Over the last six months, we’ve welcomed over 180 of our craft leaders from across our job sites to our Sioux Center, IA, office. Why? They are part of Field Leader Excellence (FLE), an Interstates training program for current and future leaders in the field. This 2-3 day event is an opportunity for them to learn, grow and develop themselves as leaders, while also having the opportunity to build relationships with office team members.
Building the Foundation
We invite and focus on three different craft professional groups: Superintendents, Foremen and Crew Leads. These individuals are a part of both our regional locations and our national construction group. One attendee commented, “Having people from lots of different jobs and different states was nice and connecting with them and hearing how things are done in other places.” During the training, we work to develop their leadership skills, technical abilities and knowledge of our systems. They learn about safety, agile coaching, planning, troubleshooting and much more. The trainees hear from external and internal resources and speakers, including our vendors and other Interstates team members. They can ask questions, hear about what’s happening across Interstates, and learn about the tools that can better help them in their role.
These sessions help them develop their skills and abilities and build relationships between our craft team members and with individuals in our offices. “One of the positives from the training was getting together with office leaders, support team members and field leaders. Very good!” shared one of the participants. They get to listen to Interstates leaders across the organization and have ample opportunity to talk to and learn from one another. Developing our team members into excellent leaders comes through connection, learning and growth. We also want them to take the information and skills they learn in FLE and pass it along to those they lead. By doing this, we can continue to live out our Whys and ensure Interstates continues to grow and succeed.
The Learning Continues!
The training doesn’t stop after this session. We are working to continue to create more intentional connections with these craft professionals throughout the year. We are regularly revising the content to fit the interest of our leaders, trying to offer more hands-on activities to practice the skills and abilities they’ve learned in training. Additionally, we are bringing in outside expertise and leveraging some of our current field leaders to help facilitate the various sessions and share from their experiences.
We’re excited about continuing to grow this program and the leaders that are emerging from it. Below are two of the groups that joined us this past spring.
