The Globe and Mail: Calgary Construction Boss Thrives in a Man’s World

Originally published August 4, 2017 in The Globe and Mail.

In construction, sometimes the boss has to pick up the drill.

That's the philosophy of Lara Murphy, co-owner of Ryan Murphy Construction Inc., one of Calgary's busiest general contracting firms.

"On a job site, things very rarely go to plan, and it's how you react to those hiccups or curveballs," says Ms. Murphy. "Are you willing to take responsibility and fix the problem, rather than run away or try to point fingers?"

These days, Ryan Murphy primarily does commercial construction and renovation, with projects ranging from fitness clubs to restaurants to office space. But Ms. Murphy remembers the early days when she and her co-owner, Karen Ryan, founded the company in 2008. Back then, they did a lot of maintenance work in restaurants around the city. On one occasion, Ms. Murphy had arranged for someone to spray out the grease bin of a very busy restaurant, but unfortunately, he didn't show up.

"It had to be done," she says. "So I had to go rent a white hazmat suit and a sprayer, and I'm stepping through this grease in a parking lot on a very cold and rainy day and spraying out the bin. Then I realized that whoever had done that job last had just painted over the grease.

"So I was going through grease, a layer of paint and then another layer of grease, freezing, and [thinking], 'What am I doing?'" recalls Ms. Murphy with a laugh.

But those are the kinds of curveballs you have to handle when you're the boss, to show your crew that you're capable and willing to take one for the team, she says.

"In construction, when you're in a leadership role and you've done it all, whether it's picking up that drill or that jackhammer, it goes a long way. People see it wasn't so long ago that I was going to the dump or we were working on the tools ourselves."

Lara Murphy met Karen Ryan when they were both working on a construction site in Banff, Alberta. They started having conversations about some of the inadequacies and challenges they had experienced in the construction industry, and realized they shared a vision of what they could do better.

"For us it was: 'Let's build a community around a very responsive and different approach to construction," says Ms. Murphy. The company differentiates itself from the rest by being highly collaborative, both educating their clients and trade partners and listening to them.

"One of our mantras is that we don't have a conversation unless that conversation is about improving or fixing or making something better," she says.

With a name like Ryan Murphy, clients might be expecting a man to be at the helm, and Ms. Murphy acknowledges that two women running a construction company isn't typical. But she says it's not something they considered when forming the business.

"We didn't really recognize what we were doing was such an anomaly until it was pointed out to us," she says. As co-owners, the two complement each other's strengths.

"I do the business development, meeting people, designers, architects, and I love it. I speak at different functions and high schools and chambers of commerce. And Karen would rather lose part of her pinky than do that type of work. She's more into the operational side and running the day-to-day, so it works very well."

She says the word that comes to mind when describing her leadership style is "approachable."

"I listen. The communication side is one of my strong suits and I'm very adamant about checking in with the team and listening and receiving feedback," she says.

Learning to lead

Improving her leadership abilities is a big priority for Ms. Murphy, and one of the ways she's been doing that is through her membership in TEC Canada, an executive coaching and peer mentorship program. Ms. Murphy meets monthly with a group of 12 business owners and CEOS to discuss challenges and share experiences. The participants come from a wide cross-section of industries and experience, and she says it's become a valuable source of guidance and insight.

"If you have certain business questions, you aren't going to ask them at a dinner party," she says. "So what I find the most rewarding is it doesn't matter what challenge or what cycle your business is in, someone there has already been there and seen that. That's something that is really tough to come by."

The group sessions are led by Doug Ayotte, a TEC Canada Chair and former Suncor Energy executive. In addition to the group meetings, he also meets with members each month for one-to-one mentoring sessions. "My role is to try and find out what's going on in their lives, not only business, but personal too," says Mr. Ayotte. Because there are no competitors in the groups, members feel free to ask anything.

"It could be questions like, 'How do I expand in the U.S.? Does anyone have suggestions on how I can do an acquisition? Where I can go to borrow money?'" he says.

In getting to know Ms. Murphy, Mr. Ayotte says he's seen how confident and committed she is as a leader.

"Lara is very open-minded, open to learning from others and is very receptive to new and different perspectives. She puts a lot of effort into networking and promoting her business and giving back to the community," he says.

Ms. Murphy says the support of Mr. Ayotte and the TEC group has been invaluable to her as a leader. "Every time we have a TEC meeting, I leave exhilarated and ready for the next challenge," she says. "I also think I've learned to slow down a bit. As an entrepreneur, you tend to put your head down and go. What Doug and TEC have taught me is to be able to navigate your direction in more of an intentional way."

As one of 22,000 members worldwide through the Vistage Network, Lara has access to CEOs around the globe who are lifelong learners looking to connect, as well as the support of over 3,000 expert speakers. The line-up of top speakers who've shared their thought leadership with the group is another highlight for Ms. Murphy.

"The speakers I've had an opportunity to see with TEC are amazing," she says. "One standout speaker was Ryan Walter, a former NHL player who focused on communication within organizations and teams by demonstrating simple breakout sessions solving puzzles;  also Bill Bishop, author of The New Factory Thinker, who encourages thinking outside the box and membership-based strategies. They were both outstanding."

Meanwhile, Ryan Murphy Construction is continuing to grow and expand to the east and the west — in addition to Alberta, they have projects in Nova Scotia, Ontario and B.C, and are planning more. "Can that be viable and can it work? That's part of our strategic plan right now," says Ms. Murphy.

As the company grows, she plans to grow her own leadership abilities along with it.

"There's so much out there and there's a lot to learn," she says. "It's a constant journey and I don't think it will ever end."