Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award: But what IS systems change and scalable innovation?

 – About the time we open applications for the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion award each year, Deaconess Foundation staff get the question: what do YOU mean by systems change? And more recently (since last year), what do YOU mean by scalable innovation?  In this blog I will dialogue what we mean by both.

There is a lot of good information about the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award on our website. Check it out here. Read on to learn more though about what we are really looking to recognize in this reward.

The need for effective workforce development has never been more pressing in Cuyahoga County. Yet, there are often very complex and interconnected challenges facing both workers and employers which need to be addressed for effectiveness to increase.

The Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award recognizes initiatives that address these complex and interconnected challenges which are created by the behaviors, policies, and systems of multiple organizations and ecosystem members. (This is as opposed to focusing solely on one part of workforce development, such as building a new short-term training program or addressing a particular barrier.)  Systems change, to us, tackles the underlying structures, policies, and power dynamics that shape employment opportunities and outcomes.

Deborah Vesy was one of the biggest champions of systems change because she recognized that workforce challenges are often symptoms of issues such as economic inequality, racial disparities, and institutional barriers. She also understood the interconnectedness of education, training, employment, and social support systems, and the different stakeholders who focus on each of those elements. She knew that initiatives which addressed systems change would require the involvement of multiple stakeholders to change the structures, policies, power dynamics, and behaviors of multiple stakeholders.

To translate the conceptual to the practical, here are a few examples:

Yes, this is systems change!	Here’s why
A new sector partnership:  employers come together for the first time, provide real-time information on what skills job seekers need, service providers change how they train job seekers. Employers also change their work environments.	Multiple stakeholder groups (employers and service providers), and multiple organizations within each stakeholder group, are changing the way they behave to improve the preparation of job seekers for certain roles
As part of a more significant initiative, many different education providers change how they provide career guidance to many different K-12 students across multiple school districts	Multiple education providers are involved in changing their behaviors, shifting and making more coordinated the actions of multiple school districts and thousands of students
Multiple employers across different industries recognize a new type of upskilling approach which is more effective than current upskilling approaches and use that new approach, with new policies as a part of that approach	Multiple employers across different industries both change their upskilling approaches and improve their internal practices
No, this isn’t systems change	Here’s why
Scaling a great workforce program	Scaling is growing, and that is awesome. But just by growing it doesn’t necessarily change the way the actors within the program work with each other to address inequality, racial disparities, barriers, or other behaviors
A good workforce program identifies barriers within its structure and improves those barriers, to better results	This is closer to an innovation (see below) than changing the behaviors of multiple stakeholder groups who are involved in the workforce ecosystem

 

And what do we mean by scalable innovation? Scalable innovation goes beyond merely generating novel ideas or piloting new programs – we would consider this “innovation” depending on how new and different it is – but it’s also about developing solutions that have been implemented, adapted, and scaled across different contexts or communities in Cuyahoga County.

We are again pleased to open applications for the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award. Applications will be open until Friday June 14, 2024. You can apply here. New applicants will need to set up a Foundant profile. If you have questions or wonder if your work is systems change and/or scalable innovation, I will hold office hours May 13, 10a-12p; May 16, 2-4p; May 23, 9-11a; June 5, 9-11a. You are welcome to call during one of these times or email me at dcrawford@deaconessfdn.org and set up a time that works for you.

 

Image Source: National Fund for Workforce Solutions – https://nationalfund.org/systems-change-toolbox/