Portfolio Project Assignment Leadership for the Future Lead 570PA Summer Session One, 2011 Gail Cullen,

Instructor Submitted by Marisa Crawford Gray

Abstract (Summary) Economic development is continuously evolving. Todays higher education system struggles to find ways to meet business and industry requirements of preparation for students to enter the workforce. In addressing workforce development needs, Kansas City Kansas Community College has developed a training program that will provide Essential Employable Skills for individuals desiring to enter the workplace.

Table of Content

Abstract Organization and Background Introduction of Problem Change Comparison of Strategies Considered for the Initiative Implementation of Strategy Objective or Goal Timeline Barriers Leadership approach Anticipated Results and Measurements for Success Conclusions and Leadership References

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Organization and Background The Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) is located in Kansas City, Kansas and is identified as an urban community college to serve the needs of citizens in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. The mission of KCKCC reads as follows: Kansas City Kansas Community College is a public, urban, open-door, and comprehensive community college committed to excellence in higher education. Through an accessible and supportive learning environment, the college mission is to provide higher education and lifelong learning to the varied communities, primarily in its service area of Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. KCKCC seeks to fulfill its mission by providing: An educational environment Transfer education Career education General education Continuing education Continuing education Developmental education Community services Education and support services Student support services A multicultural environment

Administrative and institutional support services Activities A campus environment

Quick facts about KCKCC include: Total enrollment 7,465 Full-time 34% and part-time 55% Average age of the students being 30.4 years of age. Of the total population, 42.6% are minority (Center for Research & Community Development) The college is governed by elected officials from the community seven (7) Board of Trustees, with the Administration leadership being comprised of the President, Provost for Academic Affairs; Vice President for Financial and Administrative Services and eleven (11) deans The Workforce Development department is located within the Business Division on the organizational chart. The Dean of Business and Continuing Education has the responsibility of leadership for Workforce Development. The current Dean has been in this position since July, 2010. Prior to this administration, the position has experienced a change in leadership of 3 deans/directors over the past four years. Based on this inconsistent leadership, the Workforce Development department has been challenged to meet the goals identified in the colleges strategic plan. In addition, there have been internal struggles with leadership of the Board of Trustees identifying clear goals and expectations for the department.

The mission of Workforce Development Department is to serve the training needs of emerging, current and returning workers, supports economic development, and is a resource for the college, employers and their employees. Wyandotte County, which is located in Kansas City, Kansas, has historically been challenged with a high unemployment rate. The community has a history of being a manufacturing area with the major employer being General Motors. In 2007, the Board of Trustees advised the Workforce Development department to focus on economic development with the emphasis on training and development for the citizens of the serving areas. With current unemployment figures that continue to be in the double digits the leaders of the economic community have been aggressively recruiting new businesses into the area. With the success of these businesses creates new employment opportunities for the citizens in Wyandotte County. The challenge becomes getting them retrained with up-to-dates skills that match the needs of the industry. Introduction of Problem/Change In todays environment in which colleges and universities operate is continuously being reshaped by unpredictable, turbulent forces. Rapid advances in technology, globalization, expanding governmental mandates, diminishing resources, growing enrollment pressures, and changing demographics are creating an unstable environment for institutions more likely to have been built on a culture emphasizing tradition and stability than on the culture of responsiveness, flexibility, and innovation necessary to thrive in a chaotic environment (Balderston, 1995; Peters, 1987; Roueche, Roueche, & Johnson, 2002; Taylor, 2002).

These unrelenting forces of change have prompted community colleges to reexamine their purpose, roles, and efficacy to meet emerging challenges and capitalize on new opportunities. Many community college leaders have identified the need for modifications in the institutions culture, mission, processes, and procedures and have implemented planned change initiatives to enhance institutional effectiveness (OBanion, 2003). Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas has a history of being a blue collar, manufacturing base for employment. With the change in technology, the opportunities for employment have expanded to include manufacturing, bio-science, healthcare and retail industries. In support of these business expansions, Wyandotte County is included as a part of the Animal Health Corridor by the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC). With this designation, Wyandotte County is located within the worlds largest concentration of the animal health industry. The KC area companies account for nearly 32% of total sales in the $19 billion global animal health market. Companies and universities in our area lead the nation in animal health and nutrition research, innovation, business functions and production. With these great career path opportunities comes the challenge of creating a workforce that is prepared, skilled and work ready for these industries. For the purposes of this paper we will address the challenge of how to identify and provide essential employable skills for individuals in this community with the attempt of facilitating employment for successful participants. It is the responsibility of KCKCC as a partner of KCADC to create career pathways for entry-level employees to help inform educational providers of the skills expected of employees

