Transcript: “Workforce Challenges” with Lee Tasseff and Jodie Perry – S2 E2

INFO

Setting the stage for Season 2 of The Workforce Pulse Podcast, are Lee Tasseff of Destination Mansfield and Jodie Perry of The Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.

Listen as they talk about how the community is working together to address the Workforce challenges in Richland County through talent attraction, recall, and retention. By creating an attractive and consistent brand, you can then tell the story of collaboration, community, and growth. These are stories to share with your friends, family, and potential employees.

TRANSCRIPT:

CLINT: Welcome back to the Workforce Pulse Podcast for season 2. We’re going to change directions here a little bit in Season 2 and do a little bit more storytelling of what it’s like to live and work and play here in Richland County. If you didn’t follow on the first season, we talked more about how we’ve worked together in an economic and workforce development landscape through partnerships in education, business and government resources to support those who are looking to do business here, looking to find jobs here and looking to learn new skills. We recommend that you go back and listen to those seven episodes, so you learn about the economic landscape of Richland County and mid-Ohio and what we’re doing to move forward here and grow as a vibrant community.

In season 2, we’re going to focus on the people that live here, the people that have moved here, the people that have grown up here and the people that grew up here, left then came back.  We’re going to tell their stories of how they’ve been successful, how they’ve learned, how they’ve grown, how they’ve started businesses, how they got an education. We’re going to tell those stories through speaking with those individuals and hearing directly from them.

But first, today on the first episode I’ve got two individuals who’ve been working really hard to create platforms for those stories to be told: Lee Tasseff, who is President of Destination Mansfield. Welcome Lee to the podcast.

LEE: Hey, nice to be here.

CLINT: And Jodie Perry, President and CEO of the Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development. Welcome to the podcast.

JODIE: Good morning, Clint.

CLINT: We appreciate you guys coming on and talking to us.  You guys have been working diligently for a long time to create these platforms. These content and resources really tell the story of who we are in mid-Ohio. So Lee, I want to start with you first.  This is something you’ve been working at for years with Destination Mansfield.

I want to talk a little bit about how we’re focusing on the work you guys are doing or focusing on telling the story of the county, Richland County, as its components with the communities that make up Richland County.

LEE: Sure, we are tourism based, that’s our background, but storytelling is embedded in everything we do. And you’re right, Richland County is made up of nine different communities. Mansfield is the county seat and that’s the one that people are going to find on the map first, but the personality of this place goes far beyond just Mansfield. You have got great small communities where people love to grow up, the way of life is a little slower, but you’re only 8 minutes from our urban center, so you can crisscross between the middle of town and out in the countryside very quickly. And all those personalities of all those communities really give a lot of depth to the experience here. You can find a community that would fit your personality. You don’t have to just stick to one. That’s kind of one of those underlying value propositions for Richland County.

CLINT: So multiple personalities within the county, community personalities. In my job in workforce development, I talk a lot about how we have 12 school systems in the county and how each of those school systems are very unique in personality. One of the things that we do share county wide is an economic landscape that’s very similar. We have talked about this in the first episode, but manufacturing is our largest employer, health care being second, and we have a huge agricultural presence in the area. When we talk about storytelling and identifying ourselves within the state within the country, why is that important from a chamber aspect, Jodie, when it comes from economic development and workforce development, why is that storytelling important when we’re talking about who we are?

JODIE: Well, I think that you know before a business wants to come to a community they need to know about that community. They need to know if they are going to be a fit there. Are they going to find the employees that they’re looking for there? More and more, that is what we hear every day. Once upon a time, it used to be all about the land, or the building and those things are certainly still important.  You can’t do anything without those but what we hear more and more from employers is, am I going to be able to hire the people I need?  Do you have the skill set?  And so, underlying that is, we need people here, and we need the right people that are going to fill the jobs that we have. Again, right now the name of the game is employees and every community, I don’t like to think of it as competitive because I think certainly regionally, we’re all in this together, but at the end of the day, we’re competing all over the world, quite frankly, for talent. And so, it behooves us to up our game. We need to be able to share to people, what is it like to move here? I moved here myself for this job and doing research on what am I going to find? What will my life be like in Richland County?

