The Continuing Crisis in the Field Workforce

It's no secret that the trades are in crisis and our educational systems seem unable to address the issue. How did we get here?

• A shrinking labor pool
• Negative stereotypes
• Immigration policies that scare away skilled workers
• Significant lack of awareness of the benefits
• Financing for a technical education

Even with all these challenges, the existing labor pool is experiencing a skills gap.

• Tasks in the trades are more complex.
• New methods and materials require continuous education.
• There is a greater focus on safety.
• There is a greater need for quality control.
• New field applications and devices require training in their proper use.

Barriers to developing a new trades-centric workforce:

• Cost and time: Apprenticeship programs, which are the primary way to train workers for trade jobs, can be expensive and time-consuming for both employers and apprentices.
• Lack of support: Many trade employers do not have the resources to provide adequate training to their apprentices. Additionally, there is a lack of government and industry support for apprenticeship programs.
• Equity and diversity: The trades have a long history of underrepresentation of women and minorities. This is due to a number of factors, including discrimination, lack of access to training, and cultural barriers.

What should be done?

• Raise the alarm! Make this crisis a national focus. Write stories pointing out the risks to life and the economy. 
• Make trade jobs more accessible through well-funded apprenticeship programs
• Make the investment in training worthwhile. Offer tax incentives, stipends, improved access to bidding, streamline licensing and certification.
• Provide financial assistance to apprentices and employers.
• Create a national taskforce that addresses and reduces prejudice and bigotry in the trades. 
• Work with the media to highlight positive forces in diverse populations.
• Provide incentives for lenders to invest in tradespeople.
• Strengthen the SBAs focus on trades.
• Work with the media to highlight the essential nature of tradespeople and without them our society ceases to function.

Lastly, the 2022 Infrastructure  Act provided 800MM in funds for Advancing Equitable Workforce Development. Here are the details https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Advancing-Equitable-Workforce-Development-for-Infrastructure-Jobs_110122.pdf 

eLearning - To LMS or Not to LMS

BACKGROUND

Have you ever wondered why we are so dependent on Learning Management Systems? 

The LMS is not new, but its effectiveness has diminished over the years.

While the present definition for a Learning Management System calls it "automated," way back in the 1700s solutions were paper-based tools such as books and assignments. 

I the early 1900s correspondence courses became popular using the mail and mentors. Each student had an advisor who would evaluate the submitted assignments and determine if the student was meeting the criteria for advancement. 

Study and preparation required the student to read, analyze, and solve the case studies and assignments provided. Additional reading outside the course was often encouraged, as was extra credit for thinking outside the box.

With the advent of the "Cold War," the United States military began an accelerated and focused training program using computers. Also, the need to quickly share defense research led to DARPA, the beginning of the Internet built connecting the leading research institutions and the Defense Department.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the transfer of this technology to the public sector began. The first popular graphical browser,  NCSA Mosaic, was made available in 1993, followed by the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. 

Imagine, all this is only 30 years old!

With the advent of secure cloud-based platforms, the economics of  computer-based training was all it took for a whole new industry to be built.

But remember, before the web and computer-based learning, students were encouraged to study, analyze, process, question, attempt, and were offered personal feedback. 

Personal instruction and feedback are the most labor intensive aspect of traditional classroom and correspondence learning; they were the first set of methods to be automated.

And, the only working model for a computer-based Learning Management System in the beginning of for Higher Ed. and K-12 was technology transferred from the military.

IS AN LMS RIGHT FOR YOU? Coming soon.

 Looking for an ID job? TOP TEN TIPS

The instructional design industry has changed rapidly over the last three years and anyone with an advanced degree who is trying to break into our field is probably finding it more and more difficult.

So, what is a talented and educated learning professional to do?

1. Ask yourself, is this a passion or a job? If a passion, keep going down the list.

2. Are you versatile? Can you fit in or lead in the various areas involved?

3. Are you supremely confident that you can command the tools of the trade?

4. Can you motivate the knowledge owners (SMEs for example) to share?

5. Do you have enough confidence to command the organization?

6. Are you motivated to learn and apply organizational psychology?

7. Can you receive criticism without taking it personally?

8, Can you justify your hourly efforts against expectations?

