It would be impossible to sum up everything students should learn in a Business 101 course. Still, business leaders believe there are basic skills educators could incorporate into their lesson plans that would better prepare students for the working world.

That is why 18 Greater Des Moines companies have agreed to participate in a first-ever conference called “Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Careers.” The four-day conference, aimed at high school teachers, will give participants an opportunity to meet with Central Iowa business leaders and learn about the skills they’re looking for in candidates.

Conceived by a group of organizations that make up the Business and Education Center, the conference is part of a larger effort to avoid future worker shortages by encouraging students to start careers in Iowa.

“We want our students to stay here in Iowa,” said Jean Carlson-Johnson, special projects manager at the Iowa Department of Economic Development, one of the conference sponsors, “and what we’re trying to do is bridge that gap between business and educators, which includes looking at skills [the students] should know and where are the shortages.”

For several Central Iowa businesses, the skills young workers should know don’t necessarily relate to specific job requirements, but rather to an overall ability to communicate well and adapt to a rapidly changing business climate.

“We look for people that not only have the mechanical aptitude that fits well with what we do,” said Aaron Johnson, marketing manager at Accumold LLC in Ankeny, “but folks that understand how to work in a fast-paced environment, understand how to work as a team and truly understand what teamwork is about. … There are skills that we can teach with the right attitude and the right aptitude. ”

This message will likely be a theme as educators tour 18 businesses in groups of 10 during the first two days of the conference, which runs June 19-22. Most of the participating businesses are in the industry clusters Iowa is focused on developing: information technology, manufacturing and bioscience. Eighty-three Iowa educators have signed up for the program so far; the maximum capacity is 100.

In addition to touring businesses, the educators will develop their own business plans and listen to guest speakers from the Young Professionals Connection, entrepreneurial groups, human resources departments and more.

The ultimate goal, said Carlson-Johnson, is to see how participants can apply what they learn. Not only will the teachers spend time discussing classroom applications on the last day of the event, but they will also be able to communicate with one another through a blog as they prepare lesson plans over the summer.

The concept for this conference started last summer as representatives from Des Moines Area Community College, Heartland Area Education Agency 11, the Iowa Association of Business and Industry Foundation, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Employment Solutions at DMACC and Iowa Workforce Development met to discuss education and business issues.

All these organizations want “to make those connections between education and business a little more seamless and clear,” said Susen Schirmer, a professional development consultant with Heartland AEA.

“We have a lot of teachers that graduated high school, went to college, got a four-year degree and came back and taught and have not had a lot of experience in the business sector,” she said. “This is an opportunity for them to see what’s going on and prepare their students.”

The conference is also in response to a greater emphasis in school systems on standardized testing and ensuring that teachers are highly qualified.

However, even though schools are placing a greater emphasis on mathematics, science and reading, business leaders believe an overall desire to learn and an ability to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment are just as important.

These are the types of skills Frank Russell, president and CEO of GeoLearning Inc., a West Des Moines e-learning and training company, will focus on when he speaks at the conference. The ability to synthesize new information and handle change is especially important, he said, as people tend to change careers several times and technology continues to evolve quickly.

Russell believes schools should emphasize history, which gives students an understanding of the past and how they can do things similarly or differently in the future, as well as art appreciation, which inspires creativity. He also stresses a need to learn languages, especially Spanish.

“It just worries me that someone spends an entire career learning engineering and then you ask that person to become a leader and they don’t know how,” Russell said. “They don’t have the broader skill set. If they have a broad good liberal arts background and some appreciation of history, arts and literature, that will help them communicate with people later when they have to assume a leadership role.”

At GeoLearning, Russell said he looks to hire people in the technical support division who may not have strong IT skills, but can communicate well with the customers. Even his main software architect studied lute music in Switzerland and later gained experience in IT through on-the-job work.

“I would rather their education give them a broad background, and I’ll train them in specific things they need to do,” he said. “I can train very efficiently. It’s hard for me to go back and say, ‘Hey, did you read this book? Study those types of things? Do you know how to write and how to communicate?'”

Accumold shares GeoLearning’s basic philosophy, valuing a candidate’s ability to handle change and a willingness to learn.

The company, which designs and manufactures molded plastic parts, has been especially active in trying to attract young workers. It has a program with DMACC in which the company selects a few people in the school’s tool and die program each year to work at the company part time while they finish work on their degree.

Based on the interest level for this conference, those involved in planning expect to host it again next year, as well as look at other programs that support the same initiatives. For example, through new legislation, the IDED is working on an internship program to help students at Iowa’s colleges gain experience with companies in the targeted industries.

“Our role,” said Carlson-Johnson, “is pretty clear that we need to be involved in these kinds of efforts.”