The Greater Capital Region Workforce Coalition

 

Representing the

 

The Capital Region Workforce Investment Board

The Columbia-Greene Workforce Investment Board

The Fulton, Montgomery, and Schoharie Workforce Development Board, Inc.

The Saratoga-Warren-Washington Workforce Investment Board

 

 

 

 

Regional Economic Transformation Strategies 

For the Greater Capital Region

  

Core Technology Skills Workforce Development Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen M. Mitchell, PhD

Director Workforce Quality

Center for Governmental Research

Author

 

 

 

 

I. Opportunity Statement

 

The Greater Capital Region’s economy is working through a transition, with exciting emerging economic opportunities existing alongside more traditional industry sectors that are declining in the face of global economic challenges. This work plan is about recognizing and seizing the emerging opportunities.

 

The region has experienced extraordinary growth in research, advanced manufacturing, technology and economic development activities. During the past ten years the State of New York has invested in excess of $1 billion dollars in technology infrastructure in the Greater Capital Region to support laboratories, business incubator construction, and a nanotechnology research center. These investments in innovation and entrepreneurship are the seed for exciting new growth opportunities in technology-based industry sectors that will drive our future economy.

 

At the same time, the Greater Capital Region’s economy has been permanently altered by New York State’s loss of 44% of its manufacturing jobs from 1990 to 2007, more than twice the rate of decline in the nation. Dislocations – chiefly from traditional manufacturing -- have impacted more than 30,000 people across the region, with at least 8,000 workers affected by layoffs directly linked to foreign trade.

 

The accelerating pace of technological change combined with shortened product life cycles, more aware and demanding customers, and increasing global competition mean that this process of creative destruction will continue unabated into the foreseeable future. This plan is predicated on the belief that talent is a key to staying on the leading edge of this cycle. Scientific, engineering and entrepreneurial talent discovers and commercializes the technologies that drive the formation of new companies and industries, while the continual renewal and upgrading of workers’ skills enables firms to compete and provides individuals with the resources to gain wealth and acquire the assets needed to function in a volatile labor market.

 

In this regard, it is important to recognize that everyone is part of the region’s future success. That means everyone will need to progress to the next level of skills periodically, from low skill workers obtaining basic skills, through dislocated workers that need skill upgrades to participate in the emerging economy, to university graduates obtaining advanced and continuing learning and certifications. Demographic trends in the Greater Capital Region make it particularly important to attend to the skill development of nontraditional populations such as ex-offenders and individuals with disabilities, immigrants, and boomers wanting to, or needing to, stay in the workforce, albeit in different jobs.

 

Given the emphasis on talent and skill development, it is clear that the region’s network of private, two- and four-year public colleges must play a critical part in any talent development strategies. Collectively, these institutions provide more than 6,000 degrees per year in a wide variety of disciplines, creating a high-level of educational attainment and a regional workforce capable of growing high-end jobs. Making regional learning institutions preferred sources of talent will help to reverse the “brain-drain,” offset the retirement of the baby-boomers, and provide the regional economy with the talent it needs to flourish.

 

The challenge facing regional policy makers, educators and workforce leaders is how to match this unprecedented economic investment in technology with a regional workforce development system that can be continuously aligned with any rapid growth or changes in these industries’ needs. The current system was designed to meet the needs of the old industrial economy. It too must be transformed to address the needs of a global knowledge economy.

The Greater Capital Regional Workforce Coalition intends to play an integral part in this transformation, helping to create a region that is globally competitive, technology capable, and research oriented, in an economy characterized by an innovative entrepreneurial spirit and a highly skilled workforce.

 

Goals:

 

The Coalition believes that two things must happen for the region to take advantage of this opportunity to create and grow companies in the emerging technology sectors. Acting as a region, we must:

1.      Ensure employers have access to a regional workforce with the skills necessary for high performance in the emerging technology sectors.

2.      Transform the economic and workforce development systems so that they are capable of addressing the needs of the emerging technology sectors in a sustainable format.

 

Mission:

Investing in talent development to grow our regional economy to ensure that the Greater Capital Region’s:

·         Residents have the opportunity and the support needed to obtain the knowledge, skills and education necessary for them to engage as active contributors to a vibrant regional economy.

·         Employers, particularly those in sectors related to emerging technologies, will have access to individuals with the right skills, at the right time and in the right place to achieve their business objectives.

 

 

II. Guiding/Operating Principles

 

The actions and activities of the Greater Capital Region Workforce Coalition are guided by and operate under a set of core principles. According to these principles, the Coalition is:

·         Transformational -- We must ensure that the array of economic development and employment services that are delivered to individuals and employers is organized in a way that will align with our vision of a region that embraces continuous learning. That will require rethinking the delivery of economic and workforce development services.

