By Dennis Taylor
Hollister
– A new program offered through Gavilan College hopes to provide
the kinds of nuts-and-bolts training that hundreds of mom-and-pop
shops in the area need to boost bottom lines and help them navigate
through thorny employee issues.
Hollister – A new program offered through Gavilan College hopes to provide the kinds of nuts-and-bolts training that hundreds of mom-and-pop shops in the area need to boost bottom lines and help them navigate through thorny employee issues.
Dubbed the Professional Development Institute, the program tackles some of the most common – and most critical – aspects of running a small business and improving merchants’ profit pictures.
The spring offerings are:
n Six Styles of Situational Leadership
n Power Seminar on Project Management
n Human Resources Management
n Strategies for Successful Customer Service
n Results Oriented Supervision
Often owners of small businesses wear so many hats – chief executive, human resources director, vice president of project management – that it’s difficult to keep abreast of trends, legislation and new money-saving strategies, said Terry Newman, director of contract and community education at Gavilan, who conceived of the program.
“Small business people need human-resources training with issues of liability and compliance with HR,” Newman said. “Often times the small business owner is the HR person, and there’s a lot of liability that goes along with that. This training is truly needed.”
While Hollister business owners seemed to agree that the courses were a good idea, the time commitment involved in taking them seemed to be a problem.
“I think I personally don’t have time to do that, but I think that’s a wonderful idea,” said Sheila Stevens, who has owned and managed She’s, a clothing store on San Benito Street, for the past 14 years. She pointed out that most small business owners are too busy for a class.
“That’s probably the only problem,” said Stevens, “Most people that own a store are busy running this way and that and trying not to get their feet in the trench.”
The concept for the institute spun out of the college’s traditional contract education program, which provides highly specialized training to medium and large businesses. Newman will meet on site with businesses to assess their needs and craft a curriculum specific to that business. But along with that customized training and dedicated hours comes an equally customized price tag.
Newman declined to provide a range of costs for the contract-ed programs, saying there is no standard rate because they vary far too much depending on the level of customization, the areas addressed in the curriculum and the size of the businesses.
But she did say that costs are one of the key attractions of the Professional Development Institute. Instead of having her come into a business and holding an expensive, tailored seminar, individuals can take the PDI classes at a per-student cost ranging from $149 for customer service training to $275 for the more in-depth project management course.
“I developed the institute with the knowledge that there are small businesses that can’t afford to pay me to come out and train their staffs,” she said.
For more information on the schedule of classes, visit www.gavilan.edu/conted, or send an e-mail to co****@ga*****.edu.
Staff writer Alice Joy contributed to this report.
