Timm Construction has been around for over 70 years and Fiber Char Corporation for over 40. While they’ve had extensive leadership training programs in the past, they’ve drifted away from those programs because they had a solid group of workers who had been involved with the company for many years. Twenty or so years have past and both companies have new faces and veteran employees who could use help in navigating the current leadership (many challenges which didn’t even exist 20 years ago). In addition, their newest venture, Terra Caloric, started a little over ten years ago and has developed into a manufacturing plant that is gaining traction and increasing in sales and employees. They also understand it is important to invest in their employees at the leadership level to help their staff be the best they can be.
To help the companies grow and develop, Financial Manager Jessica Slominski worked with Michigan Works! Business Solutions Professional Shelly Blankenship to apply for a Going PRO Talent Fund Industry Led Collaborative grant to help make the training affordable for the three companies. The $6,716 award allowed them companies to send 21 employees through leadership training with Lisa Fisher & Associates.
“Lisa Fisher provided and comfortable and interactive training program that kept everyone engaged and excited to be at training. She provided a wealth of information and will help our company grow and manage the changing workforce,” reports Slominski.
“We had a lot of positive initial feedback from the employees attending the training,” she continues. “While we do believe there has been a positive impact on the employee, it is too soon to measure with wage adjustments or new jobs, but the hope is that the employees will utilize the tools and skills they learned to progress in their jobs which will ultimately lead to higher wages.”
The trainees agreed that the training was beneficial.
Alan Aube, Timm’s Construction Manager, said, “Attending the training with Lisa Fisher was well worth my time, she was a very good presenter and provided a great amount of useful information.”
Mitch Schuch, Plant Supervisor at Fiber Char added, “Excellent resource. Classes ran in an organized and timely fashion. All who attended had an opportunity to participate.”
Noreen Scull, Purchaser for Terra Caloric agreed, stating, “Lisa Fisher provided a number of great insights throughout our sessions, ranging from recognizing our strengths and weakness to communication and goal setting. I would recommend the leadership session to any business.”