Hey – Walker and Davis here.
Happy Saturday morning to the Laying Foundations community!
As a company that has younger employees in it, one of your primary missions is to train them to become leaders in your company, so what are some ways to do that?
Today’s issue takes about 5 minutes to read and was written for you by Walker Lott.
Enjoy.
Quote Of The Week
As we continue our series on investing in your employees, we are going to go in-depth on how to train your younger employees to ensure your company continues to prosper as the older generation exits; the younger rise up within the company.
Training the next generation is necessary and easy, but not all companies do it; why is that so?
I believe there are a few reasons, but the most common, in my opinion, are limited resources, knowledge, and vision.
So, as a company wanting to begin training their employees or a company wanting to improve their training, we have listed a few ways to do so.
1. Place Younger Employees with an Older Mentor
New employees are eager to learn and get better, and one way to help them is to provide mentorship from an older employee who has been in the industry for 5-10 years.
Mentorship is necessary to help employees grow and learn the values and ways of the company and to develop the necessary skills to excel in the construction industry.
The older generation is eager to invest and pour back into the younger employees. Unselfishly they are helping others learn and grow, which helps the individual; selfishly, the mentors will inadvertently be working with the young employees on projects, so it is beneficial to train them on how to run a job site successfully.
2. Have Video and Hands-on Training Resources
There are a lot of options as to what type of videos an organization can use to train their employees and for some reason, most companies choose the cheesy, low-quality, very boring videos which no one wants to watch, yet they force you to watch them.
If you are a next-generation company, you need to choose next-generation type videos to train your employees. This can be through videos your company makes themselves, hiring an outside resource to make them, or finding leaders in the construction field who are already making training videos and using theirs.
However you choose to do it, give your younger employees videos and training resources that are easy to watch and actually applicable to their role within your company.
3. Send Employees Out For Training
Not many companies do this for younger employees because they haven’t “earned” it yet. Frankly, spending money on the next generation can be more beneficial than sending the next executive or senior PM out for training somewhere.
At this point in their career, they are inexperienced and easily adaptable, so if you are a company that wants your young employees to learn a specific skill, find a trainer who is great at that skill and pay for your employees to spend 1-3 days in an intensive training session.
Over time, this will pay off way more than waiting till they are well-established and have picked up “bad habits” that you may not want your organization to have.
Quality of the Week: Communication – Being impossible to misunderstand.
20-Year-Old Self Advice: Start networking today by reaching out and meeting with people who are in the position you want to be in.
Construction History: The Empire State Building
- The Empire State Building is located in New York City and was completed in 1931.
- It stands at a towering height of 1,454 feet (443.2 meters), including its antenna.
- At the time of its completion, it was the tallest building in the world, a title it held for nearly 40 years until the completion of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1971.
- It was constructed in a remarkable time span of only 1 year and 45 days, an impressive feat considering its height and complexity.
- The building has a total of 102 floors and is home to various offices, observation decks, restaurants, and broadcasting stations.
- It was designed by the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, with William F. Lamb serving as the primary architect.
- The construction of the Empire State Building required a workforce of around 3,400 workers.
- Approximately 60,000 tons of steel were used in its construction, along with 200,000 cubic feet (5,663 cubic meters) of Indiana limestone and granite.
- The building has been featured in numerous films, including the classic “King Kong” (1933) and more recent movies like “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and “Elf” (2003).
- It is illuminated with different colors for special occasions and events, serving as a visual landmark and symbol of New York City.
Check out episode 118 on The Laying Foundations Podcast
Join us for a conversation with the owner of Pleasant Valley Containers, Andrew Grinde. Andrew is an entrepreneur at heart with a lot of ideas on how to change the world and help solve homelessness. In this episode, we go on a journey, talking about his time at Yale, dropping out and pursuing real estate investments, and finally starting Pleasant Valley Containers. Pleasant Valley Containers has multiple uses; it ranges from a vacation home, real estate investment, or even your permanent home. If you want to learn more, check out the link below. Make sure to tune in next week as we go more in-depth!
