Engineering Consulting Firms Struggle With Feeding Professional Appetites

Engineering consulting constantly struggles with how best to feed the appetites of their professional staff in terms of self-development and knowledge transfer.  Some of this comes from the nature of the AEC industry.  But more importantly it is a deep cultural problems with engineering - - we struggle with the ideas embedded in a collaborative culture.  It is bad now and unfortunately it will get worse if not fixed.  So many of our important problems will need large multi-disciplinary teams - - engineers working with urban planners working with economists working with social scientists working attorneys working with contractors working with political leaders working with community activists working with owners.  The ability to leverage interdisciplinary knowledge advancement (i.e., "Hey Mr. Engineer, design-build is a key delivery model for the future and you need to learn how a contractor thinks," and "Hey Ms. Engineer, we need to better understand the economic models that drive success in our client's operating environment.") on virtual e-learning type platforms will be a huge thing looking into the future.

I thought this was interesting in the August issue of ENR - Taking WSP to The Next Level:

"WSP also is honing its internal and external branding and social-media strategies as it pushes recruitment.  In its 2013 annual report, the firm said that 55% of its staff was aged 40 and under.  WSP is expanding its task-force initiatives, in which a group of eight to 12 employees with less than five years of experience must develop solutions for a management problem, such as retention and sustainability, and present their findings to leadership.  "This allows us to really see the potential in the company," says Seguin {vice-president of human resources for WSP}, who adds that a new e-learning global platform will be launched next month a "boot camp" on key company issues will be held in the fourth quarter.  "We want to be the first choice for talented people in the market." he told investors"