Developing the Next Generation of Leaders

Edward T. Baumann, PE, VMA, Vice President, Massachusetts Division Manager, Benesch, and Julie Melidis, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Director of Learning & Development, Benesch

As the AEC industry evolves to address the world’s changing needs, the cultivation of a highly skilled and productive workforce has never been more crucial. In response, in-house learning and development opportunities are becoming more vital to company success and employee retention.

In this article, Benesch’s Director of Learning & Development Julie Melidis, SPHR, SHRM-SCP offers insight into the development of structured learning and development programs. Then Massachusetts Division Manager Ed Baumann, PE provides a firsthand account of how the programs have impacted employees and Benesch as a whole.  

Creating Benesch University 
As Benesch grew and the talent market tightened, Julie Melidis and her team looked to establish a program that would support the development of current and future employees in a way that is consistent with Benesch’s mission, vision and core values. 

To build on an existing culture of knowledge sharing, we established Benesch University, an overarching educational entity that offers development opportunities to employees at all levels—from interns and early professionals to project managers and top leadership.

Within Benesch University, we established programs that cover both technical and nontechnical skills, giving our teams ample opportunities to upskill in the areas of leadership, people management, project management, business development and more. Each employee is encouraged to create a professional development path that aligns with their learning style and goals. Then, we provide the tools, resources, support and motivation they need to succeed.

While traditionally younger staff tend to be the focus of learning and development programing, we saw an opportunity with Benesch University to encourage skills growth among our more senior staff as well. Of course, the training needs of a new grad and a project manager are going to be drastically different. That’s why we launched four distinct levels of our GROW leadership development program: Level Up, GROW 1, GROW 2 and GROW Executive. Each provides training designed to help employees at that experience level elevate their skills and progress in their careers.  

In the three years that Benesch University has been active, nearly 150 employees have graduated from various programs and every day staff are taking advantage of our extensive library of L&D resources. 

Realizing the Benefits
Ed Baumann’s leadership role at Benesch has offered him the opportunity to see the impacts of Benesch’s L&D programming firsthand. 

I was lucky enough to be one of the first graduates of GROW Executive, a year-long program designed for Benesch staff already in leadership positions. This program pairs participants with an executive coach, uses 360 feedback tools and dissects topics that give leaders the ability to approach leading with a strategic mindset. Through the program, I was able to develop key relationships with other leaders across the company while working to continually enhance my skills. 

One of most impactful lessons for me coming out of this program was understanding the power of delegating responsibility and allowing my team members to step into leadership roles themselves. I learned that to effectively lead you need to allow others to be brilliant. Stopping yourself from providing direction and, instead, intentionally working to pull ideas out of the team takes time and may not come naturally. In GROW Exec, we worked to first understand what behaviors are holding us back and how we acquired them. We then worked to modify them and identify the positive results within our teams. In my experience, the results have been amazing. By allowing others to take over tasks, meetings, clients and initiatives, this allows me to focus my time and energy in securing future opportunities for Benesch and our growing team.  

Because each level of Benesch’s GROW programs touch on the same topics, I’ve seen members of my team experience similar benefits. For example, Ashley Bomely, a project manager in our roadway group, participated in GROW 1 last year and she shared a bit about her experience with me. “It was eye opening to learn how to manage myself by being more patient with individuals and making an effort to understand their perspective before reacting and making decisions.” 

This shared knowledge we’ve acquired from participating in GROW allows us to hold each other accountable, easily identify when one team member is not using the leadership tools that we’ve learned and provide the appropriate feedback. We’re also encouraged to share examples of how we’ve implemented our new skills with our teams across the company to help accelerate the successful implementation of what we’ve learned.

In addition to having accountability partners, routine 360 assessments provide us with feedback from our supervisor, peers, direct reports and others across the company. This not only helps highlight progress, but also shows that reprogramming decades of work habits takes continual effort and collaboration. With this feedback, we are able to we celebrate progress, cheer each other on and mentor each other on their journey. 

During Ed’s journey through the Grow Executive Program, he was promoted to Vice President and is serving as the Massachusetts Division Manager. He is immediately implementing what he has learned in creating a vision and leading the Division to reach new heights in both sales and revenue. During Ashley’s journey though the Grow I program, she was promoted to Project Manager. She is also immediately implementing what she learned in working with clients, leading project teams and ensuring the success of each project that benefits from her involvement. Together, they can hold each other accountable to ensure that they both continue to invest in and build up their teams and in-return, rely on them to bring them to new heights for their clients and Benesch.

By investing in the continuous growth of our employees, we’re not only enhancing individual capabilities but also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for our company and even our industry. We’re confident that this approach will empower current and future generations of AEC leaders. Learn more about Benesch’s learning and development programs here.