HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Futures Committee - 01/27/2022 -1
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING
Date: January 27, 2022
Location: Zoom
Time: 8:00am-10:00am
Committee Members present:
Mayor Jeni Arndt
Councilmember Susan Gutowsky (District 1)
Councilmember Emily Francis (District 6)
Councilmember Tricia Canonico (District 30
Additional Council members present:
City Staff:
Jackie Kozak-Thiel
Presenter:
Marco Dondi, Strategy Consultant in economics, banking and education, McKinsey and Company
Additional Staff present:
Carrie Daggett, City Attorney
Teresa Roche, Human Resources
Michelle Finchum, Environmental Services
Christine Arnott, Human Resources
Karen Burke, Human Resources
Shannon Hein, Economic Health
Jillian Fresa, Economic Health
Jose Luis Ramos, Economic Health
Kristin Slattery, Human Resources
Kristina Vencill, Human Resources
Kira Beckham, Environmental Services
Dean Klingner, PDT
Megan DeMasters, Environmental Services
Others present:
Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce
Carrie Van Horn, community member and graphic recorder
Melanie Ward, City of Centennial
Meeting called to order at 8:17am
Approval of Minutes:
Councilmember Francis moved to approve the December 13 minutes. Councilmember
Gutowsky seconded. Motion passed 3-0-0
Chairman Comments:
N/A
Summary
• Topic builds off of December’s Futures meeting about skills for employability and focuses on
skills that community members need to build for the future
2
• Question is how can the City help to foster and cultivate the Distinct Elements of Talent
(DELTAs)
• DELTAs fall into 4 categories:
o Cognitive
o Interpersonal
o Digital
o Self-leadership
• City Council has made it a priority to work with Poudre Schools District and the Futures lab
• Action: As the City continues to discuss childcare infrastructure, consider how investment in
childcare is part of skill building in the community
• Continue to make changes and focus on the next generation, especially in the work focused on
recovery.
o We are building the future by building these skills with children
Think Tank Item 1-2022 Community Member Skills Needed for the Future Marco Dondi, Strategy
Consultant in economics, banking and education, McKinsey, and Company
Context for Study:
• For many years businesses say that people don’t have the right skills to be prepared for work—
this is referring to “soft skills”
• Future of work trends and catalytic events such as COVID have highlighted the importance of
“soft skills”
• There is a need to redefine “soft skills”
o ‘Soft skills’ connotates that they are not necessary and businesses and educational
institutions may not be willing to invest in developing these skills
o New phrases could include “talent skills” or “power skills”
Distinct elements of talent
• There will be significant change in skills needed for various jobs as technology increases and
many jobs will be automated
• Skills needed for the future are higher cognitive, socio-emotional and technological skills
o McKinsey study dived deeper to define and assess values of skills
• Distinct Elements of Talent (DELTAs): Skill sand attitudes that any person would benefit from to
thrive in the Future of Work. Main elements include:
o Stay relevant relative to machines
o Operate successfully in digital environments
o Increase adaptability
• 56 DELTAs across 4 categories:
o Cognitive
o Interpersonal
o Digital
o Self-leadership
Current gaps in skills and why it matters in society
• Tested each DELTA with a behavioral assessment survey
o 15 countries and 18,000 people were tested
• Proficiency was lowest in digital and cognitive categories
o Recognize that there are gaps in all categories
• Proficiency in DELTAs is connected to employment, income, and job satisfaction
• “Growth” DELTAs are foundational for building skills of the future. They include:
3
o Mental flexibility and self-leadership
• Growth DELTAs have the highest correlation with outcomes related to employment, high
income, and job satisfaction
Barriers and approaches to develop the distinct elements of talent
• Employers are making hiring decisions on a few DELTAs including many in the cognitive
category
o Difficult to measure skills in hiring process so they do not look at them
• Education systems are also coming short at developing important DELTAs including self
confidence and how to handle uncertainty
o Should be developing DELTAs that lead to people being more trustworthy, humble,
empathetic, and creative
• Some educational institutions are beginning to develop DELTAs in 4 ways
o Create separate courses/career programs focusing on skills and attitudes
o Adding Disciplinary subjects focused on developing skills
o Embedding development and assessment throughout education program
o Mobilize students in self-development journey
• Barriers to development of DELTAs in Education
o Demand-side challenges—employers can’t articulate what drives value and there is
limited importance in university admission for these types of skills
o Supply-side challenges—slow pace of knowledge transfer, limited teachers, or coaches
o Lack of common language is influencing both demand and supply side issues
Consider what the City of Fort Collins could do:
• How can the City work with the school district to make DELTAs part of learning goals?
