Wybenga, CPSM
FEATURE
Jack of All Trades is No Longer the Master of Work
As A/E/C business developers and marketers, we often take on everything, or at least we try to. We believe that by juggling multiple roles, we are increasing our value to the firm. After all, if one person can do the job of five, that must benefit the company, right? But is 'doing it all' what makes us indispensable, or is the true value found in focusing on the right things?
In my last role, I was in charge of business development, marketing, proposals, event/conference planning, social media, the firm's website, and select preconstruction activities. I attended site walks in all types of weather, drank hot tea in front of my computer while digging into the next RFP, conducted interview training sessions, and mingled with new faces at industry events. I provided technical editing and single-handedly planned a yearly chili cook-off with silent auction items to benefit a charity. I was the lone wolf for a 250-person construction firm in the marketing and business development departments. On top of that, I belonged to multiple organizations and volunteered for many different committees, helping to produce successful events, awards ceremonies, and conferences. It was too much.
People would often ask me how I did it. I would respond that it just needed to be done. I wore many hats or was the Jack (or Jane) of all trades in my role. I thought I could do it all and my work wouldn't suffer. When I switched to my current role at a smaller company, the veil was lifted, and I realized why people asked me so often how I got it all done. The answer is that I wasn't getting it all done. My lack of focus directly reflected my not being at my best. If I focused on a proposal or two during one week, other things fell to the wayside and suffered. No one person can effectively do all the marketing and business development tasks for a firm. I've seen small firms benefit from having multiple people fill these roles. Our industry is evolving, and owners are realizing that having a Jack of all trades is not the best way to achieve company goals. The value lies in specialized roles.
Avoiding Burnout
When you overextend yourself, you can't provide value to your firm. Burnout can come in many forms, including chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances, weakened immune system, headaches and muscle pain, appetite changes, digestive issues, increased risk of cardiovascular problems, hormonal imbalances, and physical exhaustion. One or any of these issues can also lead to irritability, depression, anxiety, isolation, loss of motivation, low self-esteem, emotional exhaustion, and a sense of failure.
Burnout is a constant part of marketing and business development in the A/E/C industry. Business developers often fail to draw a line in the sand. They hustle to get their company noticed at all hours and don't observe that they are slowly missing time with family. Marketers are saying yes to too many tasks and flooding their brains with items that will most likely be dropped because they don't have the time to complete them. This all leads to burnout. People resign from their jobs, take much-needed extended breaks, or simply become silent quitters. This doesn't benefit the individual or the company.
I didn't want to admit I had burned out in my last role. I am very competitive and didn't want to fail. But, like many of you, it was time to switch things up to avoid any further collateral damage. When going on vacation to a beautiful tropical paradise and breathing bubbles underneath the salty water didn't bring back my motivation, it was time to look for a new opportunity to best use my skills. I needed to find a way to practice better self-care and boundary-setting.
Marketers are saying yes to too many tasks and flooding their brains with items that will most likely be dropped because they don’t have the time to complete them.”
The Hidden Cost of Wearing Too Many Hats
Some firms believe having one person fill multiple roles is a good cost-cutting strategy. This may be true on the surface, but it can have hidden costs that outweigh the immediate savings. A firm's management may believe one versatile employee can handle diverse functions without additional overhead. Often, leadership doesn't understand what each of their staff can accomplish or what their responsibilities are. Management doesn't take the time out of their own busy schedules to prioritize what can be completed in a certain time frame. Whether this is optimism or a complete lack of knowledge, it can be detrimental to the firm.
Having one staff member fill multiple roles can backfire, leading to decreased productivity, burnout and turnover, missed opportunities, poor quality of work, employee dissatisfaction, and legal and compliance risks. It can even lead to labor law violations or safety risks, resulting in fines or lawsuits. All of these things will cost the firm more in the long run and risk losing the very efficiency they seek.
As marketers and business developers, demonstrating your value is crucial to shifting the perception that your role is just 'overhead.' Start by listing out all the tasks you handle and estimating the time spent on each. Then, compare this to a separate list of tasks that directly contribute to the firm's growth, revenue, and strategic goals. Do these align? Are you investing your time in high-impact activities or stuck in tasks that don't drive results? If there's a disconnect, initiate a conversation with leadership about how your role can be better leveraged to support the firm's success. The more you can tie your efforts to measurable outcomes, the more indispensable you become.
Thriving with a Clear Work Role
There is true value in specialization over multitasking. If you can invest in specialists by hiring individuals with focused roles, this can lead to improved efficiency, quality, time management, and motivation, reducing costly errors and providing manageable staff expectations. Outsourcing certain items to consultants can be more cost-effective than overloading internal staff. Streamlining your processes and having clear responsibilities can boost performance overall.
There is real value in specialization over multitasking.”
The pace of work at my current job is much slower, and yet, I have never been busier. I have the ability to take the time and give the effort needed to successfully complete a task. I can focus on my responsibilities without being dragged in a hundred directions. I feel a renewed energy to be my best every day. This will keep me healthier, happier, and more motivated. The company I work for will benefit from having a happy employee who wants to work hard for them in return for having a specialized role.
Take time to analyze what you can realistically complete and be honest about this reflection. Consider what you are best at and how the quality of your work would improve if you had fewer duties to shift your focus away. Talk with your boss about your situation and be authentic with him or her. Most likely, your boss will understand as they typically multitask too much as well. If your boss or the company are not willing to listen or change their mentality, then it may be time for you to practice self-care by finding a better opportunity. You are valuable and should be treated as such.
Kimberly WybengA, CPSM, is the Business Development Manager at LSE Builders Group, a general contractor firm in Colorado. She currently serves on the board as the 2025 Marketing Excellence Awards Chair and One2One Mentor Co-Champion for SMPS Colorado. Kimberly is also on the regional board for Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), the board for the Carbon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the board for Business Developers (BD) Guild of Colorado. She has presented and been a moderator at multiple local events.
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