Columbus Chamber Blog: Information about economic development, economic and business trends, Columbus workforce, programs, events and the Chamber of Commerce in and around Columbus, OH

Create Columbus Commission (Columbus' Young Professionals Commission)

By Robbie Banks, Young Professionals Manager, Columbus Chamber

Did you know that Columbus has a Young Professionals Commission to serve as the “pulse” and sounding board on city quality of life issues? The Create Columbus Commission (Commission) is a volunteer working group that identifies strategies and tactics to better attract and retain young and talented individuals in Columbus. Commission members are appointed by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Columbus City Council Member Andrew J. Ginther and Ty D. Marsh, President & CEO of the Columbus Chamber. As the Young Professionals Manager of the Columbus Chamber, I have the privilege to facilitate and support the work of this diverse group of young talent.

Yesterday, Mayor Coleman, Council Member Ginther, Ty Marsh and Alex Fischer, President & CEO of the Columbus Partnership, were invited to participate in a round table discussion at the Commission’s annual meeting. Also, six individuals were installed to serve on the Commission. I am pleased to welcome “veteran” Commission members as well as new members! The 25 individuals that currently serve on the Commission are (* denotes new Commission members installed on May 27, 2010):

• Lourdes Barroso de Padillia, Executive Director, City Year Columbus
• Robert Bickis, Jr., Real Estate Consultant/Broker, reSource Real Estate
• Amy Bishop, Advertising Manager, Dispatch Printing Co.
• *Benjamin Buckner, Enrollment Counselor, University of Phoenix
• Kacey Campbell (Co-Chair), Retail Recruiter, Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District
• Kate Christobek, Student at the Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
• Travis Dent, Alternative Energy Resource Coordinator, American Electric Power
• Nicole L. Farrell (Co-Chair), Director of Development, Office of External Relations, Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University
• *Paul Haggard, Community Affairs and Diversity Director, Sterling Commerce, Inc.
• *Shannon Hardin, Policy Advisor, City of Columbus, Office of Mayor Michael B. Coleman
• Dawon Hawkins, Sr. Instructional Designer, EXPRESS
• Leigh Householder, Digital Brand Strategist, GSW Worldwide/Pink Tank
• Kareem Jackson, Co-owner, Milk Bar
• *Steve Michalovich, Communications Specialist, Nationwide Insurance
• Jon Myers, Co-Founder, JUFTi Games
• Yakima Nelson, Special Advisor, State of Ohio, Treasurer’s Office
• *Elisia Newsom, Recruiting Coordinator, Abercrombie & Fitch
• Ken Paul, Legislative Analyst, Columbus City Council
• Greg Schultz, State Director, Organizing for America
• *Nick Seguin, Principal, dynamIt and Principal, weBuild
• Dan Sharpe, Online Media Manager, The Columbus Foundation
• Oyango A. Snell, Attorney, Oyango A. Snell Law Firm LLC
• Mike Valo, Investment Officer, Huntington
• Josue Vicente, Executive Director, Ohio Hispanic Coalition
• TyKiah Wright, Executive Director, WrightChoice, Inc.

Background

In April of 2007, Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting recommended a work plan for Columbus that highlighted three strategies related to the young professionals demographic: “convince the convincibles; connect YPs to each other and to the City; and build a City that’s a Talent Magnet for Young Professionals.” Under the latter strategy, she recommended that “Mayor Coleman appoint a YP Commission – including transplants from large cities outside Ohio – to serve as his ‘pulse’ and sounding board on city quality of life issues.”

The YP Commission, now referred to as the Create Columbus Commission, was formed on May 24, 2007 by Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City of Columbus, City Council Member Kevin L. Boyce, City of Columbus, and Ty D. Marsh, President and CEO, Columbus Chamber.

The members of the Commission are defined as those who are “young” (e.g., 40 and younger) artists, entrepreneurs and professionals, and who are residents or employed in the Columbus metropolitan area. In addition, the Commission consists of individuals that are representative of the broad and diverse community of businesses, organizations and governments, as well as social, ethnic, and arts groups throughout the Columbus region.

The Commission is led by Co-Chairs, Kacey Campbell and Nicole Farrell. For more information on the Create Columbus Commission and its initiatives, please contact me or “like” the group's Facebook page.

“Just an intern.” Don’t ever think it!

