E-Z Bel Construction, LLC (E-Z Bel), located in San Antonio, Texas, performs civil and commercial construction projects for a variety of public and private entities.
Multigenerational small businesses typically get handed down from parent to child (or other younger relatives). In E-Z Bel Construction’s case, though, they decided to bring in Stephen Park to build E-Z Bel up (and out).
Beginnings at E-Z Bel
Roy Rodriguez, who founded E-Z Bel in 1971, named his construction company in honor of his late father. People in San Antonio knew Mr. Isabel Rodriguez by the nickname E-Z Bel (coined to help others pronounce his name).
E-Z Bel instilled the values of hard work, discipline, and being true to one’s word in his son Roy. Roy passed those same values onto his son, Michael, who serves as the company’s current CEO. Today, E-Z Bel projects include traffic signals installation and maintenance, street reconstructions, and installation of underground utilities.
Stephen Joins E-Z Bel
With an eye toward the future, Michael saw Stephen as someone who would perpetuate the business beyond his tenure.
“That was the goal from day one,” Stephen said, who came on board in 2011. “Michael brought me on to build up E-Z Bel and build it out.”
Stephen had come up through the construction ranks, leaving a project manager role to become a steel contractor. His quick rise in the ranks at E-Z Bel to vice president of estimating meant he had to learn quickly. But with little experience, he didn’t know how to move the company forward while retaining its 44-year reputation.
He didn’t have any organization or accountability experience. He’d had experience running equipment, overseeing worker safety, and managing projects. But running a company was totally different.
Although the company was doing OK, Stephen admitted they’d had trouble dealing with employee issues. Some leaders in key positions had created an unhealthy culture that cascaded down through the ranks. Turnover was high and work wasn’t always at expected margins.
To combat these issues, Stephen took a stab at trying different business tactics as if he was grabbing at straws. But nothing ever stuck due to the lack of cohesiveness of the separate pieces he enacted.
Finding EOS®
In 2015, a colleague handed Stephen a copy of Traction.
“He said, ‘Dude, you need Traction. Read the book and call (Certified EOS Implementer®) Jill Young,’” Stephen said with a laugh. “So I read Traction and realized this was a no-brainer. It was the easiest decision ever for me to make.”
From the first conversation with Jill, Stephen saw someone who passionately believed in what she did. But one question she asked him stopped time for him: What do you want? Stephen thought about it for a while. He wanted Michael to ride off into the sunset, confident in Stephen’s ability to lead the company after he’d gone.
Operating on EOS
To get back on track, E-Z Bel had to do a lot of evolving. Stephen selfishly knew he needed a toolkit and help learning how to properly run a business. The EOS Model® did not disappoint.
“EOS let us do the hard work of surfacing issues we didn’t know we had,” he said. “The Data Component™ and Level 10 Meeting™ Agendas gave us the structure and a way to capture everything.”
Stephen’s leadership went from chaos to running like a quarterback with a playbook knowing exactly what to do. Now if anything starts to go off course, he can see the problem and snap it back into place. Leadership team meetings went from explosive, ineffective daily huddles to weekly set agendas with everyone having the same goals.
Reaping the Benefits
Since implementing EOS, E-Z Bel has doubled in size, increasing both revenue and profits.
They also increased their ranks with new employees while keeping current employees longer.
The best part? No one is killing themselves to achieve that level of success.
Stephen relishes sharing stories of watching interns grow into employees that continue to do well and earn promotions. He’s loved seeing how that has benefited them as they’ve bought houses, gotten married, and lived out other passions.
Others in the area have noticed too. E-Z Bel has been named Best Place to Work in San Antonio for the last five years.
“We tear up the roads in San Antonio and we know that’s very inconvenient,” Stephen said. “But we also want to be a good community partner, building roads of opportunities through good livings and scholarships. We want to make a positive impact now and 100 years into the future.”
And for anyone thinking of implementing EOS?
“Stop thinking about it and just do it. What do you have to lose?” he said. “EOS is proven because it’s effective. If you’re at the point that you’re thinking about it, you need it.”
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