CNY ATD honors BEST Learning and Performance Award Winners

CONTENT SUBMITTED BY THE CNY ATD

The winners of the 9th Annual CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards were announced at CNY ATD’s CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards Ceremony on Thursday, June 16, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, near Carrier Circle in DeWitt.

CNY ATD annually presents CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards to recognize excellence in learning and performance practices in the Central New York area. Organizations that link learning to the strategic growth or success of organizations and individuals are recognized as CNY’s BEST in Learning and Performance.

Nominations for this year’s CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards represent a wide range of organizations including CenterState CEO, CXtec, Elmcrest Children’s Center, Fayetteville Manlius Crewsters, the Hartford, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, Mohawk Valley Community College, Saab Sensis Corp., Suburban Propane, Turning Stone Resort Casino, and Visions For Change, Inc.

Nominations were evaluated by a panel of local and national judges representing the profession and community for quality of learning and performance practices, practice results and impacts, and demonstrations of how the practices linked to the strategic growth or success of the organization and individuals. The distinguished panel of judges for the 2016 CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards include: Franca Armstrong, Mohawk Valley Community College; Jeff Carpenter, CST Brands, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes; Laura Carroll, Upstate University Hospital; Pam Caughill, ITT Incorporated; Georgia E. Entwistle, UHS; Nancy Wolff-Giard, Genzyme, a Sanofi Company, national advisor for chapters, ATD; James N. Jerose, Nuvenu Business Advisors; Linda Maher, POMCO; Steven Maloney, International Wire Group, Inc.; Meryl L. Mosack, M Squared Training & Marketing; and Amy Wood, Time Warner Cable.

CNY BEST LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION AWARD

Turning Stone Resort Casino
Turning Stone Resort Casino received the CNY BEST Learning and Performance For-Profit Organization Award for linking work-based learning to its business’s strategic growth or success with its “One Team One Hotel” approach to guest service. The world-renowned Forbes Travel Guide is the global authority on luxury travel. The prestigious Forbes Four Star award emphasizes quality of service. Achieving this award would increase the Turning Stone brand recognition and marketing power placing Turning Stone among the elite in global resort lodging. The Lodge at Turning Stone is a premiere luxury hotel that has consistently received the AAA Four Diamond award. After much staff training, preparation, and attention to the fine details of luxury-service experience, The Lodge still fell short of the minimum score for Forbes award consideration. Leadership carefully assessed the criteria and scoring and chose to engage Forbes Executive Training, experts in the field of luxury lodging education, to assist in achieving the “Four Star” level of service using the “One Team One Hotel” approach to guest service. The result of the training and the team’s dedication to follow-up, teamwork, and coaching was a “One Team One Hotel” approach to guest service that increased scores on the Forbes inspection to count The Lodge at Turning Stone among the Forbes Four Star properties and the only property in the greater Central New York area to achieve both the AAA Four Diamond and Forbes Four Star status. As one judge exclaimed, “For Forbes Travel Guide and for The Lodge, it is crystal clear that the customer comes first. Investing in staff development is the best way to achieve this — congratulations!”

CNY BEST LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION AWARD 

Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection was honored with the CNY BEST Learning and Performance Not-For Profit Organization award for linking learning for its internal and external stakeholders to the organization’s strategic growth or success with its Core Services Model 2.0 program. Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (HW-SC) helps youth living in poverty to stay in school, graduate from high school, and progress to post-secondary education and/or employment. HW-SC’s program model addresses all aspects of a student’s life including school, home, and work in order to provide comprehensive support to help students succeed. HW-SC revised its core services model and redesigned the supporting software system in an effort to increase on-time graduation rates and grade promotion, and ensure the model is being used with fidelity. It also aimed for successful replication by providing consistent and thorough training for Youth Advocates using blended learning components, including self-directed learning, team huddles, classroom training, and a toolkit for performance support during training and in the field. Training has been rolled out to existing youth advocates, incorporated into new-hire training and successfully replicated in the newest region, Washington D.C. With consistent, accurate, and reliable data, a comprehensive measurement system to track performance will assist youth advocates and increase student contacts as they work toward improving student-outcome goals. These measurements will also aid supervisors in monitoring performance, helping problem-solve, and coaching to change behaviors. Judges’ remarks included “an amazing, well-thought-out and comprehensive program with multiple strategies,” and “a nice blend of learning opportunities provided with effective reinforcements to ensure sustainability of new knowledge and behaviors learned.”

