Companies Count on Continuing Ed

In business, there’s no such thing as too much knowledge.

Keeping up with the constant stream of new economic developments, technologies and business tactics requires a company to keep its workforce up to speed and on its toes.

Business owners and executives climbing the ladder in Northwest Arkansas have many options when it comes to employee training and continuing education, from eliminating inefficiency to confronting threats of terrorism in the workplace.

Northwest Arkansas Community College and the University of Arkansas offer several non-credit courses designed to improve a multitude of workplace factors. Courses tailored to meet the needs of Wal-Mart Inc. are also available at both schools.

Industry leaders with many years of experience administer professional training at each.

Retailing is the primary focus at the Center for Management and Executive Education, part of the Walton College of Business at the UA, said Theres Stiefer, director of center for management and executive education.

The center has several courses available to help professionals update their knowledge and skill sets in such areas as retail and manufacturer finance, estimation techniques and brand positioning.

Courses for the 2007-2008 school year range from $345 for an online employment law course to $4,900 for the Emerging Leaders Program.

Pam Watkins, personal and professional development director for corporate learning at NWACC, said the courses offered through her department generate a significant return on investment for businesses.

A representative from McKee Foods Corp. told Watkins his company was going to save up to $150,000 a year because of changes brought about through the Six Sigma program, a philosophy dedicated to eliminating defects from nearly any business process.

Custom Curricula

NWACC has both customized training and open enrollment courses available. Open enrollment classes offer a lower cost alternative for organizations that might not have the money available for specialized education and training. A 16-hour class runs about $144 plus fees and textbooks, if needed.

The cost goes up significantly for specialized classes. One company the center is working with will be investing $12,000 on several months’ worth of custom courses.

The department’s staff enjoys developing customized training for companies because it helps strengthen their market positions and creates competitive advantages by closing performance gaps, Watkins said.

NWACC offers several courses from AchieveGlobal, a company that administers and designs corporate training courses in sales, management and customer service.

AchieveGlobal has created some of the best curriculum available to the business world, because it has conducted research into thousands of companies to determine commonalities, Watkins said.

Among other big changes – such as its move to a new location – Mercy Health Systems in Rogers is in the process of going paperless. Several members of the hospital staff will be going through an AchieveGlobal module on personal strategies for navigating change.

The paperless model will be more efficient and will give health care providers at Mercy faster access to more patient information than before. But it will be an enormous change, which is why training is necessary.

“Where AchieveGlobal differs is they don’t just teach a skill set, they teach you how to implement it and give you the tools you need to begin that implementation the moment you get back to work,” she said.

Retail Returns

The UA’s center for management and executive education focuses largely on retailing – the main industry of business school namesake Sam Walton.

The courses are tailored not so much to help newcomers gain entry to the retailing world but to enhance the skills of managers and executives already in place and train those identified for promotions within their companies, Stiefer said.

“We want to give people within their field those added extras they won’t get in a degree program,” she said.

Some of those courses include the supervisory leadership series, project management solutions and the emerging leaders program.

The consumer products leadership program is a unique array of courses not offered anywhere else, Stiefer said. There are 93 different courses available through the program, but not all of them have been launched yet.

The classes are designed to provide students with unique knowledge and skills from leaders in the retail industry.

Topics in the division include fundamentals of assortment planning, understanding brand equity and positioning, shopper analytics and actionable insights, shopper behavior and effective shelf management.

The center has developed custom courses for several of Arkansas’ largest companies including Wal-Mart, Dillard’s, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tyson Foods Inc. and Heifer International, as well as out-of-state outfits such as Southwestern Energy Co. and Dial Corp.

NWACC’s Marketing Analyst Program is a series designed to train those seeking positions as analysts with retail suppliers.

Applicants must meet minimum requirements to qualify for enrollment in the program: they must pass software proficiency tests for Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, File Management and Access.

They must also have a college degree or transcripts showing they’ve passed college algebra and basic English composition, or in lieu of those requirements, minimum scores on college entrance exams such as the SAT or ACT.

Courses are offered in the fall, spring and summer semesters and range from $140 to $505 per class.

Industrial Education

Most of the classes at NWACC are customizable, with the exception of Six Sigma, which is only available in open enrollment, Watkins said.

NWACC also offers many open enrollment courses in trade skills such as carpentry, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing, maintenance training and more. Huge rooms with bay doors give students access to both demonstration and hands-on learning.

Crossland Construction Inc. suggested the school offer carpentry courses. The classes began two years ago, and the company supplies many of the students.

Several language courses are also available, including French, Spanish, Russian and Mandarin.

The Institute for Corporate and Public Safety at NWACC offers free courses designed to prepare business owners and others in the private sector to deal with emergency situations of all types, including how to identify terrorist activity or weapons of mass destruction in the workplace.

Three courses are available through the ICPS: business continuity planning, terrorism and WMD in the workplace and emergency preparedness.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security underwrites the ICPS. The staff, including Phil Valenti, a current FEMA disaster safety officer, travels throughout the region extensively, coaching various businesses and organizations.

The staff recently gave a presentation to the city of San Antonio’s emergency services personnel.

Many of the sessions are enrollment only, but a recent emergency preparedness presentation in Bella Vista was open to the public and was standing room only.

The NWACC’s ropes challenge course is where teams of 15-30 employees can literally hit the ropes for a physical team-building exercise.

The school typically conducts about 30 challenges per year for many business groups, including Wal-Mart, Bekaert Corp., Leadership Bentonville and area high schools.