Coming September 27-29, 2021
Graybar Electric Company
1375 West 47th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211
This workshop series addresses the primary skills needed by today’s field professionals; foremen, supervisors and superintendents. Training topics include productivity, customer relationships, planning and scheduling, time management, contract basics and more!
Day One | September 27, 2021
8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Understanding Productivity & Project Leadership and Resource Control & Customer Relationships
Driving Project Success: Keys to Improving Productivity: How can the Field Leader improve productivity? This session will explain how by reviewing the keys to minimizing waste and inefficiencies’ and getting the best effort from the field crews. We will provide practical tools that can be implemented by the Field Leaders to lower the cost of production.
Project Leadership: How Leadership Differs From Management: Field Leaders are also project leaders. We will explore both management and leadership behaviors and explain how they are different. We will discuss what effective leadership looks like and how to lead more effectively on your projects.
Resource Control: Managing Your Critical Project Resources: This session will discuss the Field Leader’s role in overseeing the various resources that need to be managed for a successful project. The systems, metrics, reporting tools and what to do with the information are important success factors in being a great Field Leader whether your resources are people, materials or equipment.
Customer Relationships: Developing Customers for Life: Construction is a service industry and how we treat our customers impact the success of the project and business. This session will drive home the importance of developing great customer relationships and how to navigate dissatisfaction when it occurs. We will explore the one question that needs to be asked to ensure your customers are happy and how to keep them coming back for years.
Day Two | September 28, 2021
8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Contract Administration & Effective Communication
Contract Administration: Crossing the T’s and Dotting the I’s: Understanding the basics of the contract is critical to a Field Leader’s ability to mitigate risk and protect the company, on a daily basis. We will review the pitfalls and lessons that every Field Leader must watch and tell a few stories to illustrate the importance of thorough contract administration.
Effective Communication: Learn and Avoid the Roadblocks to Great Communication: One survey reports that Project Managers and Field Leaders spend 90% of their time communicating. We will explore the mediums of communication and discuss how to be more successful communicators by knowing ourselves better, avoiding roadblocks to communication and listening better. Participants will learn skills that will help them be more efficient and improve their relationships internally and externally.
Planning and Scheduling & Time Management: Project Planning from Preconstruction to Closeout: Planning does not end when the project starts. We will discuss how to lead planning from the beginning of the project all the way until you turn-over a finished project.
Time Management: Achieving Maximum Personal Productivity: Personal productivity is about self management and improving habits to maximize your use of time. We will review tips to improve your skills and conduct a self-analysis of how you use your time. We will also discuss the importance of prioritizing and apply lessons that can improve your work-life balance.
Day Three | September 29
8:00am - 5:00pm
Effective Change Order Management & The Life-Cycle of a Construction Project
Effective Change Order Management: Effective change order management can dramatically reduce a subcontractors risk and increase profitability. This four-hour interactive course explores the change order process from both a general contractor’s and a subcontractor’s view point and provides participants with hands on training in recognizing, scoping, pricing and negotiating change orders. The emphasis will be placed on the field’s role in communicating critical information within required timelines to successfully prove and quantity impacts.
The Life Cycle of a Construction Project from Preconstruction to Closeout: This capstone session will review sessions on day one and two, with additional information about the field’s role in the success of a project.
Goal Setting/Action Planning: This session will allow the participants to review their summaries filled out at the end of each session and create a development plan to increase their skill-sets and set career goals. This will also allow them to bring ideas for improvement back to their workgroups and organizations.
8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Understanding Productivity & Project Leadership and Resource Control & Customer Relationships
Driving Project Success: Keys to Improving Productivity: How can the Field Leader improve productivity? This session will explain how by reviewing the keys to minimizing waste and inefficiencies’ and getting the best effort from the field crews. We will provide practical tools that can be implemented by the Field Leaders to lower the cost of production.
Project Leadership: How Leadership Differs From Management: Field Leaders are also project leaders. We will explore both management and leadership behaviors and explain how they are different. We will discuss what effective leadership looks like and how to lead more effectively on your projects.
