One of the benefits of being a member of the Middleton Chamber of Commerce is that you get current information relating to local economic development issues.  In the minutes of the 10-20-10 MCC Economic Development Committee meeting, the group heard from Terry Webb and Roger Price from Madison College, formerly MATC.

In these notes, they highlight current education trends and local employment needs.  Here’s the notes from that meeting

This is MATC’s plan for renovations, upgrades and new facilities to meet the increasing demand of local residents who need affordable education and job training.  Funding for the Plan is a referendum question on the 11-2-10 election ballot.  They also discussed the role Madison College plays in the community.

They started the presentation by discussing the changing workplace and how we all must adapt.  This includes students, MATC and employers.  They listed six ways the business community is changing.

The global marketplace has reduced the importance of location and has opened up many opportunities that did not previously exist.  Changing demographics of customers and the workforce.  The average age in our area is now 37.  It was 30 only a few years ago.

Technology improvements.  It isn’t just the new technology that creates change.  It is also the leveraging of the new technology and the increasing productivity of new technology that creates more opportunities.

The recession has changed the way we look at employment and the workforce. Skills packaging includes employees who want to increase their current skills and add new skills.  These employees are trying to make themselves more attractive to employers and are also trying to be prepared when and if their current job is terminated.

There are labor shortages in certain industries.  There is a lack of certain job skills as different professions evolve.  The recession didn’t just cut back on jobs.  Many of these jobs are permanently gone.  New skills are needed for potential employees to move in to the next career.

They also talked about the Higher Education Imperative.  This is the ongoing trend of a workforce that needs a minimum of one year of post-secondary education.  They discussed the earnings differential as you compare different levels of education.  This same trend also shows itself in the unemployment statistics, as you are less likely to be unemployed if you have more education.

MATC works with students who are right out of high school.  But they also work with a large number of students who are looking for different skills or to improve their current skills.  Many of these students have attended college at other schools.  Some have degrees from other colleges and are looking to better define their skills.

Wisconsin ranks okay in terms of education level in the US.  But the US has fallen down the list of countries based on education level of their citizens.  The US used to be first.  Now we are ninth.  35% of US citizens have post secondary education.  This compares to 54% for Canada.

The next topic was “middle skill jobs”.  These are jobs that require some education and training beyond a high school degree but short of a full four year degree.  More and more jobs are falling into this area.  Health care, for example, has many careers and opportunities.  Some of these professions are in great demand today and jobs are waiting for students as they graduate.  Some students are being offered and are accepting jobs even before they graduate.  Information technology jobs are also being filled as fast as people can graduate.  Many of the skilled construction trades are also looking for new graduates.  Skilled construction workers as a group are getting older.  There are not enough young people following in the system to replace them.  More and more of these construction jobs involve new technology.  A recent study estimates that the future workforce will be made up of 80% middle and high skill jobs.

Enrollment at MATC (or Madison College, as they are now being referred to) has increased 22% in the past five years.  There were about 8,800 full-time equivalent students five years ago.  Today there are 10,800.  More than 40,000 students attend MATC.  The average age of a student is 29.  Their territory covers 12 counties and 40 public school systems.

Here is a brief summary of the Master Facility Plan.

A new Health Careers Education Center & Clinic.  This is 177,000 sq ft at a cost of $43 million.  It would include an actual working clinic.  Waiting lists on many programs are three years.

A new Protective Services building at a cost of $21 million.  This is police, fire, EMS and related professions.  This type of training is in high demand and is not offered at that many places.

Renovations and upgrades to the regional campuses in Fort Atkinson, Reedsburg, Watertown and Portage at a cost of $7 million.  These campuses are quite popular and have reached full capacity very quickly.

A new Transportation and Green Manufacturing Center at a cost of $16 million.

Madison Campus Repairs and Upgrades.  The Truax campus is in need of repair.  Some of this is basic HVAC and plumbing and electrical.  Cost is $34 million.

Stormwater and Campus Safety Upgrades at a cost of $10 million.

