NEW ORLEANS, LA - How do you harness the power of talent and keep its energy focused on boosting the business? Center for Growing Talent by PMA (CGTbyPMA) looks to give you the answer, sponsoring sessions focused on talent at the rapidly-approaching Fresh Summit Convention & Expo.

Head of the strategy, culture, and change management consulting firm Pro-Voke, Steve Campbell is one of the experts on hand to show you how. With 30 years in the supermarket business under his belt before founding Pro-Voke, he is slated to mediate the Fresh Summit workshop “Great Teams + Great Culture = Peak Performance,” which will provide insights from pros who understand the impact culture has on an organization’s success

When I ask Steve what exactly does “great culture” looks like, he hints that, “it’s not about throwing an annual company barbecue.”

Increasingly, employees across all generations cite work-life flexibility as key to a positive work experience.

Steve says that organizations that do a better job retaining employees, have “stopped thinking about work/life balance and started thinking about work/life integration. Employees want their work life and the rest of their lives to mesh to help them engage and be satisfied.”

But, he also stresses that there is more to promoting peak performance than offering work-life integration.

“In successful companies, there’s a culture of people coming together around a shared vision and a shared purpose,” Steve comments. “They know what’s important, and they also know how to say no to things that aren’t part of their strategy.”

Additionally, Steve says that a fully engaged employee is someone who brings the full measure of “head, heart, and gut” to every task.

“When employees are included and feel like they are making a contribution, when they feel like their values are connected to the organization’s values, then there’s intrinsic motivation for them to want to stay and succeed,” he explains when I ask how an employer can tap that measure of commitment.

Conversely, he adds, people who aren’t engaged—who “quit, but stay,” as he says—can be detrimental.

The session, which I was told will be highly interactive, includes panelists like Michael Burchell with McKinsey & Company, Kristen Diver of the restaurant industry’s The Dinex Group, Evan Kelsay at LinkedIn, and well-known produce industry senior strategist Julie Krivanek.

When it comes to attracting the talent you want to retain, Executive Director of the nonprofit, charitable CGTbyPMA Margi Prueitt shares her thoughts.

“The global fresh produce and floral industry is competing for talent with better-known companies like the Amazons, Googles and big banks of the world. We have to be attractive to people who don’t know much about us,” she says. “Our companies must build cultures that differentiate them from that competition, and the talent strategies and skills that will make their companies successful…CGTbyPMA exists to help our industry do just that.”

If attracting, developing, and retaining talent are amongst your key priorities, this year’s Fresh Summit includes a plethora of education and networking events.

Thursday, Oct. 19, will offer a pair of additional talent-themed workshops on attracting diverse candidates, and on motivating and engaging employees in today’s digital age, while Friday will offer a Talent Industry Reception in the evening.

CGT will also hold the already-sold-out annual Women’s Fresh Perspectives Leadership Breakfast on Thursday morning, as well as the 5K Race for Talent fundraiser on Friday morning.

CGTbyPMA’s oldest student-attraction program, the Pack Family Career Pathways Program, will bring 40 university students from all over to be immersed in industry career opportunities at Fresh Summit, with the help of industry mentors. The year-long leadership 2017 Emerging Leaders Program, designed to develop promising employees, will hold its capstone class and graduation for this year’s 40 young leaders.

“The produce industry is an incredibly robust, passionate environment. If organizations can extend some of that same muscle into their people, some really great things can happen,” Steve concludes.

To learn how CGTbyPMA can help your company attract, develop, and retain talent—and the multiple ways you can show industry leadership—visit www.growingtalentbypma.org.

We will see you in New Orleans October 19-21 for the 2017 Fresh Summit.

PMA Fresh Summit