1664386 - Integrating Accelerated Transport Approach Changes into Workforce Development/Retention Successes

Abstract: The transportation industry is in the midst of a very challenging time of re-evaluating approaches to planning, design, operation and maintenance.  This re-evaluation includes a recognition of an existing deterioration of the infrastructure, and the need for renewal of facilities, fleets, fuel sources and sysems.  The current re-evaluation is having a tremendous impact on the transportation workforce as revealed in recent transportation conferences and webinars.  Organizations are now focusing on workforce development and retention which would provide stability not only within the organization, but also within the transportation industry since skills can now be easily transferred throughout the economy.  This presentation will identify how innovative mentoring principles can address some of the critical workforce gaps that exist and the successes and benefits that have been experienced by organiozations, by the mentors and by the mentees during this current circumstance.  

Immediately prior to the infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), unprecedented changes were already occurring in the transportation industry as a result of newer technologies, innovative user services, shared and autonomous mobility, electrification, travel patterns, and Baby Boomer retirements.  The phrase "disruptive transportation" was suddenly heard throughout the industry.  The disruption aspect referred to the needed changes to traditional approaches in transporation planning and design that the workforce was required to address.  When COVID-19 hit the global transportation sector, the existing disruption circumstance was exacerbated due to the radical travel pattern changes that resulted and the significant amount of remote work that developed.

While the resulting exacerbated disruption of transportation existed, the IIJA and the IRA significantly accelerated changes that were expected to take much longer.  This placed an even greater burden upon the transportation workforce which was already overwhelmed with the exacerbated disrupted environment that existed.

The new workforce skills and understanding that were needed did not always suggest a new staff erson was needed, but rather that specific skills or a particular knowledge was needed.  This recognition created an opportunity to temporarily fill a significant gap at a much lower cost to the organization when the needed skill/knowledge set could be obtained with very minor financial cost.  Even if that needed skill/knowledge set did not exist within the organization, other individuals outside the organization could address that need.

What became apparent was that mentoring could more than satisfy these new needs and that benefits were being realized by the mentor, the mentee and the organization.  Because each individual has a separate skill/knowledge set, the individual mentor and mentee roles can be interchangeable within a session.

The presenters are a mentoring team that will use examples of global mentoring successes from associations and from both public and private organizations and will show that this opportunity is not confined solely within one organization, nor one geographic area, nor one industry sector and that it can extend beyond national boundaries and is rapidly being developed internationally.