5. THE HARD
QUESTIONS
Think workforce. In your efforts to
address sustainability in your
region, how did you…
1. Discover what is driving your
regional economy?
2. Identify growth & jobs
opportunities going forward?
3. Determine challenges holding
your region back?
4. Discover the most promising
solutions for your region's
particular workforce
challenges?
5. Identify the most important
economic and workforce
assets in your region?
6. Engage the key leaders on
economic and workforce
issues in your region?
9. 519+ workforce
leaders
A guide/Blurb book
A blog/website
Short briefs & curated
collections of media
Social media friends
Video
A changed
understanding of what
was possible in
solving workforce
problems
WEADERSHIP.ORG
10.
11.
12. Workforce Memes
Workforce Boards
Sector Strategies
Career Pathways
Skills Gaps
Middle Skill Jobs
Workforce
Competitiveness
Minimum Wage
Wage Inequality
Long term Unemployed
Youth Unemployment
Community College
Access
Ready to Work
Partnerships
32. “We don’t expect every student to
become an Etsy seller, but rather
to apply the skills they learn to any
entrepreneurial path they want to
follow. We do believe, however,
along with the City of Rockford,
that this will lead to real economic
impact.”
“This pilot program has the
potential to be not just what Mayor
Morrissey calls a “pathway to
prosperity” for Rockford, but a
blueprint for similar programs
across the country and around the
world.”
40. GPAs and test scores are
worthless for hiring…they
don’t predict anything. The
proportion of people at
Google without college
degrees is increasing.
We look for leadership, in
particular, emergent
leadership rather than
traditional leadership…
48. ADOPTAWIDE
ANGLE
VIEW
6 WEadership Practices
BUILD
DIVERSE
NETWORKS
EMBRACE
OPENNESS
ENCOURAGE
EXPERIMENTA-
TION
ADDUNIQUE
VALUE
CULTIVATE
NEXT
GENERATION
LEADERS
Description Resources Cited
Leaders look broadly for resources to help them
achieve their goals and seek to deploy their assets
in creative ways. They focus on solving important
community problems.
- CodeforAmerica.org on repurposing solutions
- GitHub.com for sharing solutions
- Beehive (co-working):
http://etcbaltimore.com/beehive/
Leaders collaborate with partners creatively, using
informal networks alongside traditional hierarchies.
They make engaging people with diverse perspectives
a priority.
- http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/network for
mapping networks
- Power of Hackathons in Government:
http://open.nasa.gov/blog/2012/06/29/the-
power-of-hackathons-in-government/
Leaders share the role of leadership with staff,
partners, and the public. They use social technologies
to listen, inform, and collaborate.
- Kiva.org for small business lending
- P2PU.org for un-school example
- http://meshing.it/companies for shareconomy
companies
- Etsy entrepreneurship example:
https://blog.etsy.com/news/2013/etsys-craft-
entrepreneurship-program-launches-in-
rockford-and-nyc/Leaders know their industries and organizations
needs new ideas, and new ideas need testing.
Leaders find ways their unique contributions can
make a real difference in their communities. Those
who add value remain relevant.
Leaders build skills, share knowledge, and create
opportunities for others to lead, so that new leaders
can emerge.
- AmericanSamoaRenewal.org for video
- Prototyping Framework (NESTA)
http://www.nesta.org.uk/news_and_features/a
ssets/features/prototyping_framework
- Cloudgate
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/
supp_info/millennium_park_-
artarchitecture.html#cloud
- Embrace multigenerational workplace and
boardroom
- Leadership as mindset http://arnander.comwww.weadership.org
49. Kristin’s Famous Postcard
Reflection Exercise
1. Address the postcard to
yourself
2. Write down one idea you will
take away from this session
what you will do about it (feel
free to discuss with your
neighbors)
3. Give your completed
postcard to Kristin
4. During the next two weeks,
watch your snail mail
50. “Part of that struggle is that there’s
no vision for what’s emerging. It’s
not just that the old world doesn’t
work anymore, it’s also that the old
story that gave it meaning isn’t
believable and there’s no credible
story to replace it.”
