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Patrick Gaughan
is the Owner-CEO of Access Group, LLC which is located in a stylish red brick
building at 348 Ida in Wichita, Kansas. Pat has been married to his wife
Carolyn for 32 years and they have one daughter, Erin who is a senior majoring
in Marketing at Southwestern College’s main campus in Winfield, Kansas. Erin is
an accomplished equestrian who has won many trophies and prizes who will soon be
entering Southwestern’s MBA program.
Carolyn has been
the Executive Director of Kansas Family Physicians for the past fifteen years.
Originally trained as a teacher, during the early years of their marriage she
worked three jobs to help Pat get Access started. She taught school during the
day, did tutoring on the side plus worked at a menswear store on weekends.
Pat’s original
career goal was social work and he obtained his degree in that field. When he
was nearly finished with his degree’s course work he decided that he would
rather move into the business field. After graduation he got a job as an
aircraft Government Contract Administrator in the late 1970’s before computer
systems were readily available. He had some computer training in college and
his employer let him survey the market to find out what software and hardware
was available to take their manual system into the computer age. Pat found out
that what was out there was expensive and everything was custom at that time,
therefore companies were hesitant to invest the money.
Pat got the idea
that he could invest in the computer equipment needed, start a “service”
business and outsource himself to his employer. His brother-in-law became his
partner at the initial startup and remains his partner today. The two of them
purchased some hardware and they wrote the software. The first year they spent
$100K and made $9K. In the early years they about starved, it took the two of
them awhile to figure out how to make money.
The person who
most influenced Pat was his father; Bob Gaughan who earned is living running a
home based business as a writer for creative advertising. Pat admired the way
his Dad ran his business and Pat leaned on his Dad a lot during the early years
of building Access. His father has been gone for 20 years but his legacy lives
on in the way that Pat deals with his own business.
Pat’s values are
Bible based. Pat and his family are strong Christians who are very active in
the Church of the Savior located in the Riverside section of the Wichita
community. Pat wants to be remembered as “unselfish”. He wants people to
remember that he was somebody who gave as much as he got. God has always been
good to Pat and he wants to be good to others in return.
Access Group was
co-started in 1981 as a partnership between Patrick Gaughan and Bruce Kline, his
brother-in-law. Full staff for Access is twenty employees, divided into more
than one Technical Specialty; an Integration Team and the Syteline Technical
Team, plus one home based sales employee in the Kansas City area. Pat and David
Worden do most of the sales work, but everybody is considered a sales person,
selling value-added service to clients. In 2007 David Worden, a long time
employee, moved into the role of future President and is currently a part owner
of Access Group. David shares Pat’s high values and management style.
Access Group is
a well established and recognized leader for information system design and
integration in the Midwest. They approach every situation with care, respect
and value added ideas.
Having a vision
for his company is the hardest part of running a business according to Pat. He
can see where they have been, where they are, but where they are going is harder
to see, especially because they are at the mercy of rapid change, they live on
the bleeding edge of technology. Pat and all his employees invest a lot of time
in learning and staying aware of what is going on in the industry and the market
place. Their livelihood depends on being out front of, not in the pack of
competitors.
Pat gets the
information used to run his business from several sources. He gets technical
support with computers and software. He uses vendor and industry sources plus
utilizes web meetings, online seminars and sales meetings. A favorite source is
the Kansas Family Business Forum which is sponsored by Wichita State University
because it focuses on Family Businesses and how to operate them.
John Marstall is
a good friend and professional advisor who shares office space with Access
Group. Pat depends on John for financial information and advice. Pat hired a
tax firm to take care of his taxes and a law firm takes care of contracts and is
handling the ownership transfer.
Access sells less
hardware these days than they have in the past. Their focus is now on services
instead of hardware or software. They provide “value” to their customers by
helping them become more profitable through implementing best practices,
streamlining, etc. This forces his staff to be highly skilled and trained so
they have a service to offer clients that does not already reside on their own
staff. They have to keep getting better and better at helping their clients.
Pat feels that
good communication is the heart of his organization and thinks that one can
never communicate too much. Good communication is the STAR of his business
style. Pat is known to have a few company and/or departmental meetings but
overall his style is more one-on-one or small group meetings. Pat is all about
building and nurturing relationships with his employees, his clients and his
partners.
If he could share
just one tip, it would be to not over structure the business and thus stifle the
staff. Pat believes his staff needs to remain free to be creative and make
decisions for the greater good of the company.
To Pat
integrity means “to love your neighbor as you love yourself, never take
advantage of other people. A person has to live up to their values, always do
the right thing, even when it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do.” (Gaughan,
2007)
Pat feels that he
has to give back to the community that gives so much to him. He serves on the
Kansas Cosmosphere Board, the Southwestern College Board and he donates as a
company, not just as an individual. Access Group has been a long time supporter
of the Wichita chapter of “APICS” and his support has been a key element to keep
that educational group viable in the Wichita community.
When asked if
“perception” and/or “culture” play a role in what is considered ethical or
unethical, Pat replied “that was an interesting question, but his answer had to
be “yes”. He explained that there is a definite perceived value vs. real
value. He said that his employees have to listen carefully to what the customer
is saying. A good consultant repeats back to the customer what the customer
just said to them. His employees can’t go to a customer site and proceed to
tell them how broken their company is, they have to show the client
opportunities for improvement, show value already there and then build on it.
Pat encourages
his employees to wear two hats. Each one has to work independently and yet
function as part of the greater team. They can’t afford to drop any balls but
they also have to be able to work alone or with others.
The atmosphere at
Access Group is very fast paced. Just basic keeping up takes a lot of time.
Access doesn’t do anything today that they started out doing when the business
was first formed. The computer field and service industry is in a state of
constant change. Pat considers Access Group to be on the “bleeding edge” of
innovation and as such every employee has to conduct themselves with high
integrity, keep themselves educated and informed of technology change. Each
staff member has to work well with coworkers, clients and suppliers while always
looking for opportunities to add value to a client’s business and contribute to
the cash flow at Access.
He describes the
culture of his company as one of assumed responsibility as much as assigned
responsibly. Each employee must keep asking how they can contribute. Pat
insists that every team member present themselves as valuable, sharp,
professional, well trained and fair; they have to make sure that the clients get
value for their money.
Pat is a humble
man who has been willing to learn from others and learn from his mistakes. He
believes in giving back as much as he gets. I have been blessed personally and
professionally by knowing Patrick Gaughan, his family and his team at Access
Group, LLC.
“The upside is
with uncertainty comes opportunity. If you’re nimble, surprises become
opportunities.” (Saffo, 2007) |
