Corporate Training: How Leaders Can Partner with JMU PCE

Leaders have many responsibilities and daily fires that need attention, which can make it easy for training and development planning to easily be pushed down the road. And, some organizations are not large enough to have robust training and development expertise. The result for many organizations is that their professional development is random and unpredictable, and not always targeted at what employees and the organization need most. This lack of strategic approach can result in leaders questioning whether investment in training has an adequate return. How can JMU help leaders focus on a training and development strategy for their organization?

While leaders and professionals may be familiar with JMU providing academic degrees, they may be less familiar with JMU PCE’s noncredit professional training programs. JMU PCE’s Professional Development team can be part of the solution for organizations committed to training and development. These training programs assist organizations in at least three ways.

First, most JMU PCE noncredit programs accept participants on a rolling basis for upcoming cohorts throughout the year, so they are an immediately-available option. Trainings in project management, continuous improvement strategies, human resource management, and conflict mediation skills bolster team management skills that are useful in almost any organization or industry.

Second, these programs can accommodate multiple participants from the same organization or a separate class can be scheduled just for employees of one organization. Both options help team members get a shared understanding and language about the topic area, which can help with transferring the new knowledge and skills into the workplace. In fact, some training is currently only offered to groups from the same organization, such as the JMU PCE Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Team Workshop.

Third, the JMU PCE Professional Development team may be able to partner with a company’s leaders to customize or design a training to meet company-specific training needs. Custom training may simply involve changing the timing and limited content to match the organization’s needs, or it could involve supporting a new course creation.

Thus, in addition to the academic credit-based degree programs, JMU PCE can support leaders looking for a training partner who can support select noncredit training in key knowledge and skill areas. The first step is simply to reach out to Kai Degner, Director of Professional Development, or Elizabeth Sacco, Recruitment Specialist. Further information about current JMU PCE noncredit offerings is on the Professional Development webpage.