In a post last week, I mentioned that the winter 2010 issue of The Public Manager was ginning up some excellent media coverage, including a nice article in the Washington Post. Today I'm sharing the link to an interview on FedNews Radio with one of the contributors, Alan Balutis.

Click here to listen to the interview.

The winter issue of The Public Manager spotlights the personnel and performance management agenda of the Obama administration. Eleven articles in the Forum series examine a broad range of topics and are written by a team of experts who contributed to the journal in late 2007 and early 2008 analyzing the wide array of challenges that awaited the incoming president.

Topics covered in the current issue of The Public Manager include: a review of what is currently happening in the reform efforts; human capital; telework; management implications of the future workforce; the emerging technology agenda; the debate within the acquisition community; government direction on performance management; intergovernmental cooperation; a review of how the administration’s team is trying to reshape the way government works; and recommendations to achieve transformation.

Tags: the public manager, personnel, performance, fed news radio, alan balutis, washington post, obama administration

Categories: ASTD in the News | Government | Public Policy

ASTD surveyed 1,179 companies and found that 79 percent of them say they face a skills gap. 79 percent! 

Communities, states, regions, and entire nations pay a heavy price when workers lack the right skills for critical jobs. While the skills gap has always been a concern for organizations, the global recession complicates an already perplexing issue. Recognizing the extraordinary circumstances, ASTD conducted new research and the results are published in a new white paper that features skills gap survey findings and includes impact of the recession, Web 2.0, and the surge of millennials in the workplace.

The paper is titled Bridging the Skills Gap: New Factors Compound the Growing Skills Shortage. It can be accessed for free at www.astd.org/publicpolicy.

The new paper analyzes the multi-layered dimensions of the skills gap in today’s economic climate including the impact of the global recession, the retirement of Baby Boomers in the workforce, Web 2.0 technologies, and the surge of the millennial cohort into the workforce. It includes the results of ASTD’s 2009 Skills Gap Poll taken by 1,179 organizations. Case studies from eight leading companies are also included. 

Bridging the Skills Gap: New Factors Compound the Growing Skills Shortage outlines a six-step action plan to help organizations and individuals deal proactively with the skills gap.

“Recent economic challenges have forced public- and private-sector organizations to execute their strategies with more precision than ever before, and do it with fewer resources, especially people,” says Tony Bingham, ASTD President and CEO. “Many senior executives are struggling to close skills gaps within their organizations. The Action Plan identified in this white paper provides a process for leaders, managers, and learning professionals to use to successfully manage this challenge.”

Learning professionals are strategically positioned to identify the skills and competencies their organizations possess and those needed for the future. The white paper includes eight case studies from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, EMC Corporation, IBM, McCain Foods Limited, NVR Inc., Steelcase, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. These organizations’ case studies provide best practices to address skills gaps.

Tags: astd, skills gap, research, public policy, computer sciences corporation, csc, deloitte touche tohmatsu, emc corporation, ibm, mccian foods limited, nvr inc., steelcase, tennessee valley authoriy, tva, tony bingham

Categories: ASTD in the News | Chapters | Government | Membership | Public Policy | Research

In today's issue of The Washington Post, Federal Diary writer Joe Davidson calls out some content from the forthcoming issue of The Public Manager in his reporting abou the Obama administration's personnel efforts.

The article "Obama personnel policies draw generally high marks" contains the following quote:

"It's about that time when performance evaluations of Barack Obama's first year as boss-in-chief begin coming in.

It helps when the evaluators are a nonpartisan group of experts who know something about the area on which they judge the president. Fortunately, that's the case with several articles on Obama's management agenda -- written by a team of analysts, including industry and former government executives -- that appear in the winter 2010 issue of the Public Manager, which will be available Friday at http://www.thepublicmanager.org. This quarterly journal is published by the (sic) Bureaucrat Inc., which describes itself as "a not-for-profit organization chartered and devoted to furthering knowledge and best practice at all levels of government."

"The authors don't have a dog -- or a donkey or an elephant -- in the fight over Obama's reputation. They're Democrats and Republicans who push a good-government agenda."

