By providing supervised management-level experience and training, Jackson was able to support the growth of local small businesses and positively impact the careers of team members assigned to Jackson projects. Serving as Jackson’s program management consultant on the US$1.8 billion Miracle-Building Bond Program, ArchTam and subconsultant partner firm Creativision MEDIA, Inc. worked alongside Jackson executive leadership staff to help develop and administer their mentor-protégé development program.

Created in 2015 at the start of the Miracle-Building Bond Program, the mentor-protégé program was the first of its kind in that there were no previous large healthcare capital improvement initiatives with a formal mentor-protégé program. The program’s goal was to stimulate growth for the small firms by providing them with the skills to effectively take on healthcare construction projects, ultimately creating a positive long-term ripple effect throughout the Miami-Dade community and beyond.

Perfect pairs

Seven protégé firms participated in the mentor-protégé program, all of which were minority-owned, women-owned or minority women-owned. The program paired large construction management at-risk firms with these local small businesses. ArchTam and Charesse Chester of Creativision MEDIA helped Jackson execute the curriculum development and learning process, which included establishing expectations for participants. Each of the protégé participants were required to demonstrate their knowledge in 28 categories encompassed within three primary learning concepts:

1) pre-construction phase healthcare construction industry planning;

2) construction phase healthcare construction including management and delivery functions performed on capital development projects;

3) related business processes and protocols.

Based on the leadership team’s experience with oversight of the mentor-protégé program, the most important characteristic in a successful mentor for a program like this is that they have the heart and mind of a teacher and are committed to their role as a trusted guide throughout the process. In addition, they must be dedicated to establishing a solid relationship with their protégé. In turn, protégés must demonstrate a willingness to learn.

To ensure protégé firms were achieving learning milestones, they were asked to grade themselves throughout the program to communicate what and how effectively they were learning. This gave their mentors and the leadership team an idea of where learning deficiencies existed, and how to bridge those learning gaps.

Positive community impacts

The Jackson Health System’s mentor-protégé program represented a unique opportunity to stimulate significant growth in local SBE-C firms, in turn creating a positive impact in the Miami-Dade County community. Out of an average of about 750 certified SBE-C firms in Miami-Dade County in recent years, typically two per year graduate out of that certification. However, two of the seven protégé firms in this mentor-protégé program achieved such growth by the completion of the Miracle-Building Bond Program, which directly speaks to the mentor-protégé program’s effectiveness and lasting impact on the community.

Protégé firms that successfully completed the program have subsequently teamed with mentor firms to win additional work outside of the Bond Program, or even on their own as prime contractors. This is not only a win for the protégé firms, but also for the mentor firms — they now have a larger pool of local businesses they can partner with in seeking future work. Jackson Health greatly benefitted as well, since the pool of skilled healthcare construction contractors in South Florida increased, creating an increased workforce supply chain for projects that occurred during the Bond Program, and other future Jackson Health System projects.

There were individual victories as well — one protégé employee was gradually assigned more responsibilities throughout their company’s involvement in the Bond Program, and he was ultimately promoted to assistant superintendent.

The Jackson Health System/ArchTam partnership to deliver the Miracle-Building Bond Program — and create the successful mentor-protégé program — fulfilled ArchTam’s and our client’s goals of creating meaningful and long-lasting positive impacts in the communities we serve, while also supporting opportunities for SBEs to grow.

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Each March, ArchTam celebrates International Women’s Day globally. Why? Because women’s perspectives, experiences and ideas are critical. In my two decades in this industry, I have experienced both inadequate representation of women in leadership as well as more diverse leadership teams and have seen the difference it makes. I strive to identify and mentor the growing and developing talent in this business, while paving my own path.

In the past year, I took on a new leadership role focused on digital and innovation for ArchTam’s Design and Consulting Services Americas (DCSA). In addition to stepping into this new role, I also joined the DCSA leadership team and am happy to see that several other women joined me at that table this year too. These women lead national business lines and programs, strategy and, most importantly, our people. I could not be more honored to serve beside them. These women raise critical issues and ask important questions. They support and drive productive, meaningful dialogue in meetings so that we discuss issues and hear all opinions on our way to a resolution. It is an incredible experience to look around a room and see women leaders and peers on every side of the table. This is the active and engaged work environment I want and am proud to see at ArchTam.

The ArchTam team at Investor Day

It is no secret that the industry struggles with a lack of diversity, and some sectors, such as coding, are seeing fewer women enter the workforce. However, the evolving industry landscape means that some of the old gender-based power structures don’t apply in emerging fields. Now is the time for people with more diverse backgrounds to establish themselves as experts/leaders in the field. The Digital and Innovation team at ArchTam is working to exert a positive influence on this. We kicked off the Digital Innovation Initiative focused first around celebrating our innovative people and projects. We are working to ensure that our digital and innovation culture reaches every corner of our company and that our staff feel empowered to suggest new ways to solve problems. Internally, we are partnering with our HR Inclusion and Diversity team to develop a joint strategy for inclusion and diversity across the Digital and Innovation initiative.

Externally, our team is assessing opportunities to partner with nonprofits focused on increasing the number of women in STEM fields. I have been involved with the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) throughout my career and have found some amazing mentors through this organization. I am focused on paying that forward by mentoring women inside and outside of ArchTam.

Throughout my career, when I have so often been the only woman in the room, I have found myself gently educating my male counterparts on subconscious biases and generally my insight is well received. Recently, I spoke on a panel, Sponsors vs. Mentors, held at a large regional engineering conference. In response to a question from the audience, I used a few simple examples to demonstrate how meeting interactions often impact women. For example, I mentioned how the suggestions women make in a meeting are often unacknowledged and that several minutes later a man will make those same suggestions. I noted that women are more likely to be interrupted — interestingly by both men and women. I also discussed how many women, especially young women, often do not sit at the tables during meetings — and the impact that could be made if their colleagues invited them to sit with them at the table.

Penn State Transportation Engineering Safety Conference – Mentor V Sponsor panel

Nothing will change if we do not speak up, are not visible and do not take deliberate actions. I believe being a senior-level women in our company who is focused on digital and innovation helps other women within and outside of our company see what’s possible. Being highly visible through social media, conference speaking engagements and visiting our offices and encouraging women to step up also helps to drive gender parity.

Every day I see women taking the lead to bring about a better environment for our clients and for our people. To everyone celebrating IWD this year, should you have the title or just the influence, be the leader that you want to see in this business. That’s what I’m trying to do every single day and I would love to work alongside you.

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