Construction Trailblazers: Paving The Way to Excellence

[00:00:00] Welcome to Construction Trailblazers Paving the Way to Excellence the podcast where we cut through the noise to uncover what truly drives success in the building industry.

Samantha C Prestidge: I'm Samantha C. Prestige your guide in simplifying operations and helping you make managing your team simpler. I. You can explore our past episodes@constructiontrailblazers.com and start or continue your journey to excellence. Today we're sitting down with Christina McMillan, a freaking powerhouse in construction leadership and workforce development.

With nearly two decades in the a EC industry, she's not just teaching the next generation, she's rewriting the playbook on how we develop talent. She founded Crew Collaborative. A nonprofit dedicated to workforce development and steel toe leadership, where she coaches and speaks on transformational industry initiatives.

On top of that, she's shaping the future of construction as a professor at Dunwoody College, Christina is clearly on a mission to build a stronger, more [00:01:00] adaptable workforce. So let's dive in. Welcome to the show. walk us through your career journey a little bit, like what led you to workforce development and maybe also like how you're keeping your sanity a little bit.

'cause you've got a lot going on.

Kristina McMillan: I do have a lot going on and I, I think I'm one of those people who has historically, has always just. I thrive in chaos, although I'm old enough now, like I'm in my forties. And I've done a lot of things where I'm sort of trying to like simplify and not be so chaotic. And so, let's see.

I mean, I went to, I went to high school here in Minnesota and really my story for construction starts in high school, but. It's very different than a lot of people who enter the industry right out of high school because, you know, someone in their family did it or whatever. But when I was in high school as a horrible student like C minus average just really wanted to socialize and party with all my friends.

The only class I got an A in was. Welding. And so that was back in the old days when they still offered welding in most of the high schools. And so I was convinced that I [00:02:00] was gonna go into welding right outta high school because I loved it. I knew you could make a lot of money doing it.

Then my senior year, I took my ACS and I ended up getting a 32 on them and it was like. An extreme change happened and all of a sudden all the school counselors were paying attention to me and telling me that I had to go to college. And before that it was like nobody really cared what I was gonna do.

I'm first generation American, and so my parents literally were like, yeah, whatever they tell you to do is what you should do. So I went off to college and I didn't get better grades in college or anything, but I got a degree in journalism and marketing at Iowa State. And from there I left, I went into live music production and arts festivals and got very deep into the arts.

Always still had a love for industry, construction industry and just a respect for it. And it wasn't until I, I was also a high-end jewelry designer for five years in South Minneapolis. And so I did a lot of really cool [00:03:00] artistic things, but I always just kind of felt like luxury goods and like luxury arts were not my people.

And it wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I started looking at construction again and ended up just saying, you know what, this is where my heart is. Ended up selling my partnership at the jewelry store, which was a lucrative job, and taking a job at the Local Home Builders Association, and it really was a huge pivot, but honestly, have never looked back because I just have always felt.

Like trades people and people who are building our world are just. They're my people. I, I've always cursed a lot. And so that just, that in its in its own self was like, okay, I can swear in front of these people. I'm okay here. Not as cool to swear in front of people when you're trying to sell them like a two carat diamond.

But, yeah, so I, I, I started off there and I always say like, residential was like the gateway drug for me. And then [00:04:00] I, I started doing more bigger, crazier things and different spaces always in leadership, never in the field until more recently. And so yeah, it was, it's been a weird journey, but definitely feel good about the fact that I chose construction a little bit later in my career and just have never stopped loving it since.

Samantha C Prestidge: Man, it's, it's so important, like. To find not just what you love to do, but like the people you wanna be around as well. Like I can understand how maybe like luxury goods is, you're like, I like making this jewelry, but the people please step away from me. Right? Yeah. Whereas I think some people ask me like, oh, why?

Like, who are my favorite clients sometimes? And I'm like, oh, like, you know, the tough, like welder, lumberjack looking dude, that's like secretly a teddy bear. I'm like, we're gonna be best friends, you know? So Oh, okay. I kind of love how everything came full circle and like, yes, college wasn't meant for you, but like you still made it work.

Mm-hmm. And just experienced this whole cycle. [00:05:00] So now a lot of leadership, a little bit of field stuff, big focus on workforce development. So what do you think is really unique about your approach in how you are helping construction and field workers to develop and be better leaders and also that next generation of students coming into the industry?

