How the Texas Veterans Commission Upskilled 80% of Its Employment Services TD Team

Organization Details

The Texas Veterans Commission is a 450-employee government entity that advocates for and provides services to veterans to improve quality of life for veterans, their families, and their survivors.

The Challenge

Eighty percent of the Texas Veterans Commission’s Employment Services TD team had never received any formal training. They were eager and willing to learn and requested targeted training that would apply to their daily job duties. They collectively identified these topics for desired training: communication skills,
patience and empathy, active listening, mentoring and coaching, flexibility, and time management.

The Solution

As a result of the team’s requests, the Texas Veterans Commission partnered with ATD to conduct an on-site Coaching Certificate team training course. Victoria Thompson, training and development specialist, says, “ATD provided our coaches with all the training topics they requested, and we were able to have them all do the training together as a team.”

She goes on to share, “We chose ATD because some team members had held ATD memberships for several years, and between us, we’d taken multiple ATD certification courses and attended annual conferences, so we knew firsthand the value ATD brings.”

The Results

After the team training was conducted, the Texas Veterans Commission sent a survey to its staff and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. The results of the survey showed that 100 percent of the team agreed the training improved their coaching knowledge and skills. Some of their anecdotal feedback detailed their expanded ability to think outside the box and to understand what coaching is and is not, their appreciation for the facilitator’s knowledge and ability to make the content relatable, and the ability to work alongside their teammates.

According to Thompson, “The team left the course with many actionable takeaways they were able to use immediately. As a result of the training, many more team members requested ATD membership to gain access to the vast library of resources offered.” The Texas Veterans Commission also plans to develop an e-learning course for the coaches to expand on what they learned in their ATD Coaching Certificate course. The e-learning course will cover facilitation and content development and dive deeper into the differences between training, facilitation, and coaching.

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