51. “…progress almost never comes
from an accident or natural
evolution. It requires constant
pressure, new ideas and
sustained engagement…”
Notes de l'éditeur
SUJATAIntroduces self & SPRThanks people for comingReminds people why they are here (echoing comments of opening panel)
SUJATA:Why we’re here
SUJATAReviews agenda:Small group workDiscussion of effective practices for leading workforce initiativesReflection (post-card exercise & question generating) We’ll start the small group work by introducing a couple of guests.We will go get them, and in the mean time, could all open and read the contents in the yellow envelopes?Once our guests arrive, we’ll get started.
{SIMULATION BEGINS HERE…VINZIntro Prosperity Foundation
[Prep: 2 flipchart pages per small group, post it notes & materials on tables, flip charts with the following at front of room:What works (tools, processes, strategies, approaches, methods)?In what context? (for what purpose, under what economic, social, environmental context)Over what period of time? Advice for colleagues?VINZ We are on a very short timeline, so I hope you’ll forgive me if we just dive right in. We will be spending the next 15 minutes working in small groups to respond to these questions. We are looking in particular for the kind of information Salin noted was so critical to the long term success of the sustainable communities movement (point to flipchart):What worksIn what contextOn what timelineWhat advice for others We do not expect you to answer all of the questions but we wanted to offer you choices. Select the questions that address the things your group feels it has the most significant expertise/experience in. After the 15 minutes is up, each table will have 5 minutes to present its plan to all of us and to the Prosperity Foundation Trustees through a video conference connection we will establish at that time. You have post-it notes on your tables, and Kristin and Sujata will be available to help if you need it. Questions?After 15 minutes, go to next slide.
VINZ(This is the Trustee panel.)Then round of applause. Then step out of character.
VINZDebrief:What new ideas emerged for you?What surprised you?Did leadership come up? How? In what context?
KRISTINIn the last couple of years, we launched a project for the Dept of Labor called Enhancing Workforce Leadership.
We looked broadly at people leading workforce initiatives (people nominated by their peers) and asked them about their work – what they do that helps them succeed.Formal people like Mayors, county officials, workforce board staff & board members, state legislators, and those you may not expect, like young social innovators working on jobs issues, parents organizing around education and job oppty for their kids, and hackers who are volunteering their time and talent to create or help people find or prepare for jobs.We documented dozens of practices and ultimately created a framework for collaborative leadership called Weadership.
It’s come a long way since then.We’ve now engaged over 1K people from the fields of economic, workforce, and community development, social innovation and entrepreneurship, and the civic sector in the US, and as part of Social Innovation Schools in Poland, Australia, and Korea. Most recent, we returned to Korea, hosted by a Youth Hub (a social eship incubator in Seoul) and partners from Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong.Note Richard Heinberg – Post Carbon Institute, author of The End of Growth.We documented dozens of practices and ultimately created a framework for collaborative leadership called Weadership. You can find more info here. We’ll send the link out to everyone who sings in on the ipads. Now I’m going to take you on a quick sprint through these practices.But I’m going to place the emphasis on examples you may not expect – those from the margins – the informal assets that are in your communities.This is because so many of you identified challenges with partnerships, getting people to the table, inclusion and equity issues, and so on. Sometimes, there more room for innovation at the margins – so that’s where we’’ll focus today.Denise Fairchild said it well yesterday – projects not planning.
I wanted to give you a sense of what we mean by civic – just how civic. Here’s an example.Lots of others – many in the form of camps – barcamp, opengovwest, gov2.0camp or hackathons, for example. And there are certainly more of these opportunities today than when we started this three years ago.So – let’s go on a quick spring through the practices.Three other points:The practices are related and mutually supportive – so those doing one, are likely to do more than one, but not everyone does all of them. Not a recipe. More like a guiding framework.Examples we will use are typically examples of many things – we’ve associated specific aspects with specific practices but often the same example contains multiple practices – so we may refer back and forth, and for those of you who know me and know how much I love some of these examples, like Code for America, I will be emphasizing different aspects than I have before, so the content is not the same as you may have seen or heard before.
