Both private, for-profit corporate training companies and community college workforce development and corporate training departments compete for training contracts as well as create meaningful partnerships between each other to meet the requests of employers in today’s training marketplace. This simultaneously competitive and collaborative environment spreads across entry-level job skill development to mid-level incumbent worker training…

On April 21, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) released a report titled “Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future.” It was created by AACC’s 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, comprised of 38 community college professionals. The report was released in conjunction with AACC’s 92nd annual convention held…

The Automotive Manufacturing Technical Collaborative (AMTEC), comprised of 23 community colleges and 21 industry partners, has developed a general maintenance mechatronics curriculum for the automotive industry that has the potential to also be utilized in other advanced manufacturing job sectors.…

Pockets of workforce development initiatives at community colleges are showing great promise through recent funding from the federal government. However, on the opposite side of the funding bar, state dollars at community colleges have shrunk in 43 states, resulting in difficult budgets, which historically is not an uncommon situation at our nation’s community colleges.…

It is easy to forget how dangerous the workplace can be – especially in the high-stakes world of construction and building maintenance. Tragically, this week alone 88 workers are likely to die in construction-related accidents and a staggering 63,461 are likely to get injured! With better training, a surprisingly high percentage of these casualties of…

Industry training programs are not standardized across states, essentially allowing room for gaps in skills that could produce a misaligned workforce. U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) is attempting to address this issue by introducing the AMERICA Works Act, which will create a commonsense system to identify qualified workers and ultimately help people find jobs.…

A compelling business lesson from today’s economy, especially given the recent downturn, is that excellent customer service can make or break a company’s bottom line. And when we say “excellent customer service” we mean the ability to both surprise and delight a customer at each and every touch point in the customer experience.…

Most organizations have barriers to creativity, ideas, and innovation. Some are obvious while some are more subtle. Some barriers emerge from attitudes and perceptions of organizational leadership while others come from organizational structure or even from the employees themselves. Since these barriers have a tendency to eliminate creative possibilities from the organization, identifying and removing…

The most successful companies today have a workforce that is aligned behind a company’s strategic objectives and core values. As companies continue to alter their strategic plans to succeed during a challenging economy, this kind of training on values and objectives becomes even more critical.…