Latest / Behind the Business / Mentorship, Inclusion, and Infrastructure: Inside GRIT Engineering with Montana Wilson

Transcript

Mentorship, Inclusion, and Infrastructure: Inside GRIT Engineering with Montana Wilson · Behind the Business

• 0:00
  Ian McLean: Welcome to another episode of Behind the Business, presented by Gore Mutual.
• 0:04
  Ian McLean: I'm your host, Ian McLean, President and CEO of the Greater Kitchen Waterdoo Chamber of Commerce.
• 0:09
  Ian McLean: This podcast is recorded on the traditional territory of the neutral Anishinabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.
• 0:15
  Ian McLean: Each week I sit down for candid conversations where we go beyond the boardroom and behind the business to uncover the real stories of Waterdoo Region's business community.
• 0:25
  Ian McLean: Today's guest is Montana Wilson, a professional engineer, MBA, and founder of and CEO of Grit Engineering.
• 0:41
  Ian McLean: Montana built Grit to bring a people-first approach to civil, environmental, geotechnical, and survey engineering, focusing on mentorship, inclusion, and sustainability in every project.
• 0:52
  Ian McLean: In this episode, we'll talk to her about her journey from engineer to founder, how she developed a people-first, values-driven culture, how Grit approaches complex projects with long-term impact, mentorship and talent development, and the partnerships and community initiatives that matter most.
• 1:07
  Ian McLean: Join me in the episode as we go behind the business with Montana Wilson of Grit Engineering.
• 1:13
  Ian McLean: Well, thanks so much for joining us today.
• 1:15
  Ian McLean: Time is probably the most valuable commodity for anyone that's in business or leadership, but we appreciate you spending some time with us today.
• 1:23
  Montana Wilson: Oh, thanks for having me.
• 1:24
  Ian McLean: Good.
• 1:24
  Ian McLean: Now, your career spans uh it's pretty pretty wide-ranging from technical engineering to executive leadership.
• 1:32
  Ian McLean: What first drew you to engineering and infrastructure work?
• 1:36
  Ian McLean: I mean, probably a non-traditional role.
• 1:39
  Ian McLean: Um, but it was that did that start with your education um or your early career?
• 1:46
  Ian McLean: What what kind of got you or drew you to engineering and infrastructure work?
• 1:51
  Montana Wilson: Sure.
• 1:52
  Montana Wilson: So I think when it goes all the way back to primary school.
• 1:55
  Montana Wilson: So I liked engineering and math, and uh applying to universities, it was what's what's a harder thing to do?
• 2:02
  Montana Wilson: So engineering seemed like a bigger challenge.
• 2:05
  Montana Wilson: Um, so chose that one.
• 2:07
  Montana Wilson: Um, but how I got into consulting engineering, um, my father was a site superintendent.
• 2:12
  Montana Wilson: He said, you know, the really only good engineer I've ever worked with is Byron England, and he's a resident of Waterloo and applied there for my first co-op, and then the rest is history.
• 2:22
  Montana Wilson: So what company was that?
• 2:23
  Montana Wilson: It was Naylor Engineering.
• 2:25
  Ian McLean: Oh, Naylor, yeah.
• 2:25
  Ian McLean: And did you go to UFW for your engineering?
• 2:28
  Montana Wilson: I went to Queens.
• 2:29
  Montana Wilson: I went to Queens, yeah.
• 2:31
  Ian McLean: You could have come here, but you went to Queens.
• 2:33
  Ian McLean: Okay, that's all right.
• 2:33
  Ian McLean: It's still a good school.
• 2:34
  Ian McLean: It's a good school.
• 2:35
  Montana Wilson: I grew up in Brantford, so I wanted to be a little bit further from home.
• 2:37
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:38
  Montana Wilson: I got that.
• 2:39
  Ian McLean: I went to UFT.
• 2:39
  Ian McLean: I had to get out of town too.
• 2:41
  Ian McLean: So um and and talk about starting grit engineering.
• 2:46
  Ian McLean: Like, I mean, that because that's a whole nother thing.
• 2:48
  Ian McLean: It's getting into the field, which and and I would still say it's probably it's it's it's changed a lot.
• 2:54
  Ian McLean: There are more women in engineering, but it I, you know, it it's still non-traditional.
• 3:00
  Ian McLean: But starting a business is a whole nother thing, right?
• 3:03
  Ian McLean: On top of the career that you're doing and then and then getting and starting, because entrepreneurship isn't for anyone, man or woman.
• 3:10
  Ian McLean: It's like it's a whole special thing of starting your own business, having that responsibility.
• 3:16
  Ian McLean: There's good parts, but there's certainly some downsides.
• 3:18
  Ian McLean: So talk about the the the starting of the company.
• 3:22
  Montana Wilson: Sure.
