MAY GORDON REPORT
"Hope
- Jobs - Change"
What are the
major roadblocks to changing the ways the United States develops its workforce?
We recently sought some answers from other workforce development leaders who
also seek major improvements in our education-to-employment systems. There is
general agreement that there are new education and training programs that
improve adult and student learning, but there are significant obstacles to
effectively and comprehensively implementing them.
Over the past
30 years, regional public-private partnership hubs have been formed that
integrate the wide variety of community resources needed to address skills-jobs
disconnects and today’s vacant jobs crisis. But these pathways to a better-educated workforce have only been supported by a comparative handful of
enlightened community and business leaders. Why haven’t they been widely
adopted throughout the United States?
Storrs Hall in
his book, Where Is My Flying
Car, gives several cogent explanations of why people, in general, are
very resistant to systemic change. When their money, power, or prestige are at
risk, systemic change issues are often turned into personal turf wars. Hall
calls this the “Machiavelli Effect.” As Machiavelli stated in his controversial
1532 treatise, The Prince,
innovators are often opposed by “all those who have done well under the old
conditions.”
Hall asserts
that bureaucracies today pose major obstacles to implementing systemic change.
There are well-entrenched bureaucracies in business, education, unions, and
government. He finds that bureaucrats often block changes because of a “failure
of imagination.” They believe in their superior expertise. They automatically
rule out the potential of untried but worthwhile solutions.
Hall also
contends that bureaucracies stifle change due to a “failure of nerve.”
Solutions to current challenges gain significant support. Only the details of
implementing them need to be worked out. But nothing ever happens! Bureaucrats
succumb to the fear that the results of his process will be so good that their
leadership will be threatened.
Bureaucracies
are powerful because they are able to use resource starvation and regulations
to suppress systemic change. Furthermore, America today is split into warring
factions that resist working together to combat threats to our prosperity and
way of life. In its history the United States has faced formidable challenges
and forged innovative solutions that moved the nation forward. What can we
learn from the past?
After traveling across the
United States in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America in which he concluded
that civic activism was America's greatest strength. As the United States
expanded in territory and population during the 19th and early 20th centuries,
ordinary citizens banded together to form local governments and organizations
to solve common problems and meet local needs.
Tax-supported
public education is among the most prominent advancements resulting from civic
activism. By 1918 spurred by the Progressive movement, all the then states in
the United States had enacted this reform. The United States became the
first nation in history to attempt to offer a basic education to
everyone. The system was far from perfect, but for most of the 20th century it worked well for most citizens. But the technological
demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have made this
education-to-employment system obsolete.
Why do we need
a revival of civic activism today? There are at least 1.8 job openings for
every unemployed worker. U.S. inflation has reached a 40 year high of 8.5
percent. Companies across all business sectors cannot find workers with the
requisite skills to fill up to 13 million vacant jobs, thus threatening
significant wage inflation. Unless significant efforts are begun to bridge the
talent gap between current educational
preparation and the rising skill needs of local/regional businesses, we believe
that by 2030 the U.S. labor market will be in an even deeper crisis, perhaps
triggering a popular backlash that could destabilize our nation.
We contend that America’s
participatory democracy offers viable solutions to this grave employment
crisis. During the Progressive Era a broad spectrum of voluntary organizations
were formed. Many of them focused on civic improvement, such as Chambers of
Commerce and Rotary Clubs. Today they and other groups and agencies such as
Workforce Development Boards, regional economic development organizations,
sectoral business alliances, community colleges, K-12 educational agencies,
parent organizations, and unions are serving as catalysts for initiating
broader public-private partnerships to update regional education-to-employment
systems. Your advocacy and support for such efforts in your communities are
vitally important for their success.
For a more
comprehensive analysis of the causes and solutions for the current skills-jobs
mismatch, see Job Shock: Moving Beyond the COVID-19 Employment Meltdown
to a New Skilled Talent Decade
Edward E. Gordon is the president
and founder of Imperial Consulting Corporation.
We invite to submit your questions or comments by email or calling
us in Chicago at 312.664.5196.
Thank you for your continued interest in our publication.
