Workforce Systems Design: From Programs to What Endures

Across the country, communities are doing meaningful, innovative work to strengthen their talent pipelines. Educators are expanding access, employers are investing in workforce development, economic development leaders are building momentum, and community partners are stepping up in powerful ways. These efforts matter deeply — and they are the reason many regions are well positioned for what comes next.

At the same time, many learners — especially rural, first-generation, marginalized, and non-college-bound individuals — still experience workforce pathways as fragmented and difficult to navigate. Across sectors such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, logistics, energy, tech, and education, a common pattern emerges: despite strong programs and committed leadership, learning does not always translate cleanly into employer-trusted capability or sustained economic mobility.

This is not a reflection of insufficient effort. It’s a signal that the moment we’re in now calls for systems, not just programs.

The Performance Gap Is a System Gap

In complex environments, progress often outpaces the structures originally designed to support it. Many regions have built high-quality programs, secured investment, and fostered collaboration — yet learners and employers can still feel gaps between preparation and performance.

• Credentials are earned, but their meaning isn’t always clear across employers.

• Workforce initiatives operate in parallel, each creating value, but rarely connecting into a coherent progression.

• Economic development conversations emphasize talent pipelines, but shared architecture to align education, employers, and communities remains limited.

These dynamics don’t point to failure. They point to opportunity — an opportunity to connect strong efforts into systems that make success easier to sustain and scale.

Moving from Learning to Capability

One way to make this shift clearer is to distinguish between learning and capability. A simple framework helps make that visible: Knowledge → Skills → Abilities (KSA)

This isn’t semantics. It’s a practical way to:

• Clarify what real capability looks like in specific roles and industries

• Create stackable, portable credentials tied to demonstrated ability

• Align learners, educators, and employers around shared expectations

Many regions already do parts of this well. Systems thinking helps connect those parts — revealing where structures support progress and where they unintentionally slow it down.

Place Matters — and Systems Evolve

We’re beginning to see what happens when growth accelerates faster than the structures built to support it. In several regions, major advanced manufacturing and industry investments are arriving alongside dedicated educators, committed employers, and strong public leadership — yet talent pipelines still feel stretched.

The challenge isn’t commitment or capability. It’s that many of our existing structures were designed for a different era and now need to evolve to meet new demands of pace, scale, and coordination.

Systems-based thinking isn’t a light switch. It’s an evolution of the “place matters” mindset that so many communities already embody. When stakeholders intentionally align what they each do so well, every investment lands more powerfully, outcomes become more meaningful, and the collective impact grows.

Why Workforce System Design Matters Now

The urgency is real — and so is the opportunity.

Advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production need reliable, role-ready talent.Healthcare systems continue to face persistent workforce shortages. Logistics, energy, and tech demand adaptable, durable skills. Rural communities seek pathways that enable local opportunity and economic resilience.

At the same time:

• Employers are rethinking how they assess readiness and potential

• Learners are questioning credentials that don’t translate into opportunity

• Public and philanthropic investment is increasingly tied to measurable mobility outcomes

Regions that thrive will be those that move from disconnected excellence to coordinated capability.

Beyond Programs: Designing What Endures

I’ve spent my career designing competency-based, behavior-informed systems in complex, multi-stakeholder environments where alignment and outcomes truly matter. Increasingly, I’m applying those same principles to workforce and economic development — not by adding more programs, but by helping regions think differently about architecture, alignment, and accountability.

This work builds on what already exists. It honors local leadership, preserves innovation, and strengthens collaboration — while creating structures that allow people, programs, and places to succeed together.

The future of workforce development won’t be built by programs alone. It will be built by systems that enable people to grow, providers to connect and thrive, regions to compete, and economies to flourish.

A Learner-Centered Framework for Working Together

What does this look like in practice?

At its core, it means coming together across education, employers, workforce providers, and economic development to co-design a shared regional framework—one that delivers durable, employable, and stackable skills while keeping learners firmly at the center.

Not a single curriculum.

Not a new governing body.

But a common architecture that allows existing innovation to connect and compound.

In regions where this begins to take shape, partners align around a few shared principles:

• Start with the learner experience, designing pathways that are navigable, flexible, and respectful of real lives and constraints

• Define capabilities collaboratively, so skills signal readiness in ways employers recognize and trust

• Enable stacking and progression, allowing learners to build momentum over time rather than starting over

• Honor multiple providers and entry points, ensuring institutions continue to do what they do best—now with greater alignment

• Use shared signals and feedback, so learning, employment, and advancement reinforce one another

When regions work this way, every stakeholder’s contribution lands more powerfully. Educators see clearer outcomes for their learners. Workforce providers gain stronger employer alignment. Employers gain confidence in talent signals. And learners experience progress that feels coherent, attainable, and meaningful.

This is how regional curriculum becomes not a mandate, but a shared promise—built together, owned locally, and designed to evolve as industries, communities, and learners change.

This kind of alignment doesn’t diminish local innovation—it amplifies it.

I’m continuing to learn from communities leading this work and am grateful for the many partners advancing it every day. If you’re thinking about workforce challenges as systems to be designed — not just problems to be solved — I welcome the conversation.