Kristina McMillan: I mean, workforce and development in general. I mean, over the past five years has become a buzzword, especially in construction with our labor shortage. But prior to that, I've always just had a, I'm almost like mad. I've always been kind of mad and annoyed because I grew up in what was considered a rich suburb of the Twin Cities, and I was always just kind of like taught that was a career that we looked down on and that going into construction is sort of like a last ditch opportunity. And that like the people working on job sites are like Neanderthals and they're gonna, you know, cat call you or be rude or just be horrible. And [00:06:00] I just. I don't like that because the more people I've met in construction, the more I've come to my own conclusion that these are family people for the most part.

these are very like. I don't know, just like the nicest, most down to earth, hardworking, amazing work ethic and just like the type of people that I want to be with. And, you know, having been somebody who's also spent a lot of time in c-suites and boardrooms the worst experiences that I've had in my career have been in those environments, right?

Like in the office environments where I've been like totally disrespected because I'm a woman. I find that when I walk into a construction site as a female, at first they might be like, Ooh, like, what's she gonna be like? Like, is she cool? Like, can we relax? And once I crack a couple of my totally inappropriate jokes, I'm like in,

Samantha C Prestidge: yeah, drop

Kristina McMillan: an F.

They're like, yeah. You know, or [00:07:00] if I, you know, a few times, times I've walked onto a site and someone's been like, oh, did you bring us sandwiches? Or did you bring us coffee? And I've got a really smart, you know, quick response to that one. Mm-hmm. Then they're like, okay, okay,

Samantha C Prestidge: got it. She's cool. No, I know what you mean though.

Like, there have been moments. I was at like like an economic development event once so you know, we're talking regulations going on in Colorado where I live. So there are other things going on, like just in the market and things. And I was asking questions 'cause I like. In my opinion, insightful questions to understand the issue a little bit more.

And afterwards, this guy walks up to me and he's like, you asked great questions. I wasn't expecting that from you. I was like, wow, what a wonderful way to open up this conversation. I'll now go to a different part of the room, goodbye.

Kristina McMillan: So Well, and I, and I, I think that, you know, when you ask like about the approach to workforce development and why.

Why this is the thing for me specifically, it's because I feel like these people have been like, told their whole [00:08:00] lives that they're like not at the same level. Especially people that are working in the trades or laborers like that, they're not at the, they're not at the same level as everyone else.

But once you pay a little bit of attention and give them some really great skills, whether it's leadership skills or like communication skills or even just some. You know, positive support or feedback. I think it really just flips the whole way that they view themselves as well. You know, if you're told over and over again that you're not quite good enough or you're not as good as other people doing other types of jobs, you're gonna start to believe it.

But if you start to have that pride in industry and that pride in what you're doing, it can change the whole concept of how you're looking at your day.

Samantha C Prestidge: It just takes someone else looking at you like, oh, you're a human who deserves some attention as well, and I care about you.

Now earlier you said that workforce development was a bit of a buzzword in the industry, so I wanna dive into that a little bit. Like, do you see maybe some misconceptions about workforce development or maybe there are companies that. Have good [00:09:00] intentions, but are going about it not in the best way.

So what are your thoughts there?

Kristina McMillan: Yeah. As someone with a education in marketing and then also being so passionate about workforce development and construction, I can very clearly see the disconnects between what we're trying to do as an industry and then the actions that we're actually taking. Personally, I feel like.

When it comes to workforce development, a lot of companies, especially the larger ones, are throwing money at the problem or throwing money at marketing for their workforce, and they're not really being intentional about how they're going about recruiting. And that can be tricky because. Really what it comes down to is the one-on-one engagement with these individuals that'll be coming into our industry.

You know, putting out a broad message or graphics or something like that without taking the time to make it personal is exactly what's going to. Set us back. If we are [00:10:00] showing more of the people doing the work or we're showing more young people who are in our industry and we're giving them the opportunity to get out and recruit and we're giving them incentives to go out and speak at schools and stuff like that, like to me that is workforce development.

So many. Of these larger GCs, you might see them just just putting things on their socials or, you know, showing up at career fairs and standing behind a table. To me, that's you expecting people to come to you. And when we have a problem, like we have, it should be our responsibility to actually go to the students and to go out into the community.

