The Sioux Falls Advantage

This month’s Talent Talks delves deeper into the “why” behind the tagline The Sioux Falls Advantage and how our community’s ability to navigate and respond to change is supported by a strong foundation.

At the Sioux Falls Development Foundation (SFDF), we recognize our community’s resilient nature is a key advantage, especially during this uncertain time. It equips us to address our economic and workforce challenges. And it is one of our goals to help communicate that position of strength through the lens of attracting and retaining a workforce that meets our community’s needs.

The new decade is here, and with that, experts in all fields, including business and human resources, are making projections and predictions for what’s to come in 2020 and beyond. Accordingly, the first meeting in 2020 of the Recruitment Council, hosted by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, presented a variety of HR trends for businesses to boost talent attraction and retention efforts in the new decade.

From the use of HR chatbots and other data-driven HR platforms to talent incentives and employer branding, the best practices that shape workforce development are the unifying themes that call together the Recruitment Council on a quarterly basis each year.

Led by Brad Schoenfelder, senior executive director of shared services for Sanford Health, and Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, nearly 85 members of the Recruitment Council registered for the event on Feb. 27 at the Sanford Research Center.

One concept that’s central to workforce development today? Technological innovation.

In order to position the city of Sioux Falls, and the state of South Dakota, as a regional powerhouse of business excellence, investment in infrastructure that allows our city to grow its technology footprint is vital. And thanks to the great work of many in and outside of Sioux Falls, advances in innovation, including technology infrastructure and research/development facilities, will work in tandem with city, state, and federal organizations and stakeholders to attract a talented, technically skilled future workforce home to South Dakota.

As a gesture of gratitude for their contributions of time, talents and financial support, all of which helped to make the second annual WIN in Workforce Summit a success, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation gifted commemorative plaques to the 40 speakers and the 13 sponsor organizations who supported the August event.

“Due to the generosity of our business partners, the WIN in Workforce Summit was a resounding success,” said Denise Guzzetta, Vice President of Talent and Workforce Development. “We at the Sioux Falls Development Foundation are grateful to the speakers for sharing their experiences and to the sponsor companies for supporting our shared vision to equip and to grow the Sioux Falls area workforce for the betterment of our business community.”

They came for information and expertise, and left with actionable strategies and new connections to take back to their workplace.

Approximately 300 Sioux Falls-area professionals attended last week’s second annual WIN in Workforce Summit, produced by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a five-person organization or a 5,000-person one, the women delivering a breakout session at Thursday’s WIN in Workforce Summit have a message for you.

“These are foundational pieces any organization needs to be aware of today to attract and retain and keep really good employees,” said Christine Buell, director of leadership development at Avera Health.

Buell will be joined for a discussion with Linda Halliburton, associate dean of workforce education and professional development at the Community College for Sioux Falls. The breakout, titled “How to equip the next generation of leaders for any industry,” will be moderated by Pam Hanneman, vice president and business banking manager at First Premier Bank.

Their session is one of several in the area of talent attraction. The WIN Summit, presented by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, also includes expert insight in the areas of talent development and business practices.