In addition to being one of the 2008 NorthCoast 99 winners and requesting to be considered for this award, all finalists for the Training & Development Special Category Award must meet the following criteria before being considered for the award:

• They all have an individual or department responsible for the development and implementation of training programs
• They all have an annual budget for training and development programs
• They all perform training needs assessments
• They all evaluate training effectiveness
• They all provide supervisory and teamwork training
• They all have career development services for at least one group of employees
• They all provide at least three formal ways of developing employee skills
• They all have a mentorship program available to at least one group of employees
• They all have a tuition reimbursement program
• Updated job descriptions are provided to ALL employees
• ALL employees work with their supervisors/managers to develop annual written performance expectations

Winners are chosen based on the company that demonstrates the most unique and innovative practices aimed at attracting, retaining, and motivating top performers.

Training & Development Winner & Finalist Summaries 

Training & Development Winner: Hyland Software

Unique to this company: In addition to this Hyland Software's award-winning onsite university comprised of five classrooms, seven full-time trainers, state-of-the-art technology equipment, textbook, and training materials, it also has initiated several unique development initiatives for its employees. The Emerging Leaders program is an assessment program that allows employees to run a fictitious company in groups while being observed by senior management. This interactive program allows the participants to see their true management styles and their strengths and weaknesses. Following this program, all employees who participated partake in a year long coaching process with executive coaches who guide them on their way as a manager. Hyland's Employee Professional Development Program allows managers to nominate high potential employees for higher level training courses that offer employees the education they need in order to continue reaching the high standards they set for themselves. The organization has three different tracks for career development courses available to employees including technical and non-technical tracks. A definitive feature of this organization is that all employees have a mentor, an employee in the same department. These mentors play a particularly crucial role in the organization's on-boarding program. To enhance training on the organization's software, it initiated the OnBase Spotlight Program, a continual program in which a certain module of this organization’s software is highlighted and the organization holds multiple product sessions, case studies, round table discussions, and demos all focused on that one module. Spotlights last for two weeks and at the end of the two weeks every employee completes a Spotlight exam which serves as a way to keep employees updated and educated on the functionality of different aspects of the organization’s software.

Training & Development Finalist: Skoda Minotti

Unique to this company: Skoda Minotti & Co. develops Individual Business Development Plans for every professional at the firm. The program has two components: training and development and marketing and business development (consistent with the Skoda Minotti's focus on client services). Employees work with their respective mentors, supervising partner, and HR and Marketing heads, to identify growth opportunities and professional interests as well as to determine goals and create an established action plan to achieve these aspirations. In terms of training, employees and managers together select training and development activities that match their career development objectives and job needs. In terms of marketing and business development, each employee working collectively with the Vice President of Marketing, his or her mentor, and supervising partner, and develops a customized external business development plan. Each employee attends a “networking basics” session that instructs them how to develop their own 30 second commercial and includes pre and post networking event activities that will enhance their personal and business contact portfolios. The customized external business development plan consists of a self assessment that ranks their business development abilities, associations and/or organizations the employee will work towards serving in a leadership position. seminar and/or presentations they wish to participate in as a primary or panel speaker, prospects the employee wishes to establish and build a productive relationship with, referral sources the employee wishes to establish and build productive relationships, a listing of existing business/personal contacts the employee will reconnect with, a listing of topics the employee can author articles on or be interviewed about, and a listing of professional certifications the employee wishes to obtain.

Training & Development Finalist: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Unique to this company: The Federal Reserve Bank has developed an Emerging Leader Program to address succession planning and leadership development needs within the organization which involves five primary components. The first component is coaching and assessments which uses data gathering, development planning preparation, dialogue between coach, manager, and employee, development action, mid-point dialogue and a year-end review in combination with three assessments: Myers Briggs, StrengthsFinder 2.0, and Emotional and Social Competency Inventory. The second component is a three-year enhanced development plan in which desired leadership goals are mapped and action plans are discerned. The third component is a structured curriculum to promote learning on identified leadership competencies including structured thought and communication, project management, connectivity/social intelligence, systems thinking, problem solving, and innovation. The fourth component of the program is a cross functional team project that builds networks within the organization and gives high potential employees the opportunity to get practical problem solving and project management experience. The project culminates with a presentation to the Executive Leadership Committee and a debriefing exercise that enables the team to watch their presentation on video, process their experience, and provide developmental feedback to their team members. The final component in the program is peer mentoring, which consists of two-hour monthly meetings promote direct, two-way communication between the bank's officers and program participants.