When Howard “Don” LaRue prepares for his workday, he focuses on his team’s well-being first.
As assistant manager at the University of Georgia steam plant, LaRue oversees a staff of 16, with at least two operators on-site around the clock. He is intentional about spending time with each shift — including early mornings, late evenings and overnight hours — to cultivate a workplace where people trust their abilities and feel comfortable being themselves.
“Managers are meant to set the table. They create the environment. How employees feel is up to them,” he said. “I’m going to create the environment in which a person can feel valued as part of being a tribe.”
LaRue joined the steam plant in 2016 as a night-shift operator, working midnight to 8 a.m. to support his family after their move to Athens. Over the next three years, he learned every part of the plant’s operations and took on greater responsibilities before becoming assistant manager in 2021.
LaRue’s leadership philosophy revolves around three principles: acceptance, protection and value. He believes that encouragement helps people perform their best.
“If you can get your team feeling like they’re part of the culture, and you can give them competence, then they can move forward and know that they belong,” he said.
That culture fuels the work that few people see but everyone depends on. Steam travels through roughly 7 miles of underground piping to heat more than 100 buildings across UGA’s Athens campus. It helps maintain temperatures and humidity in labs, supports sanitation in dining facilities and ensures comfortable learning and living environments 24/7. Without steam — and the people who manage it — teaching, research and daily routines face immediate challenges.
“Our job is to keep the university moving forward. If we’re not doing our job, somebody else can’t do theirs,” LaRue said.
Delivering that reliable service requires a skilled team, but knowing how to run a steam plant isn’t common knowledge. In fact, many of the most in-demand positions on LaRue’s team require specialized training. So, he builds that expertise from the ground up.
When he stepped into his current role, he began developing a structured, three-phase training program to provide every team member with a consistent knowledge base.
“I believe anybody can do it. A lot of it is just confidence,” he said. “It’s all about invitation — telling someone, ‘You can do this job.’”
He created “Topical Guide Objectives” that outline what each trainee must master before earning their certification. The three-year program covers equipment operation, system knowledge and emergency readiness, combining instruction with hands-on experience. The program works, LaRue said, because the team chose to embrace it.
“It wasn’t done without the cooperation and the acceptance of the operators. It’s a change of culture that they handled, … They were willing to be participants in that, which not a lot of people would do,” he said.
Preparedness is central to LaRue’s leadership style. One of his proudest achievements is implementing an annual full-loss-of-power drill, where the team takes the entire plant offline so they can practice restoring service and ensure backup generators perform as expected.
Getting approval for the first exercise took time and careful justification, but the results spoke for themselves. The drill gave his team the chance to apply their training in real conditions and created a model that influenced emergency planning across campus.
“Now, they’re asking for it, which is what’s important,” LaRue said. “I’ve also heard that server rooms throughout the university are going to start running annual shutdowns. They’re calling it the ‘Steam Plant Method,’ which is really kind of cool.”
The drill matters, but watching his team excel under pressure gives LaRue the most pride. He sees his role as one of recognizing talent and helping it grow. He wants people to leave each shift confident in their skills and expectations.
“I can’t do anything without them,” he said. “It really takes great people, and we have them.”
Over nearly a decade in the steam plant, LaRue has found both purpose and connection. His job has become just as much about building a family within his team as supporting his own at home.
“I am thrilled to be here, and the people who have supported me along the way have been more than a blessing,” he said. “To the operators — they are everything to me.”