at different levels of educational attainment. Much of the implementation of this is the responsibility that will be initiated by the Workforce Development department of the college. Comparison of Strategies Considered for the Initiative The challenge is to match the pace of developmental changes by providing human force well equipped with desired skill sets and aptitude. This challenge has strengthened the need for fostering interdependence of educational institutions and industry. This demands long term strategic thinking on part of institute and industry while framing curricula and designing programs. Equipping our students with the skills required for industry needs puts the learning function at the center of the issue (Deepesh Tiawari & Prerna Kaushik, 2011). The department of Workforce Development has the responsibility of leading this charge and the best approach to address this challenge. Due to the urgency and magnitude of this challenge, the college cannot adopt a strategy that is monolithic, one-size-fits-all. In our planning is will be important to acknowledge the multidimensional composition of the assumptions, beliefs, attitudes, and perspectives of our community, students and businesses that we serve. Because of the global nature of the business environment, it requires institutions to play a very vital role to impart a quality education and skills in the students to be competitive on the leading edge of technology. This requires departments like our Workforce Development to provide and support various training and certification program that are a combination of traditional degree program and certification programs to acquire the required skills. The majority of these programs must be designed to upgrade technical skills while developing soft skills, which are not addressed adequately by our current educational system. These offerings include language skills like diction and fluency, analytical abilities and basic logic, cross-cultural sensitivity and basic customer oriented service and behavioral attributes. Our programs have to address the

overarching issue we hear from companies and that is the mismatch in between their expectations and what students bring to the table. The common theme continues to be: 1. Lack of Industry exposure 2. Lack of flexibility in revision of course contents 3. Lack of industry exposure for the teachers themselves In an attempt to address this challenge, a qualitative approach will be utilized. This is strategy chosen in order to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations. It will also all us to provide insights into the setting of a problem, generating ideas and/or hypothesis for later quantitative research; and will all us to uncover prevalent trends in thought and opinion (Qualitative vs. Quantative, html 2011). Implementation of Strategy The major objectives of this paper will attempt to look at: What is the skills gap? What is causing the skill gap? What educational attainment that is lagging for the need for skills? The goal of this paper is to understand the ramification of this challenge from the employers perspective. Working from the common foundation that employers are looking for an ideal candidate for industry employment. A successful candidate will possess a combination of the following: Formal Education

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Technical skills Non-Technical or soft skills Industry Exposure

Wyandotte County is no different that many communities across the county. This is why the development of community partnerships around the issue of workforce development is essential. The members of the partnership will include the institution (KCKCC), Businesses and Industry, Political/City Government, Chambers of Commerce, Workforce Partnership, Department of Commerce, and the K-12 educational institution. The community college can serve as the hub or anchor for this initiative because we can get adults trained and working. We can leverage the necessary resources on behalf of the goals, forge important links to the business community, and extend the reach of their services to more adults in need of assistance. Understanding that this cannot be accomplished without partnerships within the community. The employer is the most important stakeholder in this institution industry partnership. With KCKCC service as the catalyst our focus can extend to the emerging workforce, the incumbent workforce and the transitional workforce. This will also allow us to be flexible in our approach to respond to pre-employment training or upgrading skills when working with existing businesses. With the fast changing technology and market needs the industry skills required change so rapidly. One skill may be in demand today but might change completely in a year or so depending on the economic and market conditions. Having a partnership with a variety of business and industry as our key advisors will help not only with the integration of their needs into our regular curriculum but also help our instructors to keep up-to date with their industry knowledge. It also allows for industry and educators to collaborate and project the future skill requirements on a regular basis.

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Preliminary discussions with employers have emphasized the fact that non-technical skills are increasingly important and that employers are placing my merit on them. These include work and written communication skills, teamwork and collaboration skills, critical thinking skills, people management skills, project management skills, ethical practices and the need to have personal drive and passion. Timeline It would be ideal if this project could be ready for implementation within six months. May 1 6 Assemble a core team and send out invites. Core Team will include all internal KCKCC employees, (faculty and staff). Community partners would include business and industry advisors/partners, governmental agencies and community volunteers and religious organizations. Core team will include the following departments/divisions: Workforce Development, Adult Education, Humanities, Social Science (English & Spanish, Teachers of Tomorrow), Business & Marketing, Math, Science & Technology. The first task would include sharing the vision and the need for this project. Linking the focus and defining a mission statement to address the major challenge of skill gaps and work-readiness. Identifying personal interest and level of commitment May 9-13 Initial program planning

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Determining our key strengths and weaknesses What resources (financial, human capital) are needed to meet goal May 16 20 What are the key areas or focus needed for training? May 23-27 time-frame of class appropriate locations teaching modules target market (age, profiles)

Invite community partners in to share concept Community partners include: Business and Industry advisors, non-profit groups that provide employment support, governmental agencies and religious representatives from community churches

