Talent Pipeline Management Academy – Part Three

Robyn Ludtke, talent and education manager for the Waukesha County Business Alliance, recently participated in the final session facilitated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Talent Pipeline Management Academy, in Washington D.C.

The Talent Pipeline Management Plan (TPM) is an employer-led approach that organizes businesses into employer collaboratives to address workforce needs using a talent supply chain of six strategies. Over the final two-day training the last two strategies were announced: Build Talent Supply Chains and Continuous Improvement.

Strategy 5, Build Talent Supply Chains, encourages employer collaboratives to agree upon potential return on investment measures. Employers have already identified and agreed upon the critical positions needed, and have back mapped where talent has traditionally come from. This strategy allows employers to determine who their preferred provider is, such as a school or training organization, by measuring that organization’s contribution to the talent pool. The collaborative should also determine a way to incentivize the preferred providers who deliver a true talent pipeline by hiring their graduates or simply investing in the infrastructure of their school or organization.

In 2014, the Alliance actively supported a local preferred provider, Waukesha County Technical College, in fundraising for the new Integrated Manufacturing Center. The center was opened in 2016 and has doubled the amount of lab space dedicated to its automation systems technology program, a direct ask from employers in the County.

Strategy 6, Continuous Improvement, is the final step in the TPM process. This strategy shows the entire talent supply chain analysis brought forth from the employer collaboratives. This will allow the Alliance to respond to the needs of the collaborative through a continuous improvement process.

The Manufacturing Alliance has been a great example of the TPM approach. Now that the Alliance understands the TPM model, we are ready to deploy the approach in other employer collaboratives in 2018, such as Construction/Skilled trades; Health Care and IT. Interested in learning more about the TPM academy? Contact Robyn Ludtke at rludtke@waukesha.org or 262-409-2641.