MENTORING, EDUCATION & VOLUNTEERING
Tim White, President
In today’s hectic business world, many companies lament the lack of qualified, well-rounded employees and candidates for employment. In the construction arena and its related supporting fields, this issue remains the foremost challenge. With limited resources available in view of the ever-expanding workload, a three-part solution exists. Have you or your company established a mentoring program, explored inexpensive educational opportunities or encouraged an employee to give time to an organization?
Mentoring consists of spending time with enthusiastic, yet lesser experienced members of your company. In the right situation, a senior, more proven and knowledgeable person imparts understanding, perspective and sagacity to junior firm members. This "sharing" can be accomplished through various methods. By consistently working with someone, a mentor directs and guides an individual through opportunities to excel and grow. Over time and done constructively, a company will develop more effective, well-rounded employees. The best part of mentoring is that there is little or no cost other than an interest to help an individual grow and mature into a stronger team member.
Education still remains the best avenue to develop, expand and improve an employee’s knowledge and skill. Educational opportunities abound with various costs associated with them. One must carefully weigh the cost and time commitment of these sessions versus the current workload. Yet, the problem of inexperienced employee’s will continue if education is deferred because "there just is not enough time." By overlooking education, a company will limit its ability to expand and meet tomorrow’s challenges.
Encouraging employees to volunteer in an organization in which they have interest provides a unique situation for them to develop added talents. One of the best abilities that can be refined is effective time management. In addition to specific work related skills, effective time management remains one of today’s greatest business hurdles. An additional benefit of encouraging volunteerism is that your employees will develop a sense of satisfaction gained from their contributions to an organization.
At both the Institute and Chapter levels, CSI strives to offer several avenues for your employees to expand their skills. Volunteering with the Denver Chapter in various positions at either the committee or board level abound. Mentoring is achieved through senior board members encouraging and counseling committee chairpersons. Educational opportunities are offered by the educational and technical committees along with the certification testing for Construction Document Technologist, Certified Construction Specifier, Certified Construction Product Representative and Certified Construction Contracts Administrator.
All of the ideas presented above offer companies multiple avenues to expand the abilities of its workforce. Retaining an existing employee base continues to be another formidable task. By offering more than just monetary compensation and benefits, firms can foster employee satisfaction at the place where they spend a majority of their waking hours.
Developing a better workforce should be a staple in a company’s strategic planning. By ignoring various methods of additional training, the lack of qualified employees will not decrease without proactive measures.