Charting your workforce strategies
Specializing in workforce
strategic planning and implementation consulting
Services
Economic Development
Having the right industry driven community workforce development plan is the number one asset to attract, retain and expand business and industry. Lyons Workforce evaluates your community workforce data, plans and assets to identify gaps and develop the right plan to quickly close. We facilitate advancing an effective workforce coalition to propel a sustainable, data-driven talent development initiative with navigation metrics. The outcome will be economic development success!
Business Development
Promoting your portfolio of education and workforce products and services can be challenging and expensive. Lyons Workforce helps you build the right business plan and go to market strategy to ensure your products and services can be leveraged by organizations seeking to improve their workforce development efforts. The outcome is improved revenue for your organization leading to a healthy bottom line.
Workforce Development
Industry is finding itself having to take the lead in developing its talent pipeline due to critical skilled labor shortages. Lyons Workforce helps you prepare your current and future workforce by designing customized training and work-based learning programs. We are subject matter experts in the use of assesssments and credentials to determine training and workforce readiness. In addition, we can help you with knowledge transfer, retention strategies and succession planning efforts. The outcome is a comprehensive talent strategy aligned with your organization's mission, vision and future growth.
Projects
Business Development Strategic Planning
An alternative education organization had a great work-based learning program that successfully prepared high school students for manufacturing jobs. They were seeing the skilled worker shortage problem growing and knew they had a solution to offer. They turned to Lyons Workforce to help them take their current product and solution portfolio and scale it for a national launch. In less than 60 days, they had a comprehensive strategic roadmap and go to market strategy completed to expand their service delivery to the Midwest region.
Workforce Development Strategic Planning
An economically distresssed region was seeking to change their narrative and create the talent pipeline that would provide greater opportunities. They turned to Lyons Workforce to develop a strategic plan to achieve this outcome. Efforts include a comprehensive analysis of workforce assets benchmarking against similar but competitive regions. Using that information combined with Lyons Workforce knowledge, expertise, we created a strategic roadmap for improving workforce development efforts for the emerging, transitioning and current workforce. Once finalized with community input, Lyons Workforce facilitated leading the region through development and implementation of the plan using customized workforce development benchmarks as a guide to ensure success.
Workforce Training
One of the greatest challenges companies face is having supervisors with leadership skills. Lyons Workforce, LLC is assisting Humphries Consulting, Inc., a firm that provides human resource consulting services including professional development training to companies large and small. Recent projects include providing leadership training to front line supervisors.
Clients
Some current clients include:
Garner Economics, LLC
Humphries Consulting, Inc.
Thomas P. Miller & Associates
Work-based learning organization
Speaking Engagements, Webinars and Publications
Debra Lyons is often asked to speak, present or author articles and publications
Some recent speaking engagements include:
- 2018 International Economic Development Council national conference in Atlanta organizing and moderating a panel on community workforce development benchmarking best practices
- Society of Human Resource Managers Talent Conference and Exposition 2018 on using assessments and credentials to make better hiring decisions
Deliver national webinar for the IEDC on the Future of Jobs in the age of Industry 4.0, October 2018.
Authored or co-authored the following recent articles and papers:
- "Is Your Community Preparing for the Future of Work?", ED Now, IEDC, April 2019
- "Industry 4.0 and the Future of Work", Site Selection magazine, January 2019
- "ACT® Workkeys® NCRC: Making Connections - Connecting Credentials Framework and NIMS Measurement, Materials & Safety nd Job Planning, Benchwork and Layout Credentials", Cindy Hill, PhD and Debra Lyons, Principal Strategist, Workforce Engagement, ACT, October 2018
- “Crosswalk of ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate to Beta Connecting Credential Framework”, Cindy Hill, PhD and Debra Lyons, Principal Strategist, Workforce Engagement, ACT, August 2017
- “Understanding and Solving the Skills Gap: A Call to Action”, National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board, ACT, March 30, 2017