Teamwork makes the dream work

In 22 years in the business, Mike Gillett hasn’t come across a lot of people like Gilbert Barajas. Always willing to go the extra mile, give a pat on the back when it’s deserved and brighten up the mood on a job, Barajas gives it his all every day.

On an upward trajectory.

Barajas worked his way up from the bottom, starting as a laborer at Brickman (now BrightView) right out of high school. He had worked a restaurant job while he was in school but wanted to work outside, so when his uncle told him how much he loved landscaping, Barajas made a change.

“I decided to give it a shot and it has provided me a great career and a great life,” he says.

Then, about two years ago, Barajas ran into Gillett, who had been his supervisor at Brickman. Gillett, now a branch manager at Gothic Grounds Management, told Barajas about all of the opportunities for advancement, so he applied for a job with Gothic and says he couldn’t be happier.

Gillett quickly promoted Barajas to foreman, handling projects on high-profile properties. Before long, Barajas became an account manager, writing proposals and working directly with customers.

He was handling $120,000 in monthly maintenance accounts and bringing $60,000 to $80,000 a month in extra revenue from his high-profile properties along the coast in the San Diego area.

Righting the ship.

In 2015, Barajas and Gillett were having dinner after work, and Gillett told him about a branch that was really struggling and employee morale was awful. Even though it meant a four-hour daily commute round-trip, Barajas jumped at the chance to help out.

“I said it was fine because I’m the guy that, if they need me, I’ll go help. It doesn’t matter where it is. So I was up to it,” he says.

Barajas says the operations manager wasn’t working out and the crews were unhappy. So he stepped in and figured out how to get the crew members to work in teams and get a good workflow going.

“The problem was the guys didn’t like the supervisor, so the supervisor would tell them something and they were not listening because they were getting yelled at,” he says. “They were not getting treated right.”

He also rewarded their success with gift cards and meals out once everything was under control again. And that’s not just a one-time event. Gothic gives out awards to employees who go above and beyond at their company barbecues every three months.

“I’m a part of a very special group of people. I trust them and it makes me want to do great things to help them.” Gilbert Barajas, Gothic Grounds Management

A can-do attitude, coupled with his ability to build a team helped Barajas turn the branch around, saving the company thousands of dollars in work. The branch ended up keeping all of the jobs that were in jeopardy and now it’s one of the company’s most productive locations.

Leading the way.

Barajas will continue to lead his team as he moves into a branch manager position. He says he loves to learn and takes every opportunity to get more education. Barajas says rallying the troops is easy because the company hires the right people and they all make efforts to get to know each other, which hasn’t been the case other places he’s worked.

Everyone knows everyone’s name from the bottom to the top, they hang out in their spare time and know about each other’s families.

“It’s good to work with people like that, and they look for people who are going to work in this system,” he says. “Every time they hire somebody, they hire somebody that they know is going to work with the team you already have.”