SHRMStrat Day 3

Yesterday was the final day of the SHRM Strategy Conference for 2012 which ended on a deep note in my opinion.  The world famous Deepak Chopra discussed topics like Karma, positive intention, and psychological implications to value added leadership.  He began with a touching story about an incident that happened when he was only seven years old related to a rose his mother had received that thousands came to see and pay deep respect to.  When the rose finally dried out his mother had a party with her closest friends to distribute a pedal to them which they all valued as if it were diamonds.  Weeks later, young Deepak asked his mother what was so important about the rose and she told him they were the soul of India.  The impact of that story has had a profound effect on his life and mission ever since.

Mr. Chopra is actually an MD but learned early in life that in order to achieve well being one needs to well inside and out.  He is actually known as the Dr. of body, soul and mind.  During his session he asked us to do several exercises that allowed you to think about the suggestions her was sharing and at one point made people realize that it is our soul that is present and not our mind.  For example, the soul may be listening to him but the mind may be thing king "why did I not go to the ladies room before I sat down".  The purpose for all this deep discussion and understanding what to set the stage for what is necessary in leadership to help individuals manifest their dreams. It's all about being intentional every day and being present with that person which includes not looking down at your iPhone all the time.  The most important person in your life is the one in front of you and the most important moment is the one you are in right here and now.

Trust, Stability, Hope & Compassion are components of stories leaders must tell just like the one he started the program with at this session.  There were so many jewels he shared that it is difficult to put them all down here but one famous acronym he shared using the word leaders is this:

Look and listen

Emotional bonding

Awareness

Doing

Empowerment

Responsibility

Synchronicity

He went on to explain what he meant with each of the above words or phrases and ended with both a call to action and a suggestion that our next phase of human evolution will be survival of the wisest instead of prior survival of the fittest.  It takes intention to be wise about how to increase other well being on a day to day basis.  Ultimately, you will increase your own well being by intentionally waking up each day with the mindset to consistently be positive and uplifting to others which will in turn increase the well being of those around you.

In addition to the well being of individuals within the company that Mr. Chopra spoke of, I also had the opportunity to attend a session the focused on a cultural aspect that is very important now and into the future for companies to be successful.  Workflex was the focus of Cali Williams Yost session titled HR and Business as Strategic co-owners of Flexibility.  The biggest takeaway from this session is that workplace flexibility cannot be a policy or program that HR writes and expects the leaders to implement.  Like other sessions this week there must be a common element among all stakeholders which is trust.  This element along with others create a culture of workplace flexibility where ultimately employees are trusted to get the job done while they flexibly manage other aspects of their life. 

Surveys had cited workplace flexibility, when employees have it, as a top reason they stay with the organization.  It is more important than pay as employees would give up 8.6% of their compensation just to have the option of workflex.  The forecast for 2020 in tech journals say 26% of the workforce will be working remotely.  That is just covering technical positions while I have personally heard statistics that say 68% of our overall workforce will be working from home at least part of the time by as early as 2016.  This is very promising as I have lost excellent employees over the years who wanted flexible schedules so they could be home with their new babies more.  I started my company 11 years ago so I could be home with my son more when he was younger because I missed so much of my daughters younger years.  This whole concept supports our opening speaker Linda Rottenberg's comment about how you can be an employee for a short time but a mommy forever.  Ms. Yost has a blog about the topic called work+life fit, inc with some very important tips for organizations who want to move in this direction.

In addition, SHRM has moved in this direction providing resources and information about this topic for a couple years now partnering with Families and Work Institute.  The second annual SHRM Workflex conference will be held in Chicago later this month.

All in all this conference was a hit and I know many are looking forward to next years strategy conference which will be October 1-3 in Scottdale, Arizona so they can earn another nine plus hours of strategic HRCI credit, network with some awesome practitioners, and takeaway valuable ideas to help their employees move forward.

by Donna Rogers, SPHR, ILSHRM Director

SHRMStrat Day 1

The first day of the SHRM Strategy Conference went off without a hitch!  Several hundred HR pros gathered at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa to hear first from none other than the CHRO of SHRM, Jeff T. H. Pon, PhD who is referred to on Twitter as SHRMJeff.  He is our emcee for the week and I'm looking forward to hearing more from him as he tries to avoid suggestions from 260k members about how he should handle HR at SHRM (his comment not mine).  The board chair, Jose Berrios, followed with the state of the workforce before the highlight of the entire day to took the stage, Linda Rottenberg, CEO and co-founder of Endeavor.

My overall reaction to Linda's keynote is "she gets it"!  That is not because she praised the HR profession more than once, but because she explained many specific experiences of both her own and the entrepreneurs that her non-profit organization, Endeavor, works so hard to assist that demonstrated her thorough understanding of how HR has a huge impact on the bottom line of any organization.  The organization that started with inspiration that came from three cab rides.  It was her third cab ride where the driver shared that he had a PhD in Engineering but had taken the job because he couldn't find anything else due to the economy.  She thought to herself, whey doesn't he start his own company, and realized resources were limited for individuals who may have a desire when the economy doesn't support our working for others.  As an entrepreneur myself for 11 years now, I totally understand the cab drivers predicament and was inspired by Linda's drive and determination to make a difference.