By Dave Cofer, Columbus Chamber Intern Consultant

Whether you are an intern or an employer that hosts interns, I hope that you take notice to this post. Now, more than ever, interns can serve as a great source of innovation for the employers they are working for. Every organization, big and small, for-profit and non-profit, is challenged with how they can operate better. This may come in the form of doing more with less, improving efficiency, driving down expenses, increasing productivity or raising customer satisfaction. It all comes back to the same thing: how do they get better? Well, who better to task with that charge than an intern (or for that matter, all of your interns)?

Let me be clear, I am not suggesting that employers start to bring interns in solely under the heading of “find ways for us to be better.” However, it should be included as an area of responsibility in addition to their “regular duties.” Why is this so important?  Ever heard the phrase “virgin eyes”?  Well, interns have them. They don’t know a sacred cow from a legitimately tried and true process.  They don’t know what questions or ways of thinking are taboo or “inappropriate.”  They have no assumptions about “the one right way” of doing something. They only have questions. As an employer, embrace this.  Embrace the heck out of it!  Listen to what they have to say. When warranted, and this is most important, act on what they have to say.

I’m not suggesting that you should act blindly. Build the business case, perform the required due diligence, etc. But do take action!  If you don’t, you risk two things. First, you risk the engagement levels and overall performance of your interns. If you ask for their input and get them excited about the opportunity to respond only to ignore what they have to say, well, that’s a sure-fire way to turn them and lead them to become disengaged. Second, if you fail to act on their suggestions, who knows what opportunity you might be missing out on to make your business better (remember, that was the point!).

Employers, here’s one last thing to keep in mind when it comes to the benefit of thinking of your interns in this capacity. When it comes to getting better, it often requires calling into question and asking hard questions about how it is that you’re doing business today. There’s a really good chance that the people who designed and implemented those processes and thought they were the best ideas available at the time are the very people within your organization today making key decisions about your company’s future (heck, you may even be one of them). Think about how hard it is for you to now dissect these processes and think of new ways of doing things. By no means is it impossible, and with a structured, disciplined approach to performance improvement, you could probably get there. But along the way, don’t miss out on a great opportunity to leverage the insights of your interns. You are so close to what you do that sometimes all it takes is someone new to call-out and identify opportunities to improve.

For interns, take what I’m saying to heart even if your employer fails to explicitly identify this as an area of responsibility for you. Why, you ask?  First, it’s a sure-fire way to stand apart from your peers. After ensuring that you are exceeding expectations as it relates to your regularly assigned tasks and responsibilities (This is so key; you don’t want to be out brainstorming new ways of doing things, only to compromise your “regular” work. In most environments, this would be bad!), take on the added responsibility of looking for new and better ways of doing things.

Trust me, it sounds like a lot of extra work, but it really will come to you far easier than you think. You have the benefit of being completely new to the environment, and if you simply make a conscious point of being on the lookout for improvement opportunities, they will come to you. Now, here’s a little secret. It’s not as simple as going to your supervisor or manager and saying “I know how you guys can be better” at your jobs. You’ll have to do a little more than that. Also, when asked to support your recommendations, if you use words like “I think,” “probably,” “I like this way better,” etc. be prepared for a less than supportive response.

You have to bring data. Tell your employer that you have already developed the “business case” to support your ideas; they’ll love it. The business case represents the facts to support your idea. Be able to demonstrate how your recommendation improves the business by influencing a key performance driver / metric. What are these?  Typically they deal with things related to service, cost and quality. Think of it as an experiment. Formulate your hypothesis (if you do x, y outcome will be achieved). Test your hypothesis.  Absent a “lab” where you can actually perform the test, gather current state and/or historical data, formulate fact-driven assumptions about how the introduction of your recommendation would change the environment and produce a new set of outcomes. Present your findings and voila, you’re a superstar.

Now, is it really that simple?  Well, probably not. But if you commit to doing these things, here’s the worst that will have happen: 1.) You will have fully committed yourself to your employer.  2.) You will have done all that you could to advance their business and make them better. 3.) At the end of your assignment you can walk away feeling very proud of the work that you performed. Not all bad if you ask me.

Employers wanting to learn more about how they can start an internship program can attend upcoming workshops and webinars hosted by the Columbus Chamber. Visit www.columbus.org to view the schedule and register for a session. Or visit www.columbusinternships.com to post a position today.

