The Development of an Organization  

“You cannot lead where you have not been.  You cannot teach what you do not know.”   

Patricia Weiland, Chief Executive Officer, TRICOR                            

TRICOR’s commitment to its organizational values is evident in the approach taken to develop a professional civilian and offender workforce. The values of People and Learning are practiced by supporting and empowering employees in their professional and personal development learning plans.  The organization is challenged as we build on prior year initiatives to strive for excellence in our offender programs and occupational skill training industries.  In the past, Learning was an organizational practice that was somewhat unstructured with a focus on training compliance. Now, organizational Learning has become a pathway for increasing technical knowledge, employee succession and leadership development with the ultimate goal of equipping our employees with the knowledge, skills and abilities to lead and develop the offender workforce. The learning and development model is in a continuous improvement cycle where standards are developing that can be built upon for future growth. These standards are intended to integrate learning throughout in order to truly become a learning organization that strives for excellence in the three spheres of influence that drive TRICOR. 

Learning and development initiatives at TRICOR this fiscal year built upon the previous years and propelled us forward in our quest for excellence in the field of correctional industries and offender reentry. Our strategic planning alignment focused on developing a culture of workforce development and building partnerships and collaborations. Learning has made this possible. 

TRICOR – Developing a Workforce of Leaders 

TRICOR offers to its employees the unique opportunity to develop personally and professionally.  Employees are provided the opportunity to participate annually in a minimum of forty hours in designated and elective courses. Last year, all employees were scheduled to attend Change Management and Project Management offered through the Tennessee Department of Human Resources.  These courses were selected by senior leadership based on results from an employee learning survey and interviews from the field of resources needed to become more efficient in their jobs and skills needed to perform within an ever-changing world of work.  

The TRICOR Leadership Development Series provides a platform for personal and professional growth that places staff on a career path to assist with long-term success. Some components of the series are made available by nomination only while other components are provided to all team members.   

TRICOR Leadership Development Series

*National Institute of Corrections

     *Leadership & Curriculum Development

     *Offender Workforce Development

*Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (Malcolm Baldrige based criteria)

     *Board of Examiners

*National Correctional Industries Association

     *Board and Committees

     *Board Initiatives

*State of Tennessee 

     *LEAD Tennessee

*University of Tennessee Government Institute

    *Management Institute

    *Executive Institute

*Continuous Improvement Series 

     *Introduction to Accelerating Continuous Improvement 

     *Accelerating Continuous Improvement & Planning 

     *BEST TEAMS: Business Execution & Strategy Teams

     *Quality Initiatives

     *Performance Improvements

*Offender Workforce Development Career Series

     *Introduction to Offender Workforce Development

     *Offender Employment Specialist Certificate

     *Offender Workforce Development Certification

     *Global Career Development Specialist Facilitator 

The TRICOR Experience – The Pieces of the Puzzle 

We do not employ offenders to make products. We make products to expose offenders to real world work and to develop their hard and soft skills. 

In 1994, TRICOR was established to teach offenders job skills and provide programs to assist the offender in successfully transitioning from prison back into society. As TRICOR has changed over the years, so has the division that supports offender programs.  The division has changed to best align with the mission of the organization and the division’s purpose.   During the last sixteen years, the Workforce Development Division (WFD) evolved from providing a basic core catalogue of courses and activities to a comprehensive system of training and development based on evidence-based best and promising practices.  The TRICOR Experience, the systematic approach to service delivery, was designed with the intent of bringing all divisions of the organization together to work for the greatest impact.  The pieces of this puzzle have included four major components: best and promising practices, career development, offender transitional services and business collaborations and partnerships. 

During fiscal year 2010, the Offender Development & Transitional Services Division (ODTS) focused on integrating the organizational pinpoint, which is preparing offenders to Get Out and Stay Out of prison (GOSO). Since ODTS was designed to provide pre- and post-prison developmental and comprehensive programs to prepare the offenders, along with the occupational skills training taught in the business units, it became evident that ODTS is a model that works as consultant to all departments. In TRICOR’s three spheres of influence, the ODTS Division works in all three spheres to bring integration of the mission throughout the organization. This structure promotes a balance of teaching, developing offenders with production and business demands, and adhering to the policies, procedures and guidelines of government.   

Along with the other divisions of TRICOR, the ODTS division establishes annual strategic objectives to further the GOSO focus.  In order to fully implement GOSO from the Offender Development perspective, identification of roles, responsibilities and purpose of the ODTS division have been assessed to develop a three to five year approach to unifying the business and societal missions in one purpose.  The plan will become fully evaluated and implemented in Fiscal Year 2011.   

Offender Workforce Development Specialist Program 

Since TRICOR began Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) training in collaboration with other agencies in 2007, the impetus on developing employees to become skilled in the Offender Workforce Development has evolved into the Offender Workforce Development Career Series.  As noted above, TRICOR has four professional development opportunities to improve knowledge, skills and abilities in the Offender Workforce Development Career area.  Last year, six employees received Introduction to Workforce Development certificates; two employees are members of the National Correctional Industries Association OWDS Instructor Team, and TRICOR is hosting a regional NCIA training conference for Introduction to Workforce Development in the fall of 2011. TRICOR employees will be instructing and at least five employees will participate in the three day training.  

TRICOR BEST Teams