Building Momentum

As a neophyte to the whole social media thing, I sometimes feel like an explorer form those old time safari movies. Machete in hand, I hack my way through the jungle to clear a path and whenever I get closer to seeing a path in front of me, some vicious several-times removed cousin of a housecat roars in the distance, convincing me to change my route in hopes of finding a new way to reach my goal without getting eaten.

Like the safari leader working his way through dark shadows of the triple-canopy impenetrable jungle, I am hacking away at a temporary Facebook page promoting the Delaware Department of Labor 11^th Employer Conference. And like the Jungle Jim of days gone by, with every step forward a new obstacle is revealed.

I’ve sent emails’ used multiple platforms; and yet the hoards of “likes” have yet to materialize. It’s seems I will have to be more persistent and keep “whacking away” at the dense jungle of competing messages

So if you could drop by https://www.facebook.com/pages/Delaware-Department-of-Labor-11th-Employer-Conference/685256118220032 and “like our page/event. 

Conference Brochure Done

Remember – These notes don’t represent any official position of the Delaware Workforce Investment Board or the Delaware Department of Labor. Rather they are my personal thoughts and only represent my opinion.

Well, after much pushing, pulling, and tugging our registration brochure is all set. Some great folks at the Delaware Department of Labor worked slavishly to pull it together, gain consensus, and work through whatever errant commas and grammar hiccups to develop a wonderful piece of work. Dandy just dandy.

To see it for yourself and register for the conference just go to http://dol.delaware.gov/events/2014-EmployerConference/

There will be a press release in the near future.

I hope to see about 300 businesses and 50 vendors there. It’s gonna be great.

Bill

Bill’s Five Laws of Leadership

As always these are my opinions.

I attend the Heartland Workforce Summit in Chicago last week – ostensibly – to get the latest skinny in the new Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA). While there I attended a session called “The Seven Secrets of Leadership.”

This turned out be a lot of fun and postulated that leadership had demonstrably changed as we move into the 21^st century. I’m not sure about that, even though the presenter made some good points – actually they were pretty much the same points Tom Peters began making in the early 80’s with “In Search of Excellence.” An important though often forgotten text.

Anyway, I started thinking and thought I’d share my 5 irrefutable, undeniable laws of leadership.

Law #1. Things are never as good or as bad as first reported.

Law #2. No plan survives first contact with reality.

Law #3. People rise and fall to your level of expectation.

Law #4. There are only two types of poor performers – can’t dos and won’t dos.

Law #5 -- the most important  -- The leader gets the organizati

To Comment or Not to Comment – That is the question

Remember – These notes don’t represent any official position of the Delaware Workforce Investment Board or the Delaware Department of Labor. Rather they are my personal thoughts and only represent my opinion.

There is a kerfuffle brewing.

With the passage and signing into law of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act the inevitable creation of a DOL regulation to cover the law is, or will soon be, underway by well meaning Employment and Training Administration (ETA) professionals.

One school of thought is that workforce professional should be careful about commenting on proposed regulations because in the words of one person, housed in DC, “You can’t fight about everything. We need to pick our battles.”

There is another valid school that says, “This is an innovation act and we should be careful and not let ETA put so many restrictions into it that it looks like a WIA (Workforce Investment Act) redo.” This school of thought comes from local and/or state workforce professionals administering programs at the end-user level.

Both schools seem valid, but I tend to lean toward the school that promotes questioning regulations in the comment period to ensure issues are addressed early. Since language matters, (and I believe it does) local and state boards need to review the law, discerned its intent, and be prepared to argue – with respect and clarity – where proposed regulations are faulty.

Again, this is just my opinion, but I intend to watch the comment period closely.

Bill

Workforce Leaders Only Have Two Choices

Workforce Leaders Only Have Two Choices 

My usual admonishment — These thoughts are neither official policy of the Delaware Workforce Investment Board nor the Delaware Department of Labor. These are just my personal musings on the new Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA).

The sun is creeping up and the shadows are bouncing between the buildings, creating an uneven explosion of color and shade. Some are indiscernible; other shapes are distinct and easy to recognize. 

So it seems — initially — with WIOA. Some of the shapes and tasks we’ve seen before, and are still there. There are workforce boards, plans, partners, the employers and the job seekers. Like anything else the familiar is the easy.

Below the surface — in the recesses and caverns of subparagraphs — lay hidden the shades of implied tasks that won’t become clear to workforce leaders until each of us delves into the law and figures out what our own questions are and how they fit us. 

Here is the caution — I think. Workforce professionals need to read the entire law for themselves and not let other well-meaning bodies or association do it for them. We each approach reading with our own filters and what may be important to one has no resonance with another.

So far — it seems to me — there is one thing for sure. Workforce organizations can come to the planning table kicking and muttering, attempting to recycle the same thinking into a plan that will slide by some sort of muster that checks someone else’s block; or they can embrace the new law, put the gut-wrenching hours into preparation and develop a quality plan that can be transformative for employers, job seekers, and the community at large. 

And so it goes. For me the early morning shadows are getting more distinct as the sun arcs higher in the sky. 

WIOA Note

This post does not reflect any policy position of the Delaware Workforce Investment Board (DWIB) or the Delaware Department of Labor (DOL). The ideas are my own and represent my musings on this topic and may change as I get more information and refine my thoughts. 

The recent passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act provides the publicly funded workforce systems throughout the states to take a close look at processes, constituencies, and opportunities to improve the lives of job seekers and employers. 

There is much yet to be learned about the legislation and what the next steps may be for the individual states. It appears that workforce boards will remain essentially the same although smaller. 

It also appears states will now write unified five-year workforce plans and no longer have the option to submit integrated plans. This should allow for great coordination between arms of government and breakdown whatever existing silos remain. 

My initial read of the legislation — admittedly there is a lot yet to wade through and I would be misleading you if I told you I understand it all — suggests that a reworking of reporting and data is in the offing. I believe workforce boards will now report the number of people receiving training and employment in the training they received. I am of the mind wage records will probably be insufficient to meet this task so some other methodology will be needed — there may need to be increased “stubby pencil” work or a newer more aligned data collection system. Who knows?

I will be traveling to Chicago next week to attend the Heartland Workforce Summit sponsored by the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB); the hot agenda item is WIOA. I intend to post this blog as we move through the stapes and stages of implementation. 

It should be very exciting. I just wanted to let you all know that it is the very front of my mind. 

Well More to follow.

Bill Potter

My other project

As many of you know I am working on the Delaware Department of Labor’s 11th Employer Conference, but in my private lifeI work with the Delaware Chapter of Leukemia Lymphoma Society. From now ‘till October we will be raising money for research via the Light the Night program. Since you can only raise so much in sponsorships fora walk, we will several fun events in the next few months.

If you have any groovy fund raising ideas that are fun and easy to pull together feel free to let me know. 

The picture to the right is one of me when I had lymphoma (fine now BTW, thanks to research).