Haskell University imparts skills, culture to ensure world-class solutions

While Haskell has doubled in size in just five years, that growth would be hollow if it were not “meaningful and profitable,” as is spelled out in Haskell 2025, the company’s strategic roadmap. Similarly, expanding its workforce to more than 2,100 team members would mean far less if those added weren’t able to experience “the best jobs of their lives.”

Growing better, not just bigger, and serving clients with consistency, certainty and best-in-class facilities solutions requires a force-multiplying factor.

Learning and Development is that force multiplier.

“All of these extremely talented individuals are contributing in significant ways to how the company is performing and growing,” said Brooke Jones-Chinetti, Director of Learning and Team Member Engagement. “This investment is critical, as we are in the people business.”

Haskell’s executive leadership committed to significant investment in the formation of its Learning, Development & Engagement (LD&E) department. Subsequently, the team added trainers and instructional designers to organize and construct the Learning and Development side of the ampersand.

It also put in place a state-of-the-art learning management system to house Haskell University that offers more than 2,000 courses to satisfy the continuing education needs of Architects, Engineers, Surveyors, Designers, Contractors and related licensed professionals. Haskell currently employs more than 750 professionals who hold one or more of a total of 1,750 licenses and certifications.

Haskell University provides:

• Dynamic learning formats, including video, audio-driven and mobile-ready courses
• The highest quality content available – written, reviewed and presented by industry experts
• Courses carry up-to-date accreditations from national and state bodies

Learning and Development comprises three distinct educational tracks, which all team members experience: Foundational, Job-Specific and Leadership training.

Foundational Training

Foundational offerings center on knowledge, skills and abilities that team members need regardless of their role at Haskell.

Additionally, the Learning & Development staff offers more than 20 instructor-led courses promoting personal well-being and professional development. Master Trainer Taylor Williams, Corporate Trainer Elizabeth Powell and Development Specialist Maria Jose Toro have worked closely to create curricula on topics ranging from Resilience to Time Management and Storytelling for Impact to Design Thinking.

“We want to ensure we have offerings applicable to every team member so whatever issues they may face, they will be armed with resources to tackle them,” Jones-Chinetti said.

Job-Specific Training

After expanding steadily through its first 50 years, Haskell’s workforce doubled to nearly 2,200 team members from 2017 to 2022. With more than 20 offices in the United States, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, maintaining the technical quality, consistency and certainty of outcome clients expect is an operational priority.

The LD&E and Operations teams set out to create a best-in-class job-specific training program for AEC professionals, identifying core competencies for each role in the company and creating appropriate curricula. The Assistant Project Manager role, a highly responsible entry-level spot, was the pilot.

“We started with APMs because those are the folks who need immediate get-going type of training,” said Kally Gibbs, Vice President and Chief-of-Staff, who leads Operations Support. “It’s the starter kit for the systems that they’re going to be expected to use. This allows them to get in and navigate and immediately start contributing to the team.

“We've now done competency development for the major high-impact roles across the company, such as construction project management, design project management, architects, engineers, field and craft professionals.

A training matrix matches each role with the appropriate curriculum, so while the company relies on dozens of disciplines spread around the globe, each person in each individual role has the same educational requirements and opportunities.

Haskell’s commitment shows in the individuals chosen to lead the program. Vice President Stacey Barton, who most recently has served as Leader of the Federal Division, will oversee job-specific training and development for construction and manufacturing roles, while Matt Ford, Chief Mechanical Engineer, will do the same for design and consulting disciplines.

“It's a big investment,” Gibbs said. “It's putting our tenured, top talent in positions to influence the success of the program because it's so important.”

Leadership Training

“Here at Haskell, you lead something, whether that be a task or a project or a team of people, and we’re making sure that all are taking the same servant-leader approach to it,” Jones-Chinetti said.

To that end, The Haskell Way, every team member’s introduction to the company, is the first course in how to lead from a foundation of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.

A Supervisor Series, in which everyone who becomes a supervisor is automatically enrolled, takes a two-pronged approach to equipping new supervisors with skills they need to effectively manage the HR aspects of supervision and increase the effectiveness of their reports by helping them learn to lead themselves and their teams while enhancing Haskell’s culture.

Further, Haskell offers rising stars the six-month series titled Enhanced Potential through Intentional Coaching (EPIC), which aims to build participants’ emotional intelligence, teach how to be an integral participant in winning teams., and develop key leadership skills. Admission is application-based, and participants complete assessments, attend virtual group workshops, participate in interview/discussion sessions with industry experts, attend Haskell “Lunch with a Leader” sessions, and work with internal and external mentors to reinforce the training.

Finally, Leadership Series is a three-year program designed to provide a platform for personal and professional development. The first six-month course focuses on personal growth in a professional framework, the second on developing a leadership style within the framework of Haskell’s values, and the third on leadership development through the creation of internal coaches.

“Leadership Series is the cornerstone of our leadership offerings, giving our high-potential leaders extensive development opportunity to learn how to lead themselves and others.” Jones-Chinetti said.

Beyond the Pillars

While Foundational, Job-Specific and Leadership training are the pillars of Haskell’s learning and development program, they are far from all-inclusive.

Haskell’s Tuition Assistance Program provides team members up to $5,250 annually to return to an institute of higher education in pursuit of advanced degrees that support their professional roles. They are eligible for the program after one year’s employment.

Also, in support of those hundreds of licensed professionals, Mara Scott, Manager of Corporate Licensing, oversees the program that helps those licensed employees obtain the continuing education credits necessary to maintain those licenses.

Haskell has been named an APEX Award winner (formerly the Training Top 100) by Training magazine – an exclusive list of the leading training organizations worldwide. Haskell’s No. 4 global ranking in 2022 marked the company’s fourth consecutive year in the Top 20, the third in the Top 10 and its second straight year in the Top 5.

“We look at the needs of our team members. We take into consideration what team members and their leadership say they need, and we're also looking at trends in the market. And critically, we must address the company's needs today and in the future,” Jones-Chinetti says. “How are we growing? What opportunities do we have? What are we needing out of our future leaders, and how can we ensure we're instilling it early versus waiting until the moment of need. We're priming you as you grow for some of these really impactful opportunities the company is facing.”

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