Give to Grill!

by Donna Rogers, SPHR, ILSHRM College Relations Director



Yeah that's right...this year's SHRM Foundation Chapter basket theme seems to be grilling.  Whereas last year it seemed to be Coffee and the year before that was Kindle and years before that it was IPods.  So what am I saying here? We are all a creature of habit.  We all copy each other. No! I say great minds think alike.  Oh yeah! ILSHRM Chapters have been donating theme (their own in fact) based baskets for several years just to help raise money for an organization that contributes to those great minds.  The SHRM Foundation!

What is the SHRM Foundation? Well in my own words based on my own person experience they are the organization I plug into in order to expand my own mind.  Maybe not directly but certainly indirectly.  I have been the recipient of a $750 scholarship for which they grant annually (many of these and other amounts).  The scholarship program helps active professionals as well as HR students.  In addition, I have participated in roundtables and facilitated them as well using their SHRM Foundation DVD Series.  I have also read many of their research reports as well as booklets containing new knowledge.  All of this has helped me become more productive over the years.

So why am I sharing all this? I am asking you to give to "possibly" grill using one of the three that will be given away at 10am tomorrow morning.  If you don't cook like me, there is a bunch more you can win instead like enough wine to slur your words for weeks, fix up your garden, check out the latest movie (with popcorn) or season those steaks your significant other grills for you.  Yep it's all there...a diverse group of 25 different baskets of goodies all for your money.

I gave $50 so I have 80 tickets to put in those baskets.  You can get tickets for as little as $5 buckets and you may win that hair product basket that I want with your few tickets.  It's the luck of the draw. So give to grill today or early tomorrow and help improve our profession!

The Art of Leadership (LIVE)

Reprinted with permission
Robin Schooling
http://hrschoolhouse.com

Editor's note: Special thanks to Robin for sharing her thoughts and experience on the Sunday workshop of #ILSHRM14.

The Illinois SHRM 2014 Annual Conference and Exposition (#ILSHRM14) kicked off this afternoon with a great pre-conference workshop – “The Art of Leadership” with Joe Gerstandt and Doug Shaw.

It was a wonderful afternoon exploring creativity and the possibilities that arise when we open our minds. Joe and Doug challenged us to consider what happens at the intersection of communication, style and intent. We sketched, we drew, and we laughed. We practiced storytelling techniques and we co-created. It was a safe, positive, encouraging environment and a super way to get our brains operating in a different manner than the way in which we often walk into a conference.

Joe pointed out that in HR we sometimes design things because they need to be done and not necessarily because we think through how they will work.  And as we moved through some ensuing exercises we saw how this plays out; when we change the dynamics of a group, or perhaps the messenger this can have an impact on not just the interaction but also on the end result.

The over riding takeaway that i got from the workshop was the need for those of us who work in HR to think about how we can ‘humanize” ( to shamelessly steal a word used by others) not just how we practice HR, but also how we operate as leaders…and co-workers to all the employees in our organizations.

After an exercise on using improv techniques (practicing “yes…and…”) at our tables, an attendee in the workshop pointed out that “building on the ideas of other people is much more difficult than disagreeing.”

Think about that. Whether you work in human resources or any other business function. Whether you are interacting with people on the job, in a volunteer organization or even, let’s face it, with friends and family.

Quite often, in a rush to get things done or with a personal desire to “sell our idea’ to all any who will listen, we perhaps move past both seeking support and being supportive … and right into battle mode. Winning mode.

Is it wrong to want to be victorious? Of course not. But it’s not just about “winner takes all.”

Winners can share; stories, emotions, ideas, and support.

And so can leaders.

The Illinois SHRM 2014 Annual Conference and Exposition (#ILSHRM14) kicked off this afternoon with a great pre-conference workshop – “The Art of Leadership” with Joe Gerstandt and Doug Shaw.

It was a wonderful afternoon exploring creativity and the possibilities that arise when we open our minds. Joe and Doug challenged us to consider what happens at the intersection of communication, style and intent. We sketched, we drew, and we laughed. We practiced storytelling techniques and we co-created. It was a safe, positive, encouraging environment and a super way to get our brains operating in a different manner than the way in which we often walk into a conference.

Joe pointed out that in HR we sometimes design things because they need to be done and not necessarily because we think through how they will work.  And as we moved through some ensuing exercises we saw how this plays out; when we change the dynamics of a group, or perhaps the messenger this can have an impact on not just the interaction but also on the end result.

The over riding takeaway that i got from the workshop was the need for those of us who work in HR to think about how we can ‘humanize” ( to shamelessly steal a word used by others) not just how we practice HR, but also how we operate as leaders…and co-workers to all the employees in our organizations.

After an exercise on using improv techniques (practicing “yes…and…”) at our tables, an attendee in the workshop pointed out that “building on the ideas of other people is much more difficult than disagreeing.”

Think about that. Whether you work in human resources or any other business function. Whether you are interacting with people on the job, in a volunteer organization or even, let’s face it, with friends and family.

Quite often, in a rush to get things done or with a personal desire to “sell our idea’ to all any who will listen, we perhaps move past both seeking support and being supportive … and right into battle mode. Winning mode.
Is it wrong to want to be victorious? Of course not. But it’s not just about “winner takes all.”
Winners can share; stories, emotions, ideas, and support.
And so can leaders.

ILSHRM Kicks Off With Sunday Super Session

Illinois SHRM kicked off the 2014 Illinois SHRM state conference with a special workshop Sunday afternoon featuring Doug Shaw and Joe Gerstandt. Doug and Joe shared three hours with ILSHRM members teaching the Art of Leadership.

Doug and Joe's objective was for participants to be better equipped to introduce creativity and innovation into their workplace. It's proven that it matters, but creativity is often absent in workplaces for reasons not limited to, according to participants, being too busy, too risky, and too limited.

So how did we work on our creativity? We drew. Yes, we drew pictures.
It was fun, rejuvenating, thought-provoking. It was back-to-the-basics creative.  But here's what we learned. Creativity is best served when there is no fear of judgment.  It was free-for-all sketching when we knew we could draw our very own masterpiece and it would be tossed on the floor, to be seen by no one. But we were, perhaps,  more careful when we knew we had to show our work to our peers. Do we judge our staff and colleagues to the point of stifling creativity at the workplace?

Creativity can be defined as improvisation, doing something that is not planned. But to go without a plan, to pave a new way, to think differently, you still need some guiding rules and principles.

Rule 1. There are no mistakes.

Three principles:

1. Listen.
2. Say "Yes."
3. Commit.

In other words, Say "yes and..." 

Consider something like this: "Yes, I like that idea AND we could also...."

Doug and Joe brought creativity to a fabulous workshop at ILSHRM14.

Yes, AND in all the conversations, experiments and collaborations, we learned to bring creativity back to the workplace.