 |
Best-selling business book author Patrick Lencioni says in his latest book, The Advantage that, “The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health.” He goes on to explain that organizational health encompasses both being smart (clarity about direction, strategy, marketing, finance, and technology) and being healthy. He describes “healthy” as creating a work environment that minimizes politics, confusion, and conflict so that morale, productivity, and employee turnover are impacted in a positive way.
NCC Center for Business and Industry
There is another vital resource that many community colleges provide for the businesses in their community and beyond. As an example, Northampton Community College (NCC) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has created a Center for Business and Industry (CBI) staffed by a team of highly professional subject matter experts who can provide a wide array of experience related to many of the areas that help a business to be both smart and healthy.
On the “smart” side, the CBI offers technical training related to biomanufacturing, corporate and public safety, energy management, health care, hospitality and tourism, and IT/computer, as well as training and development to address quality management and continuous improvement. On the “healthy” side, staff with expertise in leadership-management development work with employers to support organizational change initiatives.
This kind of training support helps business and organization partners recruit and retain a workforce that can serve their businesses with both the competence to do the work and the motivation to do it well. The partnership between the CBI and the employer ensures the training fits the need and that it is supported in the workplace. It grows out of an understanding that the success of the business is dependent on the CBI to share in committing to not just provide training, but also caring—because its mission is tied to the community. That kind of caring has attracted clients not only from the local community in eastern Pennsylvania but also from as far away as California.
Put an end to the revolving door of talent that costs you precious time, energy, resources, and money. Join us December 4 for the Here Today, Here Tomorrow live webinar. Learn more.
There is a lot at stake
Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup, shared in his book, The Coming Jobs War, that the number one thing people want is a good job. He goes on to cite extensive research by the Gallup organization about how good jobs come from business growth and business growth comes as a result of having an engaged workforce. The bad news is only 29 percent of businesses have an engaged workforce. The good news is that understanding this helps us recognize the incredible opportunity to expand that number by developing healthy workplaces.
Healthy Products, Inc., saw such opportunity because of “noise” in their system. It realized its supervisors needed to take more of a leadership role and be more intentional about engaging their workforce. But it also realized it needed outside help to do that. We helped them help themselves. Today, they are even more successful with sales at $3.2 billion and net income at $394 million. Healthy Products is not just “smarter”; it is “healthier.”
Organizations like NCC and other community colleges are a resource worth considering to help accomplish that kind of critical improvement. Clifton argues we must do it in order to be winners in the global marketplace because the reality is that winners make the rules. America has always been in that leadership role, but that could change. It is time to step up as partners committed to making our workplaces, our communities, and our country great. That is a “core business” for community colleges.
Here Today, Here Tomorrow: 5 First-Month Initiatives to Stop the Hourly Employee Revolving Door
The most important question to ask every new hire —
and what to do with the answer you get on December 4. Register here.
About the authors: Donna Goss and Don Robertson are the codirectors of the Leadership and Executive Development Division of NCC’s Center for Business and Industry in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit the NCC website.