Employers of Choice

Often people who are promoted to managerial roles have excellent technical skills. They came to their position through training and/or experience in the work that needs to be done. Often, they are promoted from within the company, so they also have the institutional knowledge to keep products coming off the line or keep the clients coming in the door. But they may have gotten zero training on how to handle conflict, how to communicate effectively, or how to engage employees through difficult changes. When managers, supervisors, and leaders are trained to effectively navigate these challenges, the workplace culture changes, and one of the positive outcomes of this is lower turnover. 

CITEC has developed and refined leadership training to ensure managers and supervisors have the skills they need to motivate teams to do their best work. Employees also appreciate when their companies invest in their professional development, so it’s an all-around win. CITEC offers these series as public session programs, but many companies choose to customize the program to meet their specific needs. 

Citizen Advocates, based in Malone, is one company that has offered this training to its employees. The company provides a host of services including mental health, addiction recovery, youth services, and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They cover communities throughout northern New York. With a mission of Making Lives Better, this organization takes an individualized approach to every client, but also works to ensure that their mission applies to the staff of Citizen Advocates as well.

Citizen Advocates invested in sending 36 staff members to CITEC’s Management Development Essentials training in 2021 and 2022. They prioritized new members of the leadership team for this training, understanding that the skills new managers use to excel in non-management positions may not be the same set of talents needed to thrive in their new leadership roles. Amanda Tagliarino, Citizen Advocates’ Director of Professional Development, says, “We are committed to ensuring all employees are provided the knowledge, tools and resources needed to thrive in their career.” 

With that in mind, in addition to new managers, Citizen Advocates also identified emerging leaders with an interest in advancing into a leadership position. “As we seek to fulfill our vision of being an employer of choice, a promising path to achieving this is two-fold: Provide exceptional leadership to our workforce while offering a career path for employees to grow, develop and advance in their careers with Citizen Advocates,” said Tagliarino. 

Management Development Essentials is designed to pave that exact two-fold path. 

 “The feedback we received from our participants was exceptional,” she noted. “In fact, last year one of our leaders cited the skills and knowledge gained during the Management Development Essentials workshop as being directly responsible for her ability to successfully navigate a challenging employee situation that helped an individual become a more positive and engaged member of the team. This certainly speaks to how the training directly impacts employee satisfaction and retention. Additionally, our leaders feel more equipped and confident as they navigate challenging circumstances.”

Ten participants from the Management Development training went on to participate in CITEC’s Leadership Development program. These were more tenured leaders looking to refine their leadership skills. Tagliarino remarked, “Participants of the Leadership Development Essentials program were very engaged in the curriculum and appreciated the robust discussion during the sessions. One individual specifically mentioned the leadership and influence portion as well as the culture section. For her, this validated the work we’ve been focused on related to leadership development and culture at Citizen Advocates.

“Our workshop facilitator, Sharon, was able to effectively tie personal experiences to the course content, making it relevant and meaningful for all participants. This created a space to learn together as a leadership team.”

Citizen Advocates has a strong in-house Professional Development and Training department.  Beyond providing its workforce-required trainings to meet State, Federal, and regulatory requirements, they have recently expanded their professional development offerings to include Team Building, Public Speaking, Conflict Resolution, Mental Health First Aid for Adults and Youth, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention and more. At CITEC, we are pleased that our work complements the internal culture development the organization is building, and we look forward to working together in the future. 

PHOTO: Professional Development and Training Department members Victor Ortiz and Mary Jo Carter-Codling role-play communication techniques.  Courtesy of Citizen Advocates