Finally, you might be thinking of workforce as having to do with some of these things.And it does. And we’re glad to answer questions about any of these specifically. But we also ask that you think about the content we share as potential resources to use in building towards some of these more institutional strategies and challenges.
The first one has to do with where and how we look for solutions to our problems.When we employ a wide angle view, we look all around us for information, ideas, and resources we can use and for contributions we can make. We look for tools and methods in professional fields, disciplines, departments, organizations, agencies, and groups other than our own.
Some of you may know code for America.If not, I will send the link to Jennifer Pahlka’s TED talk which will make you a convert.We interviewed Jennifer (now a White House fellow) and engaged her colleagues at CFA formally while doing the research for our Weadership project, but today I want to use the org as an example to make a broader point about the movement of which they are a part – OpenGov, sometimes called Gov20.Gov20 is a global movement, with an emerging community based infrastructure.
There are brigades in:SeattleTwin CitiesMaineAnd likely other Sustainable Communities.Why does this matter?Because these people, though they may start with making data public and building apps (this could be helpful to you), but their aim is participatory government. Their work is disruptive and pushes many of the same buttons we talked about yesterday in the opening session. Making participation – real participation possible at many different levels. And code for America is only one example of OpenGov champions that could offer solutions to some of your challenges.
Another example of what you might find with a wide angle view:Co-working spacesWhy do they matter? They are modeling a new kind of work – a shift from job and workplace as the locus of economic activity to project and network.Many co-working spaces see themselves as part of a future of work movement and are seeking to grow. Members trend young, more diverse than your average office park – and they are typically the ones demanding the changes you are making in terms of infrastructure as part of sustainable communities.They are increasingly sector or cluster focused or part of the “social innovation” ecosystem.
Finally, another asset that you may find with a wide angel view is the share economy. (mesh, collaborative consumption).Why do they matter?About value not cost (if you can share, why buy?)Are inherently social capital buildingAllows people to monetize assets (air bnb during housing crisis)Enables lower cost of living (borrow, rent, or gift, not buy)Also, demands a role for public policy because services can run afoul of local regulations – like airbnb & taxes. Imagine what it would look like to be talking using the shareeconomy as context for discussions of sustainability?Gives you more choices, and potentially, more solutions.
A couple points about networks…Although we use the word networks informally to name things like groups, advisory committees and organizations, networks are in fact a different kind of animal. They are flexible, with no permanent membership and no single center of powerThey are not limited in size and can shift (and shift quickly)With networks – the key is in the connectivity, not the dots.2. This means they look act, and can be supported differently than more traditional structures.
Structures less rooted in models like this…
And more like this. This is my LinkedIn network map – you can do this too, the software is free and accessible through your LI account.There are plenty of similar programs that will let you analyze your networks and your networks’ netowrks – facebook has one, and proprietary versions abound. Why do this?Networks can help you tap resources – people, money, time, energy, jobs…Allow you to measure distinct strengths that make your networks stronger – like density which tells you something about how quickly information will likely spread, or strength/vulnerability – how many nodes are connectors between large networks?Healthy networks enhance resilience. It’s true for individuals and it’s true for communities.For traditional leaders accustomed to predictable, orderly interactions with stakeholders, learning to work within networks can be a challenge. Especially as expectations around engagement change. For example…
This is Don.Excited about the Inn at the Black Olive because he wants it to anchor sustainable tourism here in Baltimore.(If you go, tell him Kristin who bought the bulk postcards sent you).The thing is, Don is a good source of intelligence, maybe a partner, but perhaps unlikely to sit at a table like this.
Let’s take meetings. In the old world of committees and boards in which the desired outcome was known and the leaders task was to deploy resources to achieve it, meetings were an important means of keeping everyone informed, insuring quality, and getting advice along the way. Here are some familiar features of meetings…Meetings tend to be scripted, feature a speaker, event, or presentation, and then a little Q&A.They are useful, but not sufficient to achieve many of the goals we are working toward today.
