The Trades Staffing Challenge: Building and keeping a great team
Wage increases are no longer sufficient to attract or retain workers.
Workers are increasingly making employment decisions based on workplace culture, stability, and development opportunities rather than compensation alone.
The solution?
Great leadership and mentorship are key to keeping the talent pipeline going and growing in the trades.
The good news?
Leaders are not born - they are made.
Leadership is a skill that can be taught to anyone.
YWITT’s Building Strong Leaders program is designed to develop great leaders for your worksite
Leadership training programs this spring
Building Strong Leaders 101
March 24 | 6pm-8pm @ Yukonstruct
A 2-hour training introductory session
Identify your leadership style and learn to make the most of it
Understand what makes a great leader - and why you’re more qualified than you think
Share experiences with other leaders in the trades
Who is it for? Supervisors, forepeople, journey people, managers, and business owners
Building Strong Leaders 201
April 2 & 9 | 6pm-8pm @ Yukonstruct
A 2-part program that focuses on small actions for the workplace that have big impacts
A focus on building workplace culture and mindset shifts
Share experiences with other leaders in the trades
Who is it for? Supervisors, forepeople, journey people, managers, and business owners
How can leadership skills benefit the worksite?
Leadership skills are necessary for today’s worksite to attract talent and reduce turnover. Great leaders can:
Bridge the skills gap
Transfer essential knowledge as senior tradespeople retire and younger workers join the trades
Create a place people want to work leading to greater retention and better crews
Build workplaces that are safer, stronger, and more productive
What to expect?
Brainstorms and insights on what is a good leader.
A self-assessment to find out what kind of leader you are.
Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of different types of leadership.
Tips and tricks on how to build strong teams and positive mentorships.
Local facts and data on retention, analyzing bias and trends.
Group conversations and peer-learning opportunity.
A positive learning environment.
Who are these programs for?
The YWITT Building Strong Leaders program supports supervisors, forepeople, journey people, managers, and business owners who are looking to:
help workers feel welcome on site
stepp in when something doesn'’t feel right
anticipate issues before they happened
be someone co-workers can turn to for support
build leadership skills to advance in your career or grow your business
Program facilitators
Martha MacDonald
Martha (she/her) has worked with YWITT since 2024 as a Leadership Coordinator creating and facilitating leadership training programs for skilled tradespeople.
Martha has worked in the trades her entire working career, starting out in the fishing industry on the East Coast in spring seasons, then later as a dishwasher turned Garde Manger at an Inn on PEI, later seasonally heading into the wild as a head cook in remote camps, wintering at restaurants around the country, and the last 10 years as a carpenter in BC and the Yukon. She feels grateful to have worked alongside such a wide variety of people throughout her working life, and wants to share the perspectives gained through those experiences.
Lately, Martha has been really into motorsports like offroading and dirtbiking, camping and walks on the trails south of Whitehorse. She’s just been licensed as a professional pyrotechnician apprentice, but she enjoys a quiet evening by the fire just as often.
Martha believes deeply in the mission of equity for all skilled tradespeople, and that the best advocates are the ones willing to listen and explore common ground. She feels drawn to commonalities, and approaches YWITT’s leadership programming with the knowledge that most people want similar things: to feel valued, to be respected, to be part of a cohesive team.
For more information
For more information, contact:
martha@yukonwitt.org