It’s great when you hear about educational innovation at the corporate level. And McDonalds is no exception. In January of this year, the British government agreed to recognize academic learning at McDonalds for their employees with accredited school credits. This effort by McDonalds is designed to assist employees with gaining a high school equivalency diploma. I say “Hurray McDonalds”.
Let’s face it, school is not for everyone. But on-the-job training with an opportunity to gain a diploma has to be a win-win situation for McDonalds’ employees. Read the whole story here at the Washington Post.
In 1989, Wendy Kopp founded Teach for America. This organzation recruits new college graduates to teach in low-income schools. Since that time, 14,000 teachers have gone through this program. The story in the New York Times talks about how the Teach for America almuni have moved forward and begun their own charter schools. Read about it here. This is a great example of how one person can change the lives of so many through their dedication to teaching.
Forced ranking in corporate America has been around for years. It is a process that forces management to rank employees in order to determine how to move the company forward. According to Wikipedia, Jack Welch of GE used forced ranking this way:
The “top 20″ percent of the workforce is most productive, and 70% (the “vital 70″) work adequately. The other 10% (”bottom 10″) are nonproducers and should be fired.
The result was motivated employees at the top of the rank and employees at the bottom were let go. Read here about the details of the GE program.
Training Magazine (June 2008) discusses forced ranking in terms of the effect on the training department. Basically, in order for organizations to be successful, their workforce needs to be effective. Forced ranking is the formula that puts employees on the right track and training then is responsible for insuring that employees get what they need and when they need it. What success stories can you share about forced ranking in your organization?
For organizations, businesses or even families, change in any form tends to breed anxiety. People like things that are famililar and change introduces things that are new. That may include change in people, places, processes, systems, the list is seemingly endless. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Training Magazine’s article (June 2008 edition) entitled “Changes with Penguins” explains how Dr. John Kotter is helping companines with change. Dr. Kotter’s program, Leading Bold Change, is currently being implemented in Fortune 500 companies whose primary goal is to assist their workforce with corporate change. Dr. Kotter is accomplishing this with his ‘8 Steps to Successful Change’. They are: increase urgency, build the guiding team, get the vision right, communicate the buy-in, emjpower action, create short-term wins, don’t let up and make it stick.
The result? The fear and anxiety of change are being replaced with a desire to get to the core issues and make the changes not only happen but remain.
How can donating your time to a charity improve your training department? According to Training Magazine (May 2008 issue), CEO’s are encouraging their employees to get involved with their communities. They believe that working with charitable groups can improvde “teambuilding, leadership development and strategic thinking skills.” Have you or your company had any experiences with this? If so, please share your story here.
Classroom training is great, but there is no better learning than on-the-job. Monmouth University in NJ has started an entrepreneur program that allows students to work as they learn. This can only mean a boost to small business in the U.S. Colleges and universities across the country are seeing the benefits of not only educating students but providing them with the practical skills needed in real-world situations. See the complete article here.
With fuel prices steadily approaching $4/gallon and food prices up 17%, it is no wonder that businesses are going to tighten financial belts this year and possibly freeze spending until the economy improves. So what’s a training department to do if they can’t buy what they need?
The TrainingForce LMS is an application service that offers a monthly payment option. A simple sign-up, setup fee and monthly fee can get a training department on the right track today. And if you want to bring the system in-house later (when the economy improves), switch the same service to your location and bring your data with you.
Business and training must go on, regardless of the status of the economy. However, services like TrainingForce offer the flexibility of hosting options that will suit many business models, giving management the tools that they need.
Here’s a great list from the Travel Channel of things made in America. Check it out.
During these tough economic times, businesses are having a difficult time purchasing items, whether they are needed or not. One of the ways to stimulate an economy is to buy local, if possible. There are many items that are still made in this country and lists are available. Here are a few: Americans at Work, Made in the USA, US Stuff, Still Made in the USA, and many more. And remember, when you buy from Americans, you are helping Americans.
Baby boomers are getting ready to retire. Yippee! Or at least that is what companies should be saying. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by 2010, 6%-10% of the U.S. workforce will be reduced. While many are viewing this as a “looming challenge”, I have to believe that there are some that see this as a welcome change.
Technology has paved the way for businesses to run efficiently, productively and profitably. However, when companies are profitable, they are not searching for ways to be more profitable. The coming reduction will force companies to work with a lean, highly trained crew. This can only mean higher profits for corporations, and for shareholders. Of course the downside of the reduced workforce and increased retirees is a greatly reduced tax base, but that is a conversation for another article.