9. Do you develop a Plan B to account for change?

10. Live gratefully, share it with your peers, support staff, managers, and clients.

Here are the top five changes i am seeing in the industry.

1. Moving from LMS platforms to job aids to be used in the flow of work.
2. Using a Learning Records Store like Rustici to gain insight into the job aids and learning experiences that people use
3. Using Ai to fine tune learning tools so they better align with business goals in real time.
4. Entrenched learning professionals are hindering the evolution of learning tools and experiences.
5. Instructional Design curricula in Higher-Ed is behind the times which is so strange because some of the most pioneering work in learning experience is being done there i.e. Blackboard, D2L, Rustici and by Macmillan Learning. with Achieve.

SUMMARY

If you want to land that job, you need to represent yourself as a versatile contributor who can be a team player or a leader as conditions demand. I think you should also mention how the needs of every industry are changing and that you, above the rest of the candidates, have the insight to help realign L&D to meet changing business needs. 

You want to work for a company that is struggling with out of date lessons trapped in an LMS platform. And the measure of success for them is not how quickly you can launch a linear Power-Point SCORM package but how quickly what you launch can change the financial outcomes of the company.

AND, know their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), for that is what L&D should be focused on improving. At an interview, ask, "Before we discuss what I can do for you, what are your company measures of success, your KPIs?"

Probe and then qualify. "Oh, employee retention? Let's talk about how I can help you  improve that KPI."

Get in their head and make them see that you truly understand them and can help their cause within the company.

Good Luck!

Since 1976, Doug Marlowe continues to consult to various clients in a variety of industries in how to adapt to change because Shift Happens no matter how hard we fight it.  Contact Doug at 561-303-3301 or at doug.marlowe@teachITnow.net

Let's get serious!

Hi folks. You might know me as the guy who consults and posts jobs for VerTek LLC, but I am also the guy who has his own company, teachITnow, Inc. that developed training tools for you through my work at NCTI, SCTE, TCI, Anixter, Charter, Comcast, and Cox.  

I'm an old cable dawg. I cut my teeth in 1983 figuring out how to run a T1 over a Midsplit B-Plant in Rockford, IL. Lots of people mentored me, and I got bit by the cable bug back then. It crawled into my DNA. I was on the board of my local SCTE chapter for 17 years. 

Now, at 68 years old, I have something to say. Some of you think I'm an effing idiot, and you might be right. But seriously, I am PISSED. I am pissed that the contractors don't get appreciated for being the ESSENTIAL WORKERS they really are; dedicated, hot and sweaty, freezing cold, doing dangerous work for people to watch TV, talk on the phone, and play Fortnight. 

And, I am pissed that there are too many unethical and dishonest contractors out there who give the good ones a bad reputation.

I know why I am pissed but I want to hear it from you. 

Remember I am asking for myself and not VerTek, or SCTE, or Charter, etc. I will not share your comments such that they could identify you. Here's a survey form that is TOTALLY ANONYMOUS (no names or emails or phone numbers collected).

It's OK to be suspicious, and I expect some of you will get nasty. I'm an adult, I can take it. 

So, please fill out this form HONESTLY. I'm the only one who will see it. 

State of The Cable Contractor Form - Totally anonymous and secure

Thanks, 

Doug Marlowe, President

teachITnow, Inc.

www.teachITnow.net

How to advertise for talent in 2021

 How to advertise for talent in 2021

Ah, hello there. This chasing talent is exhausting. What frosts my mug is when I hear from a client that they had a crew all ready to start and "THEY NEVER SHOWED UP!"

So what are we doing wrong?

1. They advertised the glory and not the guts

2. Benefits! Guess what, they are  not that important these days except health care. 

So what's a recruiter to do?

Sell the glory and the GUTS. If its challenging, hard work, manually stressful, and requires a keen eye and great problem solving, SAY IT. You have to be honest about the risks and rewards.

Call them out on their ethics. 

My daddy whupped my behind if I ever lied to him. Taught me that my word was my contract. At the end of the day, all you have is your reputation. If you're the type to promise and not deliver, move on. If you can't be honest with us WE DO NOT WANT YOU.

