Terri Lewis Darlene Groomes Lou Adams Tom Jones Managing the Transition from WIA: Framing the “O” in WIOA 8 th Summit Conference San Diego, California September 10,

Today’s Objectives 1. Identify the characteristics of complex adaptive systems and their impact on VR agency design 2. Reframe and integrate VR system orientation into a workforce context 3. Analyze the organizational stance according to the characteristics associated with learning organizations 4. Identify management tools that lead to active management of processes that transition WIA  WIOA 5. Synthesize strategies for single and double loop organizational management design

“O”rganizations Learn to View Risks as “O”pportunities Organizational learning is a process of detecting and correcting error Error is, for our purposes, any feature of knowledge or knowing that inhibits learning Single loop learning is the decision process that relies on management to carry out its present policies or achieve its objectives through questions that ask “did I make the right decision”? Decisions are informed by activities. Task completion is the outcome.

“O”rganizations Learn to View Risks as “O”pportunities Double loop learning is the decision process that questions the underlying assumptions (policies and objectives) that frame corrective actions that result from the performance of selected tasks. “Did I make the right decision”? Stance is the resultant readiness posture that results from ‘baking in’ both single and double loop learning into the organization’s assumptions, policies, procedures, work practices.

Stance: How Preparation Meets Opportunity The challenge of change-moving to a unified state plan (USP) Lack of clear consensus and direction from federal partners to the states Differences and variations in assumptions, understandings, organizational design, values, culture, and capacity Differences in learning and cultivation/accrual of intellectual capacity Influence of geography, population, availability of working capital among partners in the community Measurement of the right stuff

The Six Characteristics of Complex Adaptive Systems 1. Diverse & dynamic agents 2. Nested systems 3. Energy/information flows through the system 4. Distributed control 5. Emergent property 6. Unpredictability

Diverse & Dynamic Agents

Nested Systems Community Federal government State government Agencies Programs

Emergent Properties to be Integrated Contextually, Transformed for Learning

Information Flows Through the System: Learning is Evaluated, Transforms, & Archived

Distributed Control is Deployed Across the Nested System Federal State Agency ProgramsAdministration Marketplace Customers

Unpredictability Addressed Through Change Management Practices

The VR Learning Organization How the organization approaches performance improvement  Includes both continuous improvement of existing approaches and significant change or innovation, leading to new goals and approaches. Learning in the VR organization  Regular part of daily work;  Practiced at personal, work unit, and organizational levels;  Results in solving problems at their source (“root cause”);  Focused on building and sharing knowledge throughout the VR organization; and  Driven by opportunities to innovate Sources for learning include:  Employees’ and volunteers’ ideas;  Customers’ input; and  Knowledge/best-practice sharing  Data generated from work products

The VR Learning Organization Organizational learning can result in:  Enhancing value to customers through new and improved services;  Developing new business opportunities and marketplaces;  Developing new and improved processes or business models;  Reducing variation, errors, waste, and related costs; and  Distributing control of system to owners of the work  Increasing productivity and effectiveness in the use of all resources

WIA WIOA Vision based Focused on collaboration Marketplace creation Customer satisfaction Team focus Empower initiative & innovation Knowledge driven Information empowers deployed decisions Balancing mechanisms Analyze Organizational Stance in Accordance With Learning Organizations Target focused Focused on competition Market reactive Stakeholder return Individual focus Regulate behavior Power associated with position Use information to control Control thru rules and procedures

Evaluate VR’s Data Decisions Contextually Using Distributed Control & DOUBLE LOOP Design

Unified State Plan Underlying testable assumptions, contingent relationships, evidence based practice Lifecycle management, systematic & repeatable Focus on collaboration across workforce agencies Consolidates emergent properties

Change Management Continuous analysis of assumptions Evaluation of evidence and results Deployed power to make decisions Empower initiative and innovation Team focus with flattened heirarchy for decisions Captured, iterative record of organizational learning

Tag & Talk For discussion-  How are we currently managing the transition from WIA to WIOA?  What would we like to do differently?  What concepts do here do you find useful?  Complex Adaptive Systems  Nested Systems  Learning Organization Characteristics  Double Loop Learning  Management Tools

What’s On Your Mind?

Terri LewisDarlene Groomes Summit Group Website FOR MORE INFORMATION The November Journal of Rehabilitation Administration will be dedicated to publications that can help your team to conceptualize working in partnership and striving to improve how and why these partnerships work:

Tools for Managing VR Stance through Double Loop Learning These will be available on the Summit Group website: Reframed for WIOA; what to look for in your own systems:  Double Loop learning model  Unified State Plan data elements  Dashboard metrics based on Scorecard application  Lifecycle Management Tools  Change Management Tools