Organizations striving for excellence have a critical quality in common; they understand that people are their most valuable resource.  The leaders of the organization must commit to create an environment which provides opportunities and career development for all employees, and for TRICOR,  the offender workforce as well.  Our Workforce Development Initiative was created to fulfill this commitment and continues to evolve as a driving force in our quest for continuous improvement - a quest that continues to strengthen us as a unique leader in the field of correctional industries and offender reentry. This fiscal year, the addition of a career workforce development focus began to further define TRICOR's role in occupational skills training.

Shifting the culture of TRICOR has propelled the activities necessary to support the emphasis on whom we serve, how they are served, and to develop individuals to meet expectations that are established annually.  The divisional silos that had existed, isolating business and support units, are dissolving as multi-divisional teams were formed and were empowered to assess operations, develop business unit plans and execute performance strategies. The mission of the Business Execution and Strategic Teams (BEST) is to improve performance of a business unit operation by placing the leadership and management of an operation into the hands of the employees, enabling them to do it right today and better tomorrow. 

The Offender Workforce Development Specialist Program  

Starting in Fiscal Year 2007, TRICOR became part of the nationally recognized Offender Workforce Development Specialist Program in conjunction with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). A team of practitioners from across the state of Tennessee was formed with representatives from state, local and county government, non-profits and faith based organizations. This team of 12, led by TRICOR’s Director of Workforce Development, completed the 120 hour certification program.  This team developed the Tennessee Offender Workforce Development Initiative (OWDI) with the goal of educating other professionals and volunteers who work with offenders while incarcerated and upon their release.  Nine of the original 12 members furthered their certifications by achieving national certification as Global Career Development Facilitators.  The OWDI team developed and delivered the curriculum based on best practices and resources from the NIC and the National Career Development Association.  In July 2008, a formal partnership grant was awarded to TRICOR by the National Institute of Corrections.  This partnership provided instructor training for the OWDI team to conduct the full three-week OWDS program to be offered to other Tennessee workforce development service providers who serve incarcerated offenders and those in the state's communities.

During the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2009, the Tennessee OWDI team, which included three TRICOR employees, conducted the 180-hours OWDS education program for twenty-eight new participants from across the State of Tennessee.  Three of these participants were from TRICOR, providing TRICOR with six current OWDS certified employees.  It is expected and anticipated that the entire new group of OWDS will further deploy education from this evidenced-based program to other offender service providers.

The TRICOR members of this team have been charged with determining the most effective means of integrating the OWD practices into the organizational culture of TRICOR and establishing a model for correctional industries.  The TRICOR team members are moving forward with this challenge on a state and national basis, along with the newly developed National Correctional Industries of America team.

Certification Plan  

The strategic business plan that began in Fiscal Year 2006 laid the foundation for movement into labor and skill certification. The second phase of the TRICOR Certification Program in Fiscal Year 2007 achieved the important milestone of a formal partnership between TRICOR and the Tennessee Technology Center in Nashville with a focus on welding. The program model for the Welding Certification was designed in conjunction with the school's curriculum to meet their educational and skill competency standards.

The Technology Center enrolled eleven offenders at the TRICOR Metal Plant into the program; eight graduated with their first certifications in February 2009.  Each offender student received an official education transcript for competencies completed and, upon release, can be admitted to any Tennessee Technology Center upon release at the previously completed level.

Building upon the success of the Welding Certification TRICOR has initiated a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor to register TRICOR as an apprenticeship site for the offender workforce. It is anticipated that three apprenticeships will be offered in 2010 in areas of maintenance repair, administrative support and quality control. 

TRICOR – The Learning Organization 

TRICOR began the journey in 2006 of learning a new approach to quality and performance improvement in order to chart the best course for our organization.  The concepts of quality as prescribed by both the Malcolm Baldrige and Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence criteria have been incorporated into our culture and practices.  These concepts emphasize education and learning. For the past four years, management staff members have trained as members of the Board of Examiners for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE) and performed on teams that assessed other companies in their journeys toward continuous improvement. This year, three management staff members are participating in the TNCPE program.  In return, an enhanced knowledge set is brought back to TRICOR to lead this organization in its commitment to performance excellence. 

To further understand and implement improved performance in this organization, in 2008 senior managers began working to redefine its business processes facilitated by a leading expert in quality and improvement processes.  Workshops were provided that resulted in TRICOR rallying around the organizational purpose of preparing the offender workforce to Get Out and Stay Out (GOSO) of prison.  TRICOR's Mission, Vision, Values and Code of Conduct were also clarified and refined.  Next steps to deploy this education to all staff began in late June and will continue throughout Fiscal Year 2010.

TRICOR leadership has committed to providing education and learning opportunities to prepare employees to meet the challenges the organization faces and help them reach their full potential. For example, workshops are offered to provide business management skills in areas that include the ten-step continuous improvement strategies, lean manufacturing, fiscal principles, computer applications, team building and leadership development. Strategies have been developed to improve skills and equip the workforce to better meet the expectations of becoming a high performing workforce through doing the work right today and better tomorrow.