But Don might do this…When we engage in a network way – meetings are rarely enough. We need partners and collaborators who are helping advance common goals, not just attending meetings. In this context, if you are convening, this means you are no longer planning meetings, but designing experiences. They can be labs, conversations, games, knowledge sharing events, learning forums, and on and on.These are some of the things you might think about.Supporting this kind of engagement can be complicated, but it can also vastly improve efficiency and enable things that were not possible before – even if control is diminished.-----
Finally, when working in networks, diversity is a must, not an afterthought. Dr. Pastor helped me out by making a case for socioeconomic and racial and ethnic diversity, I’m going to tell a story to add a bullet point onto his…Diversity of skills and experience.Borrowing from LaniGuinier, some of you may remember the Apollo 13 mission, and others may have seen the film. There is a desperate scene in which astronauts in flight are inhaling carbon dioxide because of a leak. “Houston we have a problem.” The NASA administrator then assembles a team of people – designers, engineers, process technicians – differently skilled people with different points of view and representing different ranks in the NASA hierarchy. He gives them the same materials the astronauts have in-flight and asks them to avert catastrophe by solving the problem. And they do. Diversity really matters.
You, me, all of us - have never been more connected.The internet has made our organizations more porous and enabled new ways of organizing. Remember the network discussion we just had?For the first time in human history, we can collaborate at a mass scale entirely outside of traditional organizations and institutions. This is a profound change in a single generation.As a result, we see whole new kinds of entities:Here are five quick examples of companies and organizations in their respective spaces that constitutes assets if you are in the business of jobs and workforce devlopment.
Like Kiva, which provides access to capital for entrepreneurs, but isn’t a bank. (and is now providing access to capital for US entrepreneurs, including Sheldon here who is in the construction & home repair business – with a little intervention, he could be running a green construction and repair business…).
OrUdacity, Khan Academy, EduX, and here, P2PU, which are learning platforms, but not schools.These may not be the first resources that come to mind when you think about how to cultivate jobs and provide access to training, but for many, they are alternatives to structures that may not work very well and incent change within those very same structures and institutions.
Task Rabbit
Task Rabbit
Taharka Brothers.They now have the truck – and four shops!I probably don’t need to point out the way they are also using Kickstarter to build professional networks and find mentors!First time I’ve ever been called dope, and I’ve been assured I have brothers here in Baltimore and the promise of a scoop of Langston Hughes Raisin ice cream any time I come.
Social media can help facilitate these connections. This example is from Rockford, which is a Sustainable Communities grantee.-----
When we engage in a network way – meetings are rarely enough. We need partners and collaborators who are helping advance common goals, not just attending meetings. In this context, if you are convening, this means you are no longer planning meetings, but designing experiences. They can be labs, conversations, games, knowledge sharing events, learning forums, and on and on.These are some of the things you might think about.Supporting this kind of engagement can be complicated, but it can also vastly improve efficiency and enable things that were not possible before – even if control is diminished.-----
When we engage in a network way – meetings are rarely enough. We need partners and collaborators who are helping advance common goals, not just attending meetings. In this context, if you are convening, this means you are no longer planning meetings, but designing experiences. They can be labs, conversations, games, knowledge sharing events, learning forums, and on and on.These are some of the things you might think about.Supporting this kind of engagement can be complicated, but it can also vastly improve efficiency and enable things that were not possible before – even if control is diminished.-----
When we engage in a network way – meetings are rarely enough. We need partners and collaborators who are helping advance common goals, not just attending meetings. In this context, if you are convening, this means you are no longer planning meetings, but designing experiences. They can be labs, conversations, games, knowledge sharing events, learning forums, and on and on.These are some of the things you might think about.Supporting this kind of engagement can be complicated, but it can also vastly improve efficiency and enable things that were not possible before – even if control is diminished.-----
When we engage in a network way – meetings are rarely enough. We need partners and collaborators who are helping advance common goals, not just attending meetings. In this context, if you are convening, this means you are no longer planning meetings, but designing experiences. They can be labs, conversations, games, knowledge sharing events, learning forums, and on and on.These are some of the things you might think about.Supporting this kind of engagement can be complicated, but it can also vastly improve efficiency and enable things that were not possible before – even if control is diminished.-----
Again, projects, not programs.That’s what experimentation is – the willingness to fail fast, learn, try something else until it works. For many governments, corporations, and large institutions, and for the education, workforce and economic development sectors, this is a cultural shift.This is American Samoa. Tsunami. Needed to explain why sending students to Guam to learn construction.Used video – engagement.