That’s really important and I think that for a long time maybe we just took that for granted locally. And so now there’s an opportunity for us to do it a little better.

CLINT: We’re talking about storytelling and sharing our identity and focused on individuals who may have left. I personally, grew up in South Georgia.  But the entire time. I was thinking as soon as I put my cap and gown on, get my diploma and turn my tassel, I’m gone. I’m not coming back. I did go back, I did leave but I went back for a short period of time, but I did end up leaving.  So, we’re looking at that group of people as well. What is the opportunity for me here when it comes to working and why would I want to live here? Why would I want to come back when I’m 25? Or why would I want to stay?  And when you talk about people and attracting companies, that is the name of the game right now.  All the way back in episode one we talked to the Lieutenant governor about potentially a population problem, not just in the mid-Ohio area but across the state. The population is not growing exponentially, so we have to keep everything we’ve got and we’ve got to attract.

When you talk about the international stage or the national stage, there’s lots of things happening in the area. Obviously, Intel is coming to Ohio. That’s going to create thousands of jobs. And then it’s going to trickle out, and it’s going to create some suppliers, likely in our community. We’re going to need to make sure we have the people to fill those jobs.

When we’re talking about living here and working here, let’s talk specifically about what we’re doing to create that identity.

We were talking about this before we got on the air, but the idea of creating a recognizable brand, right? And that’s something that you two have been working on together with a group of people. Let’s talk a little bit about what that is. What is Richland County? What is it going to look like outwardly facing?

LEE: Well, first you have to know who you are before you can tell others about it. If we don’t know what our story is, we’re dead in the water and we can’t convey that to anybody. And part of talent recruitment in this day and age is people go and live where they want to live because they can work anywhere in a lot of cases. There’s a lifestyle choice to coming to a place like Mansfield and all the communities in Richland County. You like it here. And part of our job is to put that out in as many avenues and channels as possible so that somebody looking to come here, researching it, whether they’re dead-on serious, or this is on my radar. They’ve got to see something in our story that they identify with. If that’s the case, then you’re going to have a happier person, more eager to get here, which is going to color their entire world.

This is a great place to raise a family. It’s a great place to be involved. We were talking before this podcast about the profiles that were done. And yes, we picked rebounders, those who left and came back and those who were transplants. And I think all of us on this podcast are transplants.  None of us started here and we all came here for a reason. We’ve stayed like for me, I got married here, had kids, the whole bit. But everything done work wise and getting involved in the community has been easier than a much larger community. You do not get lost here. If you want to make waves, you can do it. You want to get involved; you can do it.

Those things are inherent in our story, not just that we put a logo up and made it colorful. That’s just the marker they will recognize. But it is about the fact that we build, create those things. You can have that life here.

JODIE: And I would just say that the pandemic has really presented an interesting opportunity because it has very much sped up the idea that live where you want to live, and you’ll find a job. In some cases, the job that you had in the big city is going to follow you. Because now you can do it remotely. And so, I think where we have seen for the last several decades that rural regions were declining, you are starting to see that change, and I think that will accelerate in the next decade because the pandemic again gave a lot of people an up-close view of what happens when you’re densely populated?

I think for us, we have a really nice middle of the road here because we do have an urban feel. We are large enough that you don’t have to travel out of the county to go to Target or the things that people want to be able to do on a regular basis. We’ve got robust healthcare. We’ve got great recreational opportunities here, but if you want to go to that big league sports game or want to hear the latest concert that’s a big name, it’s 45 minutes up the road. And your commute every day here is much easier. I think that that really for all the bad things that happened with the pandemic, that’s probably an upside.

We were really excited that in 2020 our population grew. It was modest growth, but much like other rural regions we had seen decline the past couple of decades and so to have stemmed that and we were one of the few in Ohio that, outside of the big cities, had that growth. So, we think that we’re on the beginning side of this. And that is really the essence of the brand and what the story that we uncovered is. We are changing. Come join us and you can be a part of that.

