This is an encore post from April 2015.

As I have worked with local leaders of pathways projects, I often ask a somewhat obvious question: “What problem are we trying to solve with the Pathways Framework?”

Even among a small group, I will often get a wide variety of answers to that question.  It’s actually a little surprising how easy it is to jump into an initiative without building a consensus around the problem we’re trying to address.   This can make it hard to measure long-term success, and can also undermine focus if everyone has their own definition of the problem.

Those of us involved with the Pathways work intuitively know that the University-for-All approach hasn’t served many youth and adults well.  But we need to get very specific, and we need to describe the problem in human terms, not just policy wonk terms.

So, what’s the problem?  For different stakeholders, there are different problems – different felt needs.  They’re all legitimate and more than likely, a well-developed Pathways System will help ameliorate the problem.  And there may be more than one problem that we need to identify.  But let’s get specific.

Here are some examples:

Schools in high-poverty areas:  Too many students are dropping out, not finishing high school, and are poorly prepared.

Schools in Affluent areas:  Our students are graduating and going on to college, but about 40% of them don’t finish, and many change majors several times, and wrack up enormous college costs, either for mom and dad or through student loan debt.

Employers:  We can’t grow and hire more workers.  Why?  Because we can’t find qualified workers in specific occupations.  Or, we can find potential workers, but many of them lack the generally accepted employability skills and attitudes we expect to see.

So, have the discussion among your leadership team.  “What’s the core problem?”  And once you identify the felt needs – the key problems – work on them so you can get them written in a succinct statement or two.  Then everyone on your pathways leadership team can begin using the same consistent language to describe the core problem(s) that your initiative is designed to address.

Yes, this is a simple idea, but it really makes a difference!  Defining the problem(s) is a critical step toward your success in leading any sort of pathways or related work.

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

We know that we are living through turbulent times of change especially with regard to the job and skills mix needed for success in the modern workforce.

I want to focus on one industry that has been the locus of incredible disruption, as well as renewal and transformation.  This industry sector made America wealthy and powerful enough to help win two world wars and build a strong middle class. Of course, I’m talking about the manufacturing industry.

Since the 1970s, the labor force in the industry has been incredibly disrupted by influences of automation and globalization.  The workforce in the manufacturing industry today is about 12.5 million, accounting for about 8 percent of the U.S. workforce.  That is a far cry from the 1960s when manufacturing made up about 25 percent of our country’s workforce.

I still remember my Aunt Lottie, a sweet southern woman who worked at a GE plant during the 1960s and 70s, in the Norfolk, Virginia region, as an assembler back in an electronics factory; I think she assembled radios, and the plant she worked at was officially closed in 1985.  Of course, as a child who only saw her occasionally, I never really asked about her work, since I was more interested in the amazing pecan pie she baked!

But all the disruptions and plant closures of the last several decades has left the impression that manufacturing in the U.S. is dead or dying.  Nothing could be further from the truth!

Even with the shrinkage in the manufacturing workforce, manufacturing in the U.S. still accounts for about 11 percent of our national Gross Domestic Product.  It is a vital piece of America’s economic mix, and in the last few years, advanced manufacturing has been making steady gains.

Manufacturing is so much cleaner and quieter than in decades gone by, and manufacturing often requires more specific technical and analytical skills than in the past.  That’s why you can visit a massive manufacturing facility and see mostly machines at work with just a few skilled workers operating the plant, somewhat behind the scenes.

Because of the high level of automation, and mathematical and mechanical reasoning needed, employers constantly complain of difficulty in finding skilled machinists and operators.

One of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturing industry is helping young people, as well as the influential adults in their lives (parents, counselors, teachers) understand the modern industry realities and the wonderful career opportunities for them.

Here’s a link to an excellent event in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which unlocks the manufacturing industry for students and families.  It’s an exciting event held in the spring of each year called ManuFest. You can learn more about it at — http://www.manufest.org/

Also, if you want to learn more about manufacturing nationally, the National Association of Manufacturers has created these “Top 20 Facts About Manufacturing.”  http://www.nam.org/newsroom/facts-about-manufacturing/

Let’s make sure that our youth know that manufacturing is alive and well, and in dire need of talented, skilled young men and women.  Opportunities abound.  These careers are good for workers and good for our country too.

One final thought.  I am incredibly thankful for the work of our nation’s educators who invest in the lives of our children and youth and young adults every day.  I am thankful for the business partners that make learning more relevant and meaningful through their involvement with education.  And I am so thankful that we at NC3T can play a part in promoting the linkage of education and business through Career-Connected Learning.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

There are two meanings usually associated with the term “Career pathways.”  The first meaning refers to the “educational experience” – that is, the courses and associated work-based learning experiences that prepare a student for entry into a particular career.

The second meaning of career pathway focuses on the “occupational experience” of the individual – the “path” of different jobs they take as they move into and advance into a career area.

For many of us, our personal career path may seem messy and random, but for many careers, when we step back and do a broad analysis, you can start to see some clear patterns emerge.

This mapping of career pathways is really important work to helping students make more informed decisions, and an excellent example of mapping is happening in Colorado.  Responding to state legislative direction, over the last several years, several state agencies have been collaborating to map out high-value career fields in Colorado.  The results of their work is presented through the website, www.CareersInColorado.org.

To date, they have mapped out careers in four industry sectors – Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Healthcare and Information Technology.

Within the Information Technology sector, for example, they have identified five career pathways: Administrator, Cyber Security, Developer, Computer User Support, and Systems Engineering.

Then, within each career pathway, they’ve mapped out a typical sequence of job positions that would lead to higher levels of responsibility and earnings, and they have mapped out that career path as it exists in each of the identified regions of the state.  Even within a single pathway, you will notice there may be more than one divergent entry-level and mid-level path a worker can take, and then those paths re-converge at the more advanced level of the career pathway.

To show you how it works, here’s a screen shot of the Systems & Engineering pathway.

This is really great work which helps to de-mystify the way people enter and advance through career paths.  It can be an excellent tool for helping students to gain deeper understanding about an industry sector that they are interested in.

While the information on the site is customized for Colorado, I suspect much of the information would be useful to helping any student better understand what they might experience in a pathway.  Hope it helps!

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

How do you consume information?  In today’s hyper-connected world, there are so many ways.  As I mentioned in my most recent post, it’s vital that we get comfortable using video to communicate our message.  For me, in addition to great videos on You-Tube and TED.com, I’m an information omnivore.  I still read paper-based books, but also consume web-based news sites, audio books (through Audible.com), audio pod-casts, and electronic books via Kindle.

Many of you may have read my book, The Power and Promise of Pathways, which was released in print form last year.  The response has really been great and I’m happy it has helped so many education innovators think beyond just implementing strong pathway programs to thinking about the components of a Pathways System led by a Pathways Coalition.

For those of you and your colleagues who like the easy access of e-books, we have just released a Kindle version of The Power and Promise of Pathways. If interested, follow this link.

Here are two other books that have really influenced my thinking and growth, and I would highly recommend them.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeon.  This book is very aspirational and practical.  It focuses on how to keep from being swamped by the pace and expectations of our culture, and to adopt the mentality of “Less But Better.”  By the way, McKeon narrates the Audible.com version of this book, and I loved listening to this book as well as reading it.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins.  This is one of the classic organizational and change management books of the last 50 years.  If you have never read it, please do.  If its been a few years, a re-read might refresh and refocus your work!

Keep reading and learning, so that you can keep leading well!

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.