And even more so than just. The students to go out into the community and talk to parents and school administrators and give these students a path or an option into construction and start talking about the money to be made in our industry. Because really that's the big thing that really makes their eyes light up, right?

When they can hear that they don't have to go to college if they don't want [00:11:00] to. They can not take out those student loans and they can be making six figures in their twenties like. Like it's a no brainer.

Samantha C Prestidge: That's such a good point of also like understanding like the teachers and the parents that, that are like their centers of influence, right?

Same thing in sales, where you wanna know who's the center of influence for whoever your buyer or decision maker is. I mean, just like you, you went to college because your guidance counselors and your parents are like, yeah, I guess this is the next step, right? So not just getting in front of those students, but also in front of the people that are helping them to make those decisions Now.

You're in a unique role because you do get to help some of those students make decisions about where they're gonna go work because you work at Dunwoody College, which when we first connected it was such an interesting story. So I wanna give our listeners a chance to hear this because you started very close to the beginning of the semester, but still rewrote the whole curriculum.

So kind of break that down for us a little bit.

Kristina McMillan: I've been involved with Dun Woody for a little while on their PAC [00:12:00] committee, which is basically a committee of people who put together curriculum. It wasn't until last fall when a friend of mine, who's the dean of the school reached up because they, they had lost one of their professors.

Like he had, he had left the college and it was like two weeks before school started and she asked if I would teach some intro to industry classes and obviously like I love industry. People know that I run crew collaborative and so I'm used to talking about all the different aspects of construction and so I said, sure.

I would be happy to do that. And then it took about a week for the contract to come through and all that stuff. And so it was about a week before class started when I started getting all of the curriculum and seeing sort of the direction of the class and what had already been set up for me. And I trashed the whole thing.

And I, you know, I don't know if that was the right thing, way to go about doing things, but I just felt really strongly because. [00:13:00] I spend a lot of time talking to people entering the industry and who are in the industry that the direction that that it was in had just been sort of on repeat. And a lot of times we get into like doing things the same way over and over again just because it's comfortable and you know, that doing it that way was not comfortable for me.

And so rewriting the whole curriculum, even though it was. A lot made a lot of sense to me. Instead of of doing a lot of the topics out of a book, because there was an intro to construction book, which I felt was outdated we just scrapped the book and instead we did a lot of talking about the actual topics like, , contracts and requests for proposals, and just really standard things that you.

Get in any aspect of construction. But then more importantly, the different sectors of construction that are options for the students whether they wanna go into residential, commercial, you know, industrial, like there's all these different spaces they can step into and learning about each of those, and then to double down on that, and then take them [00:14:00] out into the job sites and take them out to places where they can see what it feels like to be working in a historical renovation, or what it feels like to be on a job site for a production builder, or to be on a job site for a custom home builder. 'cause they're very different. And what it feels like to go visit a subcontractor and the type of work that they do.

Because a lot of times students think that they can only go into. Working for a gc and we don't talk about the fact that there's project management for all of these subcontractors as well, and so just making sure that they were exposed to all those different types of construction, but then doubling down even further, which I guess is like tripling down.

Mm-hmm. I. Started teaching leadership skills in the class and there is a lack of focus in high school and college on soft skills.

Samantha C Prestidge: And I'll

Kristina McMillan: talk about soft skills all day long and how important they are for [00:15:00] construction professionals because we get people out into the industry who don't know how to have a conversation.

Unless they were super social in high school, which not a lot of high school students, especially right now, are super social. They haven't learned how to shake hands. They haven't learned how to make eye contact while they're talking to someone. They haven't learned how to ask really good questions.

They haven't learned how to network. And so those are things we talked about, like how to be a thought leader, how to. Write a good email, how to shake hands. You know how to introduce yourself, how to have your three questions that are always in the back of your head that you're gonna ask somebody when you meet them about a job.

So just giving them those muscles to flex because they had not been developing them before that. And I just think that there's so much to be said about the importance of being able to actually lead a team. 'cause you can learn all of the different. Things you need to know about proposals or about [00:16:00] blueprints or job sites or scheduling or whatever.

That's knowledge. But if you don't know how to communicate those things and how to actually be a leader on a job site, then it's null and void. Like you're taking all this information and you're not gonna be able to utilize it to its full potential.

