Managers want employees who can be players in the high-performance workforce. Employees want interesting, secure employment. Managers want workers to be part of the competitive equation of the organization. Employees want to grow and learn. Managers want employees who can grow with the organization. How do both groups achieve these goals? A solid foundation in basic skills is essential to developing knowledge workers for learning organizations. This article reports on the experiences of workers and managers in nine Northeast Ohio companies that participated in a pilot project to determine the impact of basic skills training on employee and organizational effectiveness.