CLINT: You mentioned all three of us are technically transplants. I’ve been here for 10 years. I left Atlanta and moved to Richland County. It is a fact that I was at a baseball game last night in Columbus, in the Columbus market, and I was home in time to put my kids to bed and get up and be at work at 7:45 this morning with no issues. And traffic was not terrible. In a couple of weeks. I’m going to see Indy cars less than 20 minutes from my house. The opportunities here are pretty incredible, and I think that is what you’re saying, that’s the organic stuff that we really want people who consider our community as a place to live, to know, right

LEE: Yes, this is year 32 for us and our kids had a great time growing up here. We did a lot of the same things; we could spin off and get to major attractions pretty easily and get back home. They studied arts here. They learned to ski, canoe, swim and hike, the whole bit. And like you said, Indy cars were just 10 minutes down the road. All of this was within 10 to 15 minutes, you didn’t have to go far to go out and have an adventure. And our kids were prepped. They went through college just fine. The education base was really solid, and they wouldn’t trade their experience growing up here for anything. It turned out perfectly.

CLINT: The opportunity here is incredible. You mentioned college experience. We have two college campuses in the county. The educational experience for young people. There are lots of different school systems. We talked about communities to live in. So, when we talk about creating this messaging, this storytelling, this branding, let’s talk about who it’s important to.  We know that we’re trying to convey a message to individuals that are relocating here or coming back here or considering staying. But when we talk about it as a tool, something that can be used by companies or professionals, let’s talk about the individuals that it might be important to, the audience, that doesn’t come to top of mind, right?

First and foremost, for me in my job in workforce development, I think of recruiters. Whatever industry that is, when you’re talking to someone who has a specific skill and you want them to come here and fill a job, this is the type of content that you can utilize, right? What other type of individuals might be interested in using this type of messaging?

LEE: I think there’s a way to use our story to craft a message to different talent personalities. If you are a graphic designer or pathologist or engineer, or software creator, you read, look, you take things on differently than anybody else. The best part of our story is you can take who we are, and you can craft the message for that individual, so it’s going to speak to them. That is going to get them interested in where they can see themselves here. So that’s where you can take the story, run with it, and put it out there in a number of different areas that you’re speaking to that demographic that you want to recruit. Whether we need engineers here or need designers or need builders, whatever it may be, that’s kind of the beauty of the malleableness of the story.

JODIE: And one of the things that we said from the very beginning was if the brand only ends up with Destination Mansfield and the Chamber, then we’re not very successful. We need it to go out into the community. I think businesses will be able to use it, not just for talent recruitment purposes, though that’s certainly probably the biggest need right now, but when they are potentially sharing their story with customers. I think all the attractions that Lee works with, not only will he be using the brand to do general tours and marketing, but a place like the Renaissance or Kingwood, they’ll also be able to plug into the brand. We know that our cities, villages, and the County are on board with this so when they’re sharing in their different circles that they are in, they will be able to plug into the brand. And so that’s one of our first priorities is really getting it to be open source so that people can freely use it. And that we have materials for them too because I realize everyone doesn’t exactly know when we’re talking about this, how can I fit in, so we want to really help people figure that out.

CLINT: So, we mentioned that this has been in the works for several years, obviously slowed by

LEE: We had a pandemic pod, put it that way.

CLINT: It obviously slowed down by unfortunate circumstances. Before we wrap up, I want to talk about what led to this effort, right? I work with Jodie at the Chamber. I’ve been around and I’ve seen this for the last few years, but there’s been a sense of momentum, I can’t put a number of years on it. I’ve been here 10 years. I can tell you probably six or seven years ago I started feeling completely different about where I live. Maybe that’s because I got more acclimated to where I was, but I feel like there was a switch at some point and it started to snowball the positive feelings and the growth about the community, and I don’t want to discount that there was probably a lot of work that went into making that happen too. But it’s happening now, so let’s talk about that a little bit and how you guys saw that happen or helped make that happen.

