How Challenge Factory creates space for community engagement and innovation across sectors
The client:
- National non-profit Labour Market Information Council (LMIC)
The challenge:
- LMIC plays a key leadership role in Canada’s labour market information (LMI) ecosystem and needs to ensure the innovative work they do and the impact they have are built on a solid foundation.
- Building LMI data solutions requires the coordination of significant technical, functional, engagement, and communications teams.
- Tools developed for Canadians and organizations that are not informed by career development professionals are less likely to be effective and adopted by end users.
- LMIC is a national non-profit with deep expertise in LMI and economic analysis. They are growing by pushing the boundaries of what their organization does and the impact they have. This growth creates ripple effects in workplace culture, team values, strategic foresight, and beyond.
Who we helped:
- LMIC’s senior leadership
- Members of the LMIC Data Hub project steering committee, including funders
- Members of LMIC’s Career Development Stakeholder Committee
- Staff working across LMIC’s Data Hub workstreams
The solution:
In 2019, Challenge Factory began working with LMIC on its project to develop the LMIC Data Hub. The Data Hub provides easy-to-access and practical LMI across the pan-Canadian ecosystem through a system of data pipelines that integrate up-to-date, high-quality LMI for front-end data applications of various organizations (e.g., dashboards, career planning tools, websites, mobile apps, PDF reports, etc.). Challenge Factory was tasked to develop the initial project plan, project planning documentation, and approach to stakeholder engagement.
We knew this work would require all of Challenge Factory’s deep expertise in the world of work, technology, complex program management, career development, and community engagement. This suite of expertise is not typically found all within a single organization, so we were uniquely equipped.
Our program management role remains ‘behind the scenes’ as we support skills and capacity-building within the project’s senior leadership team. We fill in project gaps on topics as varied as technology considerations, resourcing complex projects, and navigating politics, partnerships, risk management, legal considerations, and more.
- We began by setting goals to determine the project’s full impact, timelines, objectives, and needs.
- We set up a comprehensive Program Management Office that acts as the day-to-day project coordinator.
- We identified key experts who should be invited to join LMIC’s National Stakeholder Advisory Committee and additional committees, and took the lead in establishing a 28-member Career Development Stakeholder Committee.
- Challenge Factory’s president, Lisa Taylor, chairs the Career Development Stakeholder Committee, and our team develops any required assets that come out of the expertise, advice, and perspectives provided by the committee.
- We participate in the selection of key partners, the development of pilot tools, and the development of implementation plans, as well as provide advice and guidance on a variety of strategic and confidential issues.
The impact:
- This ground-breaking project brings together a diverse group of experts and key stakeholders across the country, creating new collaboration and innovation that has the capacity to affect systemic change across sectors and in the lives of Canadians.
- New LMI data solution tools, designed by and for Canadians, are currently being piloted.
- Complex relationships across technical, application development, user representatives, communications, and governance teams are coordinated and work in concert.
- Issues that might escalate are contained and risks are actively managed.
- Legacy work in this area has been gathered and curated, honouring what is useful from past systems and tools.
The next steps:
New LMI data solution tools are being piloted right now focused on solving career and employment related challenges for different populations, such as high school students and Quebec-based career counsellors. Meanwhile, technical development continues and long-term strategies related to sustainability and partnerships are in formation. Challenge Factory remains a critical part of the program’s leadership team, focused on community engagement and strategic planning, as the results of early pilots are assessed and the 2023 release schedule and strategy is developed.
Learn more:
- LMIC Data Hub and Career Development Stakeholder Committee
- Project brief: “Equipping career services with LMI tools and data”
- Insight report: “Building a decision-based framework to understand LMI needs”