LESSONS WITH LIZ
A SPOTLIGHT ON CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL LEARNING
How many engineers does it take to explain land development to non-engineers?
Turns out just one – R&R’s very own Assistant Project Manager, Elizabeth Jones, PE.
For the past year, each Tuesday for about 20-30 minutes, Liz educates our administrative and marketing teams about civil engineering principles and topics that have included:
Development team members and their roles
Types of plan sets and how to read plan sheets
Guiding design principles for land development, roadway layout, and other civil elements
As a true win-win scenario, these ongoing cross-department lessons have provided invaluable context as to how projects progress the way they do, the roles of our different clients across projects, and a better understanding of the services R&R provides – a great benefit to the administrative and marketing teams.
“Lessons with Liz has opened my eyes to the engineering world. Coming from no experience or background in this, Liz has truly been remarkable in teaching us the basics of engineering and the importance of it. […] She’s made it easier to understand what they do, why it’s important, and has made me interested in learning even more!” – Rebecca Ritter, Administrative Assistant
“I really appreciate that Liz knows how to make our lessons a fun learning experience, I really look forward to attending weekly. I have taken a lot away from these lessons, and it’s been said, ‘What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.” – Tammy Musser, Contract Administrator
Conversely, Liz has been able to hone interpersonal project management skills that will be an asset to her career moving forward, including:
Ability to explain complex, technical subjects to non-engineers
Comfort with public speaking/presentations
Preparing lesson plans/topics for discussion
Guiding discussions/answering questions in the moment
Each of these items are good practice for doing business with land/business owners and developers without technical or AEC backgrounds, preparing presentations for public hearings with Q/A sessions, and guiding conversations with design teams to value engineer projects to desired outcomes.
“I really like doing it {Lessons with Liz}. Breaking down the topics so non-engineers can understand it really takes some thinking sometimes. Plus y'all {internal team} are a lot less intimidating to talk to with it being a fun laid-back environment, so it also doubles as good practice for knowing how to explain things to non-engineer clients and team members.” - Liz Jones, PE, Assistant Project Manager
Lessons with Liz is just one example of how R&R has been implementing cross-departmental education. This past winter R&R surveyors Josh Smith, PLS and Mathew Pellegrini brought all our departments together for a lunch-and-learn presentation on the parcel feature in Civil 3D, specifically on how it is extensively used for platting and how engineering can utilize it for design, particularly on drainage basins. It kicked off a broader discussion on how survey-based files flow between departments, how different users interact with files based on their roles, and how understanding that employees can anticipate next steps and can set up the next person for success.
Last summer Jeff Weygandt, LSI held a similar mini-series with our marketing and administrative teams giving an overview into the basics of construction surveying, covering benchmarks, establishing control, how field crews set stakes, and the equipment used. As part of the onboarding process, R&R has interns and entry-level engineering staff spend time in the field for a practical understanding of how our surveyors gather existing conditions site data and how designed projects are laid out for construction. Looking forward, a focus for cross-departmental learning is on constructability, a collaboration between our construction surveying teams and our engineers and designers.
Cross-department education opportunities provide key benefits to the organization as a whole, including:
Better communication/collaboration between teams – The more individual employees know about how “their part” impacts their colleagues, the better they can coordinate with each other and reduce communication gaps.
Opportunities for leadership skills/training – Internal cross-training or leading lessons is a low-risk, high-reward way for current employees to practice their leadership skills.
Enhanced organizational performance/employee engagement – The more individual employees know about how each part of the company operates, and why, the better they will be able to identify opportunities for improvements, cross-sell to clients, and take ownership and pride in their work (and by extension their company).
We are proud of our team and the initiative they take to continue to better us as a whole and enhance our client’s experience.
