Chief Operating Officer
As CM Labs’ Chief Operating Officer, Sylvain Lagacé sees himself as a generalist whose strength comes from his ability to bring everyone together and remove barriers to collaboration. “I see myself as a generalist,” he says. “I’m just here to make the experts focus.”
That humility masks a keen eye for developing efficient company structures, paving the way for award-winning growth.
“We're growing at an average pace of 20% a year. Maintaining that growth means that we have to keep up the pace—not only by adding bodies and adding more manufacturing space, but by doing better with our processes. We always have to be one step ahead.”
I’m a mechanical engineer. I graduated from the École Polytechnique de Montréal (now called Polytechnique Montréal), but studied engineering with the goal of understanding technological companies so that I could manage them. Management was always my objective.
I worked for a few companies in various roles—including as a project manager, product manager, and director of corporate affairs—before joining CM Labs 14 years ago.
Before I joined CM Labs, the leadership team was seeking someone capable of streamlining its structure to prepare for rapid growth. My name came up as an example of someone with the type of experience and expertise they needed. I interviewed with the team and was hired to help CM Labs grow.
I am the Chief Operating Officer at CM Labs and am responsible for everything that has to do with operations. When we get a purchase order (PO) and need to manufacture, deliver, and install the product, then train and support the client—all of that is under my responsibility, along with the administration of the company. That includes IT, all the legal aspects, the corporate management with the board, and the structure that needs to happen to open new offices and new companies—all of that is under my responsibility. HR is also under my responsibility, and that is managed by Veronica Polisi [CM Labs’ VP of Human Resources].
I joined the company as Director of Operations. At that time, we were 30 employees or so and our company operated very differently. I worked on changing our structure and processes, making sure that we had the right people in the right places. The structure evolved to make the company more efficient and capable of handling and sustaining rapid growth.
I’m very proud of what we have built. I never wanted to be part of a company that was just concerned with turning a profit. It’s very important to me that I work for a company that has a purpose, that focuses on the greater good, and that takes care of its employees. That’s personally very important for me.
I would say there are two things that set CM Labs apart, and they are related. I think our technology is the best, and I also think we have brilliant people. If you don’t have a good product, you have nothing to sell. But you need a good team to develop, market, and sell that product.
I think we are a leader in the market. We’re the biggest heavy equipment simulation company, and I think it’s because we have shown leadership with our product and with our technology. We’re truly providing results and improving efficiency for those using our simulators. Other companies that have come after us have tried to do what we’re doing, but they are not at the same level as we are. They don’t have the entire package.
I would say that we have a culture of collaboration. We always had an open-door policy and have always been very open about where we were going and our objectives. We see a lot of involvement from employees in the success of the company and you can really feel when everyone gets together at all-hands meetings, parties, and events. We have also worked a lot on improving our culture in recent years and I think that as a result, people are even more comfortable expressing themselves and contributing.
I enjoy working with brilliant people to solve problems. That’s really motivating for me. I also like the growth we’re able to nurture. I wouldn’t enjoy working for a company that was not growing, and that was just making the same thing over and over again. I don’t like routine, so, for me, things must evolve and things must improve.
There are a few that have helped me in my career. The first is to make sure that you have put the infrastructure in place before you need it. In operations, if we don’t have the infrastructure to grow and be able to manufacture more than what we’re manufacturing today, then we won’t be able to sustain the load and increase in volume.
Another piece of advice that has helped me is to put myself in the shoes of my counterpart to understand them. If you understand that not everyone reacts and thinks the same way, and that not everyone needs the same thing, you’ll go a long way in building strong team dynamics.
I really think we’re sitting on something great, and that we can do a lot more. The market is big, and I think we’re just touching the surface of what we can do. The growth I see is immense, and, to me, that’s very motivating. We can expand all over the world. I think the sky is the limit!