LEE: I will let Jody talk about the Mansfield Rising aspect of it, but I remember this goes back to at least 2016-2017. In my address at our annual meeting, I talked about a restlessness under the surface, which is what you’re referring to. Even if you can’t identify it, there was something that you just picked up that it was time for change to happen. And yes, it does not seem like it happens overnight, and it doesn’t. There is just something that builds, and it’s really been fun watching that energy transform itself into a solid direction project, and especially where the branding project came from a plan called Mansfield Rising, which I will turn that over to Jodie.

JODIE: Yes so, I think before I say Mansfield Rising, I think it’s interesting because our community hit a bottom place. We took a beating, and this was before I was in town, so I did not experience it firsthand, but some big places closed. The ‘08-’09 recession was not so kind. I think if there is a positive side to that it’s that it made the community pause and say, what’s happening isn’t working, let’s do it differently. I don’t think you can point to any one thing that really changed it. It was a series of things that changed and so now I would completely agree that there’s just a good synergy. Leaders, we know each other, we have established relationships. When you need to get something done or moving, it’s a phone call. It doesn’t take three months to get stuff going. That social capital is super important.

In 2017, we pitched an idea to the Foundation, me and Jay Allred. Hey, why don’t we send people to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, TX? And I’ll admit when Jay called me to first pose the idea, I was like. Uhm, OK, let’s go ask. I mean, I certainly would want to go, and that turned into when we talked to the Foundation. Surprise, surprise, they didn’t laugh us out of the room, but they said we’ll consider it. But you need a plan to come out of it, and so they said, why don’t we send 15 people and you come back and write a plan for investing in downtown.

Well, yes, there’s the Mansfield rising plan. Lots of ideas in that. A lot of energy, but I think the biggest thing that came out of Mansfield Rising, honestly, was the enthusiasm that it unleashed in the community. We wrote blogs. We had a public info session and I remember distinctly when we said we’re going to have a public involvement session, our city engineer who does public involvement all the time for different projects, he is like, why are we having it at the Renaissance? Nobody is going to show up. It’s going to be this huge empty auditorium. And we had between 200 and 300 people show up just to hear what our experience was and then to give us beginning feedback on the project. And that day was when I was like, OK, this is something far beyond what any of us originally thought.

And so, when COVID hit, I was concerned because I thought, man, we had finally all this good momentum. But honestly, it deterred things for a short time, and if anything has only picked up the pace and has opened doors of opportunity. There are new funding sources that weren’t there before, so we’re able to move projects a little quicker. And it is exciting. You can feel it, and sometimes I think the thing that Lee and I do, that you do, more than anything is just give people permission to be excited about the community because we’re just talking about what is happening. I knew there was good stuff happening, absolutely.

CLINT: We all have unique jobs, and we see things all day, every day that other people don’t see. So, when I’m able to tell someone, did you know that this was made here? Did you even know that this product that you use every day is made right here in Richland County? And they go, What? I didn’t know that. Or did you know that this is happening and they’re excited by that? It’s pushing that momentum forward that keeps me positive and it’s good to see other people feel positive about it as well.

LEE: Yes, and the rising plan was just a vehicle. Her phrase about giving people permission to get excited. It focused and projects were identified and fast forward, here’s visions for the future. It coalesced all that energy went, OK here we go, we can make these projects come to life and they’re going to push the community forward, rather than, what do we do next? It helped focus things in getting moving so that like our organization, we identified six projects. These are absolutely things we need to be involved in. We set aside money for it to make that investment, so we’re going to make this happen one way or another. We’re going to make these happen whether it’s us or where we are partner with anybody else. So, it was easier for me talking to my officers saying. Hey, this is perfect. This fits us. This is our direction, we have to do this and they’re like, oh, great idea, let’s go.

