For decades, the International Association of Workforce Professionals has focused on supporting frontline staff. That work remains central to who we are.
At the same time, many of the most important workforce outcomes are shaped at the leadership level—by agency directors and workforce boards making decisions about strategy, employer engagement, funding priorities, and performance expectations.
That is why we’ve launched a new series called Seeing the Decision.
These briefs are written specifically for directors and board leaders. They are not consulting reports. They are not critiques. They are structured decision-support documents designed to help leaders step back, see the trade-offs more clearly, and sharpen the conversations that matter most.
This first issue focuses on employer engagement.
Employer engagement is often treated as a business services activity. In reality, it is a strategic choice about how the workforce system positions itself in the regional economy. Are we transactional or transformational? Reactive or proactive? Measuring activity or building durable partnerships? Those are leadership decisions.
The goal of Seeing the Decision is simple: better thinking at the points where the system turns.
We hope you will read the attached brief and consider forwarding it to your agency director or board leaders. It is designed to elevate conversation—not add work.
If there are other issues where your organization’s leadership would benefit from this kind of focused framing, please let us know. We are building this initiative to strengthen the entire workforce system—at every level.
Open here: Seeing the Decision – Employer Engagement Strategies