As we prepare for the opportunities and challenges facing organizations in 2024, a central question is how prepare your workforce to properly function, thrive, and take accountability. At Accelerate Montana, we understand that employers need to take on a greater role in onboarding, upskilling, and retaining their workers. This is why we are excited to present Mike Braun, our Director of Employer Partnerships, whose expertise and experience can help you successfully navigate the workforce challenges in the year ahead.

Navigating the Path to Success

Key Focus Areas:

Skills Assessment:

Understanding employees’ workforce needs can help to identify trainings that increase worker engagement and employee retention. As a first step, Mike Braun emphasizes the importance of conducting a comprehensive assessment of skills gaps. Once identified, custom solutions can be developed and delivered to effectively address those gaps. This was the approach taken with Glacier Country Tourism, where Accelerate Montana surveyed its membership to pinpoint and prioritize skills needs such as Customer Service Essentials and Conflict Management. Accelerate Montana subsequently built custom solutions in the form of webinars and self-paced courses.

Optimized Training:

Meeting your employees’ skills needs through training boosts worker engagement and productivity increases employee retention while simultaneously creating an adaptable and agile workforce. Through tailored upskilling and cross-trainings, employees get the practical skills to boost their workplace confidence and productivity, in turn helping to reduce costs to the organization. We offer employees the opportunity to learn workplace essentials at their own pace using synchronous courses, followed by onsite, hands-on facilitation with an instructor for practical relevance and application.

Acquisition & Retention Strategies:

Employee retention is a challenge faced by many businesses. Mike Braun advocates for tailored retention strategies that go beyond the standard approaches of one-day workshops. In 2023, Accelerate Montana piloted a 20-week Revit-BIM program developed for DCI Engineering. Weekly check-ins with a Success Coach provided trainees with blueprint reading essentials, Revit and BIM skills, and a 2-day onsite hands-on construction boot camp to upskill employees across multiple levels of experience.

Digital Badges for Skills Tracking:

Digital badges are a useful tool to track a worker’s progress in knowledge and skills attainment. With workers benefitting from skills-based credentialing, employers can begin to build powerful internal dashboards on their talent pool to exhibit not just organizational strengths, but also to reveal potential weaknesses and emerging skills and talent gaps. Working with the Department of Revenue, Accelerate Montana badged dozens of trainees completing a Project Management workshop and passing a short assessment, providing its management the skills and visibility it needed.

Partnering for Success

Our Offer:

Accelerate Montana extends an invitation to employers seeking to explore tailored workforce solutions. Mike Braun is here to partner with you on your outsourced training and development. Start a conversation on a customized plan crafted specifically for your organization, aligning with your goals for the new year.

Empowering Your Journey

Embark on a journey of empowerment in 2024 with Accelerate Montana. Mike Braun's insights and strategic guidance can help you unlock the full potential of your workforce. Invest in your employees and watch as your business thrives in the coming year.

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