The winter issue of The Public Manager will be released tomorrow, January 15. An Interview on Federal News Radio's show "In Depth with Francis Rose" will tomorrow.

For more information on The Public Manager, go to the website www.thepublicmanager.org.

 

Tags: the public manager, president obama, personnel, government, the bureaucrat inc., federal news radio, washington post, joe davidson, federal diary

Categories: ASTD in the News | Government | Public Policy

Happy New Year to all!

Congress is moving forward on the Jobs Bill and Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization

As we get back to work, so does Congress.  But right before the break, in the middle of the heated health care debate, a couple of interesting happenings on jobs and training did occur.  In early December, the Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committees put forth their version of the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization.  Calling it the Workforce Improvement Act, it is listed as HR 4271.  The bill is highlighted by several themes:

Increasing efficiency, focusing on results.
Eliminating barriers to effective programs and services.
Fostering regional economic development.
Strengthening programs for targeted populations.

You can read the full highlights of the bill on the Republican’s ED Labor Committee site:
http://republicans.edlabor.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1396&IID=14

There is a strong feeling among congressional staff that WIA will be “done” in 2010.  We will keep you posted here.

Over in the full House, members passed the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010.  The $154 Billion package includes many provisions to address unemployment and job creation.  The funding for this bill is also becoming controversial.  The House is planning on using the remaining funding from the Toxic Assets Relief Program (TARP) to fund this bill.  The vote was close, passing 217-212 just before the holiday.  No House Republicans and 38 Democrats voted against the bill.

Here is summary from the House Appropriations Committee on this bill:
http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/Jobs_for_Main_Street_Act_of_2010_Summary.pdf

This bill now needs to move to the Senate over the next couple of months to see if it will pass.  Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

And, just in time for this posting, President Obama on January 6th announced $250 Million for teacher STEM training. Here is a link back to the Washington Post article outlining this initiative:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503981.html

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Categories: Public Policy

The Department of Labor is inviting workforce development professionals to participate in the Tools for America’s Job Seekers Challenge. The Challenge seeks to help jobseekers and workforce development professionals identify and use online job search and career advancement tools. The Challenge will utilize an innovative method called “crowdsourcing” to allow jobseekers and workforce development professionals to recommend and comment on job search and career advancement tools. This effort is in collaboration among the White House, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), IdeaScale.com, job-related online tool providers, workforce development professionals, and jobseekers.

Here is how the process will work.  From now until December 18 (Phase 1), anyone can submit ideas to DOL, using the website: www.dolchallenge.ideascale.com.  DOL is looking for a wide variety of options in this area including job matching, career development tools, job boards and includes the use of social media. DOL will look at both free and for fee products in this area and will recommend these selected tools to the public workforce system. From January 4 through January 15, (Phase 2), workforce professionals and job seekers will be able to test drive the tools that have been submitted looking to give feedback on how effective everyone feels how well these tools would work.  Then, beginning January 18 (Phase 3), DOL will announce the winners and allow the workforce system to easily access the use of these new tools.

Announcements along the way will be on key sites, including www.dol.gov, www.doleta.gov, www.whitehouse.com/blog, and two of my personal favorites, www.workforce3one.org and www.careeronestop.org.

This is an opportunity for us at ASTD to contribute ideas and engage in the dialog.  Many of our members are probably using some of the best tools on the market, and I know have some of the best ideas to share! So, we look forward to actively participating in the Challenge; and I will blog here as this project moves forward.

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Categories: Public Policy

As most of you know, at ASTD’s International Conference held this past June in Washington, DC, a group of us went up to Capitol Hill and participated in our “Congressional Conversations” event.

Well, we are going back to the Hill to continue our conversations! Since Congress has been knee deep in the health care debate, it has been difficult to focus staff on other issues. But, now that the House has passed their version of the bill, members of the House and their staff can focus on other issues.

