Businesses for Inclusive Local Thriving Lab

MIT Sloan School of Management

Organizations & Leadership

About Programme

Why attend Businesses for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT) Lab

The

BILT-Lab

is an action learning opportunity for business leaders who want to develop a future-ready talent strategy and accelerate regional innovation and resilience by making targeted place-based investments in regional workforce and innovation.

The course will bring together place-based “anchor” companies and large employers, along with their local partners, who want to develop a future-ready talent strategy and accelerate regional innovation and resilience by building diverse regional talent pipelines; reducing barriers to workforce participation; creating quality jobs; and boosting energy security and ecosystem health.

Ideal participants are invested in creating future-ready organizations and in building the prosperity of their local communities. Participants should be willing to approach problems with curiosity and share experiences openly with peers to support shared learning.

Led by experienced teachers, researchers and industry-tested professionals, the BILT-Lab will help participants identify and highlight impactful, place-based investments that produce measurable economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Participants will learn about and implement solutions for talent development and community health that companies can deploy inside their walls as well as outside in the communities where they operate.

Please note: This course is a blended format. Live Online: 3-4hours; Onsite (Cambridge, MA): Two-day in-person delivery, and optional virtual office hours

Course Topics

Programme Objective

The

BILT-Lab

will guide participants through creating the following:

Strategic Alignment Analysis

: Participants will examine their company or business unit’s strategy, as well as their talent and sustainability goals, and how they align with their region’s economic innovation and sustainability strategy. Leaders will identify one or more areas of opportunity for their companies and for their region.

Performance Goal Identification

: Participants will define and tell a clear story around a performance goal that represents a challenge for their organization and for themselves personally.

Implementation and Stakeholder Engagement Plan

: Participants will draft a 30-day action plan to advance the performance goal, including internal actions and external outreach as needed to build industry-wide and cross-sector collaborative partnerships. Because innovation, talent, and sustainability issues can rarely be tackled by one organization alone, this will include an assessment of the key external stakeholders who must be engaged and initial action steps to take in the next quarter. Companies are encouraged to bring leaders of partner organizations in their communities into the

BILT-Lab

Additionally, participants in this course will:

Learn regionally-oriented sustainability and talent pipeline best practices, and identify those that could be adapted to achieve business and sustainability goals—including elevating workforce quality and future readiness, local resilience, and the economic strength of the company, sector, and region.

Understand the hurdles in achieving talent and sustainability goals, or meeting regulatory requirements, and what stakeholder engagement means to those efforts. Critically examine and evaluate their own organizational strategies, and engage in peer learning on how to avoid common mistakes and reduce obstacles to reach intended outcomes

Build productive working partnerships for a diverse workforce with public and non-profit sector partners, including state energy and economic development organizations, Workforce Investment Boards, labor unions, and impacted community groups

Identify how your company can contribute to the design and implementation of community benefit plans required by many federal grantmaking organizations

Learn best practices from peers across the country, and join a growing network of like- minded business executives and community leaders

Contribute to advancing national and regional strategic sustainability and energy transition, decarbonization, and workforce diversity goals where the company has operations

Programme Audience

Individual participants are welcome, but we encourage companies to send teams of two or more for maximum impact.

More than one company from a region can send participants if they share the same talent needs and challenges. Multi-company, or regional, participation is encouraged to represent the strength of the energy sector in your region.

Company representatives:

Should be in a leadership position at an organization committed to clean energy future, inclusive workforce development, job quality, and community benefit in one or more geographic regions

Can represent their company, a business unit or function within the company, or a geographic region in which the company operates

Must have one or more of: significant budgetary responsibility; decision-making power; ability to influence culture; and access to the CEO / C-Suite to enable fast, decisive action on the company’s behalf during the BILT-Lab program

Are encouraged to seek support for their participation in the BILT-Lab from at least one senior leader in the organization to ensure strategy alignment and organizational backing for the work they will undertake during and after the program

Participants could come from a range of business units and functions that have responsibility for strategy, talent, culture, sustainability, and community benefit, for instance:

Human Resources/People Managers

Corporate Planning and Strategy Executives

Community Relations Managers

Chief Sustainability Officers or designees

Executive VPs

COOs

VPs of Talent Development, Recruitment, Workforce

Leaders of community partnership organizations, including chambers of commerce, foundations, and organizations committed to clean energy and talent development at local, state, and regional levels

Other senior managers with leadership responsibility

Company participants are highly encouraged to invite 2-3 regional partners who are important to engage for an inclusive regional talent pipeline strategy. These could include:

State / regional / municipal energy, sustainability and labor organizations, training providers, colleges, and universities, and relevant policymakers

Representatives committed to building a common language with the private sector around diversity and inclusion, workforce development, community engagement, and community benefit planning

A regional foundation, business coalition, economic development organizations, or Chamber of Commerce who may provide funding

Programme Benefits

Innovation

Identify and plan for place-based investments in workforce development, regional economic development, sustainability, and energy security that are strategically important for your company and will advance their region’s innovation strategy

Roadmap

Leave with a plan to improve your ability to identify, train, hire, and retain a diverse workforce with 21st-century skills including AI literacy; create more quality jobs; expand the pool of high-quality talent available for hire; and generate benefits for the wider community

Mens et Manus

MIT faculty and coaches guide you on how to activate place-based design thinking through innovative, cross-sector partnerships, and provide personalized feedback on advancing strategic goals

Certificate

Earn a certificate of course completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management