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Manufacturing success through leadership training

 

Megan Ware is no stranger to Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). She first partnered with SLCC’s Workforce & Economic Development in her prior role at Stadler Rail to create the first of its’ kind Talent Ready Apprenticeship Connection (TRAC) apprenticeship. Ware was impressed with SLCC’s commitment and responsiveness. When she started her new journey as the Workforce Development Director at the Utah Manufacturing Association (UMA) she heard there was an opportunity to partner with SLCC again and jumped right in to make it happen. 



“When I first started at UMA I sent out a workforce survey to all of our member companies. The response was overwhelming: we need workforce, help with leadership, help with culture, help with all the things.” 


Not unique to the manufacturing industry recent workforce shortages have companies looking internally to promote into leadership positions and quickly. Oftentimes, strong workers technical line find themselves in positions of leadership and suddenly it comes to light that they are lacking those written and verbal communication skills.   


Within the manufacturing sector there is large group of “frontline leaders.” There are supervisors, foremen, and team leads, and they just don’t have these foundational communication skills. Says Ware: “We really wanted to make sure we are bringing in those skill sets that would allow them to succeed in their newfound leadership roles. It came to light that an agreement had been signed for the Frontline Leadership training with my predecessor, but nothing had been done with it. We were able to, obviously with Corporate Training Director Diana Guetschow’s wise help, really take that Frontline Series and dial it down into four topics that we really thought were probably the hottest topics at this moment for our manufacturers.”


After months of collaboration with the Corporate Training team, UMA was ready to offer training to their first cohort of members. Already, Ware is receiving positive feedback about the training. As one member put it “It really is putting a plug in a really big hole that we didn’t know how to solve.” In fact, one company who was already in development of their own leadership program has chosen to scrap what they had and go with this training instead. Several companies have approached Megan and asked how they could bring this training internally for their company’s use. For those looking for more than the four topics offered she actively encourages them to take the full Frontline Leader Workshop Series at SLCC.    


“It so refreshing to work with Corporate Training because we are so responsive. I think you are much quicker at listening and responding and not just trying to sell us something you already have. And I think that it really important. I knew it [the Frontline Leader program] was going to be popular, but it is 100% more popular than I anticipated.“  


Focusing on the continued development of the workforce means there is always another project coming down the pipeline. Currently training 65 people between two cohorts, Ware is also working on how to offer this training to partners in the rural areas. 


The full Frontline Leader Workshop Series through SLCC is open to the public and accepting registrations. Learn more about the Utah Manufacturing Association.


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