We are meeting over the next few weeks with members of the House Education and Labor Committee, and the Sub-Committee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness. We are planning on meeting with chairmen and ranking member of both the full committee and sub-committee.  Our hope is to offer ASTD as a resource and partner in upcoming training legislation, in particular the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization.  We want to build a working partnership with Congress in this process.  In future blog posts, I will update our progress as we continue to “converse” with Congress!

I also was able to attend the policy reception at the Chapter Leaders Conference a few weeks ago in Alexandria, VA.  ASTD invited the Executive Director of the US Chambers Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), Karen Elzey to speak on the Chamber activities on Capitol Hill which included status of current training legislation.  Along with other themes, she strongly encouraged chapter leaders to get engaged in the policy efforts both at the federal and at the state level.  Though we expected a small gathering, over 60 chapter leaders attended! It appears that public policy is a hot topic with chapter leaders, as a sunrise session the next morning on public policy also attracted a very large response!

As many of you who read this blog know, we have highlighted training grants and other training appropriations through the Recovery Act.  The Department of Labor is working on many of those applications; and once they have been awarded, we will have information here.  Please stay tuned.  In some state, funds are making their way to down to local governments.  Here is a recent article from the LA Times about Recovery Act funds used in the city for workforce training:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-worker-traning11-2009nov11,0,7732258.story

You should contact your state workforce office to see how they are using their Recovery Act training funds to see if your firm can take advantage of any grants or other training opportunities.

 

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Categories: Public Policy

Hot off the presses! It is confirmed that Jeffrey Zients, the nation's first Chief Performance Officer, will be speaking at the upcoming conference hosted by The Public Manager and the American Society for Public Administration. The conference will be held November 2-3 in Washington, D.C. For more information on Zients, see the press release. To HEAR him speak, go to the conference. Register at www.thepublicmanager.org/2009conference. Early bird registration has been extended until October 30!

Tags: the public manager, conference, chief performance officer, government, public sector, barack obama, jeffrey zients

Categories: ASTD in the News | Conferences | Government | Public Policy

As many of your know, local and state workforce investment boards (WIBs) are in a position, as part of their role, to “certify” industry recognized certification and training programs that will enhance the skills of clients in their workforce systems.  Once WIBs certify programs, clients who qualify for public funds for training (individual training accounts) can use those funds with the approved programs.

Over the years as a member of both a state and local workforce board, I was very happy to vote to certify and approve programs that I felt helped our clients enhance their skills and helped to improve their possibilities of getting reemployed.  In my case, we tended to certify occupational skills and industry recognized certifications that were validated by those industries.  We wanted to ensure that we gave unemployed workers every chance to get reemployed quickly.

ASTD is now in a position, with the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance Certification (CPLP), to build partnerships with state and local workforce with its industry certification.  We have started that process in the Washington Metropolitan area.
 
ASTD has met with the leaders of two local workforce boards in Northern Virginia.  Both local boards were very interested (and impressed) with ASTD’s approach and the package for staff to use with their WIA clients.  ASTD is in the process of sending in the applications to both WIBs.  If approved, the CPLP will be recognized by all other local WIBs in Virginia (15) and could also be used by their clients.

So, what will this approval mean?  ASTD staff will be able to train One Stop Center staff about CPLP and will also be able to leave information for anyone entering the One Stop Centers to learn about CPLP.  This will be a great way of expanding the reach of CPLP throughout the One Stop systems in many states.  We are meeting soon with the DC WIB staff and have the information for Montgomery County to submit.

So, how can you get your local workforce board to certify CPLP for ASTD members (and potential members) in your chapter area?  If you’re coming to Alexandria in October for the Chapter Leaders Conference, Jennifer Homer will be holding a sunrise session on how chapters can partner with their local workforce boards and CPLP.  Stay tuned here for more information about CPLP and the partnership with local and state workforce boards as we move forward with this partnership initiative.

 

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Categories: Public Policy

For those of you who regularly read my blog, thank you for that.  You have heard me regularly speak about the importance of WIA reauthorization and what should be in the new legislation.

