I was overcome with pride when an engineering client recently stated: "We want to significantly grow the quality, not necessarily the quantity, of our people." They've realized that scrambling to recruit new hires is not always the best way to accommodate an increase in workload.

Quality is the operative word. Is success measured in terms of growth? Often, yes. And is growth defined through an increase in revenue, an increase in profit, or a combination of the two? Think about this: A firm can reasonably double its revenue in about five years, but potentially remain (yikes!) stagnant in or (double yikes!) decrease its profitability.

A firm is more profitable when it has quality clients that value the services offered, pay on time, and have communicative client-designer partnerships. Profitability is also realized when the design firm is producing quality work through a quality process with quality professionals. Which highlights my core message: Proper, multi-faceted training of existing staff is well worth the investment.

This is great news for engineering firms that are racing to hire warm bodies. In today's talent war, the best and brightest are enjoying attention and job offers from many employers. Firm leaders need to examine their existing resources with a fresh perspective. What can you do to secure loyalty and retention, tap into undiscovered talent, enhance existing value, and strengthen teams so that the whole is more than the sum of its parts? Quality training programs will go a long way to fulfill staffing requirements.

Who needs it?
When a department head submits a new staff requisition, does it occur to him or her that perhaps dwelling amid their studio is a professional with the intellectual bandwidth, ambition, and enthusiasm to expand into a new role? Through purposeful, multi-faceted training, these performers can elevate to star quality.

Where are the best areas to focus upon?

A. Marketing/business development:
My training recommendations are strongly biased towards marketing. (It's my life's work, what do you expect?) Marketing training is a:

• Learnable endeavor! Where there is intellect and sincere interest, there is someone predisposed to learn and practice marketing. Marketing is logical, straightforward, and process-driven-an appropriate fit for the engineering mind.
• Valuable asset to every staff member. During down times, those who excel at marketing are better positioned for job security.
• Opportunity for technical staff to grow, becoming more multi-dimensional.
• Means to build vested interest and long-term firm commitment from technical staff.
• Vehicle for refining communication skills-valuable for a lifetime.
• Way to stretch beyond primary responsibilities; get promoted; shape the firm's future; and be a business leader.

B. Professional skills, management, and leadership:
Few architecture/engineering curricula contain business and management courses. The majority of our exposure to management occurs on the job. What's more, many A/E industry firms are failing to capture and transfer the critical workforce knowledge of senior staff. By providing learning mechanisms for staff, the benefits go beyond an education to also build mutual respect, stronger teams, and an unbeatable esprit de corps.

These mechanisms range in complexity from brown-bag seminars, internal finite courses, and intranet-posted programs, to a comprehensive curriculum provided by a firm's corporate university. To assemble a well-rounded training program, variety is essential. It is most sensible to seek expertise from diverse sources-not just internally. External training-time management, writing, negotiating skills, leadership-can be delivered via webinars, offsite open-enrollment training, or as a professional program with on-site, customized delivery.

C. Technical:
Keeping technically current is easy; opportunities are abundant! Make software training mandatory for appropriate roles; propose offsite and/or online opportunities to earn PDH or CEU credits; and facilitate cross-discipline training (i.e. receiving site safety training from a reputable construction firm).

Are you ultra-concerned with productivity? Split the difference! Hold training sessions partially during lunch or after hours, and offer food as an immediate incentive. (The real incentives come later when attendees realize they are enhancing their own careers).

How do we measure results?
Establish key metrics and then measure your return-on-training investment. Once your program has been in place for one full year, conduct before and after comparisons on:

• Project performance (schedule/budget)
• Hit rates on proposals and interviews
• Results from client perception surveys
• Percentage of attrition (and feedback comments from those that depart)
• Recruiting success (a robust training program is a value-add for recruits)
• Revenue growth
• Productivity
• Profitability

In addition, hold bi-annual reviews with employees to directly discuss their careers, contributions, and assessments of the training program. The best training programs are those that truly align with the corporate strategy, and are championed by an enthusiastic, visible leadership team.

Be sure to monitor the program's results, to evolve the content, and to emphatically commit to its success. It may sound crazy, but there are firms that allocate as much as $6,000 per individual for annual training. Now that's commitment!

What do you think? Let us know...

Content excerpted from Modern Steel Construction June 2007.

Based in Chicago, Scarlett Consulting provides marketing advisory services - including training and coaching - to architects, engineers, and construction professionals to help them grow their businesses. Anne Scarlett can be reached directly through the website at www.annescarlett.com.