Women everywhere are familiar with the feeling of being one of a few women in a sea of men – sometimes even the only one. This is especially so in the construction industry. So, standing in front of a room instructing primarily men about building better company culture sounds like it would be nerve-wracking at best.
Kayti Bjorklund-Strandlund and Ry Bostrom say it’s a bit different. Kayti co-founded DW Companies with her husband and co-founded Repurposed Educator with her best friend, Ry. Before this, though, both were educators. Ry taught special education and Kayti taught sixth grade.
Teachers are a rare and special breed. Corralling children can be like herding cats, and once they are corralled, it’s one – maybe two – adults for a classroom of 20-30 children, staring at you wide-eyed as they scream their protests. It’s worse if they had sugar at lunch.
Suddenly the room full of men sounds slightly less terrifying. Still, it takes courage.
“Usually what we say is that we've seen it all. So, you guys don't scare us!” says Kayti.
“We have the naysayers in the room, or the people who are like, ‘Look at these two chicks coming in and are going to teach us.’ No, we've seen it all. We know what you're thinking already — bring it,” says Ry.
Welcome Home
Toward the end of their education careers, Ry and Kayti started teaching and coaching adults, leading professional development. So, they were able to transition from teaching kids to teaching adults to teaching construction workers specifically.
Kayti grew up in construction. Her parents own a trucking company and do a lot of aggregates crushing. She thought she had left construction behind, but something about blue collar work is special. “I think there's something about blue-collar nature. The hard work, the values that this industry tends to attract, that makes it feel like home and makes it feel right,” she says.
This work is personal for her and the same goes for Ry. Her husband also worked in construction and the stories they would come home with were alarming. There were regular stories of yelling and top-down toxic situations. So, they wanted to help with the business – under certain conditions.
“My biggest thing I required if I was going to join in on this is that we need to do things differently,” Kayti says. “And everybody agreed we need to do things differently.”
The Work Begins
The work began – and it worked well. So well, in fact, that other companies caught on and wanted the same help. Thus, Culture Academy was born. Ry and Kayti found their passion for helping others was reached by helping construction companies build better cultures, and not just for women. They have seen the skills taught in their professional development classes address other important topics to construction workers, like mental health and substance abuse.
Throwing around the words “professional development” or “company culture” on a construction site might get you some serious side-eye, but once people see what this kind of learning does, they are sold.
“Just getting in front of them and being able to share the examples and show them how it applies to their life is what wins them over,” Ry says.
They compare it to technology. The construction industry historically has been slower to welcome new ideas, but just as more people are getting used to the idea of technology, they are also opening up to the idea of professional development. And the results are tangible.
As people learn how to communicate and advocate for themselves and their colleagues, the environment flourishes. Taking a day to learn may bring up concerns about productivity and helping the bottom line, but each conflict and the health of workers also affect the bottom line.
“It's helping them understand the return on their investment is over time and that when you don't have dysfunctional teams you don't have people leaving all the time,” Kayti says. “You don't have conflict that you're constantly working through or having to mediate – that all costs dollars. It might not be hard lines on your P&L. But it does cost time, which costs money. So, if we can alleviate that stuff and have better communication, we can be so much more efficient.”
Generational Growth
The good news is Ry and Kayti are seeing improvements in the Culture Academy cohorts. They’re getting second- and third-generation workers who see that something in the industry has to change. They’re more open to the idea of professional development and being patient for that ROI.
“We have nine great candidates of people who are progressive and seeking change in in Culture Academy and they're doing it,” Ry says. “I think it'll just be a ripple effect after this cohort.”
A topic important to Ry and Kayti is encouraging more women to enter the construction trades, but getting that to happen means starting with the dominant population. Men must see the value in women colleagues for this all to work.
“There are studies show that women operators are way more detail oriented and able to perform better in a machine than men because of their skills!” Ry says. “We're preaching communication, communication, communication.”
Getting more women involved in the trades has to start with the people who are already there. “We have to educate them first so that whatever group that we're trying to include in our industry has a comfort level,” Kayti says. “The culture is set up and built and ready for them to have success.”
Getting Connected
So, where do we start? How do we shift an entire industry? How do we eradicate stigma and encourage diversity on a genuine level that isn’t just lip service? The answer lies in relationships. People need support. Women need allies – including men – and vice versa. People need to be treated like human beings. Order a pizza and chat. Ask people how they are – with genuine curiosity. We all strive for that connection.
Those connections keep us going.
“There really is a lot,” Ry says about what she enjoys most about her career. “I love the people that I get to work with. Our culture is great because of the people that work here.”
The sentiment resonates with Kayti. She smiles and says, “I get to work with my best friend!”
Stay tuned to the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 365 newsletter as we continue to share stories from women working in construction.
Photo credits: D. Sibley Studios and PushySix Media Group
