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Management
Training
Investing in employee training is a key aspect of creating high-quality jobs. Whether provided on the job or through internal, external, or online coursework, training can be a catalyst for solving business problems and achieving high performance.
At Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, NY, a shortage of staff threatened the hospital’s quality of care. Bassett formed a partnership with two local universities to encourage recent high school graduates and other residents to pursue nursing degrees. Within a few years, the hospital’s nursing shortage had disappeared, turnover decreased, and productivity was on the rise.
IPC of Detroit, MI, makes corrugated boxes—a mature commodity with thin margins, so the company is constantly looking for ways to maximize efficiency and productivity. One key method is to cross-train production workers on different machines and jobs, which helps cover for absent workers and mitigates fluctuations in workflow. By building an agile workforce, the company enjoys cost savings, lower turnover, improved machine uptime, and greater ability to promote from within—thanks to a better-trained worker pool.
Roll Forming Corporation (RFC) had long had a strong continuous improvement (CI) initiative. But around 2006, results plateaued, and the Shelbyville, KY, maker of metal products realized that its CI program itself needed to continually improve. To achieve that, RFC identified the key skills required of company leaders—especially of CI teams—and launched a series of eight courses dubbed the Leadership Academy to cultivate those skills.
