Improving Poor Employee Communication Skills—BEFORE They’re Hired Monday, September 30, 2024

In an age of when technology has become an integral part of virtually every workplace, you might think that STEM skills—science, technology, engineering and math—are the top skills sought by corporate managers when looking for new hires. Not so. Several studies have shown that the top two skills that 75% of managers look for in recent college graduates are the “soft skills” of critical thinking and communication. And a large percentage of these managers rate recent graduates as lacking in these important skills. This “Skills Gap” has had serious consequences, with poor communication skills costing companies an estimated $3 billion a year and poor writing skills costing $400 billion a year. In today’s episode, Jim Rowe, a seasoned marketing expert, talks about what he decided to do about this skills gap when he retired after more than 45 years in his field. He would write a book, but not just another boring business book. Inspired by the best-selling “Who Moved My Cheese?” Jim wrote a simple fable to provide managers and HR personnel with a practical training tool to teach a structured process of critical thinking. His book, “Get Your Ducks in a Rowe,” has actually grown into two books: Book 1, which teaches Jim’s simple 10-step business communication formula to critical thinking; and Book 2, the A-D-A-P-T-E-R Method, a holistic approach to strategic business communication. Jim’s books have already been introduced in a number of educational institutions—to highly acclaimed reviews—and his approach may eventually change how students learn these fundamental skills—BEFORE they graduate to their first jobs.