Scaling
skill
development
At a glance
CM Solutions, a project controls consulting firm, keeps major construction projects on track. We helped CM Solutions create a skill development academy to foster a pipeline of professionals. Now, CM Solutions delivers its development programs to prepare interns and entry-level consultants for careers in project controls.
What we did
Curriculum development
Assessment design
Train-the-trainer
Instructional design
Program management
Framework development
Competency modeling
System implementation
Change management
Replacing a retiring workforce
Large infrastructure construction projects, often called “megaprojects,” are notorious for blowing past budgets. 92% overrun their original cost and timeline estimates. As projects unfold, the people responsible for identifying and mitigating these issues are project controls professionals.
Yet, there’s a shortage of project skills, and it’s getting worse. Of the 25 million new project-oriented jobs expected to become available by 2030, many will be for project controls roles. Over 60% of them will be driven by retirement. Retirees take their institutional knowledge and technical skills with them, leaving the next generation in the dark.
That's why CM Solutions, a project controls consulting firm, decided to invest in its skill development capabilities. It wanted to ensure its corporate, government, and utility clients would have access to the project controls skills necessary to keep their megaprojects on track. The leaders of CM Solutions hoped that by creating a Project Controls Academy, they would attract a steady supply of talent, prepare new hires to deliver quality services, and strengthen relationships with their clients and partners.
Prior to working with Elevos, CM Solutions had experimented with service delivery models that paired a group of emerging professionals with a senior expert who provided quality oversight. This approach accelerated the transfer of capabilities, assured the quality of services, and lowered overall costs to clients.
CM Solutions wanted a unified approach to skills development. It wanted to have effective systems, processes, and materials for delivering developmental programs. It also wanted a way to consistently assess skill gaps, design individual development plans, enable program facilitators, and track employee progress.
CM Solutions hired Elevos to lead the development of its first skill development program: Scheduler Academy. The team’s shared objective was to help new employees efficiently cement the foundational skills necessary to be competent in project controls. The team agreed to utilize a fully remote approach to ensure employees spread over several regions would have convenient access to it.
We needed to meet the growing demand to bring new people into this discipline. Elevos helped us efficiently scale our approach for transferring skills from senior experts to new hires."
“
Dylan Hirsch
VP Project Controls at CM Solutions
Identifying value-driving behaviors
Our team set out to learn about the skills that ensure success at CM Solutions. We helped CM Solutions form a steering group that included executives, managers, and experts. We hosted a series of workshops to analyze the various responsibilities within the organization, identifying 95 behaviors that most heavily drive value. We grouped those behaviors into 7 technical skills, including schedule management, project management, and data analysis, and 3 core skills, which were written communication, verbal communication, and stakeholder management.
“Effective project controls doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Elevos director Jake Prince. “Employees need to collaborate with a network of other professionals to make it work. We couldn’t ignore the value of non-technical skills so we baked them into the program.”
For each skill, we identified a subject matter expert who would own the related materials and facilitate the related sessions. We established skill level targets to define our expectations of participants before and after completing the program. We also created assessments to enable employees and their managers to identify their proficiency levels.
Creating focused materials
Elevos consultants worked one-on-one with CM Solutions experts to design curricula and create supporting materials for each skill and its related behaviors. We helped each expert express their unique style while ensuring that participants would receive an experience that would feel smooth and consistent.
We helped experts minimize workloads by incorporating a breadth of existing materials, including CM Solutions materials and other materials freely available online. For each skill, we created a script, a slide deck, group discussion questions, and practice exercises. We also worked between experts to design half a dozen “labs,” in which learners would complete real-time challenges that incorporated a variety of interdependent skills.
CM Solutions wanted a way to efficiently share its wealth of content and track the progress of participants, but had never used a learning management system (LMS). Elevos helped it adopt 360Learning, a platform that enables social learning in a remote environment.
Delivering an impactful experience
CM Solutions selected 8 individuals to participate in an initial pilot cohort of the Scheduler Academy. Elevos consultants managed the pilot, including preparing facilitators, coordinating sessions, administering the LMS, and reporting on progress. Over the course of 2 months, the team guided participants through a one-of-a-kind experience that instilled in them the foundational skills needed to succeed in their burgeoning careers.
Every week throughout the program, participants met one-on-one with Elevos consultants to discuss their progress, identify obstacles, and provide feedback on their experiences. After each training and lab session, Elevos consultants met with CM Solutions experts to swap feedback. Thanks to this hands-on approach, Elevos was able to make real-time improvements to the program delivery approach, ensuring increasing engagement from participants over time.
Elevos brings great energy and organization to the training process. The feedback we received was very positive.”
“
Robyn Coates
CEO at CM Solutions
A framework for growth
After completing the initial pilot of the Scheduler Academy, CM Solutions was equipped with a turnkey framework for skills development. It placed all of its employees who completed the program with clients and received praise on their levels of preparedness.
CM Solutions continues to deliver the Scheduler Academy, both as a cohort-based program and as a set of on-demand resources. The flexible delivery model enables employees to further their skills according to their needs. CM Solutions also offers its Scheduler Academy to its clients and partners in order to share valuable skills, forge and further relationships, and reinforce its reputation as a skill development community.
Given the modular nature of the framework in which we built the initial program, CM Solutions now has the flexibility to grow its skill development offerings. It plans to add additional skills to its current program, including dashboard design and automation. It also plans to create new programs, including a Cost Controls Academy and Data Analytics Academy.
We’ll continue to invest in developing the skills of project professionals. We challenge other organizations to boldly do the same.”
“
Dylan Hirsch
VP of Project Controls at CM Solutions