The Inquisitive Report 5/52

Week ending March 2nd, 2018

Content Covered: Industry Data

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A Conversation

First and foremost, thank you to those who did indeed reflect back; the insights created through conversations can often lead to wonderful new beginnings.

And today, I’d like to build of off some of some of those insights….

On Keeping Content Relevant

There are many challenges and opportunities to consider when it comes to:

• Understanding the industry needs.
• Understanding the student needs.
• Creating content.

My current primary source of input for what the industry is looking for as far as interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are concerned are these two reports:

NACE (National Association of College & Employers) on Job Outlook for 2016; below are some sample statistics for you to consider:

Note: I was recently asked how does the type of work experience influence hiring decisions; as you can see below, any type of work experience (part-time, commercial, sales, etc.) gives you an advantage.

AACU (Association of American Colleges & Universities) on College Learning and Career Success conducted in 2015 ; below is an example statistic for you to consider:

I’m still actively looking for more ‘weighted’ content. I have heard that Gallup has some good data, I haven’t been able to find it just yet … but I’ll keep digging.

Using the data from the reports creates a tangible baseline of credibility and viability for my work, I then add depth and breadth to concepts like ‘Communication’ by tying in information from multiple books, documentaries and third-party sources (workshops, podcasts, articles, etc. –this is where my workflowy comes in really handy.)

Now when considering student needs, things get even more interesting. I’ve noticed a trend when asking students what soft skills they would like to learn, most students respond with the same pattern – team working skills, presentation skills, being able to express myself and be heard, etc. In essence what they want to learn, what the industry wants them to learn and what I’m providing in my content is all congruent – so then why do I still ask the students what they would like to learn?

Intrinsic motivation and anchoring.

When we ask students what they are interested in learning (as a multiple choice answer; see graph below), it: articulates what they think is important and allows us to verify that we are indeed on track – and then to reuse the findings of the postworkshop survey during the actual workshop to emphasize the content that they deem important. At this point, the survey answers turn into the “frame” or perspective through which the students will approach the content of the workshop (more on the psychology of this soon).

On Continuous Engagement with the Audience

This question vexes me becasue it is about the impact of the content itself and its retention. The ability for something to “stick” and for me, as a coach to be able to check in with my students on their growth is something that I can’t completely answer just yet. On my list of things to do is obtain a proper coaching certification – by doing so, I hope to get some insight on tracking progress in the long run. And then from an academic standpoint- I desire to do my Ph.D., and the study that I envision conducting would allow me to track my students for about 15-20 years, but that’s beyond the scope of what we are talking about today. Today, I answer the question of continuous engagement through newsletters, and this is where I can most likely grow and provide more support.

Currently, after every workshop, I send out an insights email. At the moment this is my last encounter with the students. In an ideal world I would love to increase engagement between the students and myself after a workshop – and then transfer those who are interested in continuous learning to a monthly newsletter, which would function a bit like this but the content would be more application-oriented. Other than that – I’m lost for ideas on continuous engagement ….

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…. but I’m curious to learn: if you were in my position how would you go about these challenges? Feel free to send your thoughts on my thoughts below!