“How To’s”: Hard is Soft and Soft is Hard – A New Workplace Paradigm

With our current dynamic employment conditions in Maine, recruitment and retention are everyone’s concerns. The focus in this session is on retention while illustrating how it influences recruitment through hard and soft skills by leaders.

Many factors have converged in the last three years creating a dynamic employee situation. McKinsey found in 2022 that two out of five employees were thinking about leaving in the next three to six months. Gallup’s happiness survey found the stress, worry and sadness index has been ticking upward and setting new records. These factors are affected by those “soft” skills such as values, trust, self-awareness, and even communication which can be “hard” to master.

This session will address those soft skills and what the new generation of leaders and employees want and how we get our people to stay. Participants will explore some of their own values and how it applies in their workplace, as well as where collaboration fits with trust, conflict, and high-performing teams. Competencies for new leaders will be examined in the context of team interaction and decision-making. The activities for participants will illustrate the concepts and they will leave with some resources.

Speakers:

Francis Eberle,  Senior Leadership and Organization Advisor, Price Associates

Francis Eberle, PhD, is leadership and organizational advisor, speaker and author. Francis believes that people development is business development. At Price Associates he coaches leaders, and teams to help them see things they may not see themselves, in particular those who may have run into a block or just want to up their game.

After spending more than 25 years as an executive, Francis is uniquely positioned to help individuals and organizations. He has successfully partnered with leaders and teams to improve their skills, plan strategically, solve complex problems, and grow financial and programmatic resources. He is certified as a coach and facilitator for a suite of psychological assessment tools, and virtual facilitation. He is also a facilitator and coach for The Complete Leader program.

His most recent book is Connected Leadership; Engage your workforce to lead themselves. He has presented widely on leadership, organizational development, and education policy. He has assisted fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses and nonprofits in a range of industry sectors.  He received a Bachelor of Science from Boston University, a Masters from the University of Connecticut, a PhD from Lesley University and is a Harvard Business School Executive Management program graduate.

David Nemi, GM, Franklin Printing

David is a third-generation member of Franklin Printing located in Farmington. Since 1969 the company has been active in the printing Industry, first as a newspaper publisher, then in the 1980s switching over to a general commercial printer. They currently employ over 50 people, processing over 5,000 orders a year for individuals and companies throughout the US. David graduated from Babson College in 2003 with a degree in Marketing and Economics and joined the business shortly after to help organize the customer service and sales teams. Today, he finds himself managing the overall operations. When not at work he can often be found on a golf course during the summers, on the slopes of Sugarloaf during the winter or in the kitchen cooking for family and friends.

Lee Ann Lowe, Human Resources Manager, Jøtul North America

Lee Ann Lowe is a human resource leader with over 25 years of operations and human resource management experience.   She has led and managed HR teams in many industries, from manufacturing to finance.   Lee Ann is the HR Manager for Jøtul North America, in Gorham and is a graduate of Husson University with a MS in Business Administration. She has been an adjunct professor in the business administration program at Husson University for over 20 years, holds her SHRM-SCP, Senior Professional Human Resource (SPHR) designation, and a Certificate in Human Resource Management.