What High-Performing AEC Firms Get Right About Culture and Talent

By Luke Carothers 

High-performing AEC firms are not defined by a single initiative or moment of recognition. They are defined by how they operate day in and day out. Through conversations with firm leaders, a consistent pattern begins to emerge. The firms getting it right aren’t guessing. They’re building systems that align culture, leadership, and performance.

The Talent Constraint Reshaping AEC 

Across the AEC industry, one challenge continues to rise to the surface: finding and keeping talent. 

Experienced professionals are hard to find, and expectations are high.  Mobility is often easier.  As a result, performance is being redefined.  It’s no longer just about backlog of revenue.  It’s also now about whether a firm can attract the right people, develop them, and keep them engaged. 

That shift is putting culture at the center of business performance.  Not as a talking point, but as a system that shapes outcomes.  The firms navigating this environment well are not guessing.  They are paying attention, adjusting, and building organizations people want to be a part of. 

What is emerging is a clearer picture of what high-performing firms have in common.  Not a single program, but a set of behaviors that show up consistently across recruiting, leadership, and operations. 

Culture as a Signal to the Market 

For years, culture was treated as something internal.  It lived inside the firm, shaped by leadership and experienced by employees, but largely invisible to the outside world. 

That’s no longer the case. 

Today, culture shows up long before a candidate ever walks through the door.  It travels through conversations, reputations, and shared experiences across the industry.  Potential hires are not starting from zero.  They are arriving with a defined point of view. 

That shift has changed the role culture plays in recruiting.  It’s no longer just something firms explain.  It’s something the market reflects back on them. 

The firms that stand out are not just saying the right things.  They are creating experiences that people talk about.  And, over time, those experiences become signals: clear indicators of how a firm operates, how it treats its people, and what it values most. 

In a competitive talent environment, those signals matter.  They shape perception, build trust, and influence decisions before the first conversation even begins. 

Reputation That Recruits 

That signal becomes most visible in the hiring process. 

For many firms, recruiting still begins with outreach, job descriptions, and interviews.  But for firms with a strong reputation, the dynamic is different.  Candidates often arrive with a clear impression already formed. 

Victor Harris of CMTS sees this firsthand.  In the middle of an active hiring push, he’s hearing the same message from candidates before the conversation even begins: “we’ve heard you’re a great firm to work for.  We’ve heard great things about how you treat your people.” 

That kind of feedback changes the starting point.  Instead of building credibility from scratch, firms are reinforcing what candidates already believe.  Trust is established earlier.  Conversations move faster.  Alignment is easier to find. 

It’s a subtle shift, but a meaningful one.  Reputation reduces friction in the hiring process.  It shortens the distance between introduction and decision. 

More importantly, it reflects something deeper.  These perceptions are not created in a single moment.  They’re built over time through consistent actions, experiences, and outcomes.  What candidates are responding to is not messaging.  It’s pattern recognition. 

In that way, reputation becomes more than a brand asset.  It becomes a recruiting advantage.  One that compounds are more people experience the firm and carry those impressions forward. 

Validation That Drives Better Decisions 

Reputation shapes how firms are seen from the outside, but the most effective firms are just as focused on what’s happening inside. 

For many leaders, the biggest challenges don’t stem from a lack of effort.  They come from a lack of clarity.  Without a clear point of comparison, it can be difficult to know whether decisions are working as intended or where improvements are needed. 

That is where external feedback becomes valuable. 

Joe Kulp, Founder and CEO of Mulhern Kulp Structural Engineering describes it simply: “awards are validation we’re making the right decisions.”  However, validation doesn’t stop at recognition.  It opens the door to insight. 

Kulp continues, “every year, feedback [from Zweig Group’s employee experience survey] gives us new ideas where we can strengthen our game.” 

That feedback creates a loop.  Leaders gain visibility into how their firm is performing relative to others.  They identify gaps.  They make adjustments.  And, over time, those adjustments compound into strong, more aligned organizations. 

The difference isn’t just awareness.  It’s direction. 

Firms that embrace this process are not operating on instinct alone.  They’re grounding decisions in perspective by testing assumptions, refining approaches, and building systems that improve year over year. 

In that context, validation becomes less about confirmation and more about calibration.  It helps firms stay aligned with what matters most and continue moving forward with intention. 

Celebration That Reinforces Culture 

If feedback drives improvement, recognition reinforces what’s already working.   

For high-performing firms, moments of recognition aren’t treated as endpoints.  They’re used to strengthen alignment across the organization and highlight the behaviors that led to success in the first place. 

Brian Bowers, CEO of Bowers + Kubota, has seen this play out over time.  After more than a decade of consistent recognition, the focus is not just on the award itself, but on what it represents: “The [AEC] industry doesn’t celebrate itself enough.  We make it a point to celebrate when we’re being recognized.” 

For his team, recognition is something to share.  Wins are brought back into the organization, not just as announcements, but as moments to acknowledge the people behind the outcomes. 

This approach does more than boost morale.  It reinforces a shared understanding of what the firm values.  It connects individual contributions to broader success.  And it creates a sense of pride that extends beyond leadership to the entire team. 

Over time, those moments begin to compound.  Recognition is no longer an isolated event.  It becomes part of how the organization defines itself. 

A Pattern Emerges 

Taken together, these experiences begin to reveal a consistent pattern among high-performing firms. 

They build strong reputations that influence how they’re perceived to the market.  They seek out feedback and use it to guide decision-making.  They celebrate success in a way that reinforces culture.  And they actively apply what they learn to improve how they operate. 

None of these actions exist in isolation.  They are connected.  Each one strengthens the others. 

Reputation attracts talent.  Feedback improves alignment.  Celebration reinforces behavior.  Application drives results. 

What emerges is not a single strategy, but a system. 

Culture as a Competitive Advantage 

As the AEC industry continues to evolve, the firms that stand out are those that treat culture as an operational priority.  Not as a talking point, but as something that directly influences recruiting, leadership, and long-term performance. 

These firms are not relying on guesswork.  They are listening, measuring, and adjusting.  They are building organizations that reflect their values in practice, not just in principle. 

Ready to see where your firm stands?  Take Zweig Group’s Employee Experience and become a Best Firm to Work For.

source https://zweiglist.com/what-high-performing-aec-firms-get-right-about-culture-and-talent/