Priority Learning March 2021 Newsletter

Message from LT

Happy spring!! Hope you are seeing the light at the end of this darn Covid tunnel! Brighter days are ahead of us and we are ready!

We have a new contributor to our list of articles in our newsletter. Introducing Rachel Knight, founder of Destination Occupation. She wrote an important article about our future workforce and it’s crucial information that all organizations should know about. We are very excited to have Rachel on our writing team!

Next up is Ralph’s next chapter on Communications from his book, The Leadership Maker.

We hope you enjoy the reading!!

Rachel Knight is the Founder and CEO of Destination Occupation (DO). She created DO as a tool to help solve Maine’s workforce problem by educating students and job seekers about careers in Maine. DO’s tagline is “If you can’t SEE it, you can’t BE it” which is at the heart of DO’s signature service: career exploration and recruitment videos. DO has worked with employers like Systems Engineering, Infinity Federal Credit Union, Hancock Lumber, Darling’s Auto Group, Jotul North America, Procter & Gamble and more! Visit www.DestinationOccupation.com to learn more!

Time for a Paradigm Shift

When you were in high school, how many people asked you, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" How often have you asked a young person the same question? How often has the response been, "I don't know!"?

So...maybe it is time for a paradigm shift...a shift in how people think and learn about what is out there for career opportunities...a shift in how people decide what employer they might want to work for...a shift in learning what would be a good "fit"?

What if there was a website you could go to that would take the confusion out of the question...What do you want to do when you grow up? What if that website showed you what companies and careers were like because it has short, interesting, engaging videos? Well...that is what I created and I called it Destination Occupation or DO for short! DO is a career exploration and recruitment resource that educates students and job seekers about career opportunities in Maine. We also educate the educators and job coaches responsible for helping students and job seekers. But wait! There's more! Our videos serve a dual purpose; they not only educate people, they help companies recruit the right people!

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Communications

“When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march…”

~Famous Greek Quote

Let’s be clear here about communication methods for leaders. Face-to-face communication is best. Not just best, it is best by a mile. A phone conversation is next best, but it is no substitute for face-to-face connection. You may ask, “Is FaceTime technology as good as face-to-face time?” Forgive me because I’m not fond of the word “no”, but no. It is better than an email, a text, or a hand-written note, but it is not the same as face-to-face. 

Conversations that are face-to-face are better than any other communication. There is something about being with others that cannot be replicated in a two-dimensional image, electronic message, or even a phone call. If you can see another person’s face and experience their presence, you are able to feel a connection with that person. It is understood that we would all love our communications to be more efficient and effective. Making a connection through direct, engaged communication is powerful and keeps the flow of conversations moving. 

Almost every organization that I have ever worked with claims to have a communication issue. After a little bit of research, it seems that there are several issues around the theme of communication including lack of trust, differing objectives, impatience, lack of tolerance for other points of view, or a lack of effort on the part of the communicators. Sometimes it feels like we are trying to speak different languages. In the over forty years that I have been in the business world, we have progressed from writing memos, which only transmit a two-dimensional communication, to writing emails, texts, chat, FaceTime, and I’m sure I’m missing many more. The question is, how much “real” communication happens once face-to-face contact is removed from the equation? Here is what the experts at study.com say:  

There are four methods of communications - interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, written communication, and oral communication 

Click here to read the rest of the article.