Leadership Challenges in Business Post-Pandemic
Organizations of all sizes have faced considerable challenges in every sector that cannot be addressed in a one-size fits all solution planning session. The complexity of human and socioeconomic – centered differences calls for a myriad of thought-leadership and innovative, principled solutions reflective of sustained efforts and outcomes. NorthWest Arkansas Community College (NWACC) has partnered with local businesses over the past thirty years to establish training that is customized and specific to the needs of businesses to support technical skills and employee development.

A key difference for NWACC’s business customers is the one-on-one personalized attention to uncover training gaps and explore solutions that match the current needs of your employees. Using industry experience gained from over seventy-years among its workforce employees and dedicated industry partners, they connect the dots to sustainable solutions to maximize your workforce goals. Operational training for frontline and executive leaders creates a win-win for current and future generations seeking to maintain and expand business in the region.

Project Management – Relevant Solutions for Individuals and Businesses
NWACC’s Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Preparation courses continue to be a highly sought-after solution to individuals and businesses aiming to maximize operational effectiveness throughout their organization. Project managers are in high demand across the nation with over 11K PMP jobs nationwide and 260 active Arkansas listings (Source: March 2021 - Indeed and LinkedIn.com).

Project management professionals provide core fundamentals of project management, leadership, accountability, and requirements to reduce roadblocks, lost time, high costs of rework, failed projects, and employee retention through improved execution of departmental and strategic goals for work output and employee safety. Below are highlights of potential outcomes with effective project managers:

• 31% decrease in failed projects
• 30% project delivery under budget
• 21% improved productivity
• Average company savings of $567K per project when executive leadership invested in effective project championing through specialized training. (Source: State of the PMO, PM Solutions, May 2010).

NWACC Workforce Development provides the following training for aspiring project management professionals in general project management concepts including:

• Project Characteristics
• Program Differences
• Subprojects
• Portfolios
• Various Organizational Structures and the Project Manager’s Role in Each
• Key Project Management Skills (Costs, Contract Management, Teamwork, Risks, etc.)
• Project Management Knowledge Areas and Process Groups
• Various Project Life Cycles including Adaptive (agile) and Hybrid (predictive and agile).

Learn more on how to train your team or find courses to maintain required professional development (PDU’s) by contacting [email protected].

Business Continuity Planning
The Institute for Corporate and Public Safety at NWACC is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA funded department that supplies emergency planning training to rural communities at no charge to participants or hosting organizations.

One of those courses, Business Continuity Planning (an 8-hour, one-day, in-person training) is available at www.ruraltraining.org. It can help your organization or community answer questions to the scenarios below:

• You arrive at work, and the building is no longer there. Now what?
• You arrive at work, the building is there, but 25% of your workforce is missing and will be for weeks or months. Now what?
• You arrive at work, the building is there, and your workforce is there, but no equipment works. Now what?
• You arrive at work, the building is there, your workforce is there, and all equipment works, but you are cut off from your normal customer channels. Now what?

The course walks through the plan development process touching on key points like those listed below:

• Selling business continuity planning to key stakeholders
• Creating a business continuity planning team
• Determining organizational essential functions
• Assigning roles and responsibilities
• Conducting a risk and hazard analysis
• Developing capability targets
• Creating orders of succession and delegating authority
• Reviewing plan components
• Trying out your new skills and processes

If you would like to learn more about this class or our other offerings, email [email protected]. NorthWest Arkansas Community College – Workforce is ready to partner with you. View their website at  www.nwacc.edu/workforce.com to ensure your organization is future-ready!