At our recent OKC Regional Partnership meeting, we also covered the top three areas of what we were going to do and what we could use to grow our opportunities. Those three key areas were:
- Increased business recruitment efforts among all of those who wish to participate.
- The realization that we have a talent pool in this region that others are envious of and would like to access.
- And that we have research tools at our disposal that we can do much more with.
No different than any other type of business, to do more business recruitment we need to get out of our rut and start being more creative on what we can do to get in front of more business targets, while at the same time continue to use the tried and true methods that have worked in the past.
To do that we need to collaborate with our partners in the region, be willing to try different recruitment methods and processes, take a proactive approach and not just wait for the prospect to come our way. The speed at which we do all of this will depend on how much staff time we can commit, our individual funding levels, plus our own enthusiasm and energy to stay focused on the task.
Our money shot is our talent pool in this area. From this economic developer’s perspective, I believe we have not done enough to show the world what we have in the area of talent. We need to help them understand how they can access the current workforce pipeline and align the needs of their business with the results that our educational institutions provide.
If that sounds like a tall order it is because it is. And we can either complain about it or get busy doing something about it. No doubt that will be hard work, but it is worthwhile to pursue such activities.
Some may believe that research is not that big of a deal, but in this occupation, it can mean everything. If we don’t know what we are targeting, what fits our area or region and what we can sustain, we might as well just stand next to the interstate and hold up a business card, and hope for some success.
Our OKC Partnership allows us to have access to great research tools and we need to spend more time working with those tools to glean the vital information from those systems. That will allows us to make strategic and calculated measures to develop our state-of-the-art business attraction processes.
And if we lost you in any part of this topic, just know this; We have a lot to do, and we need to get after it.