The Flash
Newsletter of the 2019 IAWP Workforce Development Conference
Wednesday, June 19th, 2019 - PM Edition
IAWP International Past-President Mikell Fryer Pays Tribute
Don’t Get Fired by a Robot: How Social Intelligence Outwits Artificial Intelligence
By Steve Corwin, Oregon
When I was a kid I loved a comic book series named “Magnus, Robot Fighter.” Like much science fiction, it is set in a dystopian future in which robots have taken over. So naturally with a title like this one, I had to attend the Workshop of Dan Gray (TRACOM Group).
Unlike Magnus, who defeated robots with super human strength, we don’t need brawn but brains to win out over artificial intelligence, or AI. Dan laid out the ways the human brain works that make us highly versatile and able to win out over robotics in a battle of wits. Along with this knowledge, we must understand that we also have cognitive biases or distortions that can create blind spots for us.
Self-Evaluation Bias: We tend to see ourselves differently than other people often do. We can break this bias with versatility and flexibility in our thinking and behavior. When self-focused, we tout the virtues of the golden rule, but to shift our focus to the needs of others, we must employ the platinum rule: to treat others as they wish to be treated.
Transparency Bias: We believe we are better readers of other people than we really are. To break this bias we need to use active listening skills. To seek to understand others first, as Covey noted, by removing distractions and focusing on what they are saying, rather than the responses our brain immediately tries to apply to a situation.
Tunnel Vision Bias: We tend to focus on narrow goals and strategies to achieve them. This results in missed opportunities where we tune other alternatives and suggestions out. Some of which, may result in a greatly improved outcome.
We have to strip down the ideas that form the box our thinking is trapped in by substituting integral elements, combining ideas in different ways, reverse a process to see if it truly makes sense. We can eliminate elements of a service or idea, or adapt the service or product to different purposes. We can magnify or exaggerate elements of a product or service to draw attention to its strengths. Think of how these ideas apply to program development and re-development as resources ebb and flow in and out of your workforce system landscape.
Multi-Tasking Bias: We think we can perform more efficiently if we switch rapidly back and forth between tasks, but really only 2% of people in the world can operate this way. The rest of us actually are slowed down by this approach to work. The antidote to this bias is to practice mindfulness, being in the moment and focusing there.
Negativity Bias: We tend to focus on the bad we notice more than the good. This is a primordial part of brain development which allows us to survive dangerous environments. It leads to fight, flight, or freeze behavior. All of these are not helpful to us as workforce professionals. To combat our amygdala’s automatic reactions to events we must challenge automatic, reactive thinking. We need to get past behavior and actions the amygdala produces. We can then use active thinking rather than automatic responses to arrive at realistic responses.
There was a lot more to Dan’s talk, but the takeaway is that we can keep our jobs in an increasingly automated world of work. Our strategy should be to become even more “human” and humane to those with whom we interact.
Sector Partnerships
By Troy McMillan
Tuesday’s morning session keynote speaker was titled Sector Partnerships and was presented by Greg Wilson of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. The session, in a word was ENLIGHTENING, albeit I could also use words like informative, interactive, and impressive.
The talk covered the basics of sector partnerships and provided practical guidelines and methodical steps on how to create, implement, and sustain a sector partnership. As I mentioned, Greg’s presentation was enlightening which became apparent to me as I looked around the room, I noticed what seemed to be light bulbs going off inside people’s heads – they were smiling and nodding like Greg had become their best friend. And he had!
His session was informative because he told us who needs to be at the table for a sector partnership to be successful; it was interactive - he used Slido (a participation poll) to engage his audience; and it was impressive because he incorporated humor, video, and real data into his presentation. AND as a super cool bonus he included a quick response or QR code which enabled us to download his presentation right on the spot.
I left that keynote session wanting to thoroughly explore more about this topic so I attended Greg’s afternoon workshop session called Implementing and Sustaining Regional Sector Partnerships. In this session Greg lead his audience on a deep dive and explained more about the basic elements of an effective sector partnership, identified lessons learned in establishing successful partnerships, and provided guidance on how to formulate a plan that creates a new partnership or adds new strategies to existing partnerships. In the breakout session Greg divided the presentation into three parts:
1. Sector Partnership Basics, 2. Implementation Considerations, and 3. Lessons Learned and Application. Plus, he gave us some website resources so that we could do our own research.
Major takeaways for me were that before forming any type of partnership a needs assessment should be performed and a convener should be identified. And that through analysis and synthesis a shared need among employers must also be identified.
