If we want a stronger talent pool, we must embrace a strategy of encouragement and mentorship with our young people.  Positive role models can be incredibly influential and can come in many forms.

Although mentoring sounds like a huge commitment and a big formal process, it can actually be much more informal and spontaneous.

In this encore episode, Dennis brings Lisa Dughi, NAF President, back on the show to share more about the organization and their work.

NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career, and future ready.  Last year, more than 100,000 students attended more than 617 NAF academies across 35 states.

According to Lisa-  think about the impact we could have if every single kid had someone they could turn to who can show them what a future could look like.

Learn more about NAF

More about Lisa Dughi

Forbes Article on STEM Mentoring

Community projects are a lot of work.  They can take tremendous social, political, and financial capital and may take years or even decades to complete.

Too many projects launch without a long-term source of sustainable funding.  Don't let your project be one of them.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share some thoughts about ensuring your legacy projects outlast your career.

Our personal and professional lives will always have peaks and valleys.  Most of the time, we can work through the slumps, but on occasion, a prolonged slump may be an indication a job change is necessary.

How do we know when it is the right time?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share the 7 signs that it might be time to change jobs.  They also give some guidance for talking about your slump with your supervisor.

Better data drives better decisions- especially when it comes to attracting, retaining, and developing talent.  How do you get good, local, reliable data on wages and benefits for your market?

In this episode, Jason Long, CEO of Sensible Surveys, joins the podcast to talk about the role of the local economic development group in collecting and distributing valuable data to help companies make solid decisions on wage and benefit packages.

As a special offer just for Develop This! listeners, Sensible Surveys is offering promotional pricing when you mention the podcast.  Attend a no-cost, no-obligation webinar on Thursday, July 18th at 10 AM CST for more information on the survey tool and to receive your promotional pricing.

Sign up to attend the webinar here: 

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_20jdM5HKTWGB5EXMcO9L4w

More about Jason Long

When you are busy doing other things as a non-profit executive, sometimes your board orientation process can be an after-thought.  However, onboarding new board members sets the tone for their tenure and serves as the foundation of good governance.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share some tips for things to include in an orientation session and discuss the proper role of the board chair in this process.

In addition- it is not too late to register for the Mid American EDC Best Practices Conference in Milwaukee July 17-19.

Business attraction, retention, entrepreneurship, real estate development, workforce, and community messaging.  There are just a few of the things economic development groups are charged with navigating.

As if this wasn't enough responsibility, the role of the economic development professional also continues to evolve.  The necessary skill sets have diversified, and leadership on community issues has now become the currency of a successful career.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share some thoughts about the changing role of economic development groups in communities and suggest some specific things career-minded professionals should consider for the future.

In addition- it is not too late to register for the Mid American EDC Best Practices Conference in Milwaukee July 17-19.

Those in the community improvement business tend to lead a lot of meetings. If you are like most of us, you probably have room to improve the effectiveness and productivity of your meetings.

In this episode, Dennis brings back Michael Wilkinson who leads Leadership Strategies, Inc. - a global company with more than 600 facilitators on contract that has trained more than 25,000 in effective facilitation.

To determine the fundamental secrets of facilitation, Michael asked great facilitators the following questions:

1. What do you do when you are facilitating?

2. If you wanted to send someone on your team to facilitation training, what are the key topics you would want them to learn?

3. Tell us about mistakes you see facilitators make?

4. What are those things you would love to have better techniques for?

Tune in to learn the results from these questions - including the key role of a facilitator.

Leadership Strategies, Inc.

More About Michael Wilkinson

Secrets of Facilitation Book

In this episode, Dennis continues with his quest to rid the world of unproductive meetings.  Michael Wilkinson, Certified Master Facilitator and founder of Leadership Strategies, Inc., joins Dennis in a discussion regarding meeting rights, the three P's, and calling for the ELMO rule when it is time for a vote.

Don't miss this episode packed full of great advice.  Here is a bit of what you'll hear:

-Every meeting should start with its purpose.

-The secret of the starting question

-Empower all meeting members and the 10 minute rule.

-Differences between status meetings and working meetings

-The value of redirect questions

More About Michael Wilkinson

Secrets of Facilitation Book

Placemaking is becoming increasingly important in the community development business.  Quantifying the results, however, can be very difficult.

Emily Brown is the director of economic strategy with Fourth Economy and previously was part of the IEDC applied research team.  In this episode, Jason brings Emily on the show to define placemaking, discuss the process of creating and implementing a good investment prospectus, and then measuring the results.

IEDC Economic Development Research Papers

More About Emily Brown

Additional Content from Emily

Fourth Economy

As is customary, the month of June concludes with your favorite podcast co-hosts sharing their updates from the month, providing some podcast news, and discussing some key takeaways from the interview shows.

In addition- it is not too late to register for the Mid American EDC Best Practices Conference in Milwaukee July 17-19.