• 3:22
  Montana Wilson: So I left consulting engineering for a while during COVID, thought that's what I didn't want to do in my career, went over to a more public-oriented company and realized that uh I really did love consulting engineering.
• 3:35
  Montana Wilson: I just didn't necessarily like the culture I was exposed to.
• 3:37
  Montana Wilson: Uh so it led uh to opening of grit and just in the name of grit itself.
• 3:44
  Montana Wilson: So what we do is largely underground with soil, and I can expand on that further, but that's part of where grit comes from.
• 3:50
  Montana Wilson: But it also comes from I simply Googled female-owned engineering firms, and in all of North America could only find a handful.
• 3:59
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, yeah, and was very fortunate to reach out to a few of them and and actually spoke to them about their experience.
• 4:04
  Montana Wilson: But so grit really encompasses that, right?
• 4:07
  Montana Wilson: It takes okay, if I'm gonna do this, it it takes some grit to do it.
• 4:10
  Montana Wilson: Um, so we jumped right in uh with the support of my friends and family, and uh it is where it is today.
• 4:17
  Ian McLean: Was there was there a specific moment like you know, you're you're working for someone else, you're in the in that industry, was there a you know, you know, working to engineer?
• 4:27
  Ian McLean: Do you it was it was that the calling?
• 4:28
  Ian McLean: And then how did, you know, how did you get to, you know, you talked a little bit about that, but was there a specific thing you said, geez, I can't do this anymore.
• 4:36
  Ian McLean: I need to run my own my own shop.
• 4:38
  Ian McLean: Like sometimes you get to that, you get to that point.
• 4:40
  Ian McLean: Um, you know, maybe start with that.
• 4:43
  Ian McLean: Like it was there, was there a specific moment or did it just come over time of saying I I'm just not comfortable and I want to do my own thing?
• 4:50
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, so I think when I switched over to more of the public sector, I it was it was great.
• 4:54
  Montana Wilson: I worked for Bruce Nuclear for 14 months.
• 4:57
  Montana Wilson: Great company, can't say enough good things about it, but it wasn't for me.
• 5:00
  Montana Wilson: I had more fun doing consulting engineering.
• 5:03
  Montana Wilson: Um and really I looked at it like where would I want to go back to?
• 5:07
  Montana Wilson: And I was like, I don't really see any options where I want to go back to.
• 5:11
  Montana Wilson: Um, so let's create something.
• 5:14
  Montana Wilson: Um, and I was fortunate enough to have clients that that followed me along the way and and that were encouraging me to do that.
• 5:20
  Montana Wilson: So right off the ground, I had some really good people um investing into the success of the company, right?
• 5:27
  Ian McLean: And it's you know, in terms of how you approach your own business, like grit um uh engineering, how did you decide on what, you know, from your perspective, the people first, the the values-driven approach?
• 5:42
  Ian McLean: Because I mean, that's something I think everyone to some degree, every business would say that that that that's them.
• 5:47
  Montana Wilson: Right.
• 5:48
  Ian McLean: Then I think there's the reality of are they actually that?
• 5:51
  Montana Wilson: Yeah.
• 5:52
  Ian McLean: Um you know, you you've you've though you've made those core foundational, sort of the bedrock that your business is built on.
• 6:00
  Ian McLean: Um how did you decide on that?
• 6:03
  Ian McLean: And and and there, I'm sure when you're doing something like that, there will be a cost sometimes to doing that even when it may be difficult, either financially or for other reasons.
• 6:16
  Ian McLean: How did you decide on that?
• 6:18
  Montana Wilson: So I think it's it's the whole reason I started Grit was to take care of people, whether it's our clients, uh, our employees, or the community itself, right?
• 6:27
  Montana Wilson: That's what grit's embedded on.
• 6:29
  Montana Wilson: And how we do that is baby steps along the way.
• 6:32
  Montana Wilson: There's a million little things we do to accomplish that, um, you know, such as paying for all of our employee benefit premiums.
• 6:39
  Montana Wilson: Like that's just one little piece, but it's it's working in the community.
• 6:42
  Montana Wilson: We are volunteering, we do STEM scholarships, but it it really comes down to having a core staff too that share the same value.
• 6:51
  Montana Wilson: So when we hire, we look for people that are community leaders that do invest their time back as a really important function of hiring.
• 7:00
  Montana Wilson: Um, and and like I said, it's it's really when I have to make a business decision, doesn't take care of people.
• 7:07
  Montana Wilson: That's that's the message in the back of my brain.
• 7:10
  Montana Wilson: We have to make money to survive, right?
• 7:11
  Montana Wilson: So there is that portion of it, but not at the expense of the health and and wellness of our of our clients and of our team.
• 7:19
  Ian McLean: Okay, so let's let's uh peel back the layers of you know consulting engineering.
