What did iGROW do for Prime Structures Engineering?

A structural steel engineering firm rebuilt its performance management system and developed managers who had come up through technical roles, with engagement measured across the workforce afterwards.

What was the result of the Prime Structures Engineering project?

95.8% value trust and friendship at work. Reported by Prime Structures Engineering in a signed client letter, signed by Julia Bensily, Director.

What type of consulting engagement was this?

Human Capital Development, delivered over 12 months for a company in Structural steel and construction engineering.

Human Capital Development

Building people systems for a technical workforce

Reported result 95.8% value trust and friendship at work

Sector: Structural steel and construction engineering
Duration: 12 months
Verified by: Julia Bensily, Director

Prime Structures Engineering builds structural steel. Its managers had been promoted for technical excellence, which is not the same skill as managing people, and nobody had ever taught them the difference.

The situation

"There has been no structured program to develop leadership and people management skills of the managers, especially those with technical background."

This is one of the most common failure patterns in engineering firms. The best engineer becomes the manager, keeps doing the engineering because that is what they are good at, and the management happens by accident.

What we did

A four-phase Human Capital Development project, following a relationship that had already run since 2014.

The performance management system and appraisal process were rebuilt, because asking technical managers to hold performance conversations without a structure is asking them to improvise the thing they are least practised at. Interviews with key management shaped the design. Company-wide workshops on goal setting and emotionally intelligent leadership followed, supported by eLearning.

What was achieved

Engagement was measured across the workforce afterwards. The company's signed account, covering twelve months:

"95.8% of employees value the sense of trust and friendship with the people they work with and the organization"

"94.5% of employees have the opportunity to use their unique strengths and abilities at work"

"85.4% are enthusiastic about their job"

"83.3% of employees feel that the mission and purpose of the company make their work more meaningful"

"72.9% of employees in PSE are very happy to spend the rest of their career with the organization"

Why this worked

The system carried the manager. A technically-minded manager does not need to become a different person to run a good performance conversation. They need a structure that tells them what to cover and when. Build the system and the capability follows; run the training without it and the behaviour decays within a quarter.

Strengths use at 94.5% is the number to notice. In a technical firm, people are usually deployed by availability rather than by what they are actually best at. That figure says the deployment got deliberate.

The relationship predates the project by three years. Prime Structures describes iGROW as having supported the company since 2014 "in the capacity of Well-being and Management Consultants". Long relationships let you start from what is actually true rather than from what a diagnostic can reach in a fortnight.