The Flash
Newsletter of the 2019 IAWP Workforce Development Conference
Monday, June 17th, 2019
Welcome to San Antonio
By Grant Axtell - President, International Association of Workforce Professionals
Welcome to San Antonio and the 2019 Workforce Development Conference. Over the next few days I look forward to meeting and interacting with you as we attend great educational sessions and enjoy evenings connecting and networking.
Attending conferences is a skill in itself. I recently attended a large conference and went to an orientation session in which the speaker shared some tips for making the most of the conference experience. Here are a few that resonated the most with me:
1) Review the conference program and pick sessions in advance
2) Make sure you have a way to collect contact information from colleagues
3) Take and post pictures
4) Eat lunch and dinner with people (even people you don’t know!)
5) Go to bed (i.e. don’t stay up all night networking!)
Before you go to bed though, feel free to stop by the IAWP Hospitality Suite in Room 428. The room is open most nights of the conference from 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM. In the room, you will find some beverages and light snacks to enjoy as thank you for attending the conference this year.
If during the conference you have any questions or concerns, please stop by the information booth or seek out myself or another IAWP officer. We are here to assist and help in any way we can.
Thank you for being here and enjoy the experience!
MIGHT BE A FUN THING TO DO: If you have a tip to share, drop it off at the FLASH office or tweet it using #workforcedevelopmentconference
IAWP Boot Camp
By Steve Corwin, Oregon
We started the day by meeting someone new. I got to meet Erica DuBose from Maryland. Erica is a Transition Coordinator for Corrections clients. I also got to meet Cheryl Martin from Washington. Cheryl’s passion is the Beyond Bars program which she manages and that is funded by her employer, Girl Scouts of the USA.
You can tell already how rich and valuable the networking is at the International Conference. Erica and Cheryl both remarked about meeting others who do the same kind of work. They are from different states and now have the opportunity to share ideas and ask questions of each other.
Grant Axtell shared the basics about our officers, rules, and governing documents. Grant covered how the Chapter Affiliation Agreement enables International to help the state chapters. He talked about the importance to the individual chapters of having directors and officers insurance as well as having liability insurance.
IAWP has expanded its paid staff this year. In addition to Steve Bent as full time Executive Director, we now have Terri Pasternik as Education and Certification Manager, and Jill Bent as Operations and Event Manager, both on a part time basis. Steve is focused on marketing the organization and expanding membership.
Terri is adding educational content to our website and scheduling online training events (webinars). The first online training will be July 10 at noon Central Time. Terri will administer the Workforce Professional Development Program and Certified Workforce Professional credential. She will use our learning management system to track completing trainings which will add to achievement of the CWP. With the exception of the online learning events, which will remain free to members, these courses represent a growing revenue stream for IAWP.
Jill will perform the daily operations functions and also focus on annual conference duties. Jill has over 20 years of experience organizing and carrying out conferences. Jill has been volunteering her skills in this area for the last three years.
With our change to Directors-at-Large rather than District Directors, the elected officers will be designated as chairs of the various committees. They in turn will reach out to the membership to serve on committees. For Instance, the incoming Vice President will be the chair of the Chapter Development committee. This committee will include the Directors-at-Large and Chapter Presidents.
We are moving towards being a 501c(3) rather than our current 501c(6), which will allow tax deductible donations to IAWP. This must be approved by the IRS. We have engaged a professional in this field to help us navigate the process, so that the IRS will decide favorably for this change in our tax status.
We shared the Bylaws and Policy documents that have been updated to bring us into the 21st century. Parliamentary procedures were discussed. Steve Bent talked about our marketing efforts and the positioning that our recent changes have made that help in this ongoing effort.
We have engaged our website developers to leverage all the bells and whistles in our software to update the front page, linked pages, and forms to engage and automate things for our members. The vision, mission, and values statements have been updated to streamline the text:
Our Vision: Empower professionals in the workforce development system to deliver world class services and programs.
Our Mission: Strengthen the workforce system by developing, educating, and connecting workforce professionals.
Our Core Values: Integrity, Collaboration, Fellowship, Stewardship, Inclusiveness, and Community.
It is an exciting time to be an IAWP member. Lots of change and lots of new people joining the organization. There were eight brand new members participating in Saturday’s training. Welcome to IAWP!
Serilda Summers-McGee - Monday Keynote
Culture Matters: Exploring Unconscious Bias
By Dr. Rhetta Barker
Skillfully presented by Grant Axtell of the Oregon Employment Department, our eyes were opened to the presence of bias; both conscious and unconscious; and made aware of the greater need to acknowledge biases we encounter as we go about our daily lives.
