How Are Industry, Education, and Government Leaders Bridging the Skills Gap?

During a four-person panel discussion titled “Bridging the Skills Gap,” industry, education, and government leaders shared how they employ innovative methods and strategies to attract highly qualified talent and retain individuals committed to continuous learning and professional development.

Stefanie Wagoner, director of Business Retention and Expansion at the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, moderated the discussion. Wagoner began the conversation with Holly Dieterle, executive and general manager of Product Quality and Service Support at Toyota Motor North America. Dieterle shared Toyota’s approach to bridging the skills gap and creating a pipeline to reach aspiring leaders at an earlier stage.

“One of the things we are facing as the industry evolves is we find ourselves short of particular skill sets,” Dieterle said. “How we address that is continuing to invest in our employees and develop them. One of the things that we need is curious learners – people who are willing to continue to develop.”

“Another way that we have been addressing the skills gap is through our Driving Possibilities program, and that is the national career readiness and community engagement program for K-12,” Dieterle continued. “Toyota Foundation has put $72 million worth of grants out there, and we’re partnering with educators and nonprofits both locally and nationally across North America to solve the workforce challenges for us in the future.”

Matt Coats, senior director of Organizational Development and Talent Management at SRS Distribution, weighed in on what industries like SRS Distribution were experiencing and their approach to retaining and attracting talent.

“What we found going back to probably 2018 was that the commercial driver’s license (CDL) driver population was going down – people were aging out, and there weren’t newer early-career drivers coming in as quickly as they were going out,” Coats said.

“We had a supply and demand problem, and what that created for people like us was just a circular competition with people in our space that caused us to inflate wages and really caused a bad situation for everyone.”

SRS discovered they were losing approximately $20 million for a truck that sat for a week without a driver. To address this issue, SRS created an in-house CDL Academy and decided to reach out to individuals who had graduated from high school but weren’t interested in a “traditional path.”

The panel discussion shifted to address how educators prepare students for the industry's talent needs through programs like Career and Technical Education (CTE). Dr. Robin Bullock, superintendent of Allen ISD, represented the education partners and their approach to help bridge the skills gap.

“When you talk about the CTE program, partnerships are probably the biggest initiative that we constantly stay focused on,” Dr. Bullock said. “Our CTE Director Toni Crisler works with the Chamber and the Allen Economic Development Council to … connect with partners within our community. We can simulate in classrooms all day long what the workforce looks like or what the industry may look like, but to really have those hands-on experiences for our students in those particular companies or firms is just invaluable to us.”
Terry Zrubek, deputy director of the Economic Development and Tourism Office from the Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, joined the discussion from a statewide perspective. 
“The state of Texas and [the] Economic Development Tourism Office isn’t a heavy hand, tell you what to do approach office,” Zrubek said. “We’re more of the connect the dots office. I’ll give you an example, and that is … we’ll get companies that come here to Texas and say, ‘I want this.’ One of the first questions our project managers, or any part of the team, ask is, ‘Have you talked to that community?’ Because if they haven’t talked to that community – I’m not saying that we don’t want to talk to them, but they need to talk to you all first. They need to understand number one that you all want them, but also that you all have the pipeline of what they need.”