A Journeyperson's Guide to Coaching an Apprentice

You’re a certified journeyperson and you’ve been given the opportunity to train and mentor an apprentice. What does this role mean? How are you going to get all your own work done and ensure your apprentice is on the right track? What’s the best way to give feedback to the apprentice, especially if things aren’t going well?

The role of supporting and coaching an apprentice is critical to ensuring the construction industry continues to develop a skilled workforce. It can be rewarding for Journeypersons to pass on their skills, but it can also be challenging to balance the pressures of meeting your own workload while supporting your apprentice. 

This course will equip journeypersons with the skills and tools required to successfully coach and support their apprentices. You will uncover how to engage all learning styles and personalities, and how to assess the apprentice’s level of competency and continue to challenge them with new skills and experiences. Learn the art of providing positive and constructive feedback that will motivate the Apprentice to get to the next level. 

Topics:

• Roles and responsibilities of the apprentice and journeyperson
• Balancing your own productivity with mentoring
• Working with different learning styles and personalities
• Coaching, providing feedback and skill assessment
• Support for the journeyperson

All journeypersons, from any trade, that work with an apprentice.

Chris Erbus, Operations Manager, Graham Construction

Chris Erbus is the Operations Manager with Graham Construction. Chris started work in the construction industry as a carpenter and quickly learned he enjoyed managing teams on various types of projects. While completing his apprenticeship, Chris studied at Red River College and completed the Building Construction Technician program, Drafting/CAD and is a graduate of WCA’s Building Supervisors for Tomorrow program. To date he has completed his Gold Seal Certification as Superintendent and his LEED Green Associate accreditation.

Working on many high-profile jobsites and marquee projects, including True North Square, Ikea and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has helped develop Chris’ skills at schedule development and planning, which is now one of his areas of expertise. He believes the delivery of a successful project, on-time, incident-free and with a high level of quality, hinges on how well-planned it is. He also believes in constant improvement and the need to embrace change, new technology and techniques. Chris helped roll out the Last Planner® System in PCL’s Winnipeg District, has contributed to the development of PCL Manitoba’s Superintendents guide and has worked on other internal Lean initiatives.

Teaching and mentoring is a large part of what Chris does and he enjoys helping others develop their passion for construction. Chris is a judge each year at Skills Manitoba and the Red River College Carpentry competitions to help promote excellence in the trades. Community involvement is also important to Chris and he is involved with the United Way GenNext and regularly volunteers at Winnipeg Harvest. Leading by example is one of his core values.