From Greg’s presentation and his example of Textron, a successful sector partnership in Georgia, I found myself wishing that I could find a defunct factory, retrofit it, manufacture a new product, hire and educate at-risk youth and create a new talent pipeline!
Thanks Greg for two wonderful presentations. For more information you can contact Greg at gjwilson@uga.edu.
Supporting the Under-served: An International Perspective
By Steve Corwin, Oregon
Language is revealing about how individuals and also how societies view underserved people. Are the words dismissive and punitive, or are they respectful and empowering?
Our international panel demonstrated respect for the disparate populations they serve: women, people with disabilities, and justice system involved customers. Yen Tzu Hui of Taiwan spoke of “allowances” for job seekers and employers to incentivize the hiring of formerly incarcerated persons.
Katsuto Hisano of Japan detailed the efforts in his country to encourage companies to hire people with disabilities. There are subsidies and levees (taxes) on businesses to hire specific percentages of candidates into their workforce who experience a disability. Japan has been doing this through laws passed in 1960 and 1987, well head of the ADA in the USA.
Huang Yao Ming of Taiwan referenced their Employment Security Act of 2007 and the Labor Standards Act of 2008, both of which are meant to augment their labor force participation rate. People start work later and leave earlier in Taiwan than many other countries. They are looking at keeping older workers in the labor force, especially because of the negative birth rate, which is choking off the supply of domestic workers. These efforts have raised the LFPR from 59% in 2001 to 63% in 2018.
Celine Jaeggy of France informed us of her country’s efforts to boost their apprenticeship programs to surpass the current 400,000 people (about the same as the US, but still well behind Germany). Also, to incent the hiring of persons with disabilities, and to cope with those workers laid off due to automation.
In France and the other countries, programs are underway with significant resources (millions and billions of dollars) to effect changes in their workforce participation rates. To support those experiencing job loss and those who =want to get ahead of the automation curve by learning new skills, trades.
We here in the USA could learn a lot from their efforts. There are many details that these fine representatives gave us, too numerous for this brief article. We will see what we can do to post the details of their presentations at our website. Many of these ideas may work in the US, too. Others seem like too much to hope for from our current deadlocked landscape, yet WIOA came out of similarly divided times so we might hope for US versions of some of these solutions in the future.
AWARDS
2019 Award Program
By Stephanie Stevens - Oregon Chapter
2019 Award Chair
We recognized some outstanding individuals and organizations for their service to IAWP and their achievements in Workforce Development.
We presented awards for Chapter Excellence, Innovation in Workforce Systems, and Outstanding Service to IAWP.
- First award was for chapter excellence. There are four potential categories for this award: Membership, professional development, marketing and communication, and community involvement.
- This year our chapter excellence award goes to a chapter who:
- Created opportunities for members through the development of new committees;
- Enhanced marketing of the chapter and association using innovative tools and technologies; to include online options for paying for events and membership,
- Communicated with members in different and unique ways; using flyers, newsletters, and social media,
- Developed community among the members;
- Worked to support local communities; and
- Continues the process of developing creative partnerships.
This year’s winner was - the Washington State Chapter
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The next award was for Outstanding Service to IAWP. This award recognizes the outstanding work of members in service to the International Association of Workforce Professionals. This could include, but is not limited to, developing programs to increase membership or meet other IAWP objectives, increasing awareness of IAWP in the community, creating new and different programs for members, developing innovative partnerships, giving back to their community and the association or going far above and beyond their role and duties in the association.
This year our outstanding service to IAWP award went to a person who continually leads by example in their efforts to repeatedly make connections and share the mission and core values of IAWP. Always thinking out-of-the-box, they create ways for IAWP to be involved in and add value to projects within the community. This then allows for members to educate attendees on IAWP objectives and educational opportunities.
In addition to the many community projects, they recently presented IAWP, the Workforce Professional Development Program and Certified Workforce Professional program to the Workforce Service Division Administration and Human Resources departments.
This year’s winner was - Rebecca Stancil from Montana.
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Next awards were for Innovation in Workforce Systems. The Innovation in Workforce Systems Award recognizes individuals, groups and organizations for extraordinary innovation that directly or indirectly impacts systems, customers or professionals within the workforce system. Contributions can take many forms and may include a significant role in the implementation and effective delivery of a highly innovate idea or system. This could include, but is not limited to implementation of a new system or process, developing an innovative program, creating a new way of delivering services, developing new technology or a new way to use technology, creating new partnerships, developing and/or implementing new policy or going far above and beyond the regular duties of a job.
- This year there were no submissions in the – Individual category. ______________________________________
We had 12 submissions in the Group category, of those four were recognized with an Honorable Mention they are …….