After defining Diversity, Culture, Inclusion, Explicit Bias (attitudes and beliefs on a conscious level), and Unconscious Bias (unintended, subtle, and subconscious thought); we explored more in-depth the real question of “Am I Biased?”.
Looking at a side view of the human brain, Grant pointed out the following areas:
- Left temporal & Frontal Lobes – where stereotypes are formed and stored;
- Frontal Cortex – our reasoning center to consider information and input;
- Hippocampus – where we store biased decisions about a person or group;
- Amygdala – a storage for assumed fears and threats based mainly on visual stimulus
Each of these areas is a contributor to the biases we have and or form, and awareness helps us to decipher the information our brain receives to be able to treat others fairly based on who they are, and not on our biased assumptions of who we expect them to be according to past experiences.
Lastly, there are 5 types of unconscious bias:
- Affinity Bias – warming up to people like us
- Availability Bias – an example or event that affects our decision making and reasoning
- Confirmation Bias – seeking information to confirm pre-existing beliefs
- Perception Bias – forming stereotypes and assumptions making it impossible to be objective
- Halo/Horn Effect – evaluating someone based on a positive or negative general impression
There was so much more content of value in this presentation; but every moment will be priceless as we move forward with the awareness of our Conscious and Unconscious Bias.
The Fed Looks Ahead: Blake Hastings, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
By Steve Corwin, Oregon
Mr. Hastings reminded us that the central bank of the United States is insulated from politics by having its seven governors serve staggered 14 year terms. This ensures that no US President can stack the Federal Reserve Bank (or simply the “Fed”) with their political appointees. The employees of the Fed are not in the civil service, but serve as private personnel. In addition, the Fed is split up into 12 different areas of the country, each with its own president.
The mission of the bank is to promote stable prices, full employment, and guard against systemic risks to the economy. The Fed uses an army of economists to provide data and upon business leaders to monitor activity in the economy. When there is a divergence in the data, Blake’s mentor told him to believe the business leaders’ perspective, because it reveals what is happening now. The economic data always lags behind, so it tells the story of what happened in the past, albeit recent past.
To guard against systemic risk, the Fed monitors what is happening in the $13-$14 trillion dollars per day payments system. The financial transactions that take place in the credit market. They also track the yield curve in the short and long term bond markets. When the rate becomes inverted, that is, when the 10 year rate for bonds pays less than the shorter term rates, it is a sign that the economy is slowing and capital is fleeing the less volatile long term market.
The temporary interest rate structure (market interest rates at different maturities) is vital for the valuation of financial assets. It represents the relationship between the yields of bonds of the same credit quality with different maturity dates. They are built for U.S. Treasury bonds that have no credit risk or liquidity risk. They are considered the world's safest securities (risk-free asset) because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inverted-yield-curve-us-recession-155321865.html).
See https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-this-overlooked-yield-curve-measure-points-to-a-soft-landing-by-the-fed-2019-06-12 for more about bond yield inversions. Though the three month rate was inverted for a brief time this spring, the long term notes are 24 basis points ahead now.
Hastings stated that when the yield curve inverts, banks cannot make money so they stop making loans and the economy slows down. According to Market Watch, bond market participants point to the yield curve’s impressive track record as every time this spread has inverted, a recession has followed in the last nine economic downturns. It is also employed in the Federal Reserve’s gauge of recession probabilities, which currently points to a 30% chance of a recession by May 2020.
However, Mr. Hastings said the Fed looks at other bell-weathers in the world’s economy. Excess capacity in global supply chains, most notably in China (which is slow to cut back production in their command economy), cause glutting markets with goods which in turn leads to price stagnation, and this leads to less investment in new factories.
Demographics also play a key role. The baby boom generation is graying and retiring, yet birth rates remain very low in the US and other developed countries. As a result, the labor force participation rate, or LFPR, has dipped below its historic highs. 63% of those highs were supported by the rising rates of women into the labor force, to the point where we now have 83% of women who are working outside of their homes. Due to these factors, the Fed agrees with other market watchers that if the workforce is to grow in the future, it will be as a result of immigration.
“Without population growth, trying to grow the economy is like boxing with one hand tied behind your back,” Blake said. Without it, all growth depends upon productivity gains. The US has very high productivity rates already, so automation is looked to by industries to push higher growth.
Hastings noted that although the rate the economy was adding jobs has slowed, the number of people working part time has dropped significantly. So faced with a very low unemployment rate employers are increasing part time workers to full time but wages are not facing inflation. Blake attributed this to the automation of tasks. Increasing use of technology to automate jobs leads to layoffs. Unfortunately, statistics show that these workers are down-skilling and earning less. This has been a long term trend. The value of the workforce system, people doing the work that IAWP members perform, are to blunt this trend. To help workers upskill and earn more in new jobs, not less.
