How KTGY’s Learning Ecosystem Accelerates Change and Builds Trust | John Robison and Donovan Helminiak of KTGY

KTGY was founded in 1991 with an ambition to build a firm that would outlast the people who built it. Six founding partners set out to create a firm which would endure from generation to generation — a firm whose culture, values, and capability would compound over time rather than walk out the door when any one person retired. What they couldn’t have anticipated is how deliberately, and how systematically, KTGY would eventually design its way toward that goal. In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, I’m joined by John Robison, Chief Operating Officer at KTGY, and Donovan Helminiak, Director of Knowledge Management, to trace the evolution of KTGY's learning ecosystem and examine how it has become one of the firm's most consequential strategic investments. The conversation goes behind the scenes of how KTGY built four key components of its learning ecosystem: - ELEVATE Leadership — a year-long, cohort-based program built to teach emerging leaders what great leadership looks like at KTGY - ELEVATE Essentials — a foundational knowledge program which grew from a pandemic-era intern series into a hybrid on-demand and workshop model open to the entire firm - ELEVATE Talent Management — a newer program targeting first-time people managers, focused on the day-to-day nuance of leading teams - FUEL — a grassroots mentorship community driven entirely by emerging professionals, deliberately mixing offices and experience levels to build connections that wouldn't otherwise exist across seven offices The old apprenticeship model — learning one project at a time from the people around you — served KTGY well for decades, but is no longer sufficient for a firm with over 400 employees, seven offices, a generation of retiring principals, and a profession being radically reshaped by technology. KTGY's answer has been to design something more intentional: a learning ecosystem where cohort-based programs, on-demand curricula, and grassroots community reinforce each other, and where building trust is a primary goal. As we discussed in the episode, trust is the catalyst that determines how fast AEC firms can change and evolve. To move faster, means intentionally investing in building trust and KTGY’s learning ecosystem has proven remarkably effective at doing exactly that. If you lead an AEC firm thinking seriously about what it takes to build a culture that connects distributed teams, and stays ahead of change, and endures across generations, this episode is an honest accounting of what that investment (and the returns) look like. ## Guests **John Robison**, Chief Operations Officer, KTGY With over 30 years of experience in practice, technology and operations, John Robison serves as COO for KTGY. His primary responsibility is the management of the company’s operational activities including, HR IT, facilities and internal communications. John is also involved in strategic growth activities, process improvement, key recruiting and hiring, and professional development programs, adept at communicating a vision and building effective teams to move the company forward. John practiced architecture as a designer and project manager early in his career until he transferred his talents and expertise to business management and technology. He is a creative strategist who seeks out opportunities to improve operational processes and positively affect both the top and bottom line. He has been a long-time advocate for virtual design and construction and integrated project delivery practices. He led the effort to adopt and implement Synthesis in the firm, which revolutionized project management processes and the ability for teams to collaborate effectively. He also provides corporate leadership, vision and change management efforts and has pioneered organization-wide technology transformations of production and project delivery software. **Donovan Helminiak**, Director of Knowledge Management, KTGY Donovan Helminiak is the Director of Knowledge Management at KTGY, where he leads the charge on helping the firm make better decisions faster. His work sits at the intersection of people, process, and technology—breaking down silos across teams, systems, and information so that knowledge actually moves to where it's needed. With over 15 years in the AEC industry and two decades of experience before that as a corporate trainer, business and systems analyst, and internal communicator across the automotive and financial services industries, Donovan brings a cross-industry lens to solving business challenges. He's known for digging past symptoms to find the real problem worth solving. Today, he leads KTGY's AI strategy, championing intentional and responsible adoption paired with the learning culture and knowledge foundation needed to make it stick. ## Credits Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents ## **📚** Show Notes + Resources **Behind the Scenes of ELEVATE: KTGY’s Professional Development Program** — John Robison's KA Connect 2024 talk, a deeper dive into how the program started and why cohorts work. ## Chapters (00:00) Welcome and Episode Introduction (04:28) KTGY Overview and Origins (05:37) ELEVATE Leadership Program (14:05) Defining Leadership and Measuring Success (23:02) ELEVATE Leadership: The Participant Experience (27:04) ELEVATE Essentials Program (41:11) ELEVATE Talent Management Program (44:49) Why Cohorts Build Trust (49:21) Cohorts, Workshops, or One-to-Many (51:54) FUEL: Grassroots Mentorship and Community (55:04) Seeing KTGY as a Learning Ecosystem (01:03:01) Critical Knowledge Transfer (01:06:43) What's Changing for Practitioners (01:18:29) What Never Changes (01:24:04) AI and the Speed of Trust