What Is The Best Leadership Training For Construction Superintendents And Project Managers?

The Best Training for Construction Leaders (And Why One Answer Doesn’t Fit Everyone)

Here’s a question I get constantly: “What’s the best training for construction project managers and superintendents?” And I could give you a simple answer come to Super PM Boot Camp, obviously but that wouldn’t be fair or helpful. The truth is there are multiple excellent trainings serving different needs, and the “best” one depends on where you are in your development journey, what specific capabilities you’re trying to build, and what format works for your learning style and company situation.

If you’re hardcore and ready for deep transformation, Super PM Boot Camp at Elevate is designed for that. We run them at least two or three times a year. Class sizes typically range from 25 all the way up to 60, 70, 80 people. They’re very popular and we have 100% raving fan status afterwards. It used to be that we had an 80-85% acceptance rate. We changed everything to hands-on, everything to technical, everything to skills-based development. And that transformation took us from good acceptance to universal enthusiasm. But boot camp isn’t the only answer, and being honest about the full landscape of quality training serves the industry better than pretending one solution fits everyone.

When Training Selection Actually Matters

The real construction pain here is choosing training based on marketing instead of actual fit for your needs. You see advertisements for construction training. You hear recommendations from colleagues. You attend whatever training your company traditionally uses or whatever fits the budget and schedule. You don’t evaluate whether that training actually develops the specific capabilities your team needs at their current development level. And you end up with training that was excellent for someone else’s situation but mismatched for yours.

The pain isn’t just wasted training investment. It’s missed development opportunity. You had budget and time allocated for training. Your team was ready to learn. But the training you selected taught advanced concepts to people who needed fundamentals. Or it taught theory to people who needed hands-on practice. Or it focused on systems your company won’t support implementing. The mismatch meant the investment produced minimal capability improvement, and you don’t get that time and budget back.

The Pattern That Wastes Development Resources

The failure pattern is treating all training as equivalent as long as it covers “lean construction” or “project management” or “superintendent development.” We don’t evaluate what specific capabilities the training builds. We don’t assess whether the teaching format matches how our team learns. We don’t consider whether the content aligns with what we can actually implement given our company’s current systems and readiness. We just pick training that sounds good and hope it works.

What actually happens is companies send people to training that’s excellent but wrong for their situation. They send superintendents who need fundamental production planning skills to advanced optimization training. They send teams who need hands-on practice to theory-heavy courses. They send individuals to training that requires team implementation when their company won’t support the systems being taught. The training was high quality. It just wasn’t right for that team at that time, and nobody evaluated fit before registering.

Understanding Super PM Boot Camp’s Evolution

Let me start with what we offer at Elevate and be honest about who it serves well. Super PM Boot Camp is hardcore, intensive, transformative training for people who are ready to commit fully to implementation. It’s not introductory. It’s not theoretical. It’s five days of hands-on, technical, skills-based development where you actually plan buildings, optimize schedules, facilitate pull planning, and build muscle memory through practice.

The evolution matters. It used to be that we had professional development mixed with theory and some hands-on work. Acceptance was 80-85-90%. Good, but not universal. We got feedback from 40+ courses and over 1,000 superintendents. They told us: more hands-on, less theory, more technical skills, less conceptual discussion. So, we changed everything. Now it’s hands-on throughout. Technical throughout. Skills-building throughout. You still learn about personal and professional development. You still get theory where it matters. But the overwhelming focus is doing actual work that builds capability.

The result: 100% raving fan status afterwards. Not “pretty good.” Not “mostly satisfied.” Universal enthusiasm because people leave with capability they can immediately implement. They go home with resource information so they can implement as a team. They have templates, tools, processes, and muscle memory from practice. The training creates transformation because it’s designed for people ready to transform.

Who Boot Camp Serves Best

Super PM Boot Camp serves superintendents and project managers who are:

• Ready for intensive skill development, not just knowledge acquisition
• Committed to implementing new systems, not just learning about them
• Willing to challenge their current methods and adopt better practices
• Supported by companies that will allow implementation of what they learn
• Seeking comprehensive production planning capability, not just specific tools

If that describes your situation, boot camp delivers exceptional value. If you’re earlier in your development journey, not sure if you’re ready to commit to implementation, or working in a company that won’t support the systems taught, boot camp might be too advanced or poorly timed for your current needs.

The One-Day Builder Training Option

We also offer one-day builder training that we can deploy for large groups. We can gather hundreds of attendees all the way up to a thousand people and deploy builder training in one day. It’s very inexpensive to deploy all you have to do is reach out and we get a group together and fly to you.

This serves a different purpose than boot camp. It’s not comprehensive transformation. It’s high-impact introduction to production planning concepts for broad audiences. Perfect for:

• Companies wanting to introduce lean thinking across large teams simultaneously
• Associations hosting regional training events for members
• Organizations beginning culture change and needing widespread exposure to new concepts
• Situations where budget or schedule doesn’t support five-day intensive training

The one-day format can’t build the deep capability that five days of hands-on practice creates. But it can create awareness, generate interest, and identify who’s ready for deeper training. It’s a different tool serving a different need.

Other Excellent Training to Consider

Now let me be fair and recommend other trainings that are quite remarkable. I genuinely believe these serve important purposes and you should consider them based on your specific development needs.

Muster with Echelon Front with Jocko Willink is absolutely fantastic. I recommend everybody in the industry attend. This isn’t construction-specific training it’s leadership development grounded in military special operations experience applied to business. What you get is fundamental leadership principles: ownership, decentralized command, prioritization, decisiveness, humility. These principles apply everywhere including construction, and Jocko’s teaching is powerful. If you need leadership development that transcends construction-specific technical skills, Muster delivers.

