The document describes a scenario where community leaders from the City of Springfield and surrounding areas are brought together to develop a workforce development plan for receiving a $100 million prize. They are divided into groups and given 20 minutes to prepare a 5-minute briefing on goals, strategies, and community engagement for prosperity by 2016. Each group then presents their plan to virtual city leaders. The facilitators then lead a discussion on leadership emergence and how the exercise compared to participants' real work.

1. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 1
Welcome
[As participants enter the room…]
FACILITATOR 1 & 2 hand to each participant an envelope containing the briefing letter
and a nametag with role assignment.
FACILITATOR 3 passes out and collects sign-in sheet.
FACILITATOR 1:
Thank you for coming to our community planning session. As you know, we need help
from all quarters, and you [assign role] are a critical partner.
Here is your briefing material, please find a seat and sign-in.
We will get started in a minute.
FACILITATOR 2:
I’m [facilitator 2] with the Prosperity Foundation. I’ve got a letter here that provides
background on the prize and the expectation of the Foundation and the Mayor’s Office.
Delighted to meet you and look forward to some good work ahead.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Briefing Begins
[Facilitator 1 & 2 are at the front of the room.]
FACILITATOR 1:
Thank you for coming to this important briefing.
I am [facilitator 1], Prosperity Foundation Program Manager and lead staff on
Springfield’s P-Prize Project. My colleague is [facilitator 2 name], Mayor Simpson’s
Make-It-Happen specialist and lead staff on the P Prize Project. [Facilitator 2] has
been working with us at the Foundation to make sure citizens and community leaders
have the opportunity to contribute to Prosperity Prize planning and implementation.
First let me say what an honor it is for the Prosperity Foundation to help you
reimagine and rebuild prosperity in the City of Springfield. As a native of the city, I
have watched as we grasped at one straw after another, never managing to channel
sufficient resources into what were otherwise sound strategies for a better future. It is
my hope and life’s ambition to make sure the P Prize fills that gap.
In this, the first of our community engagement sessions, we are going to solicit your
input into our initial planning for transformation.
Most of you are from the City of Springfield, Lincoln County (in which the City is
located), or Whalen County, our neighbor. We called you here for one of three reasons:
1. You were nominated by your neighbors, colleagues, and peers as “people in the
know” about workforce development, a cornerstone of the P Prize approach.
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2. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 2
2. You have demonstrated your capacity to organize communities around
important work in your businesses, agencies, or organizations.
3. You are a metrics person – you know how to measure progress.
Today, we need your help. You will be divided into teams and asked to begin working
on a five-minute briefing for City Leaders on next steps for the Prosperity Project.
But first, for those of you who missed either yesterday’s press conference or this
morning’s newscast on your commute here, we have KWRK’s Alison Gash live in
downtown Springfield.
[Facilitator 2], Do we have Alison?
FACILITATOR 2 responds and plays video.
FACILITATOR 1:
In 20 minutes we will be linked to City Hall, where the Mayor, City Officials and
Prosperity Foundation Trustees will want to hear from you. We will need each of your
teams to provide a 5-minute briefing that addresses the following questions:
1. What are the most important goals we should aspire to in order to move us toward
prosperity by 2016? Evidence?
2. What are the most essential workforce development/jobs/talent strategies we
need to move us toward prosperity and why?
3. What are the most critical community engagement strategies we need to employ to
insure our success and why?
Remember, you were asked here to share your experience and expertise. We invite you
to be bold, courageous, and take a long view. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
and City leaders and Prosperity Foundation Trustees are looking to you to help realize
it.
Questions
FACILITATOR 1:
Oh, I see a question from the audience?
FACILITATOR 3 (he/she is a plant) asks the following questions and FACILITATOR 1
responds.
Q: Is there anyone else we can contact right now for help?
A: No, city leaders seek your input (and cell phones don’t work in this room).
Q: Can we leave the room?
A: No, we need your full attention on this task.
Q: Can we break into smaller groups to work?
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3. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 3
A: You will notice that you have numbers on your nametags. In the event that we had a
significant turnout, and we do, we assigned each of you a number, and each number a
place in the room to work. Please break up into your assigned groups to get started.
After that, you may organize yourselves in any way you see fit.
Okay, we need to begin. You have 20 minutes. [Facilitator 2] and I will be making sure
you have what you need and are available to help if you get stuck. [Facilitator 3], as
volunteer from the audience, has offered to help us document this session, so she will
also be available to assist.
