Blog

PNODN presents:

Designing The Future of Organizational Development will be a fast-paced dialogue on important business topics and networking with your peers. Reflect on the history of Organizational Development then set course for the year ahead, by discussing the most critical emerging trends in the field of OD we need to be aware of. Explore how to sustain communities of OD practitioners in partnership with PNODN.

COST:

$15 Members when pre-paid & pre-registered

$17 Non members when pre-paid & pre-registered

$17 Walk in rate for members

$20 Walk in rate for non members

$10 for students pre-registered or walk in

AGENDA:

6:00 - 6:30 pm We gather – Arrival, Registration & Opening (Refreshments served)

6:30 – 8:00 pm Topic Presented

8:00 – 8:30 pm We wrap up, evaluation, & closing announcements

http://www.astd.org/Events/International-Conference-and-Exposition (May 2013)

http://store.astd.org/Default.aspx?tabid=167&ProductId=23429 (Designing Learning Certificate, July 2013 here in Kirkland)

http://www.astd.org/Education/Certificate-Programs/Training-Certificate (Training Certificate in July, here in Kirkland)

http://www.astd.org/Education/Certificate-Programs/Mobile-Learning-Certificate (Mobile Learning Certificate, September in Kirkland)

Another day, another serious skills gap identified. This would be getting tedious if it weren’t so consequential for society. What is also getting tedious is the proposed, incomplete solution.

This time the serious skill gap identified is computer programmer. In recent years the number of college students declaring a major in computer science has declined by 30 percent where it has plateaued. This means that there will not be enough people with the requisite skills to fill the one million job openings that are forecast between now and 2020. And these are good paying jobs.

The solution identified in the audio report, attached here, is to change the image of the computer programmer from that of a nerd working long into the night, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and crushed soda cans into that of someone who works on rock music videos and other glamorous projects. OK, I’m being a bit flip here, but this is in fact mentioned in the report, along with other steps to boost enrollment in computer science programs.

It’s all well and good to boost college programs to fill the pipeline with trained young people, but I say such efforts are short of the mark. Does anyone besides me remember that this country still has a serious and persistent unemployment problem? This situation is ripe for some creative training solutions that train new entrants, in addition to college-age young people, in these high-demand, well-paying jobs. Anybody out there have any ideas of how to do this?

Here is some very good news: Patty Murray, Washington State's senior U.S. Senator, is taking on the issue of the skills gap, promising to propose legislation to close it. The skills gap is an important issue that National ASTD has championed and that should be of concern to every workforce learning professional. The very first story in Senator Murray's most recent letter to constituents, issued late yesterday, has this to say:

"Last week, while the Senate was in recess, I spent time traveling around the state to talk with constituents about what matters most to them. On Tuesday, I traveled to Everett to host a workforce development roundtable, where I met with business and labor leaders, educators, employees and workforce experts to talk about the “skills gap” employers in the region are facing. Across our state, there are nearly 52,000 jobs that are vacant. These are jobs that employers want to fill, but in many cases, they simply can’t find the workers with the skills needed to fill them. This is unacceptable if we want to compete and win in the 21 st Century, and it’s why I’ve been working so hard on efforts to train a workforce for growing industries.

"I also had the opportunity to discuss my new role as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. This is a role that certainly won’t be easy, but it will put me in the middle of the decisions we make as a nation about investing our finite resources. To me, being Budget Chairman isn’t just about addressing our budget deficits, it’s about addressing our education, training, and jobs deficits. Working to close the skills gap is a critical part of that effort. I am going to take the stories I heard in Everett Tuesday back to D.C. to fight for increased investments to end the skills gap."

The story ends with a link to an article about the meeting from the Everett Herald, which I have attached here to this entry as a link.

Senator Murray is in an excellent position to do something about this issue. As she notes in the letter, Senator Murray is the new Chair of the Senate Budget Committee. This is one of the most powerful and important committees in the Government,

Murray also remains the chair of the Employment and Safety subcommittee of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. HELP has jurisdiction over federal training programs and legislation. An interesting sidelight here is that Murray's chief legislative aide on the HELP subcommittee is Scott Cheney, who was with National ASTD's research department for several years.

In my role as the ASTDps Chapter's manager of public policy, I will be writing Senator Murray to thank her for her leadership on this issue and offering the Chapter membership as a resource to consult while crafting legislation. I encourage all ASTDps members to write or call one of Senator Murray's offices to express their own appreciation for her leadership on this issue that is so central to our profession. Such legislation promises to make important investments in our economy to the benefit of all Americans. Not incidentally, such investments will mean more training jobs for trainers.