As you may know, though, Congress earlier this year held several hearings in both the House and Senate on WIA, a promising series of events.  It now looks like from all indications that nothing significant will happen with WIA, probably not until after the new year.  The reality is that health care and other legislative priorities are taking up much of the legislative agenda for now, and it appears that it will be that way for the foreseeable future.

So, it begs to ask the following questions.  Is all of this “worry” about a new WIA bill worth it?  Will there be significant changes in the system or should we just keep the status quo and move forward?  Let me opine on what my experience has shown.
 
As you probably know, the Workforce Investment Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1998.  In 1999, I was elected vice-chair of the local workforce board in Northern Virginia; and in 2001, Governor Warner appointed me to the State Workforce Board of Virginia. Though both boards were very large at the time (and still are), it was the first time I could remember in our state that education, employers, government and economic development actually sat in a room and discussed state and local workforce needs.  At the time, I was pretty impressed.

Over the course of time, like any pieces of legislation, WIA needed to be reauthorized in 2002-03 timeframe.  As in many pieces of legislation, politics took over; and the bill has been delayed and delayed due to that reason.  Now, everyone seems to be waiting for the current administration to come up with their priorities for WIA.

Many of us in the workforce training community (who have worked in the system) feel that this is our last best hope for awhile to get this legislation reauthorized and make the bill even better.  Many states have used this legislation to overhaul their state workforce systems, one stop systems and state grant programs; specifically to better reflect the needs of employers.  Many best practices have been shared with Congress, and we need to keep the pressure on them to move forward with reauthorization.

In my opinion, this would be the only federal legislation what would require all the relevant parties to convene at the state and local level to have a strategic discussion around workforce, education and training needs of employers and to give local areas resources above and beyond those in education alone to help meet those needs.  I also believe that the one stop career system (some states systems are clearly better than others) will be a huge catalyst in getting unemployed Americans back to work. So, I say “let’s go for it”; and get the bill we really want.

ASTD will continue to be in dialogue with policy makers at all levels to give its thoughts and feedback as the legislation makes its way through Congress.  We will keep you posted on the policy section of the ASTD website; and, as always, will keep you updated in my blog postings. If you have your own thoughts about reauthorization, please share them here on this blog posting.

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Categories: Public Policy

Everyone knows that Congress is out on summer break in August.  For someone who has lived in the Washington Metropolitan area for 25 years, the town tends to slow down, along with the traffic every August.  You can plan on it during most years.  But, this isn’t like most years.  Along with the health care debate, there seems to be a lot of activity around Capitol Hill.

Policy activity has not slowed down for us at ASTD.  There were three very exciting happenings this past week, and we would like to share those with everyone.

First, our team had a meeting with Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) to better introduce him to ASTD, our mission and to discuss his non-profit initiatives in conjunction with the Recovery Act.  Congressman Moran sits on the House Appropriations Committee, a very important committee and they approve budgets on the House side.  He will be a good connecting for our future work with Congress. 

Second, we have confirmed our webinar with the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to help our members better understand and possibly partner with the public system on the Recovery Act grants which are currently “on the street” to apply for.  Our hope is that our members, especially in the green and renewable energy industries, will partner and apply for these current grants.  Here is information on the webinar:

Leveraging Public Partnerships and Resources to Train Your Workforce

Date: Wednesday, September 2
Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Speakers from the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration and ASTD

Finding and retaining a skilled workforce is challenging even in a down economy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), or the stimulus legislation, has created new grants and funding streams for industries that are in need of help. Many companies want to understand how to find a partner at the local level and work together to apply for funding. Join ASTD for this unique opportunity to hear directly from the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration about immediate grant opportunities in the energy and healthcare sectors and how your organization can partner at the local level with the publicly-funded workforce system.

Pre-register here: https://astdevents.webex.com/astdevents/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=598882724

The third item from last week was very exciting news!  Members of the ASTD team met with the Executive Director of the Local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) in Northern Virginia to discuss the opportunities and possibilities of ASTD offering the CPLP Certification through their WIB and their One Stop Career Center System.  More details to come soon, but our plan it to meet with other local WIBs in the Metro DC area to explore similar possibilities. 

 

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Categories: Public Policy