The borrowing for all of this would be spread out.  The cost to a $200,000 home would be about $27.52 per year.

Why Now?  The emerging workforce needs are continuing to evolve.  The workplace is changing rapidly.  The mismatch of jobs and people with the correct skills continues to grow.  Enrollment is at an all-time high and demand continues to grow.  65% of programs have a waiting list. Facilities are at capacity.

This is also a good time to borrow money.  Interest rates are as low as 1%.  Construction costs are also quite low.  The economic impact of all this construction and upgrading in the 12 county area would be quite large over the next five years.

The economic impact of having employees who are qualified and ready to step into jobs immediately is also quite high.  80% of graduates stay in the district.  96% stay in Wisconsin.  90% find jobs very soon after graduation.

The Master Plan is ready and waiting to be implemented.  Approval of the referendum is needed.  Construction would start very soon after if approved.

If the referendum is rejected, there would likely be another referendum asking for many of the same items.  The demand is there.  Waiting lists are long and potential students are being turned away.  Jobs are going unfilled due to lack of qualified employees.

They explained that MATC has a very good reputation.  Their approval rating is 90%.  They have done well over the years to keep expenses under control.  Labor costs have been negotiated well.  Efficiencies of operation have been implemented.  They have also done a good job of keeping their debt low.

Please note that the ballot question is on the back of the ballot in Madison.

There was a brief discussion about online enrollment.  This has become more popular in recent years and will continue to expand.  It is nice in that there is not as much demand for facilities, although many “online” courses are partially online and partially hands-on in a classroom.  There are also some classes that can not be taught without the classroom experience and facilities.

A company’s culture is its personality.  It determines how people contribute to teamwork, problem solving, innovation, customer service, productivity and quality.  It makes work safe or not safe for a person to raise issues and solve problems or to move in a new direction.  A company’s culture is often the cause for people related problems.

Culture is the real bottom line.  A company with a well developed culture, open to all that its members want to bring easily outperforms competitors.  People might say a culture is “friendly or tough, driven or aggressive, active or analytic or open.”

A company is a culture.

Leaders get culture they ask for.  If a leader wants people to be engaged, engage them.  Want involvement, involve them.  Want good communications, and relationships, communicate and establish good relationships.

A well developed culture is highly profitable.  Leaders directly change their workplace culture by changing how they do what they do.  Everybody will see the change, like it and respond.  When you create a workplace where employees can better meet their desires around their work and their personal life, high performance follows.  That’s why culture is the real bottom line.

5 LEVELS OF CULTURE
1.  Equipment and Physical Objects:  tools, structures, products, art all cherished and loved objects important to do a job well done.

2.  Systems:  processes, procedures and methods
In most companies there is plenty of room for process and systems improvements.  Systems are well known to each closest, and this level is a golden opportunity for involvement.  This is a good place to start to begin the company culture development process by involving employees in improving their systems.

3. Authority Structure that Connects People:  Productivity and profits.
Key aspect here is power and control.  The crude form is dominance and submission.  Often emotional and difficult to discuss.  Work on system issues and discover that problems around power and control will gradually diminish.

4. Communication To Connect People
Listening, understanding, dialogue, relationships and teamwork.  Also includes empathy and win-win consensus.  This is where leaders have the most potential leverage.  Improving communications has a powerful effect on the culture.

5. Experience Creating Motivation and Trust
The quality of human experience.  What we cherish in life, and feelings such as trust, caring, safety, satisfaction, pride and engagement.  Also includes the spiritual side.  Leaders cannot directly affect another’s experience, but you can affect another person by actions at the other four levels.

Academic fields are analytic and experience is synthetic or personal that comes with time.

FORMAL CULTURAL CHANGE PROCESS

Formal actions to quickly develop company culture.

1.  Involve and empower the leadership team
a.  identify formal values

b.  list the opportunities to strengthen values

c.  act on values and opportunity

2.  Conduct Cultural Interviews

3.  Involve the next level of management

4.  Organize problem solving groups

Involve the leadership team

Cultural change must begin at the top

Meetings could include discussion on:

a. employees communications and relationships

b. their leadership of the company’s culture

c. Planning and managing the human side of the workplace, the cultural change process.