• 7:24
  Ian McLean: For those of us that failed math in grade nine and ten, um, you know, uh you're way out of my comfort zone here, but um grit spans civil, uh environmental, geotechnical, and survey surfaces.
• 7:39
  Ian McLean: So you got quite a broad cross-section.
• 7:42
  Ian McLean: For those of us that aren't, listeners that aren't in the technical world, how would you explain what grit does and the kinds of problems you solve for either communities or clients?
• 7:52
  Ian McLean: Well, I guess they're both one and the same.
• 7:54
  Ian McLean: You could be doing public public work or or private sector.
• 7:57
  Ian McLean: Explain what the types of things that you do and how how your service kind of fits into either construction or planning or remediation, environmental.
• 8:07
  Ian McLean: We must be touch on all those things.
• 8:10
  Montana Wilson: We really do.
• 8:10
  Montana Wilson: We have a small team, but a very diverse team.
• 8:13
  Montana Wilson: Um, so explaining it to someone who's not in the business, I I would explain it as we take care of everything underground.
• 8:19
  Montana Wilson: So surface level underground, water, soil, foundations, linear infrastructure from sanitary, water, mains, subdivision design, approvals, stormwater management, uh, phase one, phase two, uh environmental impact, remediation, surveying.
• 8:34
  Montana Wilson: We also have grit surveying inc, which is legal surveying.
• 8:37
  Montana Wilson: Um, so we offer that service as well to clients.
• 8:40
  Montana Wilson: Um, so basically uh everything under the ground, uh, at or under is how I describe it.
• 8:46
  Ian McLean: And that that is is I mean, it's always been a field, but in particular with the focus on sustainability and environmental um considerations, that you you know, you must not have any shortage of work on on those sort of things.
• 8:59
  Ian McLean: And in this region, with under or you know, groundwater as being the source, you know, like there's a lot of pieces that that uh that connect to this to this region in the work that you're doing.
• 9:11
  Montana Wilson: For sure.
• 9:12
  Montana Wilson: We are in the residential and the in the housing, which is very important given our shortage of housing, right?
• 9:17
  Montana Wilson: That speaks to taking care of people, right?
• 9:19
  Montana Wilson: So we look at how we can do in we do a lot of infill developments, how we can get the density up in certain situations.
• 9:26
  Montana Wilson: Um, we do industrial, commercial, which is still quite busy, uh, despite some of the economic challenges we have.
• 9:32
  Montana Wilson: Uh, and then we do agriculture too, being out in Stratford.
• 9:35
  Montana Wilson: There's there's a sector of that community we serve as well.
• 9:38
  Montana Wilson: So pretty diverse service offerings.
• 9:41
  Ian McLean: Okay, so so tell, I mean, every business, whether it's the chamber or business or anybody, rests on the on the talent that that you can that you can that you're you know part of your team.
• 9:52
  Ian McLean: Um and talent's a huge issue across uh engineering.
• 9:55
  Ian McLean: I've seen just recently, the last couple of days, a lot of consolidation with global firms, and I don't know which one it was, was it WSPA?
• 10:04
  Ian McLean: Like lots of real consolidation with with and and you see that in a global context.
• 10:10
  Ian McLean: Um, you know, how do you compete?
• 10:12
  Ian McLean: And a lot of cases it's it's that it's that um uh consolidation.
• 10:18
  Ian McLean: So how do you recruit or or even I guess attract and train and retain people, um, especially younger engineers and internationally trained professionals who can come over and and practice here or uh work here, um when when there's this this move to going bigger versus the smaller, what's what's the value proposition for grit?
• 10:42
  Ian McLean: And how do you how do you kind of attract the the top quality um staff that you need to to be able to do this work for uh for your clients?
• 10:52
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, for sure.
• 10:53
  Montana Wilson: So for the first four years, we doubled our staff almost every year.
• 10:56
  Montana Wilson: So we were very successful in attracting and retaining talent.
• 10:59
  Montana Wilson: We have really great individuals.
• 11:01
  Montana Wilson: I think being a small firm has given us a leg up in some situations where some people don't want that large firm feel.
• 11:09
  Montana Wilson: They want to work directly with myself or with other licensed engineers instead of having two or three levels of management.
• 11:16
  Montana Wilson: Um we work, we don't have a remote work policy.
• 11:21
  Montana Wilson: Um, so people are able to work at home, in the office, in whatever level of mix they feel is appropriate for their jobs.
• 11:30
  Montana Wilson: Now there's some jobs like surveying and stuff, you have to be out all the time.
• 11:34
  Montana Wilson: Um, but we do offer that flexibility, which I think is important for people.
• 11:39
  Montana Wilson: We're also very family focused and family first.
• 11:42
  Montana Wilson: Like we have a kids kids' cart, we call it in the office, which just has a bunch of fun things.
