Succession planning in the Sault: Algoma training course guides engineers into leadership roles.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SAULT STE. MARIE REPORT

With the number of people eligible to retire from Algoma reaching the hundreds, the Sault Ste. Marie steel plant has created its own succession program to ensure all that knowledge and expertise isn't lost.

For the last four years, the company (formerly known as Essar Steel Algoma) has been running its Graduate Engineer Training Program, a 12-month training course designed to prepare new engineers for various leadership roles at Algoma.

"There's a good chunk of baby boomer-type people that are going to be leaving the company in the next few years," said Algoma's general manager, Dave Clingen, who oversees the program.

"We recognize that, in addition to the people we have on staff, we wanted to start to develop some newer people, and in the future maybe they can take some of those leadership-type roles across the company."

Brenda Stenta, Algoma's manager of corporate communications, said up to 700 people are currently eligible to retire. While that doesn't mean they will all choose to retire simultaneously, "we need to start to turn our mind to knowledge transfer and succession planning," she said.

Eligible candidates for the program include graduates with a four-year degree in chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil, or materials and metallurgical engineering.

The program consists of a rotation through nine various departments, shadowing supervisory and technical roles, classroom training, and networking opportunities.

"For each of the areas, they may be there for a month or two months, depending on their discipline, and get some exposure to the process, and also the process of managing the area," Clingen said. "Shadowing is looking to see how the incumbent people do their job ... so they get exposure to all the various roles in all of the operating areas and service areas."

Participants are also given a major project--called a "compass project"--to complete through the program. It's specific to their discipline, and they work on it for six to eight months through the program.

"They're all real issues that they need to resolve and propose a solution, and in some cases we actually implement the solution while they're in that role," Clingen said.

For many incoming candidates, although they know they want to work in a technical role, they aren't clear on how they can apply their skills, or what specific job they want to do, Clingen said. Spending time in each department gives them a chance to see what each role entails.

It also works in the...