Chesterfield University

Chesterfield County, Virginia is currently in the forefront among local governments in creating its own corporate university, Chesterfield University. Centered on the organization's mission, Chesterfield University brings a wide variety of learning opportunities to county employees while enhancing organizational effectiveness. Learning focuses on eight core competencies that enhance career development, reinforce employee performance expectations, drive the business strategy and encourage “learning for a lifetime”. Chesterfield County has made learning more efficient, while streamlining the process and maximizing county resources.

Chesterfield County has earned national recognition for the second year in a row by placing 45th on Training magazine’s Top 125 for 2008, an annual ranking of organizations leading the way in employee training and development. Chesterfield County remains the only local government recognized and also moved up from a 53rd place ranking in 2007.

The rankings are based on how an organization fosters its employees’ learning, development and relationships within the organization. The factors that influenced the rankings included: training tied to business objectives; number of trainees; employee turnover and retention; leadership development; tuition reimbursement; and dollars spent on training employees. Read more.

School of Leadership and Personal Effectiveness

Leadership and personal effectiveness are at the heart of the eight core competencies. The School of Leadership and Personal Effectiveness is an essential element to the continued education and personal and professional growth of every Chesterfield County employee. The County recognizes that every employee, regardless of position, is a leader. The primary goal of the School of Leadership and Personal Effectiveness is to provide leadership and personal effectiveness training that will promote knowledge, skills and abilities back to the job to increase personal and departmental successes.

School of Health, Environment, Safety and Security

This school addresses the health, safety and security training needs of every county employee and focus on presenting many opportunities for departmental cross-training because of the extensive training and re-certification necessary for the many employees who work in the fields of human safety and security. The types of courses that will be available include training in fraud awareness, workplace violence, office ergonomics, and use of portable fire extinguishers. The priorities of this school's leadership are to ensure that all training consistently meets course objectives as well as state and federal standards, if necessary, and to identify unmet learning needs in order to develop new opportunities. The goal is to expand access to courses across departmental lines whenever appropriate.

The School of Quality and Continuous Improvement

Since 1996, TQI University has been the method where employees obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to perform in a quality-oriented environment. In the summer of 2001, TQI University was identified as the first school of learning for Chesterfield University and its name was changed to the School of Quality and Continuous Improvement. While the name changed, the philosophy didn't, and the core classes, electives, graduation and recognition awarded to graduates remain the same. John Tyler Community College remains an integral partner in this school.

The School of Policy and Practice

The School of Policy and Practice provides basic organizational learning and serve as the foundation for individual performance and advance learning opportunities through the other schools. All new employees attend a comprehensive orientation to Chesterfield County government during their first three days of employment. This orientation focuses on the culture of the organization, strategic goals, and the countywide policies and practices that support a positive work environment. Because of numerous policy changes that can impact employees and the workplace, it is important that employees are continually updated with changes in county policies, procedures and practices so that they are able to enhance their effectiveness, professionalism and leadership contributions.

The School of Public Safety

The School of Public Safety provides the necessary training to support all phases of the public safety and security efforts. The school will bring together the combined resources of the Police Department, Fire and EMS, the Emergency Communications Center and the Sheriff's Office to improve the delivery of training programs in the field of public safety. When possible, training in areas common to all public safety employees will be combined. Much of this training is designed to increase safety in the county and to reduce the rate of injuries, accidents and property damage. Offerings in this school include basic training academies for new recruits, dispatch school, a property room management course, firearms training, training for volunteers and medical training.

The School of Applied Business Skills and Technology