Mentorship Initiatives BRIDGE THE GAP By Don Procter Photo courtesy of Sheet Metal Workers Local 20, Indiana Sheet metal contractors across the United States and Canada are increasingly facing a common problem: how to replace key experienced people nearing retirement. “Around here, you need to build up your workforce because in the next five years you are going to have a mass exodus,” says Jason Benson, apprenticeship coordinator for Local 20 in Indiana. “If 10 guys are retiring, you need to bring on at least 15 new ones.” Benson, who echoes the sentiments many Locals are feeling, says that just because construction activity is healthy now, it doesn’t mean contractors should ignore what is coming. He believes that it is an opportune time for contractors to take a serious stab at a mentorship initiative. Joseph Lansdell, president of one of the largest sheet metal contractors in Indiana, Poynter Sheet Metal, Inc., agrees. Contractors with mentorship programs, like Poynter has, have some security that the next generation of workers will be up to the task of leadership, he says. But most contractors don’t think that way, says Lansdell, who was SMACNA president from 2016 to 2017. “Through my SMACNA relationship I have not heard about a lot of mentor/mentee relationships in construction.” That has to change—soon—in part because sheet metal contractors are increasingly seeing older workers move into shop supervisory roles. Replacing those positions in the next five years will become a challenge for any contractor not teaching soft skills to fast-rising workers. Poynter offers its young workers a six-month mentorship program. Now in its fourth year, the program puts workers in a monthly class for five hours to help them understand seminal 10 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
industry topics, such as specifications, bid documents, and contract drawings, says Nathan Shinkle, a project manager who leads Poynter’s mentorship program. Poynter’s mentorship program covers things like scheduling. “We try to teach them to look four to six weeks ahead,” he says. “With material lead times these days from vendors, suppliers, and your own organization, the bigger you grow, the longer it takes to get something out.” Poynter uses various staff for instructors, based on their experience with the subject matter of the class. “We need to teach them foreman 101 and also teach them the way we do business,” Shinkle says. Time management, diplomacy, and communications skills are other topics. Based in Greenwood, on the southern fringe of the Indianapolis metropolitan area, Poynter has more than 460 employees. The company performs work in Indiana and slices of Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. Of the 35 employees who have taken Poynter’s mentorship program, most have gone on to supervisory roles such as foremen. One graduate who had never run a job prior to entering the mentorship program recently supervised one of Poynter’s highest profile projects. Shinkle adds that while the size of a company shouldn’t change the need for mentorship and education programs, small contractors might have the most to gain because they often have more employees with key decision-making responsibilities. “A larger company can stub its toe on one or two (bad) decisions without a ripple effect.” Another mentorship initiative at Poynter is the Apprenticeship Contractor School (ACS). It is geared to third-year apprentices