• 11:47
  Montana Wilson: If for some reason your kids have to be in the office, whatever, my kids are in there occasionally, um, then there's something fun to do.
• 11:54
  Montana Wilson: Like mom and dad have to come pick up something, uh, then you know, here's the here's the kids' cart, go draw something, or do a bunch of stickers or whatever it is, right?
• 12:03
  Montana Wilson: So having that kind of openness and appeal is is I think really important that there's that psychological safety.
• 12:10
  Montana Wilson: I leave uh every day between three and four to get my kids to hockey or some sort of sporting event.
• 12:18
  Montana Wilson: Now, mind you, I do lots of work at other times of the day.
• 12:21
  Montana Wilson: Um, but there's that message that you know you have that flexibility.
• 12:25
  Montana Wilson: The work still has to get done, but we trust you to do it.
• 12:29
  Ian McLean: I I as a single dad uh who had to do all those pickups and drop-offs, uh I that just became the culture here of saying it's not just for me, it's gotta be for everyone.
• 12:40
  Ian McLean: That family first has gotta actually mean something.
• 12:42
  Ian McLean: And and there that that there's a quality, especially with younger people entering the workforce, that that's almost as important and in some cases more important than than the the the salary.
• 12:55
  Ian McLean: Like the money is not, it doesn't paper over some of those quality of life things.
• 13:00
  Ian McLean: Um you've spoken about mentoring young engineers.
• 13:04
  Ian McLean: I guess yeah, I wanted to just one more.
• 13:06
  Ian McLean: When you talk about a small firm, like because I mean there's I I always say this when I'm talking to a politician, they say, well, small business, and then they'll say, you know, if you're 500 employees or less, and say, that is not a small business.
• 13:17
  Ian McLean: The chambers, our membership of 16 or 1,500 members, you know, 1100 of them have 10 or 15 employees or less.
• 13:26
  Ian McLean: Like that's and that's the same everywhere.
• 13:29
  Ian McLean: That's what business actually looks like.
• 13:31
  Ian McLean: Where do you fit in the into that continuum?
• 13:33
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, so we have 36 full-time.
• 13:35
  Ian McLean: Yeah, so it's still that in in our promise I would say that's a sophisticated operation, but in the grand scheme of that's still a small business in in how you compete in the marketplace.
• 13:46
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, that's right.
• 13:47
  Montana Wilson: And the and the goal is not to grow just to grow, right?
• 13:50
  Montana Wilson: It's to grow organically like we have been with really good people, yeah, really good team members, really good clients.
• 13:57
  Montana Wilson: It's not to, you know, be 500 people in 10 years, like that's not where we're headed.
• 14:01
  Montana Wilson: It's it's to take care of people and to do that if efficiently um with the right ones, right?
• 14:07
  Montana Wilson: So if that that means we don't hit our growth target next year because we didn't find the right humans, then that's okay.
• 14:13
  Ian McLean: Yeah, right.
• 14:14
  Ian McLean: Okay, you've spoken about mentoring young engineers and internationally trained professionals, and increasingly you're not gonna find the talent unless you're looking outside of our borders.
• 14:26
  Ian McLean: We just that that's the reality of how we're gonna grow our businesses with newcomers to our to our country.
• 14:33
  Ian McLean: And of course, whether it's medical professionals, engineering, you know, skilled trades are gonna come from somewhere else.
• 14:40
  Ian McLean: Um, how do you balance giving advice um and that mentoring piece with letting people make their own mistakes or learning by doing?
• 14:51
  Ian McLean: Because there is a balance there of letting people, you know, um uh learn by doing, um, but also maintaining that mentoring or guiding principle.
• 15:02
  Ian McLean: How do you how do you balance that?
• 15:03
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, so we it try to encourage the team members to work together.
• 15:07
  Montana Wilson: We have four divisions, so cross-train, maybe that's somebody not in your division that can answer that question.
• 15:13
  Montana Wilson: Or can the two or three junior staff sit there, bounce ideas off each other before we get the senior staff in there?
• 15:19
  Montana Wilson: And then can we all work together?
• 15:21
  Montana Wilson: So it's we really do encourage them to talk together and to build, it builds on part of that culture, right?
• 15:30
  Montana Wilson: To be safe, to throw it in an idea.
• 15:32
  Montana Wilson: You might think it's crazy and you might not want to throw it out in front of your boss, right?
• 15:36
  Montana Wilson: But to throw it out in front of a peer, um, and they're like, well, oh yeah, maybe that can make sense, right?
• 15:42
  Montana Wilson: Try to have that psychological safety at work so that you can brainstorm, you do have that freedom.
• 15:47
  Montana Wilson: And then, of course, being engineers, we need to make sure it's right when we send it out the door.
• 15:51
  Montana Wilson: So having enough senior staff there in mentorship programs, and I'm proud to say each of our engineering disciplines has multiple licensed professionals.