June 6 10

Conduct focus groups with local business and industry representatives and local employers to gain feedback on the following questions: What are the skills requirement in their industry What are the skill gaps What do they look for in an ideal employee What soft skills are important to them in a prospective employee

June 13 -24

Internal core team to compile information from the industry focus groups Provide feedback to participants and determine next steps of involvement

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June 20 30 Conduct community focus groups of unemployed individuals to hear July 4-15 July 18 22 What are the barriers that keep them from gaining employment What are their current skills How do they define soft skills

Internal core team to compile information from focus groups Develop marketing plan for Essential Employable Skills program (Internal and community volunteers

July 19 July 25- Aug 5

Present concept of the EES program to College Board of Trustees Develop seminar modules for Each module will contain activities that are geared toward visual learners, sight learners, hands-on and independent learners. Each training session will be module component will last for 3 hours for a total of 6 hours for the full program. At the conclusion of the program successful participants will receive a certification of completion. Workplace readiness Communication Work Ethics Teamwork

August 12

Meet with business and industry volunteers to determine closing process. The desire is for is for them to commit to participating on a panel during the final session and sharing from the employers perspective the expectations of

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employees. There will also be an opportunity for participating employees to interview program completers if they have current openings. August 15- 31 Hold community meetings to share information about the Essential Employable Skills Training. Informational sessions will be held at community buildings, churches, non-profit agencies and libraries. These meetings are held to build community support. September 1-30Work with College Relations to create Press Releases about the Essential Employable Skills Training program Open enrollment for interested participants to enroll September 6-16 Finalize EES modules Run pilot sessions with select employers to make sure training captures their perspective September 19-23 Refine any components of the modules Prepare training packets for the sessions September 26 October 12 October 17-21 Do last minute checks for program delivery Delivery of first EES training Committee review of EES training sessions, review evaluations, makes any adjustments to training modules October 24 31 Review training results with involved employers

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Make any adjustments from employers suggestions November December Barriers Anticipated barriers to the Essential Employability Skills training include some of the following: 1. Perceived need for change- While there might be clear evidence that a change is needed; gaining the support of all parties with the belief that they can make a difference could be a challenge. 2. Lack of internal department support with the demands on current faculty and staff, the participation level might be a challenge. Sometimes faculty is taxed to the limits and seeing the value in a new program might be difficult to gain their immediate support. Nor will they understand the urgency of the project. 3. Gaining the concrete support from business and industry- There might be some employers that will find it difficult to provide support to another new program. While our ask for their commitment is very limited, there might be those employers that are unable to provide representation. 4. Employers inability to be definite in identifying their needs 5. Gaining support for those that see the need for change 6. Time requirements not enough time to fully develop and test a program before introducing it to the public Second offerings of the EES training Third offerings of the EES training

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7. Financial resources limited to none, because this program was not part of the original budgeted plans, there might not be adequate funds available to make an impact. In addition, there might not be time to secure appropriate grants for such a program 8. Sustained support and commitment from staff, faculty and business and industry and community volunteers. There might be lots of support for the initial idea but as we move beyond the first sessions, the enthusiasm will begin to wear off. 9. Support and agreement on the change process and the plan of how to implement the program 10. Rewards and Incentives- Not having the right match based on the needs of the group. Finding the funding or company support 11. Communication Internally and externally so that everyone knows what is going on and have the freedom to know their voice will be heard. 12. Delivery of the training Having the right match of trainers for each audience or class. These individuals must be able to meet the participants where they are and move them to our desired goal of preparation for employment 13. Reacting quickly to set-backs- Our ability to be flexible and resilient to the response from our clients that we are serving. Leadership Approach Having the challenge of introducing and then implementing change of a culture requires a leader that is a change master and has the ability to conceive and lead effectively. This leader needs to have foresight and understand the complexity of this project. This individual is innovative and can be creative with ideas and can set the pace of the project. Because they will be working with adverse group of faculty staff and community volunteers they will need to be

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able to communicate the vision very clearly so that it inspires others involvement but does not box in ideas as the volunteers get excited and develop the passion needed for this project. Due to the high sensitive nature of this project, we are dealing with community individuals that might feel like they are caught within a system. Some might posses the skills needed for employment but dont know how to redesign themselves and other that dont have a clue. The leader of this project is one that can be culturally aware of not only the economic environment but also the multiple ethnic groups involved as participants. Flexibility of thought process and being persist during the difficult times will be important. They need to determine whether they are helping a situation or medaling and creating an obstacle for the situation. They will need the know how to build and maintain coalitions both externally and internally. It is very import to have the buy in of the businesses we hope to serve at the same time we have to balance the educational arrogance internally. There is a need for faculty and staff to be updated on techniques and operations of the business world. This is a challenge for those that are committed to the textbook and will be a balancing act for the leader to maintain. Most of all, this leader will need to be able to celebrate the accomplishments of everyone involved along the way. While the project is such a sensitive one, because it deals with individual livelihood there will be a great deal of stress involved for both the participant and the volunteers. This leader will need to be able to provide recognition in multiple ways to the individual, to the team and to the partners involved. Hopefully at the end there could be a big celebration for the success of people gaining employment.

