Know what your people know and pass it along — mentorship is key

How many times have you been faced with a problem and think, there must be someone who has dealt with this before and knows the answer.

Construction is a knowledge based industry where the knowledge comes from mainly one place, experience. So many problems are resolved over the course of a project, and handing off that knowledge is becoming increasingly critical.

Too often our employees work in silos for years, spending precious time re-inventing the wheel.

We need to become more efficient at giving employees access to solutions and experts so that we do not take on any additional risks resulting in increased costs and effecting our ability to execute.

Along with the rest of the world, we are seeing the demographic shift of baby boomers leaving and taking with them years of invaluable experience.

Today, employees tend to move more freely from working with a general contractor, to a subrade, to a developer, to a consultant and can run the circuit over the course of their career. Add to this, new competitors in the market, and new tools and building techniques such as BIM (Building Information Modeling), Lean Construction and smart buildings.

Suddenly not only do companies have to be able to pass down traditional building knowledge, but also find a way to absorb and retain new building practices among employees.

What if you could ensure you were leveraging the knowledge from each site and each expert in your company? It is possible, it takes identifying the knowledge required for success in the future, figuring out who has it, and how to best impart it.

There are so many methods to transfer knowledge, understanding them and using the right combination is key.

Here are some common and not so common approaches you may want to consider:

Formal Mentoring Programs: We all know mentoring happens organically in construction — but are you using it as a means of ensuring the continuity of your company’s knowledge?

Developing a formalized approach can mean anything from peer mentoring, to one-on-one mentoring to group mentoring.

Post Mortems: After a job is completed, ensure the project team is brought together and each phase of the project is reviewed.

A facilitator can ensure an unbiased discussion regarding what went well, what didn’t and what could be done differently.

Most importantly, share the outcome of this meeting or develop a Lessons Learned session where key insights are shared and documented for future projects.

Develop Centres of Excellence: Know your people, what they have done and what they are passionate about and make sure everyone else knows this too.

If someone has a specialty in formwork, or logistics, or a particular type of project, support their interest and make them the resident expert.

A Day in the Life on Another Project: People learn best from tangible, hands on experiences.

Allowing your teams to visit another project, will not only foster collaboration, but will provide an opportunity to learn from others who are in the exact same boat.

Master Class Sessions: Have experts in your companies host round tables where information is shared by the expert and then open to Q & A periods.

Embrace Informal and Formal Learning Methods: Structured courses help to provide a foundation or support existing knowledge, but this alone will not be enough to supplement “on the job” experiences.

Couple courses with job shadowing and regular coaching sessions, and there’s a great chance that the knowledge will be retained and more importantly used!

With more experience leaving the industry than we can replenish, the time to take stock of our intellectual capital is now.

In construction, experience is everything and we rely on it every day to solve complex problems and deliver on our commitments. One of the greatest challenges facing our industry will be tapping into that knowledge and effectively passing it along to others.

Monica Darroch, C.H.R.P. is the principal at HR-MD and a strategic human resources professional with over 15 years management experience in construction, technology and financial services visit www.hr-md.ca to learn more.

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