Empowering emerging professionals

Traditionally, aspiring leaders in the construction industry learn by apprenticing with experienced team members and watching how they think, communicate and make decisions. Real world experience is still one of the best teachers. Successful managers must purposely supplement this experience with their own insights on professionalism, business development and emotional intelligence. It can take prohibitive amounts of time to provide this type of consistent, balanced guidance to new team members. In addition, new remote working arrangements and increasingly flexible and varied schedules result in fewer opportunities to naturally turn the issues into learning experiences. 

How can we effectively empower the emerging professionals in our companies to excel as team leaders, independent workers and problem solvers? Systematic approaches to onboarding and leadership development can ensure a base level of training while adding a deeper level of meaning and understanding to the practical tasks new employees face each day.

Here are three ideas for anyone who’s interested in starting or expanding the onboarding or leadership development offerings at their company.

 Spread out the Effort

The workload of this effort shouldn’t all fall on one person. Pull a team together and ask, “What specific ongoing training do our young team members require?” Follow this up with another crucial question, “Who within the organization already excels at the skills we want to nurture?” This pair of questions will identify individuals who can contribute by leading a training session or workshop focused on what they do well. This is a bite-sized request and keeps any single person from the daunting task of creating content for an entire program.

Need more help? Consider tapping your capable mid-level leaders to support training efforts.This small management task is an opportunity to develop their own leadership skills. Additionally, involving those who have just used your materials will lead to valuable insights. 

Look for Resources Beyond Our Industry

Groups like toastmasters can help those who struggle with public speaking. A local Chamber of Commerce might offer business or management training programs. Podcasts, conferences, publications, mentorship programs, books and online training sessions are also options. You can expand the impact of these programs by scheduling short debrief-sessions where the participants discuss how to integrate lessons learned with a wider group.

 Start with a Simple Work Plan

It’s common to address issues and weaknesses by creating a work plan for improvement. This same concept can help successful employees achieve greater success. A work plan is simply a path through actionable items and quantifiable goals paired with a schedule for achievement. 

 Creating a timeline or checklists of fundamental experiences can ensure new employees get exposure to a standard set of fundamental experiences, conversations and training. Lists of goals help mentors track progress and empower employees to take ownership of their ongoing learning experiences.

 The plan/checklist can spell out a variety of things like having introductory conversations with company leads about each building system. It can help employees to understand the intent of standard documents, drawings, details or instructions. Furthermore it should be able to explain the processes within each phase of a job. Clear visuals like diagrammatic checklists and charts tied to project timelines can help new staff understand how each thing they learn fits into the larger framework of their job description. These documents function similarly to a scavenger hunt list or bingo card. They serve as an organized visual and allow multiple mentors to quickly assess and contribute to an aspiring leader’s onboarding experience. This gamification of the onboarding process can help keep everyone organized and engaged. 

What’s Next?

Assembling a robust onboarding program is daunting but you can start small and grow the program. Let your company’s onboarding experience reflect your company’s strengths.  If you and your team are good at one-on-one conversations, embrace that ability and set up dynamic discussions. If you prefer to write, create a smartly worded manual and supplement it with dynamic discussions about the items covered.

Once you have built a consistent framework, collected input from multiple managers and are gleaning improvements from each participant, your program will yield enduring benefits. This strategy can kickstart a network of insight-sharing within your firm, pulling hard-won institutional knowledge outside of the silos of standing teams so it can benefit the entire firm. Your team’s compounding input will yield solid, customized materials that speak directly at the level and need of future participants who will go on to become your organization’s future leaders.

By Matthew Szymanski, AIA. He was awarded with the 2025 AIA Young Architect award. He is the Design Lead at Armature Design + Build and Founding Architect, Arx Design Collaborative. He can be reached at matthew@arxdesignco.com. 

This article also appears in the November issue of Builder and Developer, read the print version.