Resource Control: Managing Your Critical Project Resources: This session will discuss the Field Leader’s role in overseeing the various resources that need to be managed for a successful project. The systems, metrics, reporting tools and what to do with the information are important success factors in being a great Field Leader whether your resources are people, materials or equipment.
Customer Relationships: Developing Customers for Life: Construction is a service industry and how we treat our customers impact the success of the project and business. This session will drive home the importance of developing great customer relationships and how to navigate dissatisfaction when it occurs. We will explore the one question that needs to be asked to ensure your customers are happy and how to keep them coming back for years.
Day Two | September 28, 2021
8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Contract Administration & Effective Communication
Contract Administration: Crossing the T’s and Dotting the I’s: Understanding the basics of the contract is critical to a Field Leader’s ability to mitigate risk and protect the company, on a daily basis. We will review the pitfalls and lessons that every Field Leader must watch and tell a few stories to illustrate the importance of thorough contract administration.
Effective Communication: Learn and Avoid the Roadblocks to Great Communication: One survey reports that Project Managers and Field Leaders spend 90% of their time communicating. We will explore the mediums of communication and discuss how to be more successful communicators by knowing ourselves better, avoiding roadblocks to communication and listening better. Participants will learn skills that will help them be more efficient and improve their relationships internally and externally.
Planning and Scheduling & Time Management: Project Planning from Preconstruction to Closeout: Planning does not end when the project starts. We will discuss how to lead planning from the beginning of the project all the way until you turn-over a finished project.
Time Management: Achieving Maximum Personal Productivity: Personal productivity is about self management and improving habits to maximize your use of time. We will review tips to improve your skills and conduct a self-analysis of how you use your time. We will also discuss the importance of prioritizing and apply lessons that can improve your work-life balance.
Day Three | September 29
8:00am - 5:00pm
Effective Change Order Management & The Life-Cycle of a Construction Project
Effective Change Order Management: Effective change order management can dramatically reduce a subcontractors risk and increase profitability. This four-hour interactive course explores the change order process from both a general contractor’s and a subcontractor’s view point and provides participants with hands on training in recognizing, scoping, pricing and negotiating change orders. The emphasis will be placed on the field’s role in communicating critical information within required timelines to successfully prove and quantity impacts.
The Life Cycle of a Construction Project from Preconstruction to Closeout: This capstone session will review sessions on day one and two, with additional information about the field’s role in the success of a project.
Goal Setting/Action Planning: This session will allow the participants to review their summaries filled out at the end of each session and create a development plan to increase their skill-sets and set career goals. This will also allow them to bring ideas for improvement back to their workgroups and organizations.
“We have sent several of our foreman including myself to the Field Supervisory Class and we have came back with a new outlook and skills to improve upon in the field as a supervisor. We have all said that it was well worth the time to attend and are planning on sending more of our foreman to these classes when they come available again.”
- Dan Spencer General Superintendent, Merit Electric
- Dan Spencer General Superintendent, Merit Electric
INSTRUCTOR BIO

Stephane McShane
Maxim Consulting Group
Stephane McShane, Director at Maxim Consulting Group, works with construction related firms of all sizes to evaluate business practices and assist with management challenges. With a large depth of experience working in the construction industry, Stephane is keenly aware of the business and, most specifically, operational challenges that firms face. Stephane possesses the rare combination of talent from being in the field as an apprentice, electrician, foreman, then working her way through each operational chair within a successful electrical construction firm. Her ability to motivate, inspire, and create confidence among your work groups is extremely rare and very effective.
Maxim Consulting Group
Stephane McShane, Director at Maxim Consulting Group, works with construction related firms of all sizes to evaluate business practices and assist with management challenges. With a large depth of experience working in the construction industry, Stephane is keenly aware of the business and, most specifically, operational challenges that firms face. Stephane possesses the rare combination of talent from being in the field as an apprentice, electrician, foreman, then working her way through each operational chair within a successful electrical construction firm. Her ability to motivate, inspire, and create confidence among your work groups is extremely rare and very effective.