Press Releases

 

Lindamood-Bell and Motorola Win a Gold Medal

Lindamood-Bell Press Release
1992

 

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA– Paul Worthington, of San Luis Obispo, California, brought home a Gold Medal to a local learning center!

It is becoming increasingly clear that Corporate America has unprecedented needs in literacy training. Although, basic skills are crucial to factories, many employees have very weak literacy and language processing skills. One American Corporation is on the cutting edge in trying to solve this problem.

Motorola Inc., a successful Fortune 50 American corporation with 100,00 employees, is the benchmark in business and industry for training in workplace literacy. Their commitment to quality drove them to further improve their already recognized learning program-New Directions. After examining a number of literacy programs, they determined that "only Lindamood-Bell® could meet our needs."

Lindamood-Bell Learning ProcessesT is a center known nationally and internationally for programs they authored in literacy and language processing. After one and a half years of research with Motorola, Lindamood-Bell® and Motorola embarked on a joint venture unprecedented in workplace literacy. The difference was two-fold. first, the learning techniques authored by Patricia Lindamood and Nanci Bell are designed to develop sensory-cognitive processing that underlies reading, language comprehension, analytical thinking, and following oral directions. The Lindamood-Bell® techniques specifically develop 1) phonetic processing for decoding, and 2) concept imagery for language comprehension and thinking. Lindamood-Bell® and Motorola's research proved that these techniques produced significantly higher results than the methodology Motorola had previously been using.

Second, Motorola set a precedent in workplace literacy by implementing Lindamood-Bell's recommendation of an immersion training schedule. This meant employees were allowed off their job for four hours a day, five days a week, for a two to twelve week cycle time. The Lindamood-Bell®/Motorola project saved Motorola hundreds of thousands of dollars while reducing the cycle time for training 450 employees in basic language and literacy skills, from five years to two years.

Because of the project's innovation in design and unique problem-solving, Motorola encouraged the project managers to enter into the Motorola Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) team competition. Six Sigma Quality and Total Customer Satisfaction is a commitment by Motorolans working together in teams to make this vision a reality. The Motorola worldwide TCS team competition recognizes those teams which have achieved excellence in using the team process for goal setting and problem solving in the pursuit of key initiatives. In the past year, preliminary competitions were held in each of Motorola's sectors groups and corporate organizations. More than 3,700 teams were judged on teamwork in arriving at project solutions, competence in using analytical tools and the effectiveness of their results.

The workplace literacy project with Lindamood-Bell® became a TCS team, with Lindamood-Bell's Project Director, Paul Worthington, a member of the Motorola team. After hours of planning, analyzing research data, and presentation practice, the "Class Act" team, as they were known, competed in their first competition at Schaumburg, Illinois (near Chicago). They won! It was the first time a team from Personnel and Training had won the local competition. Next, they went on to Hawaii for the LMPS semi-finals in October, 1992. In Hawaii, with 22 teams from all over the world, including Israel, Ireland, and Malaysia, the Class Act team won again! This qualified them for the final competition back at Motorola headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. Here 24 teams were judged by Motorola Corporation CEO's and top executives. Tension was high as Motorolans from all over the world got together to demonstrate their commitment to problem-solving for quality. And, the Class Act team won again! They received a gold medal and a special "Creativity in Process" award. Lindamood-Bell® and Motorola demonstrated that a commitment to innovative procedures and implementation can result in a win and significant gains in the lives of employees.

In order to stay competitive in what is becoming a global marketplace, Motorola knows it has to provide quality products, total customer satisfaction, and a work force qualified to meet the needs of both. Lindamood-Bell® is very proud to be a part of this venture and has extended their corporate goal to include a major emphasis on Workplace Literacy. helping American Corporations remain productive in the marketplace, with better trained employees, means helping America create jobs. Lindamood-Bell® considers this part of their corporate mission.