Each year, the Idaho Transportation Department offers about 2,000 training courses across the state, investing in employees at every stage of their careers. These courses are designed to improve technical skills and increase the abilities of ITD employees.
However, the courses bring another distinct benefit to the team. Employees are using training not just to learn the work, but to learn from each other. That collaboration is helping strengthen teams and share knowledge.
At a recent flagger class, District 3 trainer Jared Gibson noticed a mix of transportation technician operators and engineers.
“It was awesome,” Gibson said. “Everyone brought a different perspective. The TTOs have first-hand experience, and engineers are working with contractors or managing projects. Seeing how ITD operates from different angles helped educate everyone.”
This mix of perspectives helps educate everyone. For ITD Maintenance Operations Manager Ty Winther, training has evolved beyond delivering information through powerpoint. It is a space where teams learn from each other.
“These trainings really help get teams to collaborate together,” Winther said. “That’s how our field staff learns best, through that collaboration.”
Instead of relying on lecture-style formats, many courses create space for conversation and shared experience. Winther pointed to recent striping training, where staff from across Idaho came together.
“We have subject matter experts all across the state doing great things in their own districts,” he said. “Bringing them together really brings out the good things they’re doing. This space gives us the opportunities to talk about innovations and best practices.”
Those ideas don’t always surface in day-to-day work. But in a training setting, teams are more willing to share what’s working.
“These opportunities are also a way to keep institutional knowledge within the institution,” Winther said. “If we don’t come together and collaborate, we’re not able to share as much or learn from each other.”
That knowledge transfer has real impacts for employees and for ITD as a whole.
“I think it’s great that we do training in groups,” said Davien Beltran, who joined ITD less than a year ago. “It helps us get to know other people that we’re working with and learn from them, even if we’re not directly working with them.”
At ITD, training an investment in people, in shared knowledge and in the relationships that help teams work smarter and more effectively. And ultimately, it is an investment in delivering safer, more reliable roads for Idaho.