Crimson and Gold Connection; Jill Schiefelbein

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. Today, our guest is business owner Jill Schiffle-Bine who delivered the keynote at the fifth annual Faculty Professional Development Day at Pittsburgh State University. Jill, thanks so much for joining us today. Start off by telling us what your connection is to the four-state area. I was actually born and raised in Pittsburgh, Kansas, and before I moved away in 2000, literally lived about oh three or four blocks from this very spot. You were invited to speak on campus last week. What did you speak at and what was kind of the message you delivered and explain your time on campus here? It was so neat to be asked to come deliver the keynote at the fifth annual Faculty Professional Development Day here at Pittsburgh State. It's interesting because I grew up here. I was born and raised here. I grew up looking at the university, watching what it does, being in awe of the college students when I was younger and just knowing what the institution means to the community. A couple of years ago, I was doing a webinar

and someone from Pitt State was in attendance and I looked at the roster and I said, oh, Pittsburgh State University, I'm actually from there and two years later, I'm physically here speaking. My topic today was the human touch communication and online education. I really focus a lot of my business life on the intersections of communication, education, and technology and clearly when it comes to being a university, those three areas are very important. And so you did come to the university to speak. What are you currently doing in your career? I have a couple of different businesses that I run. One is impromptu guru, which is a presentation and public speaking company, which helps people speak well anytime and every time and I deliver videos, coaching, training to help people become better speakers. And then my main business is the dynamic communicator and that is where I focus on those intersections, communication, education, technology as they pertain to both institutions of higher learning

and also corporate environments really focus on how we can use communication practices effectively to develop our employees and also to retain them, especially when it comes to the millennial population. Why do you think, in your opinion, do so many people fear getting in front of people and speaking? You know, I think it's because people are being judged. Most of us are afraid of being judged in some way, shape, or form. And when you get up and you put yourself and your livelihood and your opinions in front of a live audience, there's always a fear of maybe rejection or people judging you in a way that may not be fair may quite frankly be harsh. And a lot of people are just paralyzed by that fear. And for me, I feel very fortunate. I grew up, as I said here in Pittsburgh Kansas, went to PHS and was able to be involved in a lot of different leadership opportunities. And through those, I did a lot of public speaking early on. And when I was speaking, I'd get on stage, I deliver a message, and

then people would do things. And it was quite a unique phenomenon for me being a young, you know, girl at the time saying, wow, I spoke and people do things. My words have power. And ever since then, I've really just been intoxicated by the idea that words have meaning, words have power. And if you use them, hopefully for the right way, you can impact a ton of positive change. And I was just so honored to be asked to come back and use my words to help inspire and hopefully influence the way faculty here teach. What do you think the biggest hurdle is when you're trying to help an individual or a group to become more effective at communicating? I think most people have some type of preconceived notion of what effectiveness is in different fields. So for example, if I say you need to be an effective public speaker, you probably have an image of your head of someone very professionally dressed, suit and tie, business attire in some way, standing at a podium and delivering well articulated message. And you know what for

some people that is excellent speaking and for some people that is excellent communication. But if you would force me, for example, into that same paradigm, into that same view, I would not enjoy what I do. I would not be as effective because part of my communication skill and style is being out there and interacting and not holding still being in one place behind a podium. For others, it's different. And I think as a society, we all try to fit ourselves into perfect molds and to preconceived notions. And what I love about what I do is I get to go in and work with companies and then work with the employees and say, listen, there's more than one way to communicate. Let's find a way that's going to be both effective in a way that meets your goal, but is also unique and authentic to you as a human being. Someone may not like to laugh out loud a lot, but that doesn't mean they can't be sarcastic in other instances. And they express their humor in that way. And I try to bring out that uniqueness in each person so they're comfortable and more confident, communicating.

Talk about the importance of individuals within a company or business to be effective at communicating with each other. Communication is everything. And we make decisions. We build empires. We tear down empires. We do a lot of things because of communication and how communication is interpreted is essential. So where I see my role is really helping companies better understand how their communications have impact. For example, a company starts a new ad campaign or maybe something goes wrong with the company and it becomes public news. How they communicate to their external audiences to the consumers and other people in society is important. But it's also important how they communicate about what happened to people internally in their company. And a lot of companies will focus a lot on the external imaging, but not as much on the internally. You can look at as external branding and internal branding. And we're for me where communication plays a big role is making sure that companies and organizations have what I call messaging symmetry where what is

going out is the same as what it's being communicated internally. And everyone is on the same page with that message. And that means if a company is saying we're a family oriented company, we value our employees that they're actually practicing what they preach. And that isn't always the case. What made you want to take this path of helping individuals and businesses and so forth in their communication skills? Really growing up in a small town, you know, ties back to Pittsburgh Kansas here. You saw firsthand how people get involved in a community. And I think that's one thing I'll always be grateful for is my Midwestern roots, the upbringing that I had here, the small town feel, and seeing how a whole community can really rallied together to make something happen. I mean, just looking at Pitt State, how much it's grown from when I was a kid growing up here to what it is now, fascinates me. And it's actually pretty inspiring to see that rate of growth. And taking that community mindset, knowing again, like I said earlier,

what power words have to really transform the way things are, I like to see what I do as bringing communities together through the use of effective communication. And so whether that's speaking at a university, I'm here doing and talking to faculty about different ways to look at learning and teaching for their students so they can be better contributors to society in the end and build up their respective communities. Or if it's working with corporations and businesses and other organizations so that they can build communities internally so that they are more effective, profitable, of course, what business doesn't want to be, and more sustainable in the long term. And I think the value of community that was instilled in me here really shapes a lot of the perspective that I have when I consult for clients and train. We've talked about your upbringing in Pittsburgh and we've somehow avoided where you currently reside. Where is that? And how is it? You know, right now I am living in the heart of New York City, not quite the heart, but in the Upper West Side, a couple of blocks from Central Park and I just adore it. I feel so fortunate to be able to be there.

There's actually a handful of, maybe not a handful, a couple that I know of, of people from Pittsburgh, Kansas who live in or around New York City and we've all kind of emailed or connected at some point in time because let's be honest, when you come from here, you know you have a common thread and no matter where you're at in the country, it's kind of like an alumni network, even if you weren't an alumni of the university per se, you're a Pittsburgh, Kansas alumni, and you can always reach out to people. So I'm in New York City loving it, spent 14 years in Arizona before that, and I'll be in New York for a while, but we'll see where life takes me. Music Join us for Crimson & Gold Connection, Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350. Music