Business U’s 2017 National Business Engagement Study provided preliminary baseline data about how workforce development system stakeholders and system partners meet the expectations for business engagement as articulated through the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA). The study asked various audiences a multitude of questions on different topics to determine perceptions and “sticking points” when attempting to maximize business engagement within their organization and among regional partners (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Business Engagement Survey Topics by Audience Type
One of the common perceptions articulated across all audience types was the consensus that employers do not give the necessary buy-in needed to meet workforce and education mandates. Why the lack of buy-in?
In its 2016 and 2017 fieldwork, Business U discovered that a lack of employer buy-in is related to the type of approach used when building a relationship with a business. While some organizations strive to have a transformational relationship with a business, the approach is often deployed using transactional strategies and tactics. This blog details the differences between transactional and transformational approaches to build long-term relationships with industry.
Success with strategic transformational efforts requires the ability of organizations to break down silos and collaborate effectively with other business-facing organizations to serve companies during all business cycles. A key measure you can track to help determine if collaboration is happening among partners is the number and type of referrals given to those same business-facing organizations. Referral patterns (Figure 2) are key indicators of how organizations focus on solving broad needs of businesses.
Figure 2: National Business Engagement Study Results – Referral Patterns Among Business-Facing Organizations
If your organization doesn’t currently track referral patterns among its partners, such as in the above type of analysis conducted in Business U’s national study (Figure 2), it's a great place to start when developing business engagement strategies since referral business closes and converts 70% of the time.
A solid next step after you have analyzed referral patterns is to follow-up with qualitative partner interviews to understand the reasons why your partners are not referring to your organization.
Working out of silos and partner collaboration is a key topic that Business U co-founders will be tackling at their keynote and in various workshops at the 2017 National Rapid Response Summit. Click here for more information.
Comments