Developing an industry leading training program

We recently caught up with our Learning and Development Coordinator, Terri Marshall, for a chat about the exciting new internal training program she’s working on, and what a day in her life at Kapitol looks like.

Terri, can you tell us a bit about your background in construction? 
I worked previously at McConnell Dowell for nine years, starting as a HR Administrator before being offered the opportunity to look after Learning and Development. I identified the training needs for the organisation; sourced training providers and put together an online professional development catalogue; I designed a 3-year Graduate Program which was eventually mapped to a Cert IV in Project Management; I coordinated various Leadership Programs; wrote policies and procedures and implemented and upgraded a Learning Management System which I used to develop training content and manage all the learning. As I worked in the Group Head Office, I also had to write monthly reports and quarterly reports for McConnell Dowell’s parent company, Avenge.  I feel that this job gave me good experience in Learning and Development that I am now able to draw upon in my current role.

What does your role at Kapitol entail? 
I have various responsibilities including sourcing training providers and coordinating training programs; enrolling people in our compliance training and monitoring completions; setting up induction training for new starters and coordinating the Graduate Forums.  I work closely with Alice, who in working with our Leaders and Managers at Kapitol, is identifying our training requirements and the direction in which we want to head.  This has led to some exciting training initiatives we are rolling out.  We are also about to purchase a Learning Management System which will enable me to better manage the coordination of the training, identify skills and compliance gaps, host learning programs and provide a means of reporting.

What training programs are we developing and what are the benefits? 
In a nutshell, we’re creating a ‘Learning Organisation’. To do that, we’re embarking on a technical training program which covers the end-to-end construction process, drawing upon the knowledge of our experts in the business to share their experiences and learnings for all project staff.  The best way to learn is through experience and lessons learnt and this is an innovative way to share that knowledge throughout the business. We’ll be delivering around 49 topics and each person facilitating has undertaken a ‘Train the Trainer’ course to equip them to be able to deliver engaging virtual training sessions. In addition to Technical Training, we’re also looking at a Commercial Training Program for our Contract Administrators. We’re also exploring opportunities to create a collaborative industry quality hub which will demonstrate various aspects of construction, what a good job looks like and what a bad job looks like, to train our project people to know the difference and what to look out for.

What do you hope our investment in training will achieve?
I believe it is going to help us achieve our vision to ‘Build the best buildings, do no harm, and improve the construction industry for a better life’.  We have an amazing culture where people are not frightened to admit where a problem occurred but even better, we work out the solutions and then share the learnings across the business to improve and prevent such things happening in the future.  We are very much across the issues and challenges that occur in the construction industry, and I believe what we are trying to achieve will not only improve the knowledge of our people in Kapitol to build the best buildings without causing any harm, but it will improve the overall construction industry.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I love the culture at Kapitol and the focus on the values which you see in the people working here.  It’s great to work for a company that really sees the value of learning and especially one that wants to lead the way in improving the whole industry.  We have very exciting times ahead and I feel privileged to be part of the journey.

What do you love to do outside of work?
I enjoy the outdoors, in particular bush walking and taking my beloved border collie, Jasper, for a run on the beach. I also organise a lot of social events and love to entertain.