·         Skill Focused – We believe that talent is a driver in the knowledge economy. Our intent is to develop systems and structures that provide an enhanced regional technology skills platform.

·         Sector Focused -- We will develop our solutions consistently within the context of meeting the needs of industries related to key emerging technologies. Initially those industries will include: Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Biotechnology, Energy, and Nanotechnology. We will strategically engage industry representatives and employers, crafting policy and program to meet their expressed needs.

·         Regional – We believe that economies work at a regional level. Our actions must encourage and support development of agile and appropriate partnerships and solutions in the Greater Capital Region.

·         Systemic – Transformation requires aligning and coordinating the activities and goals of the workforce, education and economic development/entrepreneurial systems to create responsive and proactive service delivery models to meet the needs of individuals and employers. Random acts of improvement will not produce the required change.

·         Collaborative -- We are embarking on an explicit, long-term joint venture of all relevant entities involved in economic development, workforce development, and education committing to set priorities and resource allocations to support and align with the goals and action strategies we are undertaking. We will build upon prior investment by the key partners and reduce fragmentation.

·         Strategic – We will target out investments to identify and fill gaps that exist between industry needs and the skills of the workforce, and to removing barriers that prevent workers who want to take advantage of continuous learning from doing so.

·         Accountable – Our strategies cannot be mere rhetoric. We will develop metrics for our progress and use them to drive our actions.

 

III.    Strategies

 

There are three strategies in the Coalition’s work plan. These are: talent pipeline, innovation/entrepreneurship, and regional leadership. The talent pipeline and regional leadership strategies align with the two primary goals articulated above and are the focus of this initiative. Innovation/entrepreneurship is critical to creating and growing companies in the emerging technology sectors and is a core goal of the Coalition’s economic development and university partners. The Coalition’s workforce–focused activities support this economic development goal.

 

Talent Pipeline Strategy

 

The purpose of the Talent Pipeline Strategy is to ensure employers have access to a regional workforce with the skills necessary for high performance in the emerging technology sectors. It assumes that talent is a driver in the knowledge economy, and serves as a source of competitive advantage for the region, companies and individuals.

The Talent Pipeline Strategy focuses on the creation of effective linkages between employers, job seekers, and learning providers. Employer demand is the primary driver. The specific focus is on the common or aggregate demands within and across emerging technology sectors. Both job seekers and learning providers need to be aware of employer’s workforce needs and associated skill and competency requirements.

 

Learning providers of all types – K-12, technical and proprietary schools and colleges, four-year and graduate colleges and universities, and contract training providers – need to ensure their curriculum and program offerings are aligned to employer demand. This alignment should be transparent to employers and job seekers. Learning providers’ offerings should be learner-centered, i.e., the delivery formats and program supports should be chosen to ensure individual success, at all steps in the career ladder, at all skill levels, with workers currently employed and workers who are seeking new employment opportunities.

 

The region’s job seekers should be the talent sought by employers. Employment is the ultimate connection between employers and job seekers. Each individual has to assume responsibility for his or her own career. They have to be aware of their own skills, competencies and interests, aware of the employer demand, and aware of the learning opportunities that will fill any gaps between their skills and employer’s requirements. More importantly, they have to act on this knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The workforce system writ large includes all of the entities and individuals that facilitate linkages between employers, learning providers and job seekers. Collectively, the system provides the tools and infrastructure to support these requirements and improve the links between employers, learning providers and job seekers. Critical tools support:

 

1.      Life-long career planning (a process that will attract students towards careers that will be beneficial to themselves and to the region),

2.      Dynamic curriculum (industry-responsive curriculum through which the region educates and train students of all ages for success in the knowledge-based economy), and

3.      Workforce opportunity (interactive and dynamic database of job opportunities and the skills associated with those jobs).

 

The Talent Pipeline Strategy is meant to create a distinctive capability that will deliver a long-term, sustainable competitive advantage. This strategic capability focuses on four elements: talent definition; talent sourcing; system capacity; and talent development.

 

Talent definition

 

Every business challenge – be it launching a new product or service, expanding into new international markets, undergoing a financial turnaround or corporate repositioning, or simply speeding production or delivering better customer service – creates a corresponding talent challenge. Organizations – and the region -- must be able to understand their talent needs in terms of both the general and the specific competencies—the critical set of skills, knowledge and behaviors— that are necessary to meet these talent challenges. High performance can be achieved and sustained by building the right set of competencies in the workforce and aligning and deploying these most effectively to particular job functions.

