Employees leave their jobs for many reasons. Some retire while others leave to explore new career opportunities. While workplace attrition is common across industries, it can pose a challenge to those left behind, especially when decades of institutional knowledge are also lost when the experienced employee departs.
Sometimes, there can be a gap in knowledge, skills or abilities when a senior employee leaves an organization. Mack Landen, project manager with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Branch, saw a wave of employee departures and new hires at the district within the last few years not as a deficiency, but as an opportunity.
Recognizing the need for knowledge sharing among both seasoned and newer employees at the Kansas City District, Landen decided to organize a series of project site visits at an active civil works construction project.
“50% of our district’s employees are new within the last five years,” said Landen. “These site visits aimed to provide younger or newer USACE employees with firsthand experience in an area they will likely encounter in their design careers.”
Over the course of four weeks in May and June, around 30 employees voluntarily met with Landen and other senior technical experts at the Swope Park Industrial Area project in Kansas City, Missouri.
According to Landen, the project is a 7,000-foot ring levee, which consists of a floodwall and levee system, interior drainage system and detention pond. The project aims to provide critical flood risk reduction and ensure continued economic viability of the area.
With its final phase of construction beginning on May 14, the project became the perfect opportunity for district employees to gather on site, share their experiences and learn about the intersection of USACE civil works design and construction.
“While a design may seem sound on paper, aligning it with real-world conditions is crucial for sharpening design skills, identifying potential issues and minimizing problems,” said Landen. “Fostering a working relationship between design and construction can help designers refine their plans and contractors understand the engineering behind them.”
Kara Cline, hydraulic engineer with the Kansas City District was one of the employees who voluntarily attended a site visit Landen organized. For Cline, who has been with the district for seven years, it was an opportunity to get out from behind her desk and get into the field.
“Getting to see active construction is important for engineers who typically crunch numbers and run models at their desks all day,” she said. “It helps us become better at designing practical solutions.”
As a hydraulic engineer, Cline has worked on a variety of projects including flood risk management projects, ecosystem restoration projects, dam safety projects and watershed studies. She said getting out to an active construction site and discussing the project with more senior technical experts was a valuable learning experience.
“Things don’t always go according to plan out in the field, so we have to adapt and problem solve on the fly,” said Cline. “Knowledge sharing is important because it improves collaboration between disciplines. We can build on each other’s ideas and not have to reinvent the wheel.”
For Landen, providing co-workers with opportunities to share experiences and ideas at an active civil works construction project was important not only for individual professional development, but also for the district because collaborative exercises lead to building stronger teams.
“For me, bridging this gap and ensuring both sides understand the ‘why’ is vital,” said Landen. “I often say, ‘make it make sense’ and for many, seeing is believing.”