Construction. Communicated the what, why, showed what students were doing. When you experiment, this is the kind of thing you need to think about. Resources: protoyping, co-creation, etc. Run small experiments – Workhands – does it work? Compared to what? What works better?We need experimentation to become part of the DNA of our workplaces, homes, and communities at every level.That’s a workforce challenge write large.The exhaustion of innovation – Salin talked about yesterday – This is the new work.First person came back and started company – subcontract major firm that won the roads contract.
When formal systems talk about tech skills, they often talk about STEM and pipelines. Here’s how Black Girls Code talks about it…You choose. Wonder if they need mentors? Or if they need help with career paths for girls over 17?
Or DIY.org?Maker/hacker community for kids that allows them to demonstrate what they learn/know and earn badges?Which, incidentally, is what google says they need…
In the development business, we count a lot of things: job placements, people, money, units, credentials, etc. But the real value of say “a placement” is more likely something like – a person finding her calling, getting a job, supporting a family, growing a firm and enabling the well-being of a community. How do we count and share these things? The things that reflect the real value of what we’re trying to do?In a more tangible example of the difference between data points and value….this is AnishKapur’sCloudgate in Chicago.It’s one public art installation.
Ways to measure it.
And here’s an expression of the real value. “The bean” creates community – and helps build a strong positive identity for the City of Chicago. Done well, measuring and sharing the value of what we do invites people to care. That is essential to our success and the success of our ventures.Remember when Dr. Pastor talked about fun – this is the expression you are going for in your community engagements.Catherine Ferguson – USDA? Her version might be something like solving problems is of greater value than running programs.
The idea of cultivating new leaders seems so simple, but it can actually be less about leadership training programs and other formal development opportunities and more like micropractices that are often about giving leadership away.So easy to do, so easy not to do. We found countless examples of leaders finding ways to engage colleagues across generations –Engaging the intern at Board meetings (behaviors)Not filling vaccuums (experiments)Mentorship (formal programs)If you are serious about building the kinds of relationships with firms and communities we have talked about during this session, and helping people in your programs thrive, then leadership is serious business -
Fredrik Arnander argues that the whole point of your leadership is to spread it. Just let that sink in. Can you imagine any more effective route to sustainability?
That’s Weadership.A new kind of leadership based on these superpowers:Wide-angle ViewHyper Networked-nessRadical OpennessRelentless ExperimentationUnique ValueAnd the ability to regenerate
Thank you very much. I wish you well as you strengthen and share your superpowers.
After the workshop, we’re going to send this handout.Having added quite a bit of local content, we didn’t have a chance to update the links and print, so we will get it to you in the more sustainable digital way, which also allows you to click directly to the resources.
Thisstory is about new ideas for economic progress moving from the fringe to the mainstream, or perhaps more accurately, crafting a new narrative altogether. Painting a picture not just of the next “new industry” but of an economy built on a different set of assumptions and values. This values battle is going on everywhere…Social impact investing – so much excitement conceptually but…as it growth, new models.Is the fund about investing in good businesses and how are they measured? Is is about investing in good outcomes (social impact bond-like instruments), or is it about blended value (and if so, are VC funds even the right tool?)San Francisco story about Air BnB… - Air BnB just rented mega office space, ten year lease, in SF, counting on big growth.City Treasurer and tax collector wants hotel tax of 14%.Mayor sees differently.Lyfte, Rideshare,PUC issued a ceast and desist order wanting them to be licensed and certified – these are in SF where cabs reportedly come less than 40% of the time – and on ride share, people can rate drivers!
The third story is one of roll-up-your-shirtsleeves change – participation with the system that needs changing.St. Louis. An activist joins city council, supported by an unlikely cast of characters.In this story, he’s pleading with all the critics and commentators to join him in fixing instead of complaining. Know that it take time, but that’s the work of progress. It’s a marathon that only seems like a sprint.Something a little bit back to the future about this story – isn’t this what citizen government is supposed to be about?