As public agencies meet the challenge of providing essential services with diminished funding and support, it is vital to ensure that they are working as effectively and efficiently as possible. Achieving success and providing responsive local government services requires a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce. The GOAL program enables City of Concord employees to work effectively together as a unified team, sharing a common vision. Launched in July 1998, the program has had a significant effect on the organization, enabling its workforce to meet new challenges. In its first full year of operation, the GOAL program offered 29 workshops and 451 training slots.
Participation remains high, and workshops continue to receive superior ratings.
Response has been particularly strong to Concord's interactive, practical-application approach to learning. Participants indicate that the ability to practice the skills and apply workshop lessons provides them with the confidence to use the skills in their regular assignments. This evidence of skills transference is further reinforced by the annual survey conducted by the Human Resources Department. Achieving success and providing responsive local government services requires a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Organizational training has become an integral part of working at the City of Concord, with employees encouraging their peers to attend specific workshops that they themselves found valuable.