SBA Holds Second Round of Staff Training

WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Almost 330 employees and managers at the U.S. Small Business Administration completed a second round of staff training at the National Conference Center in Lansdowne, Va., in April, with two more sessions scheduled for remaining employees during the summer.

SBA University is part of the agency's reform agenda, aimed at improving operations and accountability through enhancing internal and external communications, and improved customer service. The training will also help clarify roles and responsibilities within the agency, while also bridging training gaps.

"By institutionalizing SBA University, we are continuing to provide meaningful training for our employees, while also ensuring that they have the skills and knowledge to serve our customers and partners effectively," said SBA Deputy Administrator Jovita Carranza. "Successful training has been a significant factor in our ability to increase employee satisfaction over the past year."

The training features: an employee core curriculum, a leadership core curriculum and employee electives. The curriculums consist of the following courses:

Employee Core Curriculum

Decision Making

Conflict Management

Written Communication

Financial Management

Customer Service

Employee Electives

Oral Communication

Project Management

Procurement/Contracting

Lean Six Sigma

Personally Identifiable Information

Leadership Core Curriculum

Generational Training

Leading/Team Coach

Leadership Effectiveness thru Active Development

Lean Six Sigma

The pilot SBA University and first round of courses were offered to headquarters and field employees across three weeks in August 2007; employees chose the week they wanted to attend.

The first installment of this year's SBA University won rave reviews from SBA's employees with 78 percent rating it as excellent and 21 percent rating it as good.