Jacobie McIntosh
Ohio University’s catering service assistant manager, Nicole Wires took time out of her busy schedule coordinating events at Ohio University to answer a few questions about the importance of communication in a professional atmosphere. During the following interview, Nicole emphasizes the importance of networking and explains key ways on how to be successful as a manager. Nicole has spent 13 years as a store manager at a local sports nutrition and health food store, and recently moved on to a large university management position. With over 14 years of managerial experience, Nicole has great insight on public speaking, professional writing and key skills to being a professional.
What is your professional history (include your timeline and roles)?
-July 2006-March 2019 All Pro Nutrition, LLC. Manager, purchaser, sales rep., social media manager, and store clerk.
-June 2008-May 2010 Washington-Morgan Community Action, Internship, media manager, content coordinator, event planner, grant writer, lobbyist
-August 2009-May 2010, WCMO Station Manager, on-air talent, news writer, station coordinator, hiring and event management, and representative.
-March 2019-Present, Assistant Manager, OHIO Catering & Culinary Services, Ohio University, plan and coordinate event logistics from food to venue settings, work with 200+ student employees, scheduling and payroll, organizational development and strategic goal planning. Instructor for etiquette lunch and dinner presentations.
What writing advice do you have for professional communicators?
Don’t get so caught up in planning and organizing your thoughts. Give yourself a time frame to “dump” as much information as possible out of your brain that pertains to the topic at hand, and then go back and organize that into your final piece. Often our creativity is blocked or hindered due to the stress we place to cohesively write out a piece from the get go.
What is your one pet peeve when it comes to professional writing?
Grammar issues! Always have multiple people edit your work before publishing.
What kind of business reports do you read and/or compose regularly?
The Wall Street Journal is what I read most often and I like to listen to NPR. Most of the reporting that I compose is for professional development with my students, or reports of effectiveness within our organization.
What are your writing suggestions to make that type of report successful?
Be precise and to the point, and have evidence be obvious. Don’t make your reader work for the answers they are seeking. They should be easy to read and digest.
What speaking advice do you have for professional communicators?
Think before you speak, and speak slow enough for the audience to capture what you are saying. It’s okay to pause between thoughts, as you prepare for your next train of thought so is your audience. Also be well equipped with knowledge about your topic. People seek honesty and integrity when they take the time to listen to someone speak. Make their time valued by providing factual information. This will make it easier for the information to flow from your mouth to their ears, and will make you feel more confident when you speak! Also have moments of interaction from the audience.
Name one thing you wish you had known about business communication prior to your professional career?
Never stop networking! It is so easy to slip into a routine at a job or organization and feel comfortable, and never push yourself to keep growing your network circle. However, you need to continually stretch your brain to learn and seek communication from people outside of your standard work or social circle. To be successful you must always network and continue to meet and verse with new people.
After assessing the Burning Glass list of Baseline Skills (2016), which skills not in the top 5 would you move into the top 5…and why?
The above bold skills I feel are most critical because they determine how successful you want to be, but also your style of writer and worker. Leadership skills are the most important in my mind because you have to be able to recognize your role within an environment. You may not lead every role within an organization but it is critical and important to everyone to be able to recognize when your time is up to lead, and to lead effectively. I also feel that you have to be able to cultivate healthy relationships with all types of workers. Some of these relationships may be easy to maintain, and others you may have to work on each and every day, this is where the positive disposition comes into play. It is easy to feel defeated sometimes due to the circumstances we are handed, but how you react is the most important thing. I also feel that communication skills are a must for any young professional.
What team skills do you feel young professionals need the most?
Good communication skills, willingness to be on a team, and positive disposition!
Key Takeaways
Nicole provided a great amount of advice to grow as a communicator specifically in the business world. Public speaking can be the most uncomfortable task for a lot of people but, as referenced below in the skills gap for baseline skills, is very important. A key piece of advice Nicole provided was to “pause between thoughts, as you prepare for your next train of thought so if your audience.” When put on the spot to speak to a group of people, often we do not think about the audience needing to actually comprehend what we are saying rather than speaking as fast as possible to escape the attention. While actually preparing train of thought rather than blurting out words, the audience has time to think about what was presented. “Brain dumping” as Nicole pointed out is a fantastic way to start writing. Dumping all thoughts onto paper is a great way to get ideas flowing and allow you to make sure everything you want to say is written down. Letting yourself write without any stress of formatting, or even spelling will increase creativity and productivity.
Networking is one of the most important things in the business world and in life in general. The thought of communicating with new people can be uncomfortable for some people, but it is crucial for growth. A good conversation with a person can teach so much, especially with people outside of your “standard work or social circle”. Gaining knowledge from someone with different viewpoints or beliefs as yourself will make you a more well rounded person and communicator.
Biography
Nicole spent 13 years running a small business called All Pro Nutrition in Marietta, Ohio. While at All Pro Nutrition, Nicole educated customers on vitamins, herbs and other supplements. She educated herself on her own time about all of the products that All Pro Nutrition sold, to make sure that she provided the best service for her customers. Nicole also organized sales and events, delegated tasks for employees, made schedules, contacted vendors for ordering, product research for introduction of new products, hiring, and was in charge of payroll. Essentially anything that needed done, Nicole was more than able to execute the task. While at All Pro Nutrition, Nicole became Now Foods Sports Nutrition certified and a certified Tactical Fitness Coach. Basically anything to do with the health and fitness industry, Nicole is highly educated. While working at All Pro Nutrition, Nicole also completed her bachelors in Radio and Television Broadcasting and a masters in corporate media. After 13 years at All Pro Nutrition, Nicole took a new direction with her career and moved on to an assistant management position at Ohio University in the catering and culinary services department. Going from a small business with no more than six employees, Nicole now oversees up to 300 employees. Keeping 50-300 student employees on task is a big part of her job. Not only does she work with her employees, she also has customers for events that she has to work with directly. Due to all of Nicole’s experiences, education and job history, she is a great person to learn from.
Nicole Wires Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nicolewires
Ohio University Culinary Services: https://www.ohio.edu/food/staff
