Executive INSIGHTS with Bâton Global

BY CHAD KLEPPE PRESIDENT/CEO

MBI’s most recent Strategic Plan calls for the creation and development of an exclusive forum tailored specifically to executives within our membership. MBI will strive to provide perspectives to leaders within our membership-base through a program we are calling “Executive Insights”. Here, company leaders will have an opportunity to participate in exclusive idea and thought leadership sessions. (Only executive leadership from MBI’s membership will be invited.)

To help with the facilitation of this series, MBI has enlisted the services of Bâton Global. This group provides strategy, leadership, innovation and research services across Iowa and around the world. Bâton Global has earned a name for itself as a research group that has helped start-ups to Fortune 100 companies with strategic and innovative ideas.

As part of our scope of services with Bâton Global, a series of focus groups were held to gather information and perspectives from a select group of MBI leaders. Representatives from Bâton Global facilitated these focus groups during the MBI Annual Winter Conference. The focus groups, at the request of Bâton Global, were made up of executives from general contractors, specialty contractors and design professionals from throughout Iowa, representing most every aspect of the industry. This is important to best capture perspectives and insights that will aid in Bâton Global’s findings, which will be presented as part of the Executive Insights program.

With information gathered from industry leaders via the focus groups, next Bâton Global will create a series of online surveys to garner additional thoughts from within the MBI membership.

While the surveying process continues, researchers from Bâton Global will also be collecting information from various local, regional, national and international sources with the goal of aggregating trends impacting not only the construction industry, but also the many sectors that MBI members target for market development opportunities.

Finally, Bâton Global will host two sessions in which the information will be shared with executives within the MBI membership. These invite only, exclusive programs will be held on May 4th and September 12th

MBI is excited to provide this program as a way to enhance member engagement and provide value for your membership investment.

We are pleased to partner with Merchants Bonding Company as the lead sponsor of the Executive Insights series.

BY ADAM DOBRASKA MEMBER SERVICES ASSOCIATE

MBI members will soon have a new resource available! We plan to attract people to the construction industry through a "reverse" job board concept. We are excited to add the reverse job board concept on IowaConstructionJobs.com. Our intent is to market this concept within the Iowa Workforce Development offices (IowaWORKS offices) along with other entities such as chambers of commerce within and outside of the state. There will be a bank of applicants that only MBI members will be able to reach out to once they are in the system. People seeking employment opportunities in the trades will be able to upload their resume on the user-friendly job board, which will allow MBI member companies to view them based on what they are looking for and if they are a good fit. An approval process is also in place for each application received. Once approved, the candidate's information will be uploaded in the bank of resumes. We are very excited to get this up and running, as we believe that this will be a vital resource for connecting people to the construction industry.

If you have family members that are seeking employment, and feel that the construction industry would be a great fit for them, please let them know about IowaConstructionJobs.com. They will be able to put their resume on display for many employers in the industry, which will likely result in meaningful employment in a rewarding career. We continue to market this resource to organizations that are connected to individuals that are seeking opportunities in the trades. The workforce shortage continues to be a struggle, and it is our duty to make sure that we are providing resources for our members to help them combat those struggles. We believe that the workforce is out there, and this will help connect them with amazing employers that could use their skillset. Our hope is that this resource will be another way that we can provide an impactful resource to our members.

For any questions regarding the MBI Job Board, please contact Adam DoBraska at ADoBraska@MBI.Build.

BY BEN HAMMES DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS