From Portland to Singapore

For tech-forward general contractors, culture isn’t just an internal motto; it’s the foundation of performance, trust, and growth. Whether managing a data center in Utah or a campus project in Southeast Asia, the expectations are the same: safe execution, operational excellence, and a unified approach to delivery. But when your workforce is distributed, keeping everyone aligned (on process, policy, and on leadership expectations) requires more than in-person meetings and fly-in training sessions.

As Fortis Construction expands its project portfolio across regions and time zones, the challenge isn’t just building new facilities, it’s preparing teams to deliver with the same high standards, wherever they are. But as your geographic footprint expands from U.S. offices to international markets, maintaining that unified culture becomes exponentially more complex.

The question isn’t whether global readiness is possible. It’s how to scale it efficiently, without losing what makes your teams effective in the first place. Flying teams around the world for training isn’t scalable. It’s expensive, logistically taxing, and environmentally unsustainable.

Reimagine Leadership Development for a Global Stage

Leadership development is one of the most high-stakes investments you can make and has long relied on in-person gatherings. Mostly in the form of annual retreats, classroom-style trainings, and cross-functional meetups. These were valuable not just for the content, but for the relationships they built. But when your leaders are spread across time zones and continents, flying everyone in for every program isn’t just inefficient, it’s impossible to sustain. When geography becomes a barrier, access becomes uneven. 

Fortunately, leadership development is no longer bound by conference rooms or hotel day-use offices. The highest-performing programs are evolving into hybrid experiences: part live, part on-demand, and fully accessible from anywhere. Today’s leadership development strategies are moving toward a hybrid model, blending virtual meetings with on-demand resources and intentional community-building.

This shift doesn’t mean lowering the bar on engagement. In fact, virtual formats can deepen it -when thoughtfully designed. Live sessions with executive leadership, breakout discussions, and post-session assignments can be delivered in a way that mirrors the best of in-person interaction. A central learning hub ensures that materials are always available, reinforcing concepts over time.
The key isn’t just digitizing the experience. It’s building a rhythm of connection that reinforces company values, regardless of geography.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Live virtual sessions that feel meaningful
  Full-length training days still have their place, but replicating them online without adjustment can lead to fatigue and disengagement. Instead, consider breaking longer sessions into segments that allow for reflection, discussion, and connection. Strategic use of breakout rooms, live Q&As, and interactive polls transforms the experience from passive viewing to active learning. Whether it’s a 90-minute leadership roundtable or a half-day skills workshop, building in space for participation helps keep energy high and learning sticky.

• Cohort-based learning, across borders
  When new leaders join from offices in different regions, virtual formats level the playing field. Everyone gets the same access to instructors, materials, and dialogue. Learning happens together—even when people are thousands of miles apart.

• On-demand libraries for deeper learning
  Session recordings, templates, and supplemental readings are organized in one place. This not only accommodates different learning styles and schedules—it creates a persistent resource that leaders can return to over time.

• Global cadence, local relevance
  One of the most powerful outcomes of virtual leadership development is the ability to build global alignment while addressing regional nuance. Sessions can be localized with examples, language options, or regional facilitators—without overhauling the entire program.

• Persistent assets
  Recordings, slides, and follow-up assignments can be stored in a branded on-demand portal, creating a living resource for continuous talent development. This modernized leadership lab turns learning into an evergreen, immersive journey—aligned to your core values, delivered at scale.

Standardize Critical Compliance and Safety Training

Every employee, whether based in Portland or Singapore, must complete essential training—on topics such as DEI, harassment prevention, or equipment safety. Ensuring consistency and compliance across global offices is notoriously difficult.

By centralizing training through a platform like EventBuilder, you receive:

• Uniform delivery: One expertly produced module reaches your entire workforce.
• Advanced analytics: From who watched to engagement levels, every interaction is tracked and timestamped.
• Audit-ready records: Automated certificates and activity logs simplify compliance reporting—no more scattered spreadsheets or manual tracking.

Elevate Onboarding with a Hybrid, Culture-Driven Experience

The first 90 days define an employee’s long-term engagement. A hybrid onboarding experience ensures every new hire feels connected, informed, and inspired—whether they’re in Utah, Oregon, or halfway around the world.
Your hybrid onboarding could include:

• Virtual “Welcome Week”
  Live introductions with leadership, interactive sessions on company mission and values, and peer-to-peer meet-and-greets.
• On-Demand Cultural Library 
  Video interviews with executive leaders, site tours, ceremony stories, and guides to global offices are all available anytime.
• Scheduled Check-Ins 
  Built-in Teams reminders ensure new hires receive timely support from mentors, HR, and peers.

This unified onboarding creates a consistent brand-first experience that nurtures a sense of belonging from day one—no airplane ticket required.

Why This Matters for Tech-Forward GCs

• Scale without sacrifice: Virtual-first design breaks the barriers of geography, time zones, and logistics, so you can invest more in talent and less in travel.
• Leverage existing tools: By integrating into Microsoft Teams, you build on what your teams likely already use, no extra learning curve required.
• Measure impact with precision: Detailed analytics illuminate who’s learning, when, and how. This informs decisions and reinforces accountability.
• Ensure security and brand consistency: A single, branded experience that protects your intellectual property and aligns every interaction with your corporate identity.

Final Takeaway

A people-first culture fuels growth. But scaling that culture globally demands more than sporadic in-person events—it requires a sustainable, virtual-first training ecosystem.

By deploying a secure, branded, hybrid model inside Microsoft Teams, with immersive live moments, on-demand learning, and measurable compliance modules, you can develop leaders, reinforce safety, and onboard with purpose. Anywhere in the world.
That’s not just growth. It’s culture, business, and technology aligned for global success.

Next Steps

• Explore a live demo: See how immersive, secure virtual events look in your Teams environment.
• Pilot a Leadership Lab cohort: Launch a small-scale experiment and measure impact.

Culture scales when your systems are built to carry it.

A thoughtful shift to a virtual hybrid model doesn’t dilute what makes your organization unique, it reinforces it. When leadership development, compliance training, and onboarding are designed with intention and accessibility, they become the framework that supports culture as your company grows across cities, countries, and continents.