M State Workforce Development Solutions and Otter Tail County are partnering to offer leadership training at a discounted price starting in January 2023. M State WDS will provide the training and OTC will provide a 50% discount off the registration cost for employees of organizations within the county.
The “Be a Successful Leader” training includes four courses and is open to individuals with any level of experience looking to build or sharpen their leadership skills. Course topics include leading with your strengths, building trust through communication and conflict, coaching for higher engagement and building effective teams. The engaging and interactive courses will be held virtually via Zoom and include eight sessions from January to June 2023.
The partnership with M State WDS and OTC is part of the county’s broader workforce strategy, “OTC Works.” Helping employers recruit and retain workers more effectively is one goal of the OTC Works workforce strategy. The retention of workers is greatly impacted by how engaged they are at work; according to employee engagement research by Gallup, the organization behind the StrengthsFinder assessment, 70 percent of the difference in an employee’s engagement level is determined solely by that person’s manager, so good managers make a major impact on the retention of an organization’s workforce.
OTC Community Development Agency board member and CEO of Vector Windows, Jeff Ackerson shared his insight into the initiative: “We’ve done leadership training with M State at Vector Windows and the sessions are very engaging for our employees who are new in leadership positions.”
Ackerson explained that this program is helping to up skill those leaders and serving to engage and motivate the employees they have, including the new employees they hire.
“I would encourage every business to share this leadership training opportunity with the managers and supervisors within your organization,” Ackerson emphasized.
Amy Baldwin, OTC community development director, shared that this partnership helps serve the workforce needs of employers within the county: “With so many leadership transitions the past few years, there’s now a greater need to develop strong leaders within the workforce. OTC saw this opportunity to partner with M State to offer training that will help employers retain workers more effectively.”