 

The exercise of competency management requires a “continuous process of identifying and clarifying the key competencies, behaviors, values and principles necessary for an organization’s

success. It involves the development of job descriptions, clear definitions of proficiency levels, and clear and simple assessments of what drives performance and potential.” [1]

 

Competency management touches every other process area in talent management, underlying sourcing and recruiting, performance management, succession planning and leadership development. With effective competency management processes, recruiters can source the right candidates, managers can assess high and low performers, executives can identify the potential leaders, and training managers can develop the best interventions.

 

The U.S Department of Labor has developed both a Generic Competency Model and several sector-specific competency models -- advanced manufacturing, retail, and financial services -- that may be of use in implementing a competency-based approach. Each model is divided into nine tiers, reflecting increasing complexity and focused-competencies. The nine tiers are captured in the accompanying table (see the appendix for the table and a graphic of the generic competency model).

 

The Coalition has elected to place particular emphasis on “core technology skills,” i.e., those skills that provide a common foundation for the five emerging technology industries that are the target of this initiative. A review of the accompanying table suggests that the core platform is likely to concentrate on Tiers 1 through 5: Personal Effectiveness Competencies (Tier 1), Academic Competencies (Tier 2), Workplace Competencies (Tier 3), Industry-wide Technical Competencies (Tier 4), and Sector-wide Technical Competencies (Tier 5). Business engagement will be critical to identifying competencies in Tiers 4 and 5.

Talent sourcing

Given a definition of talent (demand), an organization – and the region – must identify sources of talent to fill that demand. Leading organizations today are building capabilities to understand and source talent more strategically, based on clear definitions of skills gaps and needs for the future. The Coalitions intent is to support regional firms in this effort, in part by ensuring regional providers are seen as preferred sources of talent.

 

The critical capability in talent sourcing is compiling information on what talent pools are available, how those pools are changing and what new ones are emerging. A key aspect of this involves the availability of detailed data on the regional supply of labor broken down by labor market segments, including skill assessments aligned to the competency models developed as part of the talent definition process. There are different ways to categorize or segment talent pools. Some key distinctions include: emerging or future talent, transitional and/or special focus talent, and incumbent or current talent. It is also important to distinguish the level of preparation required by the competency model for a given position (e.g., HS, 2 years post-secondary, 4 year or more post-secondary), since each level may be associated with a different source of talent.

 

System capacity

 

Talent definition is essentially a statement of demand, while talent sourcing is a statement of supply. System capacity looks at the region’s ability to provide the services needed to align supply to demand. Three assessments are of particular importance:

 

·         Assessing the capacity and quality of the region’s learning resources. Given the centrality of talent to economic competitiveness in a knowledge economy, it is no surprise that learning institutions warrant special attention in talent sourcing. They are important as sources of emerging talent (students), and as providers of the ongoing learning and skill upgrades needed to stay competitive. There are four criteria for assessing regional learning providers:

a.       Quantity – Are there sufficient learning opportunities to meet the demands of the labor market? This requires assessing the alignment of curriculum to demand, and the transparency/marketing of opportunity.

b.      Quality – Do employers see graduates as quality hires? Is the institution a preferred source of talent? Are employers involved in the development of program and curriculum? Are there clear content and outcomes? Does the institution have the capacity to deliver the programs?

c.       Equity – What is done to ensure access for all segments? Does the institution recognize prior learning? Are certifications competency based? Are programs offered in flexible formats (e.g., modular, personalized)? What support services are provided? What does the program cost?

d.      Efficiency – How clear are career pathways and associated educational opportunities? Are there agreements between institutions that promote access and coordination of learning opportunity? Are the learning processes appropriate for the desired outcomes?

·         Assessing the capacity of employers to attract and retain talent. This includes collecting data on where employers currently find talent (e.g., what positions are sourced globally versus regionally, for what positions do employers elect to recruit versus develop or contract), determining whether the organization has the ability to attract talent successfully based on such things as market image and brand, and assessing the employee value proposition and whether it is attractive enough to attract more diverse talent (e.g., items such as employment terms, benefits, rewards and training programs).

 

Talent development

 

Talent development is the actions taken to fill the gaps between supply and demand by providing learning opportunities to targeted talent and enhancing the capacity of the system to meet current and future needs. A talent development strategy emerges from the delineation of critical demand, the identification of the best talent sources to meet that demand, and the development and implementation of action plans to match the source to the demand, bridging any skill or capacity gaps that may limit success. The “end point” is an individual with the right skills in the right place at the right time at the right price to enable business growth and provide individual career opportunity.

