AWCI Emerging Leaders

Who Do We Serve?

AWCI’s Emerging Leaders Program seeks to actively engage contractors, suppliers and manufacturers in the wall and ceiling industry. The program actively seeks out those individuals who desire to become leaders in the industry. This foundation of this program is education that encircles the “three pillars” of the wall and ceiling industry: contractors, manufacturers and suppliers. This program is available only to members of AWCI.

What We Offer Participants

Emerging leaders are often promoted due to their individual grit, ambition and hard work. Once promoted, those same people must learn new skills. They must develop those skills required to achieve success through other people. These skills require a blend of personal and business education, joining peer-to-peer networks and obtaining experiences outside of their companies. The focus of AWCI’s Emerging Leaders’ Program is to offer curated, experiential education that incorporates technical training, soft skills development and peer-to-peer learning. Through this training, we expect that participants will receive value unique to AWCI—value that they cannot get within their own organizations or other associations—while advancing their careers in their desired pillar of the wall and ceiling industry.

What AWCI's Emerging Leaders Program Provides

• On-site, curated “event within an event” training focusing on immersive education with peers (within AWCI’s Convention and AWCI’s Industry Leaders Conference)
• Standalone technical training and site visits with firms from each of the three pillars to fully explore and understand the construction ecosystem
• Online supplemental, curated soft skills and technical training that will maintain engagement throughout the program
• Networking events designed for emerging leaders only and integrating current contractor, manufacturer and supplier leadership to establish long-term connections
• Grow into a mentorship role within AWCI and your company.

Our Purpose

We believe the challenges of leading and managing organizations that serve the three pillars of the industry will require greater knowledge and leadership skill than ever before. The world is rapidly changing, and the best way to get smarter is exposure to more experiences that allows one to think beyond the constraints of not only their own company and its competitors, but also those businesses that play a direct role in the construction ecosystem. The network that can be developed through this three-pillar interaction may end up being more important than the shared educational experience that one may receive through this focus.

Differentiating the Program’s Value

There are dozens of consulting firms that a company can hire to train on leadership. Very few of those high-priced consultants tailor their programs to the wall and ceiling industry, let alone provide the immersive technical experience that helps fully form the next generation of industry leaders.

The goal of the program is to offer a curated learning experience combining soft skills development, along with experiential technical training that focuses on walking the job site, the supplier operation, or a manufacturing organization while leadership engages participants on how they run their businesses, build cultures and management systems, lead teams, organize their structures and embrace a set of core values. We believe that what is currently in existence focuses on only one area of skill-building education, rather than combining the benefit of technical, strategic, and soft skills training. AWCI’s Emerging Leaders Program will provide an immersive program that develops these skills and includes networking and peer-to-peer relationship building to fully develop the next generation of industry leadership.

AWCI's Emerging Leaders Program Commitment

AWCI’s Emerging Leaders Program seeks contractor, supplier and manufacturer professionals that are on a path to, or currently hold, leadership positions within their company. The program’s mission is to provide leadership training needed in today’s world to ascend and succeed into the future. An AWCI Emerging Leader candidate should expect to:

• Participate in up to four AWCI emerging leaders designated in-person technical and soft-skill learning modules, as well as scheduled online networking and learning events, over the course of two years.
• Stay active within their assigned emerging leaders class through virtual and in-person meetings.
• Attend and participate in Build-23: AWCI’s Convention + Expo (March 12-16, 2023, in Las Vegas), AWCI’s Industry Leaders Conference (Oct. 10-13, 2023, in Boston), an event to be scheduled in July/August 2023 and Build-24: AWCI's Convention + Expo (March 23-27, 2024, in Orlando).
• Be paired with a mentor(s) identified through participation in the program.
• Grow into a mentorship role within AWCI and your company.

AWCI’s Emerging Leaders Program Core Competencies

A. Leadership & Influence

1. Introductory & Discovery: Who We Are as Leaders
2. Management vs. Leadership
3. Leadership Styles & Mentorship
4. Ethical Challenges for Today’s Leaders
   a. Developing Emotional Intelligence
   b. Managing Human Capital
5. Communication Skills
6. Shaping & Leveraging Company Culture
   a. Leading Change
   b. Identifying and Correcting Dysfunctional Teams
   c. Employee Engagement: Empowering Others and Optimizing Your Team
   d. Using Your Influence as a Leader

B. The Business of Construction

1. Contract Language & Negotiating Techniques
2. Safety & Health Culture/Workers’ Comp
3. Understanding Corporate Finance

C. Technical Aspects of Construction

1. Construction Process – Means & Methods (Contractor facility)
2. Production Tracking/Managing the Data & Analytics (Contractor facility)
3. Understanding Quality Assurance Programs (Contractor facility)
4. Technology & Innovation (Manufacturer facility)
5. Product Education through Manufacturer Partnerships (Manufacturer facility)
6. The Construction Life Cycle & Supply Chain (Supplier facility)

Please send inquiries to [email protected].