Introduction & Model Talk

Randy Vlasin

Good morning everyone. I really appreciate you taking time to be here this today. I’m sure that a couple of weeks ago none of you were just hoping someone would ask you to commit two days of time in the second week of December because you had nothing else to do. My guess is that you have other obligations and we sincerely appreciate you making the time and effort to be here. I want to acknowledge Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy for taking time out of his busy week to be here. I also want to thank Innovation Labs for overcoming stormy weather and literally skating in here to help us with the facilitation.

I was a teacher for a number of years and always felt there should be a strong partnership between business and education. I had the opportunity to be a co-partner in a business and experienced the challenges of hiring employees, which reinforced my opinion that we needed a strong collaboration between business and education. Future Force is about this collaboration. A year ago this week, the first FutureForce Forum was held. Individuals from business, education, workforce and economic development met and discussed various ideas relating to workforce development and targeted industries of economic importance to Nebraska. As a result of that work, four pillars or initiatives of work emerged – The Talent Pipeline, Think! Nebraska Scholars program, Nebraska Career Connections and Partnerships for Innovation. You’ll be learning more about those pillars throughout the day.

So why are you here today? Imagine the four pillars as the pieces of an automobile. We have tested those pieces over the past year and now we want to connect them to create our automobile and put wheels on it to move this vehicle forward.

You were all invited because you have a connection to our economy, as an employer, educator, workforce or economic development. You may have thought that you are here to work only on one particular pillar but you will be working with each of the pillars because there is an essential connectivity that exists between them. We want everybody to leave here with a good sense of that connectivity and the overall picture of FutureForce Nebraska.

Nebraska business and industry is challenged with having enough skilled workers to keep our economy strong. This was the impetus for creating FutureForce Nebraska. We must figure out how to grow our own workforce, keep our talent here and also attract others to Nebraska.

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Michael Kaufman

I want to introduce you to how we’re going to work together. (holding up brain) What is this?

  • A brain
  • Plastic
  • Multi-colored
  • A model

What is a model?

  • Something for other people to follow
  • Visualization of concepts
  • Example of what might be
  • Best practice
  • The future
  • Not real

Does a model contain all the information of the thing it represents?

  • No

If it contained all the things it represents it would be the thing itself. So there are choices in making the model. What does the model tell us about the model maker?

  • Framework
  • Assumptions
  • Intentions

You can potentially do things to the model that you might not want to do to the thing itself.

Why do we make and use models?

  • Parsimony of theory and explanations
  • Testing
  • Short jump from the model to the theory
  • It’s a vehicle for sharing
  • There can be some excitement about testing things
  • It’s a connection between the abstract and the real

The model maker has to make choices about what to include in the model. What are some models that we use every day?

  • Spreadsheets
  • Learning and education models
  • Teaching models
  • Calendar
  • A watch
  • Money
  • A credit card
  • People – behavioral models

Are words models?

  • I would say written words are more models than spoken

Why? What if I say ‘chocolate’? What happens when two people talk to each other?

  • They’re sharing their models
  • Maybe not communicating exactly what they mean
  • We’re constructing realities

How do you know if you’re sharing models?

  • You don’t

Whenever we talk back and forth we make a lot of assumptions. How do you know when I say chocolate that I mean white Belgian chocolate? You don’t. We mostly have conflict which mean models are bumping into each other. What are the ways of resolving conflict?

  • Mediation
  • Win or lose
  • Compromise
  • We agree to disagree
  • One model dominates another
  • Agree to use a third model
  • Collaboration

Right, with collaboration there is a chance for a new model to emerge. What are the traps of models?

People get excited about their model and have a hard time imagining a different way to see things

I call that model fixation. There is something that happens in the brain that stops it from seeing and hearing certain things. What are other traps?

  • Making wrong assumptions
  • Having too much or too little information
  • Analysis paralysis
  • Model making all the time and never doing anything
  • Not evolving enough people or the right people

Why are we having this conversation?

  • Set ground rules
  • We’re looking at creating some models throughout the day
  • To help us avoid the traps

We all come in with assumptions that will color our conversations. I want you to understand that models are in conflict but people are not. It is good to have the conflict between models.

Remember that no model is perfect. Some models are useful.

Today we have a series of activity from which you’ll produce something. That might be writing on the whitewalls. You will share that in some form or fashion. You’ll only get to some level of completion. It will be done enough but it won’t be complete. You will get a chance to iterate the work several times throughout the day.

There will be no formal breaks and you’ll be responsible for taking care of yourself. Let’s go around and introduce ourselves.

 

Scribing (click on a thumbnail below to open the larger version in a new window)

                

 

 

 

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