The Future of One-Stop Career Centers Larry Good Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 2890 Carpenter Road, Suite 1600 Ann Arbor, MI (734)

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 2 Context for This Presentation  Observations based on two sources of input:  CSW’s experience in working with hundreds of one-stops during past several years  What we learned in managing national one-stop benchmarking project for 4 Illinois WIBs.

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 3 Some Core Realities  Most one-stops fall far short of being stars – for lots of good reasons  WIA = Then a Miracle Happens  Widely varying leadership commitments  Inventing a new way of doing business is really hard, slow work

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 4 Pace of change is relentless  Two years ago, made similar presentation at NGA policy conference. A key point then was that America’s Job Bank helped make traditional job matching obsolete.  Today, Monster.com and others threaten to make AJB obsolete.

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 5 Limits of traditional funding are being reached  Even most creative are running out of traditional funding as budgets are reduced  Rarely funded as a core function itself; rather as an add-on to which partners must “donate”  Fee for service experiments still limited

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 6 Confusion reigns on purpose of one-stops  Ongoing confusion on several levels:  Place vs. system  Service package vs. agency collection  No widely agreed upon definition of success of one-stops as total enterprise

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 7 Lack of Solid Measurement Hampers Growth  Few using center wide and system wide measures of performance  Failure to track resource room performance was a mistake: measuring outcomes for one out of 10 users

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 8 The Opportunity  Reauthorizations provide opportunity to strengthen one-stop framing  States can play pivotal role in accelerating improvement

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 9 The Challenge  One-Stops don’t have long to convince employers, job seekers and community leaders they have value  Can one-stops operated by consortia of government agencies increase their rate of improvement enough to remain viable?  The rest of the world won’t wait

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 10 Survival isn’t good enough  One-stops really have only two choices:  Become agile, entrepreneurial and highly responsive to markets  Become irrelevant and die

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 11 3 Stages of One-Stop Evolution  Stage 1: Co-locate, improve customer service  Stage 2: Integrate, connect to markets  Stage 3: Reinvent the whole enterprise

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 12 Stage 1: Co-locate  Meet basic expectations  Initial mating dance among partners  Focus on improving customer service  Do what we’ve done, but do it more efficiently

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 13 Stage 2: Integrate  Build a unified management structure, common operation and budget  Hire managers for centers dedicated 100% to that role  Build business strategies, sharpen focus on markets  Behave like a business: strategies, targets, agility  Explore new services, new funding sources

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 14 Stage 3: Reinvent  Move from combining existing practices to asking key question: are we doing the right work?  Tough minded market analysis and prioritization  Stop doing things; redesign fundamentals  New mantra: do we have adequate customers and markets to be viable?

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 15 State of Development  Most are at Stage 1  A small band of innovators are at Stage 2  Almost no one is at Stage 3 -- but where all must go

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 16 Opportunities  Shift focus from job matching to advising  Become excellent at some services -- what are you known for?  Develop a strong fee-for-service component -- supports flexibility and ensures centers are in touch with customers  Challenge all old operational assumptions -- throw out rule books designed for old systems and build new models

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 17 Keys for National Policy  Make clear in law one-stop is legitimate function with own funding  Be very clear: one-stop is about service package, NOT about existing agencies, programs  Measure results with all customers, not just intensive service recipients  Don’t micro-manage – set clear, but broad expectations

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 18 Keys for State Policy  Encourage reinvention; reward risk takers  Focus on clear, broad policy; avoid micromanaging  Expect, encourage, require high quality  Define, with WIBs, one-stop measures  Make two key sustained investments:  Integrated MIS for easy staff use  Brand building

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 19 Benchmarking Project  Visited 20 one-stops, 12 WIB areas, 7 states  Not case studies; focus on Critical Success Factors  Services to Employers  Services to Job Seekers  Design and Management

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 20 Benchmarking Findings  Local leadership critical to success  States can accelerate – or slow down – innovation  Dedicated, neutral center managers are key  Neutral sites become stars faster  Staffed, quality resource rooms are centerpieces  Centers improve when UI leaves the building

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce 21 Benchmarking Findings  Employer services being reinvented  Unified teams of account representatives  Targeting which employers to serve  Creating a brand hard, but important  Center wide measures just now being created