Samantha C Prestidge: I wanna see the difference in like signups for your class from year or to year, semester to semester, because that sounds so freaking awesome.

There's so much to dissect there. First off, I think great new business idea is to just rewrite the textbook on Intro to Construction and be like, this is what actually sets you up for success. And that's really what your curriculum sounds like, is, yeah. We're gonna introduce you to. The realities of this industry and all the doors and opportunities that are available to you and the different things that you can explore.

But I also really wanna dive into. What you said about students that like they just can't make eye contact. And like a lot of kids are not social these days, like so much happens on social media for them and they talk a big game about mental health, but a lot of them don't know [00:17:00] how to communicate and have those conflict resolution skills.

So just to have someone. That slows down in a safe environment like a classroom, like a college classroom, and say, Hey, this is how you shake a hand and how you introduce yourself and have a little bit of confidence with this and diving also a little bit into like that team leadership stuff.

'cause in high school, the group team leader is just the person that does all of the work for the group project. Right. They're not really leading the team. I mean, you said you didn't know if that was the right way to go. It sounds like this was a phenomenal way to go of scrapping the curriculum and rebuilding it.

What was some of the feedback you got from the first set? First semester? First round? Yeah. First semester. The Guinea pigs.

Kristina McMillan: Yeah. I, I got really high scores on my surveys and the students responded really well to it. I would say. Just seeing the growth in those particular students in that first semester is probably one of my top accomplishments in my career, which is wild.

I've done a lot of cool stuff in my career, but [00:18:00] being able to actually impact the self-confidence of young people is next level because I know that no matter what I do. You know, even if they just walk away with one little nugget of something that makes them feel more confident in a situation that could impact their income, that could impact their relationships, their marriages someday.

Like how they act as parents if they coach eventually. But all the things, like if you give people a tool that gives them better ways to communicate, I mean, that's. Crazy. And I made each of them create a LinkedIn profile, which some of them got really into it. A lot of them were like, oh.

'cause I had like, instead of having them do quizzes on the book, I had them post every week on LinkedIn and they were like, oh my god, Christina, you're making us post again. And I'm like, look, you know, if you have this in place someday, an employer's gonna look online for you. And at least they're gonna be able to say, oh.

They [00:19:00] actually have a LinkedIn and at some point they were active even if they're not anymore. And so to me those are tools that they can actually utilize in their career.

Samantha C Prestidge: Oh yeah. I probably also, like going back to my college days, would roll my eyes at having to post on LinkedIn, but also like, Hey, kids, you're on social media all the time.

It's just one more platform. Mm-hmm. And it's a lieu of having to take a quiz. I feel like we should all be excited about that. So. I know when we also talked, you mentioned this really cool thing that was happening of other companies, then were reaching out to you because you now have access to these students in a way to help solve their labor shortage and things.

And I would imagine that you would not recommend certain companies to your students if you weren't confident that they would be set up for success, right? So. The companies that maybe you haven't recommended. We won't name names, but mm-hmm. What did you see that they were maybe missing the mark on that you weren't confident they could really retain these awesome students that you've built up?[00:20:00]

Kristina McMillan: You know, that's a really good question because there's a couple of companies, again, I'm not gonna name any names, but there's a couple companies that my students are taking internships with that I'm like, Ugh.

Samantha C Prestidge: I dunno

Kristina McMillan: how I feel about that, but. That is my personal experience speaking, and I have to also allow the students.

To follow their own gut feeling. C because I don't know the person that's gonna be their supervisor, right? Like, I don't know their experience that they're gonna have, have, or like what's changed within that company. So I can't base my decisions on my personal experiences. But, I do like to give those students tools from what I know about how those certain companies. function or what they value to help them be successful. But then I'm also telling the students like, this is an internship. Right? Like that is something they need to remember. So even if they take an internship in residential. I would suggest the next time they take one in commercial just to see [00:21:00] different types of construction and how they fit into the space and how it makes them feel.

Because this is the time in their life when they can do that, right? They can try different things. They can ask all the questions and. Learn while they're working. And so I do think that there's a lot to be said about companies that maybe aren't doing things right, but the flip side of that is if I'm also empowering these students to ask good questions and to point out ways to improve, like maybe they can help those companies do better.

Samantha C Prestidge: I, I love the positive spin on that. 'cause I did set it up as kind of like a let's talk shit moment, and you were like, mm, here's the mature way we're gonna approach that. But

Kristina McMillan: yeah, I would've answered that differently five

Samantha C Prestidge: years ago. No, but I, I, I do like the idea of internships is the time to, to hop around.

Like I know my husband's job, his team has had the same intern for the past, three or four summers. So on one hand, okay, that's awesome for her, her resume will kinda show that she was invited [00:22:00] back. She has stability knowing she will have a summer job. But at the same time, she's not exploring and experiencing or.

Experimenting and all the different things that might be available to her. So I, again, I really just think that you need to name your new textbook, setting the next generation up for success because you have such clarity around how to do that

okay. Going back to like, you have these leadership skills, you have these, the, the kind of the soft skills that you're teaching your students.

I'm just also wondering, like, because you also have experience in workforce development with people that are already working, right? The, the professionals that have been there for 5, 10, 15 years, what have you, so what are maybe some of those soft skills that are still missing later on in their careers that you have to help them rejuvenate?

Kristina McMillan: I mean, it's always gonna be. Soft skills are the place that you can really learn more. And you know, just to expand on the that, because soft skills is sounds like such a lame term for such a gritty industry, [00:23:00] but soft skills to me are learning how to better communicate learning how to be empathetic to what's happening with other people on your team.

So many people go into construction because they feel like they don't wanna interact with people, and the big joke is that. In construction, we have to interact with tons of people and not only that, but we have to interact to the point where it's emotionally charged, right? Because you know, whether you're working in residential where you have to do like troubleshooting with a homeowner who's very emotionally invested in the project, or if you're working with a commercial client who's financially invested and so they, they can have a lot of anxiety around that.

Like being able to have these really great conflict re resolution. Topics and conversations like these are the types of things that I work on with my workshops and trainings is like, how do we deescalate a conversation, but then have really straightforward, transparent, [00:24:00] respectful discussions around really hard topics, because these are things that we don't learn, like nobody's teaching us this in school, but they're some of the things that make you the definitely the most valuable person on the team.

Like when you think about who gets promotions and who gets, put up on top of a team, it's the people who know how to talk to their team. It's the people who know how to, to resolve issues. It's the people who are proactive in finding solutions. And those are all soft skills. Like those are all the way to make more money is to be better at talking to people, be better at conflict, resolution, and be better expressing things that you're not good at so that other people can come in and support them.

Samantha C Prestidge: That's a, that's an even tougher soft skill though, because that's not just like people in communication. That's can I be vulnerable and admit that I don't know something and that I need help and can I lean on my team? I mean, there's people in their forties and fifties. There are, there are people that have retired that have never learned that skill.

Right. And that's where we [00:25:00] get those arrogant CEOs and things. But to your point. Like, you don't just need these skills if you're client or customer facing. Like even just, just to stay safe on the job site. You need to be able to know how to communicate and and speak up. And I think, sorry, I just lost my train of thought.

Like, I need coffee. Oh my gosh. Wow. I really just blanked really hard on, but actually

Kristina McMillan: But so what, what I think is good about what you just, the rabbit hole you just spun down is you talked about safety and that's huge. A good friend of mine, Zach Taylor is a union operator out of Boston.

And, you know, until a couple years ago, he didn't really have like a platform of something he speaks on, but he became really passionate about trench safety because so many GCs and people working in utilities are not taking the time to make sure that their employees are safe. By putting in trench boxes.

And so he has [00:26:00] taken his really great soft skills because he's relatable. He is a single dad. People love Zach, but he didn't have a platform yet. And so now he's all about trench safety and you know, he is making a huge impact. Like he is changing the way that GCs who follow him look at trench safety and that can save lives.

Like that's wild, right? Because safety and speaking up and, and really becoming a thought leader in something is really admirable when you are just like, no. This is not okay. And I'm gonna say something and that really makes you into then a thought leader or an influencer, whether you like it or not.

Samantha C Prestidge: And realizing that you, you have a voice. I think I'm gonna sound a little bit maybe cold-hearted for saying this but I think there's a lot of language out there, especially, you know, knowing that like. Social media, Twitter's available to you. Like everything is available for you to share your voice.

And I think a lot of people think that everything they have to say is worth saying. Like, absolutely not. Like we don't, we don't [00:27:00] need to hear this. and he's realizing, Hey, this is something that is worth talking about. And like also look at the example he's setting for his kid. And I would just love to interview his kid and be like, tell me all the things that you love and admire about your dad.

And so to further on that point, your mom. Awesome. I'm, yeah, a lot going on. You're setting an amazing example for work ethic with your daughter. What are, I think, what are some of the conversations? 'cause she's seven, she's old enough to have, you know, some lengthier conversations than my five and 3-year-old right now.

I also have an 11-year-old, so Yeah, I've got two kids and I'm a single mom. Yeah. And your 11-year-old he and he. Opened up one of your podcast seasons with an interview. Yeah. So what are some of the conversations you're having with your kids around working and realizing the opportunities available to them?

Kristina McMillan: Yeah. My kids and I talk a lot about work because right now, in this season of my life, I work four jobs. And so having them understand balance and [00:28:00] the fact that. Every single thing I do is for them. You know, I'm very open about the fact that, you know, when my daughter's like, I don't wanna go to school, or I don't wanna do this, or I want to buy this.

Everything is like, you have to go to school to get your education, but also because I have to go to work and if I don't go to work, you don't get to have your candy or your dolls or this house, they don't get to have the things that we are lucky to have if I can't do my job. And so we talk about that stuff all the time.

And they also know that I speak in front of people about things like workforce development. And when I talk about it, I'm like, I just talk to people about how much I love construction and my kids know how much I love the industry. And it's really cool because my son. Is, we're in the process of figuring out if he's autistic, which he probably is, and he's like a full on genius and it's [00:29:00] crazy.

But I feel good knowing that no matter what he does with these smarts, he will always grow up having a respect for blue collar industry no matter what job he goes on to have. And he could go and he could become an operator. And that would be totally fine if that's what he decides he's passionate about.

Or he could go on and become like an engineer and do whatever he wants with his skillset. But I feel really good knowing that my kids will always grow up with respect for every single type of job and the thing and the people that do those things. So that's good. But as a single parent. Yeah, it's, it's a lot to balance and I, it's funny because people always ask me like, how do you do all the things you do?

And I still feel like I have a lot of free time, so, oh. That to me is like, what did I do before I had kids or become, before I became a single parent? Because like I garden, I work these four jobs I'm an artist. Like [00:30:00] we, we do all the things and I never feel right now like I'm burnt out, which is good.

And I think that that's because I really love what I do. And so I don't come to my kids in the evenings feeling drained. I come to my kids in the evening after being inspired by what I've been doing most of the day, and then being able to turn and pivot towards something that I love doing with my kids.

And I. We know when to pump the brakes and say, no, we can't do this tonight because we all need to take a night off. And my kids are aware of the fact that, if mom's feeling like she needs a break, like we need to respect that mom needs a break because we are a team. So it's all about balance, but really it's about finding joy in the things that I'm doing every day.

Even the things that I don't like doing, like if I have to like balance a. Some budgets or whatever, like working spreadsheets. I like knowing that what I'm working towards is something positive that I'm [00:31:00] passionate about, so just keeping that mindset that's positive makes all the difference and makes me a better parent.

Samantha C Prestidge: I am so amazed at the hobbies that you fit into your day to see the plants behind you. Yeah. And I'm like, wow. Like I have such an aspiration to be a gardener. My husband does the gardening though, because I kill everything. I've killed succulents. I just, I'm not a black thumb. So I can see, and I also like love, like, hey.

We left the luxury goods industry, but we didn't drop the artistic need in you and you're still doing that, which I think is so cool. And yeah. And your kids' awareness of it all. But also to that point, like when my kids spend a week with my in-laws, I'm like, oh my gosh, I have so much time, which you don't real if you don't have kids.

You don't realize that. So I respect anyone that's listening, that you don't have kids, you feel burnt out. Like you're like, where's all the time going? But once you do have kids and then they're not around, you're like, single people should be doing so much. Like they have no excuse. There's so much [00:32:00] time in the day.

And then like, wow, I can, like, seriously, oh my gosh. Like, look how Clean House is now.

Kristina McMillan: I mean, I, it's, it's crazy. Like I don't have a house cleaner. I don't spend money on those types of things. Like I just. I do outsource my laundry though, which I feel like is like my biggest life hack ever. And it's not that expensive just so everybody knows.