The Communications - Executive Programs group - from Washington
ESD’s Communications Team rallied to set the stage for further work with workforce leaders and governors; to demonstrate the tremendous value of employment services grants to our communities, state and nation. ESD’s leaders leveraged the SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to engage in disruption innovation.
Group that includes - Algie Crivens, Bob Acamovic, Kevin Denny, Jeff Mays, Lorena Zavalza, Christy Norwood, and LaVerna Poinde - from Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security revenue department partnered with the Illinois Department of Revenue to replace five legacy tax systems by adding Unemployment Tax to Revenue’s existing GenTax system. This is the first joint UI and state tax system in the nation improving the tax process for Illinois employers.
The Economic Information and Analysis Division - from Illinois
The cornerstone of Illinois’ evidence based practice on workforce outcomes is standardized metrics that replicate the job based Quarterly Workforce Indicators produced by the US Bureau of Census. These metrics include workforce connectivity (multiple job holding and job stability), career job earnings, and career job mobility. By creating a smartphone enabled web portal informs career choice for students and parents and shows workforce outcomes by academic area and college in conjunction with a broad range of institution and career information.
The Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia - Workforce
Development Team - Georgia
The Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia is helping workforce development organizations in the state of Georgia implement industry sector partnerships to address the most pressing workforce needs of their top industries. The Institute of Government has supported workforce development efforts on a statewide level since 2014, but in 2018 the Institute worked with two workforce development areas representing 32 counties to plan, build, implement, and sustain sector partnerships focused on health care employment.
The Winner for the Innovation in Workforce Systems – Group
For decades the Division struggled with work load increase during peak periods. Each year the numbers reflect that customer struggle with getting to a live person. Some of the challenges faced were long wait times or no ability at all to connect to a live person. It was suggested to hire additional entry level UI Specialist Agents to answer and triage incoming unemployment calls. The new triage team has answered more than 89,000 calls since September. That’s 70 percent of all the calls coming into the claim centers. Of those calls, about half get scheduled for a call back and 95 percent of those calls are made within their scheduled appointment time. The work of the triage team allows Claims Center agents additional time to assist claimants with more complex issues.
This year’s winner - The Unemployment Triage Pilot – from Washington
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- We had 3 submissions in the Innovation in Workforce Systems Organization category
Recognizing as an Honorable Mention the submission for
The Able Bodies Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) Program – from the Oregon Employment Department
Oregon Department of Human Services contracted with the Oregon Employment Department to become the primary contractor for Oregon's Able Bodies Adults Without Dependents program. Oregon DHS believes Oregon Employment Department is the first state workforce agency to be awarded the ABAWD contract. Oregon DHS is partnering with OED to build a program that better engages our shared customers, improves placement results, and supports these individuals on their pathway out of poverty.
The Winner for the Innovation in Workforce Systems – Organization
This nominee resolved to take a more proactive approach to the delivery of workforce services by reducing physical and systemic obstacles. It endeavored to create an updated service delivery model that:
1) relied more on existing complementary resources and partnerships and less on brick-and-mortar structures; and,
2) maximized communications technology to augment interfaces with
jobseekers.
As the local Workforce Development Board serving six counties they launched a pilot to improve the process for meeting the needs of jobseekers and employers in the area, while simultaneously reducing operational expenses, leading to more available funds for serving clients. By the end of 2018 the brick-and-mortar presence had been reduced from 5 to 2 comprehensive sites, and an expanded mobile team saw clients in 46 venues ranging from coffee shops, to nonprofit agencies, and public libraries, in rural and urban communities throughout the state.
This year’s winner of the Innovation in Workforce Systems – Organization
Northwestern Pennsylvania Job Connect -Pennsylvania
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Congratulations to our chapter excellence, service to IAWP, and innovation in workforce system award winners.
107TH woRKFORCE dEVELOPMENT coNFERENCE.
Contact The Flash
Email: flash@workforceconference.org
Phone: 503-752-4489
Flash Editorial Team
- Steve Strain - Editor-in-Chief (OR)
- Jenny Yarian-Scalpelli - Editor (IN)
- John Habig - Editor (IN)
- Sharon Mike Editor (MD)
Flash Contributors
- Steve Corwin - Oregon
- Dr. Rhetta Barker - Washington
- Tiara Jones - Illinois
- Troy McMillan - Illinois
- Rebekah Wilkes - Washington
- Terri Pasternik - Illinois
- Sharon Mike - Maryland
- Cassandra Baker - Maryland
- Lanae Vetsch - Montana
- Steve Bent - Texas