Rosendin Unveils Training Approach to Engage Construction Teams

Brandon Dickey, Rosendin corporate trainer and co-creator of the leadership training program, recently provided tips and examples from the program at the TechLearn 2024 Conference held in Austin, Texas. During a session called “Leadership and Management Training in High-Risk Environments,” he discussed the unique challenges of training construction teams and provided practical strategies for creating a culture of safety and productivity.

“We reinvented a way to engage participants without using traditional lectures. Instead, we are using probing questions that encourage attendees to incorporate their own values. Then we have them think critically about how their values impact the people on their teams and personal lives,” said Dickey. “We made our training human-centric, creating more profound connections with leaders who manage teams and also to make it easier to relate to, especially for attendees who manage teams where tasks, conditions or an expedited schedule can increase the risk of injury.”

Dickey’s approach has been embraced by construction workers, who value his experience as both a trainer and a career electrician with the IBEW Local 26 in Washington, D.C. Since joining the training team out of Rosendin’s Sterling, Virginia office in 2020, he travels across the country as a corporate trainer with the Learning and Development department.

The program is so innovative, Dickey and training manager and program co-creator Jeff Daigle, were invited to share their training techniques with members of the Association for Talent Development. ATD Research recently included their insight in an article called Bridging the Skills Gap: Using Learning Opportunities to Address Current and Future Talent Needs and let them share tactical advice during a forum session at ATD24, the association’s annual conference. ATD is also working on detailing the training process in a case study for its 30,000 global members.

“Rosendin’s facilitation style is different because it’s 40% asking the audience questions, 40% performing activities and 20% lecturing. This shows people how to stop mindlessly implementing rules and identify the ‘why’ so they can instill proactive steps with their team,” said Daigle “It’s more challenging for our facilitators than a traditional lecture, and we have built extra time in the sessions to have an open conversation. It requires more time, but we’re getting a great response and 99% of the attendees surveyed requested their managers attend.”