The learning continues for Patrick Mendoza.
My client work often takes me up to Austin, for which I am extremely grateful. Last week as I was driving past my alma mater – The University of Texas at Austin – a frightening thought went through my head: it’s been 10 years since I started my last year of school. Once I shook off the depression of getting older I realized that although my formal schooling may have ended nearly a decade ago, my workplace education and training has taught me just as much, if not more than I ever learned in formal classrooms. Especially when looking back at some of the electives I took in college.
One of the accounts I work on here at KGBTexas .communication is McDonald’s. We manage the public relations, social media and public affairs for the McDonald’s restaurants stretching from Georgetown to Cotulla and all points in between. Being part of the “McFamily” allows me to attend conferences and training that the company holds for the benefit of their employees and partners.
This June, I was fortunate to attend the prestigious, if not funny sounding, Worldwide Hamburger Marketing University located at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Ill. McDonald’s marketing executives from around the world gathered there to learn insights and ideas on how to successfully create a McDonald’s marketing plan. The weeklong intensive course is divided between classroom study, analyzing case studies and creating marketing plans. At the conclusion of the course, all the teams present their plans to a jury and a winning team is announced.
Before I left Texas for Hamburger U., I was issued a challenge by the regional marketing team in Houston. Every member of the Houston Region team that had attended the course was on the winning team and I had to uphold the streak. I am proud to report that the streak lives on.
McDonald’s holds true to the values instilled by founder Ray Kroc who famously said, “You’re only as good as the people you hire.” McDonald’s recognizes that through vigorous continuing education offerings employees become stronger and better stewards of the brand committed to building the business, but it also creates a loyalty the employee feels towards the company.
In challenging times such as these, it is more important than ever that companies invest in training for their employees to help grow and maintain their business. Education doesn’t stop once you receive your diploma, it must carry forward and evolve just as the changing nature of business does.