CULTURAL LEADERSHIP MEETINGS

Focus on the top half of the culture, the Human Half, not the bottom, operations half.

After 3-4 meetings interpersonal issues are raised and resolved

Draw out each person’s desires of a better workplace

FOCUS YOURSELF ON THE PROCESS

I’d like to hear your thoughts, how it is for you here and what you like.  If you have ideas you would like me to consider, I’m interested in knowing how we can improve.  If you’ve had good experiences elsewhere, I’d like to hear about those also.

The Leaders Role

Help the employees feel comfortable discussing their relationships, the work experiences and themselves as a team.

“What kind of workplace would you like to have?”

More trust?  Openness?

Stronger teamwork and cooperation?

Better communication levels?

People speaking up and participating more?

People taking responsibility for solving their own problems?

Higher morale?

Improved productivity and customer service?

Less interference and directives from above?

Ask each person to write down their answers to, “what kind of a workplace would you like to have?  What qualities, values and behavior would you like to see more of?  Less of?

Take one item from each person and post on the wall…title the list VALUES WE WANT TO SUPPORT AT (COMPANY NAME)

List the opportunities to strengthen the values

Discuss actions they can take to strengthen the values (process)

More planning without action won’t advance the cultural change process.
(need to ask yourself, “do I want change?”  What changes do I want?  Need?

If one item on the list is “better communications between departments, ask, “what do we do here or what is coming up in your area that by doing it a little bit differently we would improve communications between departments?

What is happening now that is good?  What is happening that is lacking in positive outcomes?

Combine Cultural Values with Opportunities

Ask employees how they will connect values to actions.(process)

GET THE PEOPLE MORE INVOLVED

Have people volunteer to apply new ideas.  Invite them to apply the ideas.

“Next time we get together, let’s hear what you did and what happened.  Remember we are trying to learn about the culture and what happens when we take action for change.

Trial change through new actions and new results.  Does the outcome warrant a permanent change that translates to a new operating standard.(process)

“So What Happened?”

After a few weeks, ask the employees to describe what they did and what the experience was like.  Involvement will vary.  Be prepared to report on your work as the leader so they know you are serious about this but do not be confrontational, only resolute.  Confrontation at this stage drives culture into the negative, as people will withdraw.  You need to demonstrate your experience, as the leader advances the process, so will others.

How is your relationship with other departments?

3.  Conduct Cultural Interviews

4. Involve the Next Level of Management…down one level below management.  Owner…..Management….Employees

5.  Organize Problem Solving Groups at the First Level(employees)

Jumps in company performance when this group becomes deeply involved.  Empowered to act on what they know, when their creativity, responsibility and ideas are wanted, appreciated and most importantly acted on for positive change.(maximizing each persons talent and full capabilities)

Employees at all levels want to have a better workplace.  Even if it’s not perfect, employees appreciate the effort and step forward to join in the new venture.

Living in the Midwest means that we have to adopt to seasonal change 4 or  more times per year.  I say 4 or more, because our climate can go back and forth between seasons on an ongoing basis.  Yesterday the temperature reached 60 degrees in our area.  The forecast for next week is projecting temperatures in the mid-40′s.  Snow is in the forecast also.

How is this relevant to business?  With seasonal change comes a shift in both consumer and business behavior.  This is the time to review the current years business performance.  This is also the time of year to begin serious conversations about what direction you want your business to go in 2011.  I’m amazed that many business owners do little strategic planning or wait until they are well into the new year before they start to think about their operational performance and sales strategies for the year ahead.

Now is the time to review your business performance.  Now is the time to begin scheduling meetings with your key business advisors to start the planning process for next year.  You’ll appreciate it, your staff will appreciate it and most important of all, your customers will appreciate the clarity and operational alignment of your business when they arrive to do business with you.