The NRCA ProForeman Certificate Program Helps Roofing Contractors Invest in Their Foremen

GENERAL EDUCATION
General education addresses reading comprehension and math. Foremen should be able to communicate with company personnel and potentially with customers in writing. They need to be able to comprehend instructions and other communications on memos, emails and orders. Math skills are required to understand material quantities, production goals and purchasing.

ROOFING TECHNOLOGY
Understanding that foremen already are knowledgeable about roofing and are experts on the systems they install, this program does not teach about roof systems or installation. Components within this topic focus on understanding the reasons for decisions and trends in the industry. Exposure to codes and expert industry updates are two examples.

CONSTRUCTION/BUSINESS PRACTICES
This section introduces foremen to a better understanding of his or her company and the roles others play, as well as looks at some best practices for foremen relating to company representation with customers and goal setting.

LEADERSHIP
NRCA believes leadership is the most critical and often least-developed skill of most foremen. Activities within this topic help foremen to see crew members as people to be trained and motivated rather than as production tools to be driven. Foremen will learn that, in fact, production is more likely to increase when they are focused on leading their people rather than striving to achieve an outcome.

SAFETY
There are more elements within the safety topic than any other; it is nonnegotiable for field managers to be safety experts. Helping hard-working men and women return home at the end of the day is the beginning of motivation and trust for leaders and companies.

TRAINING OTHERS
The final section is an emphasis on foremen as trainers. Foremen need to be able, in formal and informal settings, to teach, train and coach their crews to achieve excellence in their work.

Elements within each section overlap and weave together to form a cohesive program aimed at developing field managers toward excellence. The final element of the program is a conversation with a member of the ProForeman leadership team who will help a participant to define overall takeaways and discern his or her growth over the course of the program.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Some elements of the program require travel and time away from the office; there is simply no better way to discuss leadership and communication than by doing it in person. Most elements, however, are done online or via interaction with a downloadable document and individuals in your company’s office. If all elements were done back to back, the whole program could be completed in about two weeks, but NRCA allows two years to complete the program to spread it out and give participants time on the job to benefit from each learning activity before moving on to the next one. Participants are not required to be foremen. They can be potential foremen or other field managers (in the coming years, NRCA will offer a superintendent certificate program, which will include and build on the ProForeman program).

Hopefully your foremen already are reliable, dependable and do good work. NRCA wants to help your foremen to become the high-performance leaders they are poised to be, to help take your company to new levels and also to raise the standard in the roofing industry.

Learn more
NRCA ProForeman Certificate Program
Visit NRCA.net/proforeman or call NRCA at (800) 323-9545.