TCEP 188: Why People Development Is Important When Growing a Civil Engineering Firm

In this episode of The Civil Engineering Podcast, we talk with two engineers from Alaska that decided to start their own firm and really focused on people development within their firm. They are Garret K. Gladsjo, P.E.and Lucas Chambers, P.E., co-owners and principal engineers at proHNS LLC. We talk about how investing in your staff can help grow your company tremendously.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Garret and Lucas:

How did you end up starting your firm and what services does your firm provide?

Talk to us about the importance of people development at your firm, and how you find, develop, and retain the right people?

How do you ensure that the right people are doing the right things and that you promote the right people into the right position at your firm?

How do you identify who needs what training or development? Do you have a process to ensure you are consistently developing your people?

Problem-solving is the essence of what engineering leaders do, but how do you and your company identify the problems that arise?

Once you identify problems, does your company have a specific process for solving them? If so, what does it look like?

What are some typical problems that you see in civil engineering firms, specifically when they are trying to grow or scale?

Do you have any final advice to civil engineers out there who are trying to grow their own companies, or who are considering pursuing a career similar to yours?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About People Development:

People are your greatest resource when growing your civil engineering firm. The quality of the professional services that your firm provides to your clients is highly dependent on the quality of the professionals you have working in your firm. You must develop your staff so that they can fill the key positions you have available in a very professional manner.

As your civil engineering firm grows, new positions with specific roles become available. When you employ people for these positions, you might find that some of them might be better suited in a different role in your company. The best way to determine this is by talking to them and having regular check-ins. It will help you find where your employees’ strengths and weaknesses are and where their passion lies. You can use this information to shift duties around between the positions you have, and even move your staff around between positions to better suit their skills.

When finding people for specific positions, turn to your mentors and network to get ideas and learn how to approach placing your staff regarding their skill sets and passions. You can also join the SAB Mentor-Protégé Program, where your firm will go into an agreement with a larger civil engineering firm that will help you with many things like benefits discussions, hiring practices, recruitment, and marketing. Having a mentor firm is a great resource for smaller firms.

Your firm’s geographical location will show you any constraints, limitations, or opportunities that are brought about by it. You must take things like the seasonal challenges and types of projects that are available in your area. It could also have an impact on your recruitment as some people won’t like the geographic location of your civil engineering firm.

To develop the right people in your firm, you must be willing to let the wrong people go. Sometimes some people will not be a good fit for your company culture. If you have given them ample opportunity to correct and redirect their skill set and the problems persist, you must be willing to let that person go. It is important to do this because it allows you to focus on the right people that you want to develop. There are two kinds of training that you should have in your firm.