 

The Coalition has identified three basic action areas in talent development:

 

1.      Core technology skills platform. The Coalition believes that the region must begin to focus more on the general readiness of the talent pool for work in the emerging technology sectors. To this end, it will identify the common foundational skills across the emerging technology sectors, and develop programs to enable individuals to attain these common competencies. There are two initial targets: secondary school graduates and individuals currently in the labor market that do not have the necessary foundation for success in the knowledge economy.

2.      Targeted technical education and training. Employers need candidates prepared to perform in specific jobs. This requires targeted education and training with an emphasis on the technical competencies required for successful performance on the job. There are two initial targets: post-secondary students and current workers that desire better employment, including nontraditional populations such as ex-offenders and individuals with disabilities, immigrants, and boomers wanting to, or needing to, stay in the workforce, albeit in different jobs.

3.      Incumbent worker training. Given the rapid pace of change, continuous skill upgrading is necessary to maintain worker’s productivity and retain the best talent. This strategy is designed to support employers’ efforts to improve the skills of their existing workers.

There are two additional points that need to be made about the basic steps in the Talent Pipeline Strategy (i.e., delineate demand, sources, and system capacity, develop and implement strategies to match talent to demand and fill any gaps). First, it is a cyclical process and meant to be repeated on an ongoing basis. This means that the tools and infrastructure must be in place to repeat the process. It is particularly important to have connection with employers for ongoing data on competency requirements.

 

Second, the basic steps in the talent pipeline play out at three different levels. The Coalition operates primarily at the policy level with a focus on the region. Individual companies may go through a similar strategy process only it will be called workforce planning and/or talent management. Finally, individuals engaged in career planning are going through the same basic steps, although the labels may be different (e.g., know the market, know myself, and make the match). Ideally, the three levels are linked and are informed by activity in the other spaces.

 

Vision

 

In a transformed workforce development system:

·     Employers value talent and make investments to attract, develop and retain a skilled workforce

 

Innovation/Entrepreneurship Strategy

 

The Innovation/Entrepreneurship Strategy assumes that innovation is a key to success in the global economy and that new and small businesses are a primary source of job growth. It is particularly focused on product innovation stemming from the commercialization of new technologies emerging from university and corporate R&D centers, and the start-up companies based on these technologies. The strategic capabilities revolve around tools and infrastructure to support the successful performance of activities associated with the Innovation Lifecycle and the related stages of company development.

 

As highlighted in the accompanying tables (see appendix), there are three stages in the Innovation Lifecycle: (1) Concept, which is associated with the concept and pre-seed stages of company development; (2) Formation, which is associated with the seed and early stage of company development; and (3) Growth, which is associated with the expansion stage of company development. The Coalition’s economic development partners engage in four actions to support company creation and growth:

 

·         Technology commercialization. Successful start-ups are able to identify and develop commercially viable technologies. This is no easy task. Coalition partners will support and/or provide services related to orphan technology, intellectual property, technology transfer and adoption, technology market assessment, and applied research and development.

·         Funding. Starting a new company takes money. Coalition partners will support and/or provide services related to angel, capital and seed funding.

·         Entrepreneur development. Being an entrepreneur is an occupation, and like any occupation, it requires the ongoing competency development. For entrepreneurs, there are two critical sources of development: (1) networking, i.e., opportunities to connect with and learn from other entrepreneurs, and (2) business-related education, which includes entrepreneurship education and training, and consulting/business assistance.

·         Business services. Economic developers undertake a variety of activities to support company growth. Key activities for start-ups include: (1) information on and access to grants and partnership opportunities, and (2) business planning and business incubation.

Vision

A transformed economic development system

Regional Leadership Strategy

 

The Regional Leadership Strategy assumes that regions are the relevant geography in building a globally competitive economy and a highly skilled workforce. It recognizes that success requires putting aside geopolitical boundaries to pursue a common regional vision; overcoming the inefficiency of fragmented and duplicative programs in favor of an allocation of resources based on client need, and program capacity and quality; and using data-based decision making to ensure programs and initiatives are managed to reality, not political or personal whim. It issues a challenge to Coalition partners: work together in transforming the region’s economic and workforce development systems. Three strategic capabilities support the Regional Leadership Strategy:

·         Communicate to engage. A key responsibility of leadership is communicating a vision that will inspire others to do their absolute best to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose. The marketing of opportunity and possibility through a vision, work plans, and achievements is essential to the Coalition’s success. Partners, potential partners and clients must be inspired to engage in the Coalition’s activities.

