One of the challenges we face is compensation during programming. While we have a stipend built into the program model, a lot of times it is not enough. This can discourage participants from finishing due to the need of making ends meet so they look for other jobs.

The CEO of the company I work for was able to utilize and leverage his connections with a funding company to give us flexibility with programming. His reputation and the hard work he put in to the funding source allowed him to leverage the flexibility we needed.

My job requires me to send various emails and updates. In doing so, the information can be misinterpreted because it can be difficult to read personality in an email. During my meetings, I would ensure to reiterate the information to provide clarity which gets received better by some of my colleagues. 

The Workforce team identified a key gap in our flow, which was capturing the data of community members arriving at the front in real time. In collaboration with the Data team, I was able to create a Kiosk system to collect the data in real-time, which was also directly connected to our Salesforce system.

When leading my meetings, I like to have an agenda prepared in advance. If I speculate that there will be tension or an extreme difference in perspectives, I like to begin my meetings by "setting the stage." I do this by acknowledging that it is okay to have differences in opinion, but it's important that the group is respectful to each other and that the end goal is serving our community to the best of our ability.