JODIE: Two things I want to add to that. First, what Lee just described is part of the magic behind Mansfield Rising. It is other organizations also seeing how they can plug in, they can fit in, and they’re taking the ball and running with it. The Foundation underwrote the plan. They are investing $1,500,000, but these projects cost far beyond $1,500,000, so other organizations stepping up and really taking things, that’s part of the plan.

The second thing I would say that we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge is this revitalization and energy goes far beyond Mansfield. We have talked a lot about Mansfield Rising, but just up north in Shelby, they are doing fantastic things in their downtown. Their CIC has just an energy and a vibrancy. This summer things are dug up a little bit while they’re doing their new streetscape. They have a new park going in.

LEE: That means progress.

JODIE: Yes, they have a new park going in.

There’s great energy there. Of course, Mayor Brenkus, down in Belleville and Mayor White, they are always doing things. Mayor Hutchinson is super busy in Ontario. Their main park has so many upgrades I couldn’t even list them right now. There is just a lot of energy and vision right now throughout the whole county.

CLINT: It’s definitely exciting. I remember the first time we crossed paths was at a family festival. Downtown Mansfield, probably five or six years ago, and I remember how I felt that day because I felt that energy that you are talking about. There were hundreds of people, the soapbox Derby races were going on downtown. There was a family festival going on downtown. There was a car show and there were thousands of people in downtown Mansfield. I coach youth baseball, you mentioned Ontario and Lexington where hundreds of people are at the ballpark. We are at soccer all the time. There is an incredible energy, community energy, and what we’re talking about a little bit, is community development as well as economic development, they go hand in hand. It’s an exciting time to be here.

LEE: And that pause that the pandemic put on everybody, while hard to go through, has really seemed to unleash some inner strength in the community that whether they knew it was there or not, has really just risen to the top and started driving things. We were in the middle of the branding process and had to stop cold. We didn’t pick it up for almost a year and a half. But once we got started, it was like we never left like, there’s more here to do, we can do this, we all learned new skills during the pandemic and now we’re applying them, that we have seen around the community. Whether it’s individual businesses or organizations, everybody figured out how to survive, how to thrive in it. And then they changed their focus a little bit, but they now have, it seems like a deeper purpose in what they’re doing. We were going somewhere, so we took the pause, didn’t like it much, but it’s turned out to be a good thing.

CLINT: And the exciting thing about that is, currently it’s June of 2022, so if you’re stumbling across this podcast future somewhere, you know this.

LEE: This satellite that left the universe.

CLINT: The time capsule. This is not development that just happens in 2022 and stops, or 2023 and stops. This is an ongoing development that’s going to happen for 5, 8, 10 years. And we’re talking about individuals that we want to be part of this community. Whether you’re relocating here, coming back here, growing up here and staying, we want you to be part of this as well. That excitement and this growth and moving the community forward. And that’s one of the things that we have to offer beyond work opportunities, career opportunities, leisure opportunities, is being part of something meaningful in a community, right? Growing the essence and the identity of who we are.

JODIE: I think that is one of the key things that we’ve heard from people. Some of the folks you are going to talk to you this season, you’re going to hear that throughout their storylines, but you can have a seat at the table. This is a nice-sized community where you can be involved. And maybe your life is busy right now, and so you don’t have the time to be involved, that’s fine. You know what the greatest thing you can do is talk positively about the community. You can help tell other people the great things that you’re hearing. So I think there’s a lot of people that want to make a difference in the world. You know we’re especially hearing that with the younger generation. I am in my middle age years so I’m not one of those younger people anymore, much to my dismay. But there’s a way to have an impact here, and in the bigger communities you’re going to be waiting to have that seat at the table for a long time, if it ever comes. Here, we want your help actually, and there’s a lot of ways that you can really make a difference.

CLINT: Awesome, this is exciting stuff, exciting work and exciting times ahead. Lee Tasseff, Destination Mansfield. Jodie Perry, Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development, thanks for coming on the Workforce Pulse Podcast for Episode One of Season 2.

LEE: Yeah. Happy to kick off the new season.

CLINT: Excited to hear the stories that we’re going to be able to share here in Season 2.

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