• How can the City work with CSD to embed DELTAs in their programs and admission criteria?
• How can the City ignite all community members to self-assess and engage in a lifelong self-
development journey on some DELTAs of their choice?
Q&A/Discussion
• Importance of recognizing the limited supply of teachers and coaches especially as technology is
increasing, schools may be behind in providing same level of technology
o Students could be outpacing teachers in what they are learning from home
• Consider the future of digital equity and looking at the gaps in equity
• When reviewing the DELTAs is there an assumption that everyone has access to technology and
knows how to use it?
o Marco indicates that the study did not look at gaps in equity related to different categories
because they were dealing more with in-person interaction and coaching.
• Reviewing the areas related to self-leadership, it is important to consider how we as a Community
are ensuring that there is equitable access to develop various skills.
o Not always developed through digital access, and this could be a place to ensure that all
community members are supported in developing their skills
• Because of prize culture in US and education, it is not surprising that humility is inversely
correlated
o Schools often time can even unintentionally teach things that are opposite of innovation
and adaptation
• Discussion about the City Manager recruitment process and how the City has intentionally
requiring a bachelor’s degree and recognizing that soft skills may not be found in schools
• Considering a recent training on Systems Leadership, it is important to lookat the entire system
when developing DELTAs.
4
• Question: Did McKinsey study review the entire system?
o No, but recognize that there is a need for basic individual skills and also some
organizational skills—, so then think about how within an organization we can create
structure, processes, culture to mobilize change faster.
• Thought that digital world and tools could help teach deeper emotional intelligence?
o Yes, can be taught later in life there is evidence that kids 18 months old showing different
signs of attention to emotion, etc. Set of skills that should be taught quite early because
more difficult later in life
o Heard of using tech to recognize self and others—could be part of a tool kit
o The Toddler Brain Laura a. Jana
• Question: Did you look at anything for growth or fixed mindset
o Tried to unpack the growth v fixed mindset—growth = umbrella term, couldn’t make it
its own mindset. But the components that contribute to a growth mindset were prevalent.
• Recognition that rarely use academic skills in job today. It is the empathy, connection part that
makes people successful.
• Hoping that COVID continues to serve as a catalyst for future change
• Question: is there a new term emerging to give soft skills the weight they deserve?
o Idea of talent is resonating with people, power skills another term, life skills.
o Marco always starts conversations with soft skills to help people understand where they
are coming in, but then move to new phrase
• Consider how we connect with the new superintendent of PSD and how we continue to build
skills in K-12.
• Discussion of Marco’s book about outgrowing capitalism—book challenges the way we as a
society deal with how money works can consider how to live life with purpose.
Additional Items
• Updates from Harvard Mayors Leadership program
o Wrapped up narrative workshops. Fort Collins applied for and got a position on the data
track.
o Also moving ahead with German Marshalls fund
• Future Topics
o Future of Leadership
o State Demographer
o Joint Futures meeting with Centennial—work towards a meeting on regionalism, invite
fellow CO communities for a dialogue.
• Decided to cancel March Futures meeting due to conflict with NLC
Meeting adjourned by Mayor Arndt at 9:36am
5