Here is relevant contact information Senator Murray:

Washington, D.C. Office
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2621
Fax: (202) 224-0238
Toll Free: (866) 481-9186

Seattle Office
2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Phone: (206) 553-5545
Toll Free: (866) 481-9186
Fax: (206) 553-0891

Tacoma Office
950 Pacific Avenue, Ste. 650
Tacoma, Washington 98402
Phone: (253) 572-3636
Fax: (253) 572-9488

Everett Office
2930 Wetmore Avenue, Ste. 903
Everett, Washington 98201
Phone: (425) 259-6515
Fax: (425) 259-7152

Visit  http://www.astd.org/Certification for more details

Visit http://www.astd.org/Communities-of-Practice for additional information

John Delano, a presenter at our October Ignite Your Mojo conference presents:

  Topic: Building the Next Generation Learning Strategy with Tin Can
 
  Date: Mid to late January (TBD)
 
  Location: (TBD)
 
  Attendees: 20-30
 
  Duration: 1 Day
 
  Objectives:  After this workshop you will:
 
 
 
     ·  Have a solid understanding of the Tin Can ecosystem
 
     ·  Understand how Tin Can enables you to solve specific business challenges
 
     ·  Be ready to implement practical solutions by adopting Tin Can
 
     ·  Learn how to engage technical partners and thoughtfully scale within your organization
 
 
 
  Cost: $199 - $249 range (TBD)
 

http://www.saltbox.com/tin-can-api-workshop.html

Via my good colleague Rick Shor, CPLP, here is a McKinsey & Company article on how leading companies are using "war games" to “identify, shape, and seize opportunities to innovate.”  These companies have found that war games are good ways to counteract natural human bias, such as excessive optimism and overconfidence, that cause decision makers to disregard how competitors may react to the introduction of a new innovation. 

Such neglect has often proven costly.  For example, a company launches a product with new features only to find a competitor responding by deeply discounting its rival product, cutting into sales of the innovation.  Counteractions of this type can scuttle a product launch.  Thus, developing scenarios of what competitors are likely to respond, in itself an important innovation, can be key to succeeding with innovation.

Designing and conducting “war games” seems to be a natural area for WLP practitioners to help their companies become more innovative.

 Read more at the link here; registration with McKinsey & Company, which is free, may be required. 

The skills gap remains one of the most challenging and important public policy issues facing our society and economy today – and one the workplace learning and performance profession is uniquely qualified to address.  National ASTD continues to be a leader in bringing attention to this issue as it seeks to engage local chapters in addressing the gap at the grassroots.

The gap profoundly affects our nation in many negative ways, not the least of which is by hindering our ability to innovate.  People who lack essential skills cannot be hired, thus retarding U.S. businesses’ ability to keep up with global competition, much less best it by coming up with new ideas and products

In my continuing efforts as the Chapter’s public policy representative to provide ASTDps members with the information they need to become knowledgeable and articulate advocates for change, here is a very accessible “Sixty Minutes” story on the issue.  The story is useful because it presents two sides to the skills gap story.  The first side is that even in the midst of continuing, substantial and devastating long-term unemployment, there are thousands of unfilled jobs.  The culprit: a gap between the skills what the employer needs versus the skills many potential out-of-work applicants possess.  

The other side is the position of Peter Cappeli, Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School.  He, along with many economists, say that if there is a skills gap then wages should be rising for those who do have the needed skills and who are being hired.  This is not happening. 

In my estimation, the manager of a manufacturing concern featured in the story gives a very good retort to this second view.  He says that training is not a core competence of his small business, and the plant can’t be in the business of remedial education in STEM subjects – a big part of the problem – when it struggles to find ways, even with government funding and other assistance, to train people on the advanced numerically-controlled machines it uses to manufacture its products. 

What are your views?  I believe strongly that government action is essential to closing this gap and putting people back to work.  But are our nation’s current policies the right ones?

Dr. William “Bud” Wurtz

Manager, Public Policy

John Delano, a presenter at our October Ignite Your Mojo conference presents:
 
  Topic: Take the Technical First Step with Tin Can
 
  Date: December 10-11th.
 
  Location: Surf Incubator Seattle
 
  Attendees: 9
 
  Duration: 2 Days
 
  *    Day 1: 11am-12pm (Lunch & Registration)
  *    Day 1: 12pm-6pm (Workshop & Dinner)
  *    Day 2: 8am-3pm (Workshop)
 
  Objectives: After this workshop you will:
 
  *    Have a solid Tin Can technical foundation
  *    Have enabled your application to work with Tin Can
  *    Be ready to use Tin Can for mobile, social, and informal learning

  http://www.saltbox.com/tin-can-api-workshop.html

$250 discount for ASTDps members!