CHAPTER EXCELLENCE AWARD

CNY ATD
ATD (Association for Talent Development) recognized CNY ATD with a Chapter Excellence Award for Excellence in Strategic Partnership for its Train-the-Trainer Program. Since 2009, CNY ATD has conducted 20 Train-the-Trainer programs for 132 participants from more than 50 organizations in the Central New York area. The program provides foundational training for new trainers, subject-matter experts, presenters, speakers, and facilitators covering a variety of training topics including needs assessment, design, development, evaluation, implementation, and platform/delivery skills. By providing a foundational training program, CNY ATD is teaching and reinforcing best practices for talent development. Better understanding and better practices improve the quality of talent-development efforts, and strengthen the appreciation of the profession and its impact on organizations and the community. Jennifer Homer, ATD VP of communications, notes, “Our chapters are important partners in ATD’s mission to empower professionals to develop knowledge and skills successfully. The impact they have in their local communities and in support of the profession is impressive. Winning a Chapter Excellence Award is proof of the hard work and dedication of our local chapters.”

CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE

Maryellen T. Cooke
Maryellen T. Cooke was recognized for achieving the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) designation, the premier credential for practitioners in the talent-development profession. Becoming CPLP certified enhances one’s credibility by recognizing that you have met performance standards, have an overall understanding of the body of knowledge of the talent-development field, and can apply what you know. The process of being certified is broad-based and addresses 10 areas of expertise as defined by the ATD Competency Model. An individual needs to pass rigorous standards including a knowledge exam and a work-product assessment to achieve this special designation.

CNY ATD SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

Melissa McLean
Mary Wilhelm-Chapin
Amy Wood
Melissa McLean was awarded the John Burns Memorial Scholarship for her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in instructional design. Mary Wilhelm-Chapin and Amy Wood were awarded Ken Steiger Leadership Scholarships. Wilhelm-Chapin is pursuing her doctorate from the Syracuse University instructional design, development, and evaluation program. Wood plans to complete the ATD Coaching Certificate program. CNY ATD established the CNY ATD Scholarship Program to encourage and support professional development and continuing education in the field talent development. The scholarship awards are named in honor of CNY ATD’s 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award winner John Burns, and 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ken Steiger.

Keynote Speaker
The keynote speaker for this year’s CNY BEST Learning and Performance Awards Ceremony was David Norton, VP of corporate quality and customer care at The Raymond Corporation. His keynote speech, entitled “Talent Development Delivers Results,” discussed the importance of talent development and its role in the success of organizations. The Raymond Corp. received the 2014 CNY BEST Learning and Performance Organization Diamond Award and 2015 ATD Excellence in Practice Organizational Learning and Performance Award and Performance Improvement Citation.

Sponsors
CNY ATD thanks the following sponsors for their support of the CNY BEST Learning and Performance Program: Business Journal News Network, Visual Technologies, Oneida Nation Enterprises, Inc., OBG, and The Raymond Corporation.

About THE CNY BEST Learning and Performance Program
CNY ATD is in its 9th year of recognizing excellence in learning and performance in the CNY area with the CNY BEST Learning and Performance Program.

Past CNY BEST Learning and Performance Award Recipients have included: Aspen Dental Management, Inc.; Completely Organized, Inc.; Crouse Hospital; CXtec and TERACAI; Elmcrest Children’s Center; EnergyWright; Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare; goFLUENT, Inc.; Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce; Institute for Veterans and Military Families; ITT Technologies; Laboratory Alliance of CNY; LaFayette Big Picture School; Loretto; MACNY; The Manufacturers Association; Mohawk Valley Community College; Mohawk Valley Manufacturers Consortium; New Horizons of Syracuse; North Syracuse Central School District; O’Brien & Gere; Oneida Nation Enterprises; The Raymond Corp.; Rescue Mission Alliance of Syracuse; SRC; Saab Sensis; SavOn; Time Warner Cable; Turning Stone Resort Casino; and Westcott Community Center.

About the CNY ATD Scholarship Program
CNY ATD established the CNY ATD Scholarship Program to encourage and support professional development and continuing education in the field of talent development. The scholarship program provides monetary assistance to industry professionals and students continuing their education and professional development in the talent development field. The CNY ATD John Burns Memorial Scholarship is named in honor of CNY ATD’s 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award winner John Burns. The CNY ATD Ken Steiger Leadership Scholarship is named in honor of CNY ATD’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ken Steiger.

About THE CNY ATD 
CNY ATD is the local affiliate chapter of Association for Talent Development (ATD). For more than 40 years, CNY ATD has been connecting talent-development professionals throughout the region and contributing to the growth and recognition of the profession. CNY ATD has more than 150 members from various organizations covering 17 counties from the Canadian border to the Pennsylvania border in the central region of New York state.