Let them know that divas need not apply.

This work requires TEAMWORK. We won't tolerate divas. You work together or not at all. And, our work sites are a NO WHINING ZONE. If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Grow up, you're an adult now.

Rates are low in some places, we all know it. So, tell them.

You might find better rates elsewhere. We can't help that. Every job has risks. We want you to succeed, so talk to us before you reject a bird in the hand. Some locations are paying mobilization.

Tell them you are fun to work with

Hard work needs a team that appreciates you. We have fun, too. We encourage it. But, as in life, SAFETY FIRST!

You are failing your construction teams. Fix it!

Getting Back to Basics - TEAMWORK

"The lack of teamwork in the construction contracting 

industry is so bad that lives are at stake." 

So you've got a big construction job. You need to find the right people to do the job. A project manager, a crew supervisor, a quality control inspector, a coordinator, and of course, the construction crew.

You go about building your team but you forgot something, teamwork. Right now all you have is a bunch of individuals, with separate ideas about how to do this job. In the rush, you neglected to baseline your expectations for them, their hours, their processes, their communications tools, and their chain of command.

Now, you hire or sign on the ground crew. If you're adding them as W2 employees, you have a responsibility to onboard them, to guarantee that their values and ethics match yours; hard work, open communications, do it right the first time, etc.

If they are 1099s, it gets harder, by now they typically have a set way they THINK the job ought to be done by them. Nothing you say will make them change. Adults are hesitant to adapt. It causes them anxiety, they are afraid of looking stupid.

How do you mold this group of individuals into a team?

If you don't, it spells disaster for you, for them, and for your customer.

Some tips:

1. Start with you. It's your company. Are you setting the example? Do you even know who you are and what you stand for? Put it down on paper and let your people know what you expect of them and what success means to them, to you and to the clients.

2. Write it down, Put it Up! Get the word out. Do it in stories, describing a challenge that was met with your values and overcome to the benefit of all. be inspirational!

3. Find people better than you. Bring on people who will make you better, will challenge you, and cause you to rethink old ways of doing things.

4. Ask and listen, then act...quickly. Nothing does more to coalesce people into a team than their perception that together, they have the power to make change happen. Be the catalyst to empower your people.

5. Praise in public and discipline in private. Nothing does more to destroy a team than a toxic boss. Remove any employee who berates or harasses their employees in public. They are the rotten apples.

6. SCRUM, a rugby term for a quick meeting of the minds, deep in the game, to plan the next play; who goes left, right, falls back, and who carries, passes, or kicks. SCRUMs are essential before, during, and after a construction job. They clarify and motivate, praise, and solve problems. SCRUMs accelerate success.

7. Self and independent Quality Control. Establish or hire a team only answerable to the PMO (did I mention that you need a PMO, No? More on that in another post).The QC team is an audit tool that identifies if the work has been done according to the specifications of the job before work starts, during construction, and afterwards. Some companies add a bonus to the team who stays till the end if QC audits pass or were resolved to the satisfaction of the client (and are still within budget)

8. Lastly, invest in training. Build on your success. Find the best people to mentor others who need help. Avoid churn and work with the ones you'd otherwise let go to make them better. Believe in your people and they will believe in you.

Doug Marlowe has built successful teams over his career of 45 years. He has seen what works and what does not. Today's competitive environment, the accelerating loss of experienced baby-boomer professionals, the lack of job-ready employees to take over, inadequate compensation for contractors to build, repair, and maintain the critical infrastructure of today's communications systems is pointing to a crisis. Doug has some strategies to plug the dike and to refill the reservoir of competent talent.

Reach Doug at 561-303-3301 or Doug.Marlowe@teachITnow.net 

Some Good and Recent Conversations about Learning

Some Good and Recent Conversations about Learning

There are some wonderful people out there in the learning world. I've had the honor of connecting with many of them on LinkedIn.

I'll be updating this post with their names and what we talked about. But, for now, this one caught my eye today.

SEPT 254, 2019
Billy Wilson, The KUKU Chart.

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6582964564105789440