• 16:01
  Montana Wilson: We also will reach out to the community as well.
• 16:05
  Montana Wilson: We're part of uh the Association of Consulting Engineers, so if there's something that we find is specialized with another small firm, we'll bring them in.
• 16:14
  Montana Wilson: Um so not being intimidated or concerned about reaching out when we need specialized support.
• 16:25
  Ian McLean: The Behind the Business Podcast is made possible through the support of our title sponsor, Gore Mutual.
• 16:30
  Ian McLean: Proudly Canadian, Gore Mutual has stayed true to one purpose for more than 185 years: insurance that does good.
• 16:37
  Ian McLean: It's the reason they exist.
• 16:39
  Ian McLean: They believe that when we focus on being good, doing good, and spreading good, we all thrive together.
• 16:45
  Ian McLean: We're grateful for their continued commitment to our local communities and the positive impact they make every day.
• 16:50
  Ian McLean: For more information, visit goremutual.ca.
• 16:54
  Ian McLean: Now, we've talked a little bit about you know some of the professionals that are coming from outside of the country.
• 17:06
  Ian McLean: Um, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion in the broadest sense here at the chamber has been something that we focus on.
• 17:13
  Ian McLean: Certainly it's in our strategic plan.
• 17:15
  Ian McLean: It's some of the things we're saying, we've got to reflect the business community and in the community that we live live in.
• 17:20
  Ian McLean: And that's that is a very broad, diverse group.
• 17:24
  Ian McLean: Do you have does grid have sort of like some goals in that direction?
• 17:29
  Ian McLean: Like, like, what's the culture in terms of what does diversity look like for grit?
• 17:34
  Ian McLean: And how do you kind of manifest that?
• 17:36
  Ian McLean: Because it by definition, if you're looking for foreign-trained um professionals, dollars to donuts, they don't look like us.
• 17:43
  Ian McLean: Like you're gonna find people from other parts of the the world.
• 17:47
  Ian McLean: So, but just that alone says, how do we make sure that they're welcomed and belonging?
• 17:53
  Ian McLean: And that's the work that I do with the immigration partnership of saying get people here, how do we make them most productive?
• 17:59
  Ian McLean: How do they feel engaged in not only their job but in the community and they're feeling safe?
• 18:04
  Ian McLean: How do you how do you manage that?
• 18:05
  Ian McLean: Because if you if you're if you're bringing in people from outside, you you must have a plan around those things.
• 18:11
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, and we do have several uh foreign-trained engineers, and and it is challenging for them, right?
• 18:17
  Montana Wilson: Not only to blend into the culture, but to get licensed here is very challenging.
• 18:21
  Montana Wilson: Um so we try to support them as much as we can.
• 18:23
  Montana Wilson: We because we value so much and give them back to the community, we encourage um encourage them to participate in a lot of the events we do, right?
• 18:33
  Montana Wilson: To build that sense of community, whether it's being on the Santa Claus parade float or um doing a trivia night for the United Way, right?
• 18:42
  Montana Wilson: Trying trying to encourage everybody to attend, even if it's not if it's a little bit out of your comfort zone, right?
• 18:48
  Montana Wilson: Um we did work a lot with Conestoga Career Employment Center to bring us foreign-trained engineers.
• 18:54
  Montana Wilson: So having them vet the process ahead of time is helpful for small business, right?
• 18:59
  Montana Wilson: We don't have enough time to interview as many people as we want to interview.
• 19:03
  Montana Wilson: Um, but to also speak to the DEI portion, we do have um a soft goal to have parity within the office.
• 19:11
  Montana Wilson: So we we have achieved that, whether that's in technical professionals or not, there's some admin staff that help balance that out, but we do have a strong contingent of female licensed engineers and engineers in training.
• 19:23
  Montana Wilson: I think that building that safe workplace, whether you're male or female, especially for people with young families, is really important, right?
• 19:31
  Montana Wilson: Like there can't be that bias that only mom goes and picks them up when they're sick at work, right?
• 19:36
  Montana Wilson: We also need to be supportive that that that our male colleagues can also do that and not be judged.
• 19:41
  Ian McLean: Um, so I think there's there's single dads out there that are doing all those same things.
• 19:45
  Ian McLean: I mean, I the number of days I pulled uh lace out of hairs because the girls were home or sick at home.
• 19:51
  Ian McLean: Yeah, life happens, you know, you know, and and families are families and they're all gonna look different.
• 19:56
  Ian McLean: So that that's that's an important piece.
• 19:58
  Ian McLean: Uh you've you've been voting.
• 19:59
  Ian McLean: What specific barriers did you face when you were getting in?
• 20:20
  Ian McLean: And I guess that's back to the to the first start of the interview, but did you face barriers that kind of limited and which then propelled you to I'm gonna start my own business and I'm gonna do it in a in a certain way?
