Piloting a new workforce development model is one thing on paper. Putting it into practice, with real employers, competing demands and the realities of a small rural region in Newfoundland and Labrador, is where its strengths and challenges become much clearer.
That was part of the experience for Rhonda Tulk-Lane, CEO, Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, as she helped implement in collaboration with the NL Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC) the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation developed Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) model, the focus of the Employer-Led Workforce Development Project funded by the Future Skills Centre in Baie Verte, Newfoundland and Labrador.
As the Project’s trained TPM facilitator, Rhonda worked directly with participating employers and helped guide them through the model’s strategies. The NL Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC), meanwhile, led the developmental evaluation of this pilot, with an opportunity to not simply test the model, but to document the evidence and results when it was applied in the context of Newfoundland and Labrador and recommend and support collaborative pivots as required
For Rhonda, one of the clearest lessons was also one of the principles at the heart of the project: workforce solutions are stronger when employers are directly involved in defining the problem first.
“Employer-driven, employer-led is truly a really, really great place to start when you’re trying to solve talent problems,” she said. “We’ve heard it a lot and you hear about it, but really doing it and having them drive just confirmed it for me,” she added.
Employer commitment matters
The implementation experience demonstrated, however, that employer-led work depends on more than inviting employers to participate.
The consistency of employer engagement mattered throughout the TPM implementation process. When an employer was fully invested, Rhonda indicates, she found that the work moved more smoothly and the different stages of the TPM strategies were aligned more naturally.
According to Rhonda, that experience also highlighted the importance of establishing expectations early. To yield the best outcome, organizations need to understand the commitment involved across the TPM process, including the time required and who will participate. In practice, this also means that, wherever possible, the individual who commits to implementing the TPM model as trained TPM facilitator should also be the person consistently involved as the work progresses.
Reflecting on the experience, she noted that in a rural region such as the Baie Verte Peninsula, securing that time can be particularly challenging. However, the strong support from the local chamber and the NLWIC Project Team was instrumental throughout the course of the project.
In smaller and more isolated communities, employers and community leaders are often already contributing to local committees, initiatives and other regional efforts. Though existing relationships can make collaboration easier, participation often relies on the same group of individuals.
For this Project, an important and practical lesson was willingness to participate and capacity to participate are not always the same thing.
The importance of local capacity
Another lesson emerged around how an employer-led model is supported on the ground.
For the NLWIC Employer-Led Workforce Development Project, having someone based in the region was invaluable for maintaining connections and supporting implementation. At the same time, the pilot project also showed how the structure of implementation could potentially be strengthened in future applications.
Rhonda notes that an ideal model would combine those roles, with a trained TPM Facilitator located directly in the region where the collaborative is taking place. Rather than having facilitation and local coordination divided between people in different locations, a locally based Facilitator could provide continuity while developing relationships with employers throughout the process.
Interestingly, this experience also pointed to a broader opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador in terms of building a larger network of people trained to facilitate this type of employer-led workforce initiatives, according to Rhonda.
She recommends that the trained TPM facilitators could then be strategically located across the province and, importantly, could be people whose existing roles already involve labour market development, talent attraction, workforce planning or related work. TPM could eventually become another tool available to them as they work with employers and communities on addressing workforce challenges.
Learning by doing
As with many pilot projects, the implementation stages took place within real-world constraints. There were competing responsibilities, organizational transitions and practical constraints along the way.
But waiting for ideal circumstances may have meant never testing the approach at all.
“I know the impact is that we actually tried it,” Rhonda said. “We learned plentiful as we moved through each of the strategies, things that worked well, things that could have worked better.”
That learning is an important part of what the pilot leaves behind.
Drawing from her experience, Rhonda believes that TPM’s potential is not limited to one region or one sector. For example, industry-focused organizations in areas such as tourism and hospitality, forestry and other sectors facing shared workforce challenges could provide particularly strong environments for applying such model and support the scaling of the TPM model within the province.
Furthermore, chambers of commerce could also play a role by partnering with sector-specific organizations, and bring together their employer networks and regional connections with deeper industry expertise.
The Employer-Led Workforce Development Project, pilot-testing and evaluating the TPM model was never expected to answer every workforce question. Instead, it successfully brought together major companies around the table and created a space for open conversation to work towards recruitment challenges collectively.