Kimberly Groves

Kimberly Groves

President & CEO
KCW Engineering Technologies Inc.

Why is community service critical to your career and your personal leadership journey?

In my career, my compass is my desire to leave our team members, company and community in a better place than where we found it. Significant changes don’t happen overnight. STEM industries are changing and more young women consider science, technology, engineering and math careers as they see them modeled. I founded the KCW Girls STEM program to serve the stem-minded youth of today, who will lay the foundation for engineers and land surveyors of the future. Through this program, our dedication to the House of Ruth Maryland Shelter and local veterans, we support the needs of our community now and shape opportunities for future generations. Whether it is my team or the next generation, I value my position of influence highly and use my platform to serve others.

There are as many as five generations in the workplace currently. All are very different in needs and the way they communicate. How do you lead through collaboration with all generations and the strengths you find in each one? In particular in the new workplace normal we are working through now how are the generations coming together differently to succeed as a team?

Every generation offers a unique perspective. Cross-training team members diversifies their skills and enables them to adapt to workplace ebbs and flows. Hosting regular team outings, implementing platforms like Zoom and Slack, and creating all-staff town hall meetings opens the floor to authentic conversations. In this new hybrid environment, my focus remains to foster communication, collaboration, and meaningful connection among team members.