Every day, local businesses face challenges that could undermine their success — challenges such as adapting to new technology, managing turnover, and even keeping up with changes in industry and regulatory requirements. Affording the cost of keeping up — which often takes the form of seeking out new training and learning new skills — can seem daunting in today’s economy.
That’s where Laurel Ridge Community College Workforce Solutions comes in. Our corporate training solutions team offers a boost to local employers, lifting them up and helping them stay on track for success. Here’s what a few local business leaders have to say about their experiences in partnering with us.
Create whatever you need.
“Whether through the Leadership Institute, or strategic planning programming, Laurel Ridge Workforce Solutions has been an amazing resource for us in helping to make our leaders better in these times,” said Emily Beck, president of Marlow Automotive Group.
From teaching leadership skills to upskilling your workforce, corporate training solutions at Laurel Ridge give local companies an easy way to invest in the growth of their employees.
“Laurel Ridge is a small organization with a great hometown feel and very personal touch, and they can basically hone a program and mold it around whatever we need,” said Michael Bailey, a former general manager with Home Depot One Supply Chain. “Laurel Ridge has always been flexible every year to support our needs for our leaders.”
We not only prepare employees and leaders to help their organization move forward, our corporate training team also customizes courses around your needs, working quickly and cost effectively.
“We’ve been partnering with Laurel Ridge for a variety of services,” said Judy Whipp Mills, director of people and culture at Ashworth Brothers. “We love that when they say that they are partners to our success, they truly mean that. We love the open enrollment, and the leadership self-development and professional development classes that they offer,” she said.
The Aha Moments
We offer high-quality instruction and hands-on training, accommodating your employees at multiple campuses and sites.
“What I really admire about them, as well, is it’s not just a course that is one and done,” said Jay Foreman, trainer, author and speaker. “They take time to follow up with actual in-person interviews to find out what clicked, what the aha moments were. How are you taking what you’ve learned and applying it specifically to your organization? Also, was there something that wasn’t covered? Did we miss something that we can do better next time?”
Our content is national in scope — best-in-practice material – and taught by local experts at each of our campuses and sites in Middletown, Luray, Warrenton, and Winchester, Virginia. We also customize courses to meet your organization’s needs. We offer half-day workshops and lunchtime webinars, as well as multi-week professional development, certification and apprenticeship programs.
“Being a manager at Navy Federal Credit Union, our members are always our mission,” said Beth Falu, contact center operations manager for Navy Federal Credit Union. “ We want to make sure our employees are our mission as well. So, we want to give them the resources available to help them develop their careers. Sometimes that includes leadership, and we have a great partnership with Laurel Ridge to help develop soft skills among our leaders.”
Many of our instructors had successful careers in both the public and private sectors before coming to Laurel Ridge to share their skills and knowledge. Our people work with yours to encourage and inspire accomplishment and success, one employee at a time.
“What we’re currently doing is actually sending current employees for continuing education to learn Excel, leadership, and more,” said James David Belson, global operations strategy and optimization leader at Axalta. “One of the things that we’d like to improve is employee retention, and the way to do that is to show that they’re important by giving them continuing education.”
We can even underwrite the cost of training.
Finding the funds for professional development can sometimes be challenging. Our team will work closely with you in developing your training budget, as well as partner with you in understanding your business needs. We can even help you underwrite the cost of training.
“We actually leverage Laurel Ridge to develop and set a foundation for newly-promoted supervisors within our organization,” Bailey said. “We pride ourselves as a company that promotes from within. More than 90 percent of our leadership team in Winchester has been promoted from the hourly ranks.
“Laurel Ridge helps us to prepare those budding young leaders with the foundation of leadership fundamentals, such as servant leadership, time management, how to have difficult conversations.”
Whether you need to upskill your current workforce, enhance professional development, or develop custom training programs for your team, join these local leaders who’ve found a partner in Laurel Ridge Workforce Solutions.
“The partnership with Laurel Ridge is just such a magnificent value,” Mills said. “It’s reasonably priced, but the quality is from experts. It is amazing how they can really impact and provide the skills and tools that are necessary for people to achieve their personal and professional goals.”