• 20:33
  Ian McLean: Um and so did you face some of those and what were the the supports that helped you or that maybe weren't there that said I'm gonna change this?
• 20:43
  Montana Wilson: That's right.
• 20:43
  Montana Wilson: So I think it goes back to it's the construction sites are always challenging for women, still are like to be blunt about it.
• 20:54
  Montana Wilson: There's there's things that we could do better uh as a society in supporting women on construction sites.
• 20:59
  Montana Wilson: Um but as far as my career goes, I had a father who was a site superintendent, so on a construction site, and my um mother was in retail sales, so they both gifted me different different things, right?
• 21:11
  Montana Wilson: My father and the technical knowledge, my mother and how to deal with people, right?
• 21:16
  Montana Wilson: And the customer service part.
• 21:17
  Montana Wilson: Yes, we're in engineering, but we're very much a customer service-based business.
• 21:22
  Montana Wilson: If you can't get your thoughts across, then it you can be the smartest person in the world, but it's not gonna work.
• 21:27
  Montana Wilson: So they all they influenced my career from the beginning, uh, for sure.
• 21:32
  Montana Wilson: But then I also had really good, really good bosses all the way along, right?
• 21:37
  Montana Wilson: Um they were always makes a difference, doesn't it?
• 21:39
  Montana Wilson: Always male.
• 21:40
  Ian McLean: Yeah.
• 21:40
  Montana Wilson: Um so they were great, but I never had a female boss uh and and still haven't in my career.
• 21:47
  Montana Wilson: So um I'm offer able to offer that to some people.
• 21:50
  Montana Wilson: Oh, that's good.
• 21:51
  Montana Wilson: So we're changing the landscape and what leadership looks like and and hope to keep doing that moving forward.
• 21:58
  Ian McLean: Good for you.
• 21:58
  Ian McLean: Um Professional Associations and community partnerships have been a part of your journey.
• 22:03
  Ian McLean: So whether it's local schools, industry groups, uh uh Ontario SPE, so that must be a professional engineer, Ontario, what is a society professional.
• 22:14
  Ian McLean: I knew I it used to be OPP anyway, but uh what's the most surprising or fruitful partnership for Grit?
• 22:22
  Ian McLean: Like what I we always hope that everyone says, oh being a part of the Chamber of Commerce is our best association.
• 22:29
  Ian McLean: But what what have you found in your business?
• 22:31
  Ian McLean: Because it's it's more it's more technical and based, and and sort of the the networking and and referral is is you know it's gotta be it's a it's a more narrow slice in and how you do that.
• 22:43
  Ian McLean: What's what are the what are the partnerships that really have helped grit in its in its growth?
• 22:50
  Montana Wilson: For sure.
• 22:50
  Montana Wilson: So I think different associations offer different things, right?
• 22:54
  Montana Wilson: The Chamber of Commerce, great.
• 22:56
  Montana Wilson: Uh networking, and as we all know, networking is a marathon, not a sprint.
• 23:00
  Montana Wilson: Um, so that's been awesome.
• 23:03
  Montana Wilson: Um the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada, I'm on their Ontario board and I've been on their national board.
• 23:09
  Montana Wilson: Um, that provides me with a huge network of small business owners uh and technical representatives that we can lean on as engineers.
• 23:16
  Montana Wilson: Uh OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, another great organization to team up engineers uh in different technical professions.
• 23:25
  Montana Wilson: So we do do a lot of work in residential development.
• 23:28
  Montana Wilson: So the Home Builders has been an important association for us.
• 23:31
  Montana Wilson: Um, Perth Here on Home Builders uh as well as the Ontario uh Home Builders Association, too, uh, as far as networking and and building that residential side up.
• 23:43
  Ian McLean: And I guess last thing specific to to Grit, and then we'll move on to a bit of our the leadership part of what this uh this podcast is, because it's great to hear the story.
• 23:53
  Ian McLean: Um but as much as anything, it's also about the leadership style and and and you know everyone's approach to to uh to my rapid fire questions is is kind of unique.
• 24:03
  Ian McLean: But last question before we move to that, what's next for grit?
• 24:08
  Ian McLean: So you in because I I think I've heard you've been very clear saying you're not growing for growth's sake, you don't have a number in line of saying we want to be 50 by you know 50 employees by such and such.
• 24:17
  Ian McLean: But uh, you know, are there projects that you would or types of projects you want to get into?
• 24:24
  Ian McLean: Is it um you know, are there some specific goals that you'd like to see over a period of time that that helps you change the landscape of what either grit is or its place in the in the industry itself?
• 24:36
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, I'm personally really excited to see our team grow and what that looks like.
• 24:41
  Montana Wilson: So it's it it's in all of our natures to take grit and build it to be what we want it to be.
