Driving Economic Growth Through Skills Transformation

Unlock the full potential of skills across your community with our comprehensive toolkit designed to foster a dynamic skills economy. Use the toolkit to engage, convene, and support your members, partners, and community to thrive in a skills economy.

WELCOME TO YOUR TOOLKIT

This toolkit is designed to help Workforce Development Boards lead the transition to a skills economy.

It brings together guidance, tools, examples, and implementation resources to support regional partners in aligning workforce, education, and employers around skills.

Use the sections below to understand the purpose of the toolkit, how to use it, and where to begin.

Workforce systems across the country are shifting toward a skills economy — one where hiring, training, and advancement are based on what people can do, not just the credentials they hold.

Workforce Development Boards play a critical role in helping their regions make this transition. This toolkit was created to provide practical guidance, shared language, and real examples to help boards lead that work.

The goal is not to prescribe one model, but to provide tools that support regional collaboration, innovation, and implementation.

This toolkit is designed for Workforce Development Boards and the partners they convene, including employers, education providers, economic development organizations, community partners, and policymakers.

Boards may use the toolkit internally to guide strategy, or externally to support regional planning, partner engagement, and system alignment.

While the toolkit is written with board leadership in mind, many of the resources can be used by any organization working to build a skills-based workforce system.

The toolkit is organized so boards can explore topics in any order, depending on their region’s needs.

Some sections provide background and shared language, while others include action guides, facilitation tools, and implementation resources.

Boards may use the toolkit to:

  • Learn about the skills economy
  • Guide strategic planning
  • Facilitate partner conversations
  • Support pilot projects
  • Strengthen regional alignment

Each section can be used on its own or as part of a broader regional effort.

Building a skills economy often involves new language, definitions, and concepts.

The Key Terms section provides simple explanations of common terms used throughout the toolkit, including skills-based hiring, credentials, competencies, career pathways, and data alignment.

Use this list as a reference when working with partners to ensure a shared understanding.

NAWB Skills Economy Toolkit – Key Terms

This toolkit will continue to evolve as Workforce Development Boards test new approaches and share lessons learned.

We welcome feedback, suggestions, and examples from the field to help improve future versions of the toolkit.

Use the form below to share comments, report issues, or suggest additional resources.

Skills Toolkit Feedback Form

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SKILLS ECONOMY VISION

Driving Opportunity Through Skills

The National Association of Workforce Boards envisions a future where workers advance based on demonstrated abilities, employers find talent based on what people can do, skills are transparent, transferable, and recognized across systems, and economic opportunity is accessible to everyone.

Workforce Development Boards will lead this transformation. You already sit at the intersection of talent and opportunity. Now you have the tools to build the infrastructure that makes skills the foundation of your regional economy.

Ready to begin? Get started with these tools

Evaluate Skills Readiness

Assess where your board and region stand today.

Create Your Skills Vision

Create a vision of what success looks like in your community.

Clarify Your Board's Role

Identify your unique role, responsibilities, and opportunities.

Map Your Path Forward

Chart the steps from the current state to a thriving skills economy.

BUILDING A SKILLS ECONOMY

Boards Leading Skills Transformation

Workforce Development Boards are at the center of skills transformation. Download and read the board spotlights and lessons learned from board leaders and partners leading skills transformation across the country.

WDB SPOTLIGHT

Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area

Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area serves a nine-county region in Central Texas and demonstrates how workforce boards can lead skills transformation across diverse communities. By focusing on high-demand industries and acting as a regional convener, the board aligns employers, educators, and training providers, expands access to training in rural areas, and builds clear career pathways to meet regional workforce needs.

WDB SPOTLIGHT

Alabama Workforce Board

The Alabama Workforce Board has become a national model for statewide skills transformation by aligning education, workforce, and industry through a unified strategy focused on competencies, data, and labor force participation. Through initiatives like the Alabama Talent Triad and the state’s longitudinal data system, leaders are building a coordinated ecosystem that connects learners, employers, and training providers across the state.

IMPLEMENTATION ACTION GUIDES

Action guides are facilitation-ready tools that help you prepare for and implement a skills economy transformation.

Strategic Planning for Skills Economy

Equip your board to design and implement a long-term vision for thriving in a skills economy.

Mapping the Skills Ecosystem

Identify the key players, pathways, and connections in your local and regional skills landscape.

Skills Data Governance

Learn how to structure, classify, and align skills and credentials for transparency and portability.

Skills and Credentialing Taxonomies

Learn how to structure, classify, and align skills and credentials for transparency and portability.

Employer and Issuer Engagement

Build partnerships with employers and credential issuers to drive adoption of skills practices and activities.

The Role of Technology in Skills Work

Explore the digital tools, platforms, and data systems that enable a modern skills economy.

Ensuring Accessibility for all Workers

Center inclusion by designing accessible systems that expand opportunity for every worker and employer.

Artificial Intelligence in a Skills Economy

Understand the role of Al in skills mapping, hiring, and workforce planning while guarding against bias.

Evaluation and Impact

Measure outcomes, track progress, and demonstrate the value of skills transformation.

DEVELOPING BOARD CAPABILITIES

Capable. Connected. Conveners.

Thriving in a skills economy requires Workforce Boards to strengthen their core capabilities so they can lead transformation with clarity and impact.

From setting a regional vision to aligning resources, managing operations, and building partnerships, boards must be equipped to drive innovation while staying grounded in data and digital tools. By honing these capabilities, Workforce Boards become catalysts for inclusive growth, ensuring that workers, employers, and communities all benefit from a skills-driven future.

SKILLS RESOURCE LIBRARY

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