The Fed, citing market research sources, believes that all workers will need to become life-long learners, to keep finding new work when automation ends employment in their prior occupations. This puts an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and EQ (emotional intelligence) for workers to become resilient in an ever changing workforce marketplace. Yet the US is 16th among the G20 nations in STEM graduates.
More troubling are the numbers of disengaged youth, those who are not in school and not working. In San Antonio alone there are 30,000 such youth. This is a staggering amount of drag on the Labor Force Participation Rate and a harbinger of increased cost to the economy and society. These youth represent a real opportunity for workforce professionals to have a positive effect upon this age cohort and the outcomes they have as workers.
The last item the Fed is watching are debt ratios. Consumer debt is way down from its highs preceding the Great Recession. However, corporate debt has risen dramatically as businesses take advantage of the economic expansion and fight to remain relevant in the marketplace. If contraction of the economy happens, debt laden firms will find it hard to refinance and to stay in business.
Communication Toolkit Webinar
July 10, 2019
- 10 am Pacific
- 12 noon Central
- 1 pm Eastern
Join IAWP for an exciting and interactive webinar on Communication Skills – The Communication Toolkit!
Communication is one of the most important skills we can develop. Studies show front-line managers are the most trusted, most credible sources of information in any organization. Learn how to build upon that credibility to help your team achieve its’ goals. Use this webinar to enhance your career skills and help your team whether you are on the front line or serve in management. This webinar is for you!
For more information and to register, visit us at the Education Booth or contact Terri Pasternik at terri@iawponline.org or 502-223-4459.
NEW AFFORDABLE ONLINE TRAINING OPTIONS FOR WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALS
By Steve Bent
Training is an integral part of every Workforce Professionals life. We are pleased to offer you training to enhance your skills and professional development, assist in your everyday work life and educate you about important Workforce topics. Review the training below and choose the training module you are interested in.
Contact Terri Pasternik, Training and Certification Manager to register.
Time Management – Mini Course – 10 Minutes – Free
Everyone is given the same twenty-four hours every day. How you use them is up to you, and in this mini-course we’ll look at tips from some of the world’s top experts in time management, including Stephen Covey, Dave Crenshaw, Peter Drucker, and Tim Ferriss.
Topics covered include:
• Using a Time Audit to analyze your productivity
• Defining your Priorities
• Focusing on your Circle of Influence
• Effective ways to use a To-Do List
• Using the 80/20 rule to manage your Priorities, To-Do’s, and interruptions
• Identifying Time Wasters and how to manage them effectively
Awkward at the Office – Workplace Harassment – 60 minutes – $29.99
NOT ANOTHER SEXUAL HARASSMENT COURSE!
Sexual and Workplace Harassment training is a pervasive problem in the business world. Employers are forced to offer – and employees are forced to sit through – training sessions that are important and necessary and yet also mind-numbingly boring.
This course is different! Built by a team of millennial’s, using the latest research on engaging course design as well as professional videography and content, Awkward at the Office uses a combination of story vignettes, motion graphics, and Bigger Brains’ award-winning Teacher/Learner style to effectively convey this important topic.
In 18 vignettes across 6 video modules, students will follow the stories of Adeela, Jason, Lisa, and Michael as they deal with both the major and minor effects of workplace harassment, and demonstrate real world responses to situations ranging from inappropriate comments to gender and racial differences to full quid pro quo sexual harassment. We’ll see how workplace harassment affects not just the people involved, but the productivity of the company as a whole.
Workplace harassment might be sexual, or based on cultural or other differences, but the effects are the same: it destroys trust, creates tension, saps productivity, and can lead to legal action as well. In between vignettes our experts Jacki Flynn and Jeremy Pickens will teach how to identify, resolve, and report workplace harassment.
Modules in this course include:
• Understanding Harassment in the Workplace
• The What and How of Sexual Harassment
• Sexual Harassment and the Law
• Your Responsibility as an Employee
• Other Forms of Harassment
• Creating a Positive Work Environment
Managing Emails – 49 minutes – $29.99
For many people email is a source of stress, when it really should be a valuable productivity tool. In this course we’ll show you how to combine email best practices with the tools in Microsoft Outlook in order to effectively manage your email.
Topics covered include:
• Understanding the problems with Email Hoarders and Email Deleters
• Striving for Inbox Zero
• Creating an appropriate strategy for Folders and Categories
• Managing the Three Excuses that keep us from organizing our inbox
• Building to-do lists with Flags
• Using Rules to automatically sort your email
• Delegating access to your email folders
• Techniques for sorting and filing your overloaded inbox
Persuasion – The Art of Communication – 75 minutes – $29.99
There are many reasons why we communicate – to inform, to share our viewpoint, to educate, and to sell. Communications guru Barbara Evers would argue that all these forms of communication are in fact forms of persuasion. In this course Barbara Evers and Wofford Jones walk through tips and techniques to take advantage of when you’re seeing to communicate and persuade.