• 24:47
  Montana Wilson: Um so to invest in my uh in my younger staff is is really exciting.
• 24:53
  Montana Wilson: It's been really exciting to see in the last five years, but to see how they can take on more responsibility, how they can grow their individual teams is really what's gonna fill my bucket.
• 25:02
  Montana Wilson: Um but we are looking at um different areas, uh residential development, as you know, slowed down a little bit.
• 25:09
  Montana Wilson: So different areas to diversify our service offerings, but we have, to be honest, we're pretty diverse as it is now, and we have you know a good land coverage of basically all of Ontario.
• 25:20
  Montana Wilson: Um so there's lots of work as a small team that in regions we haven't even been to yet.
• 25:25
  Montana Wilson: So there's room, there's room there for sure.
• 25:28
  Ian McLean: And and I I think you know, just on that is things are slow right now for a lot of reasons, tariffs and supply chains, and and there's a there's an investment freeze uh on everything from building homes, but also you know, on the ICI part.
• 25:44
  Ian McLean: But that will not stay for forever.
• 25:47
  Ian McLean: Business business has a way, and we're already seeing that of saying trying to figure out what moronic politicians can try and derail things, but it it it all comes out in the wash eventually.
• 25:58
  Ian McLean: So there's gonna there's gonna be there, and when when the log jam breaks, companies like like grit and others are gonna have to spring into action.
• 26:07
  Ian McLean: Like so having having that group because there will be there the housing crisis hasn't gone away.
• 26:13
  Ian McLean: We're just not building houses right now.
• 26:14
  Ian McLean: Yeah, you know, we're we're growing as a as a country and we need to have jobs for those people.
• 26:19
  Ian McLean: That hasn't gone away either.
• 26:21
  Montana Wilson: It's just kind of so the And we need to invest in the younger generation, right?
• 26:26
  Montana Wilson: Like there's we need to put the time in now so that they're able to take over for us, right?
• 26:31
  Montana Wilson: Absolutely.
• 26:32
  Montana Wilson: We're seeing that failed system right now in the baby boomer generation leaving, but not necessarily knowledge transferring as much as as much as we can.
• 26:41
  Montana Wilson: So those of us that are intermediate engineers, which we're like unicorns, there's not a lot of us, need to be able to facilitate um our knowledge to the next generation.
• 26:51
  Montana Wilson: And and now's a really great time to do that.
• 26:53
  Ian McLean: Okay, we're on to the rapid fire question.
• 26:55
  Ian McLean: Again, this is more on the leadership than the specifics of your business, but it it I always find it interesting because everyone's got a different kind of things that motivate them or or or or how they respond.
• 27:05
  Ian McLean: These are there's no right or wrong answers, but um if you could go back and tell your younger self something, what would that be?
• 27:12
  Montana Wilson: Be more confident.
• 27:13
  Montana Wilson: I think I was not as confident as I should have been earlier on.
• 27:19
  Ian McLean: It's good advice, and I think it's uh it it's for everybody.
• 27:23
  Ian McLean: Is you know, take it till you make it is actually sometimes it sounds a little tray, but it's true.
• 27:28
  Ian McLean: You can't start a job and think, oh, I get this all wired because you're not you're not keeping your eyes wide open.
• 27:34
  Ian McLean: But that that is a good thing.
• 27:35
  Montana Wilson: I tell my kids sometimes too, nobody cares, and I don't mean that from a negative perspective, but nobody really cares what shirt you're wearing.
• 27:42
  Montana Wilson: If you love it, own it and wear it, right?
• 27:44
  Montana Wilson: Like those little things, um, to have more confidence earlier in getting it.
• 27:48
  Ian McLean: I think that's that's great advice, especially for kids now that are so focused on what other people say is you gotta be comfortable in your skin.
• 27:54
  Ian McLean: Who or what inspires you as you go through the journey of life?
• 28:00
  Montana Wilson: Oh, my team for sure, to see them grow, definitely.
• 28:05
  Montana Wilson: It's it's inspiring.
• 28:06
  Montana Wilson: Um, and then the family too, of course, right?
• 28:09
  Montana Wilson: Like, you know, I mean kids do you have?
• 28:11
  Montana Wilson: I have two, yeah.
• 28:12
  Montana Wilson: And even you know, my husband and I had the talk when we started when we I started grit, I was like, can we survive, right?
• 28:21
  Montana Wilson: Like if this makes no money and fails, can we survive?
• 28:24
  Montana Wilson: And he's always supported uh me through it as well as my parents and and and my extended family.
• 28:30
  Ian McLean: So well, it it there's there's risk inherent to it, but there's also the the independence and the and the notion that you know it's it is I mean, again, you moving your own goalposts of saying we're not growing for growth's sake if it's does if it doesn't fit who we want to be.
• 28:48
  Montana Wilson: Right.