The AGC Lean course is excellent for early lean concepts. I absolutely love that course. It gets you into how to think better, how to do better, early lean principles without overwhelming complexity. If you’re new to lean construction or trying to introduce lean thinking to your team, the AGC course provides accessible entry into concepts that form the foundation for more advanced implementation later. It’s well-designed for broad industry adoption.

The course offered online by The Lean Builder folks is fantastic for enhancing collaboration skills. If you want to really improve how you collaborate not just learn collaboration theory, but actually develop better collaborative practices their online course delivers. Collaboration is fundamental to lean construction success, and dedicated training focused specifically on that capability fills a real gap.

How to Choose Based on Your Needs

Here’s the framework for selecting training that actually serves your development goals:

If you need comprehensive transformation with hands-on capability building: Super PM Boot Camp creates complete production planning competency through intensive practice.

If you need broad awareness across large teams: One-day builder training introduces concepts efficiently to hundreds or thousands simultaneously.

If you need fundamental leadership development: Muster with Echelon Front builds leadership capability that applies across all contexts including construction.

If you need accessible introduction to lean thinking: AGC Lean course provides entry-level lean concepts without overwhelming new learners.

If you need specific collaboration skill enhancement: The Lean Builder online course develops collaborative practices that enable effective lean implementation.

The “best” training depends entirely on which gap you’re trying to fill. Don’t choose based on what sounds most advanced or what everyone else is doing. Choose based on what your team actually needs at their current development level.

Beyond Formal Training

Training courses aren’t the only development resources. We also have Miro boards, books, and other resources available. You can contact us anytime at the websites and we’re willing to share anything with you. This matters because formal training creates foundation, but ongoing learning resources support continued development and implementation troubleshooting.

Books provide reference material you can return to repeatedly. Miro boards give you templates and visual tools you can adapt for your projects. Ongoing access to resources and support means training doesn’t end when the course ends. The learning continues through implementation with resources available when questions arise.

Making Training Investment Count

Watch for these signs that help you select the right training:

• Your team understands concepts but can’t implement them: they need hands-on practice training like boot camp
• Your company is introducing lean for the first time: they need broad awareness training like one-day sessions or AGC courses
• Your leaders lack fundamental leadership capability: they need leadership development like Muster before construction-specific training
• Your teams struggle with collaboration despite technical competency: they need collaboration-focused training like Lean Builder courses
• Your superintendents need complete production planning capability: they need comprehensive training like boot camp

Building Development Pathways

This connects to everything we teach at Elevate Construction about developing people systematically instead of randomly. Training isn’t one-time event. It’s development pathway that builds capability progressively. Someone might start with AGC Lean course for foundation, attend one-day builder training for production planning introduction, then come to Super PM Boot Camp when they’re ready for deep transformation. Or they might go to Muster first for leadership foundation, then boot camp for technical capability. The sequence matters less than ensuring each training step serves the actual development need at that stage.

If your company is building systematic development programs for superintendents and project managers, we can help design pathways that integrate multiple training resources ours and others into coherent capability-building progression. The goal isn’t maximizing our training revenue. It’s maximizing your team’s capability development through whatever combination of resources serves them best.

A Challenge for Development Leaders

Here’s the challenge. Stop treating training as checkbox activity where any course covering relevant topics counts as development. Start evaluating specific capability gaps your team has and selecting training that specifically addresses those gaps at their current readiness level. Ask: what can they actually do after this training that they couldn’t do before? If the answer is vague, the training is wrong.

Be willing to mix sources. Send some people to boot camp, others to AGC courses, others to Muster, others to Lean Builder online training based on what each person needs. Use one-day builder training for broad introduction, then targeted intensive training for people ready to implement deeply. Build actual development pathways instead of sending everyone to the same training regardless of their individual needs.

And use all available resources formal courses, books, templates, Miro boards, ongoing support. Training creates initial capability. Resources and support enable sustained implementation. Both matter. As Peter Drucker said: “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.” Training is one moment. Development is continuous. Build systems that support both.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I attend Super PM Boot Camp if I’m new to lean construction?

Boot camp is intensive and transformation-focused. If you’re completely new to lean, consider starting with AGC Lean course or one-day builder training for foundation, then attend boot camp when you’re ready for deep implementation capability. Boot camp works best when you have context for why the systems matter.

Can my company bring boot camp training in-house?

Yes. We do private boot camps for companies. The hands-on format works well with company-specific examples and allows customization to your systems. Contact us to discuss your specific situation and whether in-house delivery serves your team better than public sessions.

What’s the difference between boot camp and one-day builder training?

Boot camp is five days of intensive hands-on skill building for complete transformation. One-day training is broad introduction to concepts for large groups. Boot camp creates implementation capability. One-day training creates awareness and interest. Choose based on depth needed and audience size.

Why recommend competitors’ training instead of only promoting your own?

Because different trainings serve different needs and the industry benefits when people get the right development for their situation. Muster teaches leadership. AGC teaches lean foundations. Lean Builder teaches collaboration. Boot camp teaches production planning. Mix them based on what your team needs.

How do I know if my team is ready for boot camp versus needing foundational training first?

Ask: can they explain basic lean principles? Do they understand why current systems create problems? Are they open to changing methods? Is leadership supportive of implementation? If yes to these, they’re ready for boot camp. If no, start with foundational training like AGC courses or one-day builder training.