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Anticipated Results and Measurements for Success Working from the understanding that change is a process and not an event, especially with a project that is as sensitive and complex as this. Being a community college within this community there is the expectation that we (the college) should be able to do something to address this issue of unemployment and work readiness. After all, we have all the experts and access to the knowledge required to fix it at our disposal. Well this thought is easier said than done. Success of this project will be very dependent upon our recruitment process. Recruitment of the volunteers involved in the delivery of this project and the participants to be served. If we set a target number of 20 participants per session and offer 3 pilot sessions (September, October and November) then we can empower 60 people for employment. In order to obtain this type of number, we would need to gear our marketing efforts to reach at least 500 people in various locations thru different modes. In order to determine the success level from the participant end, we would need to put in place something that reflect their pre and post knowledge level to determine their progress. Their level of participation, attendance and ability to receive an interview are factors to consider in the success of this program. The ultimate success factor is them securing a job or starting a new career. Another factor in determining success is the participation of the business and industry representatives. Are they a new partner with the college or an existing one? Are they willing to endorse the program and help market it to their business peers? Participation would be determined at different levels, support or acknowledgement of the program, participation in the

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panel discussion, and ultimately providing an interview and hiring a participant from the program. Success of the program based on community partnership and volunteers would be measured by their level of participation. Do they help us to recruit more participants? As a volunteer, have they maintained their commitment level to the end? Did they recruit other volunteers? As a leader, it will be important to create a scorecard and evaluations to document the levels of progress made with this project. As we plan long term, this documentation will be valuable in applying for program funding. The long-term success of this program could be the beginning of creating awareness for faculty and staff that different teaching information may be incorporated into their existing curriculum Conclusions and Leaderships beyond the implementation Leadership is the key when you are working with change because Change is a process, not an event (Jick and Pierpel, 2011). It is important for leaders to take the time to understand the business and the team around you and to respect the culture before you work to change it. To know the difference between meddling or helping when that takes action in their organizations. Being able to identify the why of their answers helps them to understand about the sources and application at a much deeper level. As a leader the visions we hold have a powerful impact on the mental models we believe in (Kim). We must be able to exercise our foresight and continually expand our awareness and perception, to take in more than we might believe. And when we see things that nobody else can see, we as leaders have to have the capacity to stay centered even if it makes us uncomfortable.

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We must possess the ability to take people beyond the four faces of vision (Idle dreams, vision, vision statement, and corporate objectives) but to a place of action. When I think about management styles and make comparisons as to which theory would work for this project, Theory E where managers set the goals and have little involvement from others probably will not be a good match. While we have the vision in place, we definitely want the input of both the staff and faculty but also the external volunteers of the community. When people are volunteering, many enjoy having a voice on how they are spending their time. This is more in line with Theory O, where you allow input, involved in the building process and consideration is given to the culture you are creating. In all of the processes involved for leadership, communication, communication, communication will still be the key for success.

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References 1. Balderston, 1995; Peters, 1987; Roueche, Roueche, & Johnson, 2002; Taylor, 2002. 2. OBanion, 2003 3. http://www.kcanimalhealth.com/index.php/about, viewed on 7/15/2011 4. Deepesh Tiawari & Prerna Kaushik, 2011, The Business Review, Cambridge. Hollwood, Summer 2011. Vol 17. Iss 2 pg. 237, 5. Balderston, 1995; Peters, 1987; Roueche, Roueche, & Johnson, 2002; Taylor, 2002. 6. Qualitative vs. Quantative, html 2011 7. Todd D, jick and Maury A, Peiperl, 2011. Managing Change Cases and Concepts. Third Edition. McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, NY 8. Wallace, Joanna R., Ipson, Gordon Y., Economic Review. Park Ridge: Winter 1992. Vol. 10 Iss 1 pg. 83 9. Sokol, Rueben J. Streamline Your Process Management Decision. London: 1994. Vol. 32, Iss. 2: pg. 41 10. Mary Locke, Lucy Gulielmino. The Influence of Subcultures on Planned Change in a Community College. Community College Review. Raleigh: Oct 2006. Vol 35, Iss 2 11. Daniel Kim, Foresight as the Central Ethic of Leadership, Voices of Servant-Leadership Series Booklet 8 12. www.kckcc.edu /aboutus/ on 7/15/2011