• 28:49
  Ian McLean: That there is a there's a value to that in terms of the hours you have to put into work, is that you're doing it on your own terms.
• 28:57
  Ian McLean: I like that.
• 28:58
  Ian McLean: Uh, if you weren't in your current career, what what do you think you'd be doing?
• 29:02
  Ian McLean: So if you weren't in engineering, what would you be doing?
• 29:06
  Montana Wilson: I don't know, honestly.
• 29:07
  Montana Wilson: I've really liked math and science my whole entire life.
• 29:10
  Montana Wilson: So I think it would be in something that related.
• 29:13
  Montana Wilson: So I I think I've found where I need to be.
• 29:16
  Montana Wilson: At least it feels like it right now.
• 29:18
  Ian McLean: Yeah, that's good.
• 29:19
  Ian McLean: Um are you reading a book to kind of either let go or learn something?
• 29:24
  Ian McLean: You listen to a podcast?
• 29:26
  Ian McLean: What's your what you think you just said uh which one was it?
• 29:29
  Montana Wilson: Um I tend to listen to Peter Manson.
• 29:31
  Montana Wilson: Peter Manson and the bridge.
• 29:32
  Montana Wilson: He lives in Stratford, so you know there's a local feel to that international kind of type discussion.
• 29:38
  Montana Wilson: Um I have Sirius XM, so I also listen to um Arlene Bynan uh on there in Canada Talks as well.
• 29:46
  Montana Wilson: So I'm not a big uh personal book reader.
• 29:49
  Montana Wilson: I think I read enough for work that it's kind of like ruin that for me a little bit.
• 29:54
  Ian McLean: A friend of mine says, Oh, I've got four books on the goal.
• 29:57
  Ian McLean: I say, I read four books in a year and they're all on my two-week vacation when I'm on a beach somewhere.
• 30:02
  Ian McLean: Yeah, but but podcasts are are kind of interesting too.
• 30:05
  Ian McLean: Um listen, um do you have a favorite business in either Waterdo region or in in Perth?
• 30:12
  Ian McLean: Or where's your go-to?
• 30:14
  Montana Wilson: Favorite business.
• 30:15
  Montana Wilson: Oh goodness.
• 30:16
  Ian McLean: Coffee shop, restaurants, retail.
• 30:20
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:20
  Montana Wilson: So, you know, we're headquartered in Stratford.
• 30:23
  Montana Wilson: So downtown Stratford, we have a lot of mom and pop shops.
• 30:26
  Ian McLean: Yeah, beautiful spot.
• 30:26
  Montana Wilson: You know, Mercer Hall to Rebel for Coffee.
• 30:29
  Montana Wilson: We've got a lot of good independent, um, independent store owners there.
• 30:33
  Montana Wilson: Um, but you do here as well in Kitchener Waterloo, and it's so much fun to visit them, whether we're going on the ice rink downtown or whatever.
• 30:41
  Ian McLean: Yeah, there's a lot, there's lots happening here in the Uptown and Downtown Kitcheners, uh, Uptown Waterdo and Downtown Kitchener is great.
• 30:47
  Ian McLean: Yeah.
• 30:47
  Ian McLean: Um, okay, uh, just as we wrap up, if if someone wants to learn more about grit, be in touch, maybe they have a project they're thinking about and want to learn more about you, your approach, and the team that you have, where do they go and uh and connect and find out about grit?
• 31:02
  Montana Wilson: Yeah, so we're gritengineering.ca, Montana gritengineering.ca is my email.
• 31:07
  Montana Wilson: And the office phone number 519-305-5727.
• 31:11
  Montana Wilson: Um we also have an Instagram page, which is really fun to see.
• 31:14
  Ian McLean: You know what?
• 31:14
  Ian McLean: I love that you said the phone number.
• 31:16
  Ian McLean: I said this to someone yesterday, you can never get a human being anymore, so it's good that you've we have admin staff in the office full time, so someone will pick up the call.
• 31:23
  Ian McLean: That's that's that's almost like that's a unicorn there.
• 31:26
  Ian McLean: Having that.
• 31:27
  Ian McLean: Listen, uh thank you so much for for business owners and particularly entrepreneurs.
• 31:34
  Ian McLean: Time is probably the most valuable commodity that you're short of, so we really appreciate you spending some time with us today.
• 31:39
  Montana Wilson: Well, thank you very much for the opportunity.
• 31:42
  Ian McLean: Thank you for joining us for another episode of Behind the Business, proudly presented by Gore Mutual, insurance that does good.
• 31:48
  Ian McLean: New episodes drop every Thursday, so be sure to tune in next week.
• 31:52
  Ian McLean: You can also visit greater kw chamber.com to catch up on past episodes anytime.
• 31:57
  Ian McLean: We'll see you next time as we continue to go behind the business.