But yeah, I think that gardening and the hobbies are like therapy for me. So they are what keep me balanced. I am pretty introverted generally, which I think a lot of people are surprised about. But it's called being an ambivert and I, I take. All of my extrovert and I, I put that out during the day and then when I get home at night, I'm just like, I don't wanna talk to another person except for my kids.

Like I just want to create things and do something creative where I don't have to think really hard. And I just think that having that balance and being self-aware enough to know what you need for balance is good. Because, I mean, work life [00:33:00] balance is not a thing. Work life harmony is, yeah. So, yeah.

Samantha C Prestidge: I get the ambivert thing. Like I, when I network the, the people that I see frequently at networking events, they know like, I've got a good 75 to 90 minute window of Sam is the social butterfly. And then after that I'm like, I'm just gonna hang out by the cheeseboard and the wine over here, and like, no one talk to me please

Kristina McMillan: I don't do small talk well, so I'll go to a networking event and then I will start asking people like. About their biggest fears. Like I'm not talking about the weather. I'm like, so what? Like is the thing that terrifies you the most, you know? I know I straight up ask people like, oh, what do you like and like, not like about your job.

Samantha C Prestidge: And their boss is right next to them, and I'm like, let's dive into this conversation. You know, we're gonna make it work. Okay, so we've talked a huge range of workforce development, the leadership and soft skills you need the, the next generation that's coming into the industry. So for anyone that just wants like one simple takeaway, what would you suggest that [00:34:00] their action item be to just improve?

People skills or just improve their joy in standing in their career.

Kristina McMillan: Wow. That's a really hard question to answer. Just one thing. I think that having really honest, straightforward conversations with your team

a great place to start is to actually have your team do some sort of personality assessment and then have a conversation around how you guys.

Work together so that you can learn more about what people do really well and what they don't do well. And I've just found we do that with the crew collaborative ambassador training. We have everybody do a personality test and a lot of times people are surprised, which is funny. 'cause in the same sentence they'll be like, wow, it's so spot on.

But I was so surprised. And so it's like, well. Did you not wanna acknowledge these things about yourself? And then I also think a great exercise that I do with my students and with the Ambassadors for Crew [00:35:00] is we talk about our, our weaknesses, and then we reframe those. So we reframe them as strengths or skills mm-hmm.

That we can bring to the table. So for example. I don't like public speaking because I suffer from PTSD and my symptom of that is I stutter when I get anxious and so I will stutter when I'm in front of people. But what I've found is it makes me slow down. I. So that is the strength. So instead of everything coming outta my mouth, at the same time, I will take an intentional pause, which some people think I do on purpose, which I'm doing it on purpose, but not to think I'm doing it so that all the words don't pour outta my mouth at the same time, and it can make me pause.

It can make me reflect, but it can also make me more relatable. It can make it to the point where, you know, I am human. Sometimes you need to stop. This is my weakness, but also it's a strength because this is how I'm [00:36:00] utilizing it. And so if we start to look at the things that we have been trained in our lives to have as weaknesses, as more of a personality trait or a strength, it can completely change the way that we look at ourselves as a person and what we bring to the table.

Samantha C Prestidge: It's all about positive perspective and let's back up to how you said you have everyone at Crew Collaborative. Take the test because I, I'm not gonna lie, people ask me sometimes 'cause I'll help with hiring and interviewing with some clients and they're like, oh, should we do this personality test?

And I diss on this because I'm like. Unless you have everyone on your team take it. What, what's the point of having this one interview candidate take this test just so you know, x, y, z about them? But when you do have your whole team take it and you understand the results, and you understand the strengths and the weaknesses or the twist and perspective on those weaknesses and how you guys can collaborate together, then that is like an amazing thing for the team.

So, I mean, kudos to, there's consistency in delivering this test to people. [00:37:00] Alright, well I've absolutely loved this conversation and my cheeks hurt from, from smiling and giggling. So this has, this has been an awesome interview. Thank you for joining us today, Christina. Yeah. You guys wanna learn more about Christina?

If you wanna work with her, we will have her LinkedIn linked in the show notes. And you can reach out to her there. And if you have your own story on leading a team, developing those soft skills or just something funny that happened in construction, I'd love to hear it.

Reach out to us at hello@constructiontrailblazers.com.