Telcion Communications University: Growing Business Through People
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Have you ever thought about what your ideal place to work would look like? Well, I have, and I can tell you that I am living the dream. Not only that, but I also get to be a part of creating the dream for others.
I’ve always had a passion for growing in knowledge and skills. In my personal and professional circles I’m known for being the person who asks, “What’s next to learn or achieve?” I started at Telcion as an administrative assistant and over the years worked my way up to the executive level by working hard and being curious. The attribute of always asking what can I learn or what more can I do has served me well.
Creating Telcion Communications University
When our CEO asked about starting some type of educational program at Telcion for our employees, of course I raised my hand and said, “Oh, please let me do this.”
We began to consider what a formal leadership program would look like. How could we add the most value to our employees? How could we meet people where they are and help get them to where they want to go? How could we provide them with skills for advancing their careers as well as enhancing their life skills?
We started by looking at how we created the leadership foundation for Telcion and for us personally. The entire executive leadership team has a passion for reading, so that played a big part in the creation of TCU.
We wanted to help employees learn:
How to hire
How to manage people
How to manage time
How to resolve conflict in a healthy and safe environment
How to trust your teammates (and what it looks like if there is no trust)
How to hold yourself as well as your co-workers accountable in a kind and healthy manner
We also wanted to create classes that would show the employees where they are in their leadership journey and learn what their leadership style might be. This is not something that many people know off the top of their head, so students have been very receptive to learning about their styles.
TCU has four different sections:
100 Series
The 100 series is recommended for all new employees to help them understand the Telcion culture, the EOS system, the process to make sure our clients are treated to Telcion standards, and more.
200 Series
The 200 series is focused on employees who want to grow into a possible middle-management role or are even just interested in growing in this area all together. There are classes on self-analysis of their individual leadership style, how to lead in an EOS environment, how to hire and several more in this area.
300 Series
The 300 series is for individuals looking to advance in their leadership journey and dig in deeper to gain advanced knowledge. These classes are focused on building effective habits, sales philosophy, deeper conflict resolution topics and more.
400 Series
Finally, the 400 series is focused on strategic leadership management, change management, innovation, and leading teams. It is the final series at TCU and takes about 7 months to complete.
Completing the entire series of classes takes about three and a half years. Attending all of the classes is not required, but it is an option.
Growing Business Through People
I have had several colleagues ask me why. Why do we put so much effort into teaching these classes and helping employees grow? Why do we give them valuable tools & help them develop talents that they could possibly take to another employer?
We don’t look at it that way. We give them tools and talents, but the main reason we created TCU is to add value to them personally. The second reason is to help them to grow within Telcion.
If we’re doing our job correctly, they’ll want to continue to use their talents at Telcion. We hope we are providing a culture and environment that makes employees want to stay and grow with Telcion. However, if employees do have opportunities they cannot turn down and they gained value while being employed at Telcion, we feel that is a win. They leave better than when they came.
This month, we look forward to sharing more about TCU from the perspective of individuals who have completed some of these classes. You’ll hear about their unique experiences with TCU and what they've learned so far.
This post was contributed by Michelle Padilla, COO/CFO at Telcion.