Training programs help with future success.
Colleges and universities across the country have
seen the demand for workforce training programs skyrocket as employers
and employees alike fight to stay relevant in today's rapidly evolving
business environment.
For companies, workforce training can help to strengthen their employee base and maximize productivity.
For the individual, training from experienced
instructors can build personal leadership skills, enhance communication
effectiveness, and provide a deeper understanding of business strategy.
This adds a competitive edge in developing a career.
In the Tristate, mainstays like the University of
Cincinnati, Miami University and Cincinnati State Technical and
Community College offer workforce training and professional
certification programs.
The Xavier Leadership Center (XLC) at Xavier
University has offered workforce training and certification programs to
private corporations and businesses for 25 years. The focus? Improving
Tristate organizations from the ground up.
According to Bruce Miller, managing partner at the
XLC, as many of today's leaders begin to approach retirement, developing
well-rounded managers has become a greater need for businesses.
"We're seeing that companies are having issues when
it comes to succession of leadership," Miller says. "Our core focus is
to identify and develop the next generation of leaders and business
professionals."
This growing need for workforce training has led to a
big move at Xavier. For the first time, this fall, enrollment in
training and certification programs at the XLC will be made public for
companies in and around Cincinnati.
These programs range from curriculums in project
management, financial planning, and the excellence-driven Six Sigma
approach, which focuses on eliminating flaws in all aspects of business,
from manufacturing to customer service.
Workforce training instructors at the XLC come from
diverse backgrounds, according to Miller "” many of them are professors
at Xavier and others are both current and retired professionals at some
of Cincinnati's best-known corporations like Procter & Gamble.
"Our corporate audience really responds to instruction from people who have lived it and done it within the industry," he says.
The marquee program offered this fall is the
Leadership Foundations Certificate, an eight-part package that
emphasizes the development of personal leadership skills, strategy, and
team-building exercises. Business professionals attend the course one
day per week until completion.
The first five sessions have a fixed curriculum
while the final three offer electives meant to further develop the
skills a professional is most interested in enhancing. These electives
may fall in the categories designed for both seasoned leaders and young
professionals.
"For the individual, it's about developing
nationally recognized certification skills within that person's specific
discipline," Miller says.
Other certificates include project management
certification, Lean certification, and Six Sigma Yellow, Green, and
Black Belt certification. Specialty certifications in the nursing and
physician programs are also available.
Miller says the XLC chose to open its enrollment
because companies liked the idea of coupling their employees with the
employees of other companies within the same industry.
"Specifically, these companies wanted interaction
between peers from other organizations, at the same level of employment,
going through similar experiences," he says. "Individuals find they
learn as much from the other participants as they do from the coaches in
the classroom. It adds to the cross-pollination of learning."
But programs open to the public are not just
valuable to the employees"”they also benefit the day-to-day operations of
the companies themselves, according to Miller.
Prior to going public, the XLC's private workforce
training packages required at least 20 employees from a particular
company for any given course or certification program.
"Open enrollment allows those companies to send only
five or six people at once," he says. "That means a company doesn't
have to take as many employees out of the workplace at the same time."
Sessions in each of the XLC's workforce training
programs are held on Xavier's campus at the Schiff Conference Center,
located in the Cintas Center facility.
But not all of the Tristate's workforce training
programs are held at their respective colleges and universities. One of
the Tristate's most recognized venues for corporate meetings is
BOOST"¦for meetings sake, with an original location in Cincinnati and a
new facility in Mason.
When the downtown Cincinnati location was first
established in 2008, the intention was to create a unique meeting space
with an inspiring and personal atmosphere, according to Jenny White,
BOOST's founder and facility manager.
All this makes for a highly collaborative learning environment for professional development.
"You won't experience distractions from other events
and are able to freely discuss confidential topics," she says. "Being
in a private space also allows attendees to share more freely, therefore
having more meaningful dialogues."
The flexibility of the space at BOOST's two
locations also allows for general conferences to easily breakout into
separate sessions depending on the needs of the client.
P&G as well as other major Cincinnati-based
corporations are amongst the professional clients that have held their
corporate meetings at BOOST's loft-style locations.
"Our meetings spaces are designed to generate ideas
and discussions, encourage group interaction, and stimulate creative
thinking," she says.