·         Enable and empower. Breaking through geopolitical boundaries requires a dialogue between equals. The Coalition cannot mandate change. It has to identify the regional assets, invite participation, listen, and shape programs with partners that leverage existing resources and investments, and provide incentives for innovative collaborations and approaches to addressing workforce and economic development challenges.

·         Manage to data. Vision and empowerment are the softer side of leadership. Leaders also set and achieve specific goals, and manage activities designed to achieve those goals. What gets measure gets managed. The Coalition has to agree on a set of measures that can be used to track progress against its short- and long-term goals, and the organizing initiatives in the work plan. Measuring improves performance if what is measured is harnessed to create improvements or enhancements in direction and delivery. The chosen measures should guide the continuous improvement of programs and inform the Coalition’s decisions around the investments of scarce resources. This accountability system should include assessments of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.

 

Vision

 

In a transformed economic and workforce development system


Barriers and Challenges

 

Change is rarely easy. The type of transformation envisioned by the Coalition can be particularly difficult. There are four barriers consistently cited by partners that must be overcome. These are:

·         Lack of connection to business. In a survey of Coalition partners, aligning education resources to employers’ skills and workforce requirements was cited as the top priority. Achieving this may not be easy. The lack of connection to and dialogue with business is seen as a significant barrier. Program decisions are currently made on limited or soft data, resulting in programs that do not produce graduates with the skills needed by regional employers.

·         Turf. Geopolitical boundaries, competition for scarce resources, and bureaucratic silos each contribute to a mentality driven by “what’s in it for me” and a reluctance to work collaboratively for the benefit of the region. This reluctance is reinforced by parochialism and/or a bureaucratic attitude that resists change, preferring what is to what could be. This may be seen in the reluctance of many learning providers to adopt new formats for program delivery (workforce system), or a preference for business attraction over entrepreneurial start-ups (economic development system). Getting stakeholders to work together to set priorities and resource allocations and align with a common regional agenda was the second priority in the partner’s survey.

·         System. The current workforce and economic development systems impose barriers to meeting the demands of a rapidly changing knowledge economy. High school programs focus on academic standards and do not address the 21st century skills required for success in the new workplace. Counselors have little time to instill the career literacy needed to navigate the turbulent economy. Community colleges are driven by credit hours, while non-credit programs offer some of the best preparation for entry into the world of work. WIA set up one-stop centers to serve all comers, when a segmented approach to the talent market may provide better results. In an era in which business analytics is a driver of company success, there is little sharing of data across systems to allow the adoption of these techniques in the workforce system.

·         Resources. Critical resources – time, money, and knowledge – are in scarce supply. The scarcity reinforces the turf battles and can make it difficult to justify the investment in connecting and collaborating with business and other stakeholders.

Despite these significant challenges, the partners believe the Coalition is on the right track. Bringing people to the table (even broadening the participation to include providers that may not normally be seen as a traditional part of the system) to engage in a constructive dialogue that contributes the development of a common vision, a common plan, and shared data is a good thing. Incentives to reward the desired behaviors (e.g., grants to projects that are collaborative and/or regional, learning programs that use new delivery formats, sector programs with a different strategy for each talent pool), articulation agreements that link K to 16, and connections to business are all seen as mechanisms that can help make the Coalition’s vision a reality.

 

IV. Goals, Objectives, and Tactics for Implementation

 

Two overarching goals will drive our work. We will measure our long-term success against these goals.

Goal 1 Ensure employers have access to a regional workforce with the skills necessary for high performance in the emerging technology sectors

 

Key Objectives:

1. Assessment

Why do this? Transformation must be grounded in the reality of employer demand, the skills of the existing talent pools, and the capacity of the workforce system. We have to know where we stand in order to move forward.

Tactics for Implementation:

 

2. Capacity Development

Why do this? The Talent Pipeline Strategy is meant to ensure that workers have the skills needed for successful performance in an ever-changing work environment. If we want to transform the workforce system, we also have to provide workforce staff with the training and tools to succeed in the new environment.

Tactics for Implementation

·         Set aside funds to continue the partnership’s education regarding successful sector approaches. This will include seeking out appropriate conferences and content area specialists to provide training opportunities for our partners and the staff of their organizations
 

3. Career Awareness/Career Ladders

Why do this? Identifying where good jobs are in the economy, and what skills, knowledge and experience are needed to obtain them, is a recurring issue for everyone, from an 8th grader understanding the connection between their education and having good job opportunities to workers seeking to enter or progress in career pathways. Obtaining the learning and credentialing needed to advance in those pathways at all stages of life is crucial to individual success.

Tactics for Implementation