using job specific or employer needs data will be helpful to investigate talent needs in my area. we also work specifically with priority populations and over time we have come to learn about some categories of needs that come up periodically for which we are trying to prepare to provide for. 

It def could have helped in conversations with job seekers on job skills and or on job goals.

In my region/ really in my job, job analysis is best used and this lesson has been most helpful in using it with our job seekers to help them see the skills needed for the job they want (which often times is a bit of a reach if not 2 levels above their present skill level) and the job they can get today. Using job analyses has helped me have this conversation with job seekers without making it a "me vs them". Instead it's a conversation more about what they want (and we look on ONET and see the job zone, family, skills, training and education needed) and can (without "emotion") compare it to their current skills.  
Using the career road map also provides a tool where the job path can be set with a visual queue for what skills are need, what job they need today to achieve the skills they need for the job they want tomorrow.  It gives them a path and helps them feel comfortable with a job or step they need to take which is less than ideal, knowing they have a plan and a trajectory to move forward.

Last communication challenge I had was this week: a colleague and I went into a meeting with a client and we were not on the same page going in... I realized they wanted to discuss a long term strategy while I thought the meeting was about the short term (going into production next week strategy). When i realized it, i suggested that what they were discussing was long term, maybe phase 3 strategy and I would like to propose we discuss short term needs.  I heard from them 2 days later that i derailed their conversation.  In hind-site, I think next time, I will propose the 2 topics and ask them which they want to discuss then and then set up a time to discuss the other later. Letting people decide what they want to be the topic/ agenda for discussion helps them feel in control and in charge and overall more productive. 

I typically will add an agenda to meeting calendars but i need to do a better job of reviewing the planned agenda and asking if anyone has anything else. I need to be better about giving a time limit to each item and sending notes/ next steps after the meeting.