Congratulations to FBA’s Women in Fiber Group’s April 2021 Woman in Fiber Spotlight, Barbara Harmon!
The Woman in Fiber Spotlight is a special initiative meant to highlight and recognize the different roles and careers for women in fiber, telecom, tech, and construction.
Nominated by Colin Garner, Wolf Line Construction, he had this to say about Barbara Harmon, "Barb is a critical leader within our organization setting expectations for new employees and a culture for everyone. Her high performance, safety-forward culture has created an exceptional place to work and ultimately a great product for our clients. Wolf Line Construction deploys rural broadband networks in the energized space using qualified electrical workers. Our company has been very successful in reaching many rural Americans that would otherwise not have access to broadband. I believe Barb’s efforts have directly impacted our deployments and helped bridge the digital divide.”
How did you get to your current position? What was your path?
My current role with Wolf Line Construction is Director of Human Capital. I started out my career in office management, which evolved into Human Resources and Safety in Industrial Construction. I joined Wolf Line when they were just starting out and had the opportunity to work with Senior Management to help develop policies and procedures, and recruit and train employees. This was a great growth opportunity, very challenging as well as rewarding.
What is an accomplishment you are proud of?
I have two accomplishments that I am very proud of:
I had the opportunity to work with Senior Management to develop and manage a new Department of Labor approved Apprentice Program. We worked on developing the program for over a year and were able to start it in the Fall of 2019. When we started the program, we had 5 individuals enroll. Since then, the program has grown to 18 individuals enrolled, with an additional 14 on the waiting list. This is an incredible program where our employees receive on-the-job training while enrolled in the Northwest Lineman College (NLC).
I received my OSHA trainer certification which enables me to teach the OSHA 10/30 program to our employees so that we can continue to provide in-house safety training.
What is one thing industry related or not you learned in the last month?
In the last month, I was reminded from a Human Resources perspective, how important the first impression is when conducting an interview. It is also important to make the applicant feel comfortable, so you get a good interview, and they leave the interview feeling that you work for a great company.
How do you define success?
I define success in two ways:
First, by recruiting good quality candidates, and training, coaching, and promoting a culture that affords the employees opportunities to learn and grow within our organization, so they enjoy working for Wolf Line.
Second, personal success for me professionally means being committed to always being the best that I can be for my job, employees, and managers, and truly feeling good about the outcome.
Who inspires you?
My employees (the men and women in the field) inspire me to be the best I can be, to always be there to support them, listen to them, assist them wherever possible, and help ensure they return home safely at the end of each day.
What is one piece of advice you would give to a woman starting a career in fiber, tech, or construction?
I would tell them to have confidence in themselves, have an open curious mind, ask questions, and to strive to be the very best they can be. Never compromise your integrity.