Awareness of Columbus is growing

Take a look at the coverage received in recent weeks about Columbus as a great place to do business:

Business Week
The Pros of Planting Startups in Smaller Cities: Quality of life and local incentives can lend a competitive advantage to entrepreneurs when they need it most
Plenty of factors make the city [Dublin]of 38,000 outside Columbus attractive for starting up: Abundant, inexpensive office and lab space; a major university, Ohio State, nearby; a growing population; and good local schools to attract workers with families. "It draws the highly skilled and educated people you need to bring in, especially to a high-tech startup company," (Philip) Eggers says.

Fox Business News
Dublin, Ohio is the number one city for starting a business (video)

Business Expansion Journal
Features BioOhio, Riverside Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth
“While the medical device cluster strengths are situated in Cleveland and northeast Ohio, the Columbus area has an emerging cluster. The region is home to some of the most progressive medical technology being used to train surgeons and medical students. Surgeons at Columbus’ Riverside Methodist hospital use a GPS-like navigation system during orthopedic surgery.”

Earlier this year the Columbus Chamber conducted a survey of CEOs nationwide to gauge their awareness of Columbus and perspective of our community as a place to do business. Four years ago the same survey revealed that only 40% of business executives nationwide had any awareness of Columbus. Now, 60% of business-decision makers know enough about Columbus to consider our city as a business destination. In addition, nearly 90 percent of Columbus-based executives rate Columbus positively as a place to do business.

“Just an intern”: Don’t ever think it! Part 1

With a constantly changing economic environment, talent strategies are changing too. But resist the urge to let your internships program fall dormant. Interns are a great talent development option not only for the here and now but also for the long-term success as an organization. Here's except from a recent post that I did for our ColumbusInternships Blog:

Now, more than ever, interns can serve as a great source of innovation for the employers they are working for. Every organization, big and small, for-profit and non-profit is challenged with how they can do things better. This may come in the form of doing more with less, improving efficiency, driving down expenses, increasing productivity, raising customer satisfaction…it all comes back to the same thing; how do they get better. Well, who better to task with that charge than an intern (or for that matter, all of your interns)?

Let me be clear, I am not suggesting that employers start to bring interns in solely under the heading of “find ways for us to be better”. However, it should be included as an area of responsibility in addition to their “regular duties”. Why is this so important? Ever heard the phrase “virgin eyes”? Well, interns have ‘em. They don’t know a sacred cow from a legitimately tried and true process. They don’t know what questions or ways of thinking are taboo or “inappropriate”. They have no assumptions about “the one right way” of doing something. They only have questions. As an employer, embrace this. Embrace the heck out of it! Listen to what they have to say and when warranted and this is most important, ACT on what they have to say.

I’m not suggesting that you should act blindly; build the business case, perform the required due diligence, etc. but do take action! If you don’t, you risk two things. First, you risk the engagement levels and overall performance of your interns. If you ask for their input and get them excited about the opportunity to respond only to ignore what they have to say, well, that’s a sure-fire way to turn them and lead them to become disengaged. Secondly, if you fail to act on their suggestions, who knows what opportunity you might be missing out on to MAKE YOUR BUSINESS BETTER (remember, that was the point!).

Employers, here’s one last thing to keep in mind when it comes to the benefit of thinking of your interns in this capacity. When it comes to getting better, it often requires calling into question and asking hard questions about how it is that you’re doing business today. It’s a really good chance that the people that designed and implemented those processes and thought they were the best ideas available at the time are the very people within your organization today making key decisions about your company’s future (heck, you may even be one of them). Think about how hard it is for you to now dissect these processes and think of new ways of doing things. By no means is it impossible and with a structured / disciplined approach to performance improvement, you could probably get there. But along the way, don’t miss out on a great opportunity to leverage the insights of your interns. You are so close to what you do, that sometimes all it takes is someone new, from the outside to call-out and identify the opportunities to improve.

Dave Cofer is President/CEO of Cofer Consulting Solutions, a firm specializing in attracting, developing and retaining young professionals. E-mail Dave at David.Cofer@CoferConsulting.com.

To learn more about Cofer Consulting Solutions, visit www.coferconsulting.com.

For more internship information or to post an opportunity, visit the Chamber's internship portal at www.columbusinternships.com.