Montana Business Culture 101 helps Hamilton High School Students Go Online to Learn Soft Skills

Teaching soft skills to students that will enter the local workforce through the School to Career program is not an easy task. Soft skills are critical for being successful in the workplace. Lack of these skills cost employees their jobs and cost employers on the bottom line as they deal with turnover issues.

Patti Furniss, Director of the Bitterroot Job Service http://jsd.dli.state.mt.us/local/hamilton/ introduced Hamilton High School Business Applications teacher Sharon Mattix to the possibility of using a locally created online training course, Montana Business Culture 101 http://www.montana-jobs.net/mbc101/

Twenty students from Mrs. Mattix Word Processing class at Hamilton High School are trying out a new, online learning process, Montana Business Culture 101, before entering the work world via the School to Career program.

Montana Business Culture 101 (MBC 101) is an online soft skills course covering Communications, Problem Solving, Adaptability to Change, and Work Habits and Ethics. A Personal Profile Preview™ from inscape Publishing™ is included in the course. This is a quick and easy tool for self-discovery of one’s behavior and preferred communication style. The total cost of the 5 hour course, which can be taken over the Internet, 24 x 7 is $25.

Even with the low cost of the course funds for extras are not available. Local and state leadership were asked for help on costs. Timing was critical for this semesters students to utilize the course. First Interstate Bank of Hamilton, President, Monte Drake quickly agreed to donate 10 seats to the students as did Montana State Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director, Webb Brown.

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Many thanks to both organizations for their support and vision.

First Interstate Bank of Hamilton http://www.firstinterstatebank.com/location/montana/hamilton.htm

The Montana Chamber of Commerce http://www.montanachamber.net

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Mrs Mattix reports her students enjoyed taking the first module, and look forward to the remaining modules. Many were surprised when they discovered the Personal Profile Model category they fell in, but quickly became aware why they did. The next step they learned was how to better get along with those in other profile models. This was a valuable communication tool, and one that is easily applied to the workplace!

Mrs Mattix would like to thank everyone responsible for providing me and my students this opportunity to learn in an engaging manner. The students were very interested and intent on reading and answering the module materials. These are difficult concepts to teach and learn, but what better way, than from the experts in their field.

Montana Business Culture 101 was created to provide a training tool for soft skills that was readily available in rural areas where costs and travel time create substantial barriers to participation.

MBC 101 subject matter was created by volunteer experts Patti Furniss and Mary Larson. Mary Larson, a Western Montana College graduate, is the founder of Hawk Point Consulting Inc http://www.hawkpointinc.com/ She has developed curriculum for Microsoft and has recently completed her Master’s in Applied Behavioral Science.

In May, Patti was awarded a 2nd place International Association of Workforce Professionals Award of Merit for her work as a Subject Matter Expert on Montana Business Culture 101. The Award of Merit is the highest honor this professional organization of 17,000 national and international members bestows.

In May, Patti was awarded a 2nd place International Association of Workforce Professionals Award of Merit for her work as a Subject Matter Expert on Montana Business Culture 101. The Award of Merit is the highest honor this professional organization of 17,000 national and international members bestows.

For more information call Julie Foster at 406-777-7185 or email

For pictures of the students at work: http://www.montana-jobs.net/hhs_mbc101.html

For more information about Montana Business Culture 101- http://www.montana-jobs.net/mbc101/