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2008

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008 (11:07 AM)

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Training Bellingham

(I'm feeling amused)

HENRY BEELAND
Title: Founder and CEO.
Business: Evergreen Team Concepts.
Established: September 2007.
Employees: Seven full-time staff, plus various instructors and speakers under contract.
Local office: 3600 Meridian St., Suite 100.
Information: info@etcwa.com 647-6922 or http://www.etcwa.com/

Henry Beeland says he recognized an unmet need for premier business and professional training and that's why he recently launched Evergreen Team Concepts. He doesn't view his company as competing with local training institutions so much as complementing what's already available. He explains some of the premises behind the business.

What does Evergreen Team Concepts offer?
The company provides consulting services, professional training and development in facilities on Meridian Street or will bring a speaker or instructor to an employer's location. Beeland said what sets Evergreen apart is the flexibility to customize training and to offer classes, workshops or seminars at short notice. The training center features classy decor, a 45-seat presentation room and a 30-seat interactive computer lab. The place is designed to motivate visitors to realize the benefits of education. “When you recognize the primary participant in your own failures, you can become the greatest participant in your own success,” he said.

What type of skills do you teach?
Classes range from computer training to customer service to high performance sales. Certification courses are available. These include Lean 5S, which focuses on team leadership and operational efficiencies, and Six Sigma, a program that instills continuous quality improvement in the workplace. These certifications are offered by partnering with Kansas Citybased Rockhurst University and its National Seminars Training Program.

Your customers?
His years in private industry demonstrated that only mega-size corporations possess the resources to bring in a Fortune 500 consultant or other top-level training. However, costs are affordable when spread among seminar participants. Since opening in September, Evergreen has worked with or trained 50 businesses, brought in experts from four countries, along with 10 published authors. “I'm pleased with our progress and where we are headed,” he said. Obviously, business operators are realizing their staff's assets. “Too often businesses can't define how much they invested in training or on outcomes,” he said.

How did you prepare for your position?
He served four years in the U.S. Army as a combat medic before earning an undergraduate degree from Mercer University in Macon, Ga., in human resource administration. He is certified to teach the Six Sigma and Lean 5S certification programs.
He worked seven years in project management for the state of Georgia before leaving for private industry. He spent the next 15 years in various management positions in the grocery, manufacturing, distribution and construction industries in five states.

He met his wife, Brenda, while consulting on a project in Whatcom County in 2003, and then moved here.

What is your business philosophy?
The business is based on the idea of “building teams outside the box.” Evergreen strives to do this with techniques that move away from the didactic and linear thinking to innovative ways of presenting information. There's even a laughter workshop to help with communication and lightening the workplace environment.

Growing the business?
Evergreen Team Concepts offers a Web-based platform that enables clients to ask unlimited questions on subjects that include safety, human resources, project management, team building, OSHA and WISHA regulations and other topics. Web forums led by top professionals are available online, and resource materials are available for use in the workplace or to augment training.

What's ahead?
He plans to have two dozen training facilities established across the country in the next decade or so. He keeps the business plan focused “on discovering new ways to help facilitate success for our business clients.''

Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

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