Again, in 20 minutes, we will be linked to the City Council session where City leaders
and prosperity foundation officials await your input. Each group will have five
minutes to present.
[Let participants work for 20 minutes.]
FACILITATOR 2:
I have the Prosperity Team by satellite, are we ready to report back?
FACILITATOR 1:
Yes we are.
FACILITATOR 2:
Looks like we are now ready for the briefing. Unfortunately we only have a one-way
satellite link. We won’t be getting a live feed from them but they will receive live feed
from us.
I’d like to ask the first group to present their plan (5 minutes).
[Have each group present.]
After the Report-outs
FACILITATOR 1:
Round of applause. Thanks for this. It is clear that the Springfielders are in good hands
– or are they?
Let’s step out of our roles for a moment and consider what just happened.
We would like to hear from you about the experience you just went through, unpack it
a bit.
[Asks the following questions allowing the audience to respond before moving to
the next question.]
- Who emerged as leaders in your groups?
- How did they emerge?
- In what ways did they demonstrate leadership?
- What would you have done differently if you had to do this over again (in the
same amount of time)?
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4. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 4
- How was this exercise similar or different from your work in your home
communities (other than the $100M premise of course)?
End of Activity
Defined Roles (indicated on name tags passed out to participants at the beginning
of the activity)
Group A
Youth Member (1)
Lincoln County Youth Council
Director (2)
Lincoln County Workforce Investment Board
Senior Policy Analyst (3)
Lincoln County Workforce Investment Board
Member (MFG) (4)
Lincoln County Workforce Investment Board
Member (Healthcare) (5)
Lincoln County Workforce Investment Board
Progressive Community Activist (6)
Lincoln County Workforce Investment Board
Group B
Conservative Community Activist (1)
Whalen County Workforce Investment Board
Director of Entrepreneurship (2)
Whalen County Workforce Investment Board
President (3)
Whalen County Workforce Investment Board
Program Director (4)
Whalen County College
TANF Director (5)
Whalen County
Director of Youth Services (6)
Whalen County
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5. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 5
Group C
Program Director (1)
Lincoln County One-Stop
Program Manager (2)
Lincoln County One-Stop
President (3)
Springfield Community College
Program Director (4)
Springfield Community College
Executive Director (5)
Central Labor Council
Program Manager (6)
Youth & Family Services
Group D
Entrepreneurship Support Specialist (1)
City of Springfield
Regional SBA Director (2)
Director (3)
Springfield University Incubator
Economic Development Specialist (4)
City of Springfield
Regional Director of Entrepreneurship Support (5)
State Employment Agency
Program Director (6)
Springfield Entrepreneurs Network
Group E
Director (1)
City of Springfield Economic Development
Program Director (2)
United Way
Program Manager (3)
Employment Security Department
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6. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 6
Regional Initiatives Manager (4)
State Economic Development Agency
Public Outreach Specialist (5)
SLC Met (public transport)
Emerging Clusters Specialist (6)
Lincoln County
Group F
Director (1)
Brooklyn Neighborhood Association
Director (2)
New Heights Neighborhood Association
Director (3)
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Director (4)
Regional Women’s Business Network
Member (5)
Front Street Business District
Member (6)
Downtown Business District
Group G
Senior Researcher (1)
Workforce Development & Job Creation Institute
Junior Researcher (2)
Workforce Development & Job Creation Institute
State Economist (3)
City Economist (4)
County Industry Specialist (5)
Director (6)
University Industry Partnerships
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7. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 7
Group H
Director (1)
Regional Healthcare Industries Association
Programmer (2)
OpenSource Data Lab
Program Manager (3)
Open Government Initiatives
Policy Director (4)
Association of Major Manufacturers
Public Outreach Specialist (5)
Hotels & Conventions Association
Executive Director (6)
Agricultural Products Association
Group I
Superintendent of Public Schools (1)
Director of Student Support (2)
Springfield Public Schools
Manager of Technical Programs (3)
Springfield Public Schools
Manager (4)
Youth Apprenticeship Programs
Internship Coordinator (5)
Springfield Public Schools
Student Council President (6)
Springfield High School
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8. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Community Simulation 8
Group J
Wildcard (1)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Wildcard (2)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Wildcard (3)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Wildcard (4)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Wildcard (5)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Wildcard (6)
(Pick an identity, let team know)
Group K
Artist (1)
Musician (2)
Data Visualization Specialist (3)
Poet (4)
Author (5)
Journalist (6)
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