“You can deliver the best project possible, but if communication falls short, the entire project will suffer.” – Practice Leader, Project Execution, BBA
With this in mind, BBA set out to develop the communication skills of its engineers and professionals, ensuring a consistently high-quality client experience.
Goal of the initiative
When you have several hundred engineers managing projects spread across three countries, it's not always easy to standardize practices and maintain the same level of excellence. Often, priority is given to deliverables rather than the accompanying message. The message is just as important, especially for a firm like BBA, which develops innovative engineering strategies and solutions to support businesses in their transformation.
“We absolutely wanted to standardize practices and focus on key project management themes, including communication, streamlining meetings, delegation and coaching, managing sensitive topics and influencing effectively.” – Practice Leader, Project Execution, BBA
When mastered, strong communication principles help elevate projects, ensuring they stand out and receive the recognition they deserve. This commitment to excellence is also what keeps BBA among the world's leading consulting engineering firms in the energy and natural resources sectors.
A tailor-made learning solution
As we work to transform businesses, it's only natural that we also focus on our own transformation. It's all about adopting a flexible, tailored approach that addresses the constraints of project teams and managers, while continually honing skills to remain at the cutting edge of innovation and deliver consistent added value to our clients.
“For me, it was essential to define learning objectives with Technologia that were aligned with our business objectives.” – Senior Advisor, Training, BBA
To this end, Frédéric Tobin, the Technologia expert responsible for training BBA teams, spoke with engineers before hand to identify challenges and areas for improvement. His goal was to ensure that the tailored learning solution they designed directly addressed the firm’s needs. The one-size-fits-all approach had no place here.
“This preliminary work is essential for defining andragogical objectives, and then designing learning scenarios that engage participants in real-life contexts.” – Frédéric Tobin, Expert Trainer, Technologia
Execution
To reach as many participants as possible, the course was designed to be delivered both in person and remotely, without compromising quality. The Technologia team created workshops and proposed activities that placed participants right in the action. For example, using our inductive approach, participants are invited to form teams and discuss communication problems from their daily work, identify the strengths and weaknesses of their work and apply relevant corrective actions.
“The trainer doesn’t teach in the traditional sense: They guide participants toward solutions tailored to their work context.” – Françoise Crevier, Skills Development Strategist, Technologia
To align with BBA's needs, Technologia's training approach focused on five themes:
- Communicating effectively in project management by choosing the right method and medium based on the context.
- Preparing and leading an effective project meeting by ensuring every detail is carefully planned for accuracy and efficiency.
- Delegating and coaching your project team by adopting an approach that allows you to establish a delegation framework and selecting the right person to take on these responsibilities.
- Leading courageous conversations by identifying facts, impacts, needs and opportunities, while respecting both the client and the business, and carefully planning and preparing your message to maximize success.
- Influencing and persuading clients by choosing the right approach based on their negotiating style and profile.
Results
Training more than 400 employees using the same principles has paid off. BBA employees now have stronger skills and benefit from more structured and strategic discussions with external clients and all project stakeholders.
One key success factor was giving participants a safe environment to practice the complex skills involved in effective communication. Technologia's expertise in communication, project management, seamless logistics and instructional engineering helped us deliver a tailored learning solution aligned with BBA's business objectives.
BBA teams now provide an improved and more consistent experience across all their offices.
Participant feedback:
“The training helped us rethink traditional communication methods and adopt more modern, effective and practical approaches.” – Environmental professional, BBA
“The knowledge gained is useful not only at work, but in all aspects of life. Improving, even slightly, how we delegate tasks and handle difficult conversations makes life more pleasant.” – Director, Studies and Projects, BBA
“I especially enjoyed the small group exercises and the feedback about them. This allowed me to absorb the material and gain insight from my colleagues on different situations.” – Senior Engineer, BBA
To go further :
Design of customized training