Modules include:
- The Core of Communication
- Understanding the Persuasion Situation
- Essential Elements of Persuasion
- Logical Data
- Reputation and Character
- Emotional or Passionate Appeals
- Recognizing the Different Elements
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
- NLP Part 2
- Framing
- Other Tips
Workplace Change: An Inclusive Approach to Workplace Learning
Dr. Rhetta M. Barker, Washington Chapter
Get ready! Get ready! Get ready!! Serlida Summers-McGee has an urgent message, and the energy to deliver it! Workplace change isn’t coming; it’s here!
There is a current shifting happening from the Current state to the Future state of the workplace and those operating in our workplace:
Current State ________ ______________________________Future State
· Single Expert---------------------------------------------------------------Community of Experts
· Academic-------------------------------------------------------------------Conversational
· How To----------------------------------------------------------------------Why?
· Classroom------------------------------------------------------------------Informational
· Process Oriented---------------------------------------------------------Outcome based
· Individual Focus----------------------------------------------------------Systemic View
There are many ways of Inadvertently Stifle Creativity in the workplace:
· Providing single dimensional learning opportunities
· Solving a problem, rather than helping one to learn to identify the problem
· Providing unnecessary process and frameworks
· Misusing the concept of “professionalism” as a defense against passion and diversity
· Looking down on the efforts of others
· Hierarchy combined with rigid job descriptions
· Creating competition instead of collaboration
· Containing budget and strategies
But there are Do’s and Don’ts of promoting Inclusion and Innovation:
Do’s
· Encourage questions and risks
· Break through the hierarchy
· Create a culture of learning, mentorship, and respect
· Model direct communication
· Identify and root out biases
Dont's
· Focus on dichotomized thinking
· Be the only expert at the table
· Shy away from conflict
· Support back-channel chatter and gossip
· Assume conflicts are naturally going to subside
Serilda’s presentation was for fun, energetic and very informative. Be an active part of the Workplace change. By doing so; our effectiveness grows and our workplace becomes a welcome environment full of inclusion and diversity! Are you ready???
Innovation Discussions: Career Services
By Steve Corwin, Oregon
Nancy Fink masterfully led us in a sharing experience that called on participants to share innovations that the states were making in Career Services. Verna Wade of North Carolina spoke about the Finishing Grant that pays for items like car repairs to remove barriers for people going back to work. The program can pay for up to three months on job training for TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) clients so they can get work experience. Businesses can train the person to suit their needs, while the clients are supported in making the transition to work.
We heard about Illinois’ Rapid Results program, where funds are spent where they will make the fullest impact and return job seekers to work quickly. Support funds are used to remove barriers so these customers can be placed in unsubsidized work.
Oregon is using funding from their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and TANF partner DHS do provide similar services to its structurally unemployed job seekers. Structurally unemployed people are those who have been out of work for a long time and experience barriers getting back to work.
With frictional unemployment (those who just recently lost work) so low, the market conditions are perfect for our structurally unemployed customers to get work. Businesses are tapping into groups of workers they usually avoid when much more people are looking for work.
The STEP (SNAP Training and Employment Program) in Oregon makes payments for a wide variety of services that remove barriers and get people into jobs. By partnering with the Oregon Employment Department, DHS has tapped into the WorkSource Oregon aligned partner networks which leverage services to address multiple barriers for the job seekers.
Just one example, a homeless woman who had been a restaurant manager had been living in her car. Through an adjunct program that seeks to get people credentialed through the NCRC (National Career Readiness Certificate) this SNAP recipient got platinum scores on her WorkKeys test.
She was given gas vouchers, a card for entry to a recreation center where she could shower, and new tires on her car to replace the bald ones that were on it. Through these and other supportive efforts by partners, she has regained housing and was hired as a shift manager at a local restaurant.
Of course, the thing that all states said they needed were access to more of this kind of funding so they could foster life-changing results in more customers’ lives. Knowing that getting more funding is a difficult task, workforce professionals are engaging partners and allies in their communities to create paths to success with their job seekers.
Access the Flash Newsletter and the Daily Flash(back) below!
Contact The Flash
Email: flash@workforceconference.org
Phone: 503-752-4489
Flash Editorial Team
- Steve Strain - Editor-in-Chief
- Jenny Yarian-Scalpelli - Editor
- Barbee Williams- Editor
- Sharon Mike
Flash Contributors
Steve Corwin, Oregon Chapter
Steve Bent, IAWP Executive Director
Terri Pasternik, Illinois
Lanae Vetsch, Montana