Aside from the details of running a worldwide organization and sharing all the HR and general business related experiences and challenges, we learned she was very human and not just super woman.  She shared a personal story about having to tell her staff about her commitment to her husband and family values when he was initially diagnosed with cancer.  The staff let her know that they appreciated her humanness after years of seeing her go nonstop and had gained a new found respect for her as a person.  The lesson she learned from that experience was invaluable.  She ended with a powerful statement about how we get a chance to make a difference in our profession for a short part of our lifetime but she is a mom forever.  Family values are extremely important and work flexibility is not just a generational issue it is a workplace issue and we all need to do what we can to make it ok for people to take care of what matters most.

I had a chance to interview, Vince Caldwell, who shared the book store highlights related to Strategic HRM which you can watch here:

There where four afternoon sessions to chose from and I chose a table at the front of the Using Social Media to Increase Collaboration, Productivity and Engagement session which was unfortunately a disappointment because it was simply too basic.  However,  I didn't feel comfortable enough to leave having been right up front.  I was not the only one as I discovered during the presidential debates later in the evening.  The reason I felt this way which is really a message to all conference speakers was because she didn't know her audience or perhaps she assumed from the low online participation up to and during the conference that everyone in the room was needing the basics.  For me I was looking at the title and description thought we would get into some case studies about how companies were actually using it to collaborate and engage employees.  We heard from Linda Rottinger earlier that her company uses Chatter.com internally to increase productivity, collaboration, and engagement and that was not even her topic.  I was expecting more examples and software ideas.  However, after reviewing the description there was one word that answered my misunderstanding of expectations (LEAP).  It says "by taking the leap and introducing social media into your organization".  She focused on that one word by "selling" all the reasons for using social media in the organization.

Getting back to knowing your audience.  I get that this group is on the trailing end of actually using social media which is evident online and by what one of the participants stood up and mentioned about how more of the attendees should have been there.  They should have been in there indeed to hear the basic message she had but for those of us who already get it and was in the room I believe we were looking for more.  The lady sitting next to me was using a program similar to chatter to engage all 800 employees all over the country.  I be the group would have liked to hear more about here experience implementing, etc.  With all this said she absolutely was engaging and well spoken.

Finally, the evening could not have ended any better than seeing how important the social issues in this country are to the HR professionals in attendance by the turnout for the big screen debate showing and cash bar with appetizers that each participant paid for themselves.  Personal commitment to staying informed as a voter was evident by e approximately 100 person turnout between both rooms.

by Donna Rogers, SPHR, ILSHRM Director

Hockey, Human Resources and Illinois SHRM

I am very passionate about things that I enjoy,  Two of my passions are Human Resources and Hockey,  This is an eclectic combination, I understand, but this is who I am. Recognizing that I am passionate about these things,  I sometimes contemplate, how do I get better at these things? 


Work at them, I must work at them, I resolve. I work to get better. That, I believe is what drives most, people to attend conferences.   In looking to express this thought, I turn to a quote from a retired National Hockey League veteran Paul Coffey.  

"Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top." 

So if you subscribe to Mr. Coffey's philosophy, this should be a great reason enough to attend Illinois SHRM in 2012.  While I understand there are a myriad of reasons folks may attend, we all want to be on our "A" game, all day -every day.  To do this you must know what is happening out in the larger world of business and Human Resources.


This year we will be offering up presentations from some of the folks who are at the forefront of our field. We have four keynote sessions this year 

• Simon T, Bailey
• Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen
• Cy Wakeman
• Libby Sartain

I personally have seen Simon, Joe & Jason as well as Cy present and they were fabulous. Libby's reputation is equal to that of the three that I have seen.  All four of these folks can help get you to the top, with their inspirational presentations and writings.


Once you get past the keynote sessions there are 30 other sessions available. Sadly, you will only be able to see five sessions in their entirety, as  we have six different presenters in each of   the five slots.  I reviewed this matrix 30 speakers. I can personally vouch for 18 of the 30.  The 18 that I have seen are all great, not good, but great presenters. So all of these folks will hep you to stay on top of your game as well.


Now that is what I would call the ,meat and potatoes of the conference,  now if I may I am going to share some of the "bling", the shiny objects that sometime draws other folks in for an event.


We kick off with a bonus pre-conference session, from the TalentNet folks.  Craig Fisher (aka Fishdogs) will be bringing their brand of social engagement, tips and tricks and general overall knowledge for  those of us in the HR/Recruiting world to ILSHRM on Sunday  You won't want to miss this.


We are doing something similar to what was done at SHRM National (in the hive).  Geoff Webb and Jeff Waldman will be working with folks who have questions about social media, it use and integration into HR.  You can hear what they have planned right here.  And speaking of SHRM, you will also get a chance to meet  Curtis Midkiff, SHRM's Director of Social Engagement. Curtis will be presenting a session on Monday called Making Sense of Socail Media as a HR Tool.


We will have a hall full of vendors 50+ displaying their wears, showing off the latest and greatest in the HR biz.  Be sure to cruise through the hall and see what they have to offer.


Illinois SHRM has assembled a list of social media notables who will be in attendance. They will be tweeting, facebooking, google + ing and blogging about the event from all different angles.

• Meghan M Biro
• Chris Fields
• Kevin W. Grossman
• Dwane Lay
• Victorio Milian
• Buzz Rooney
• Matt Stollack
• Mike VanDervort

You can meet these folks, talk to them, ask them question and hang with them as we say IRL (in real life). You can also see thier profile here on the blog site.


In addition to this,  Kevin Grossman and Meghan Biro are bringing their Twitter Chat called #TChat to Illinois SHRM with a SPECIAL LIVE EVENT with STREAMING LIVE VIDEO thanks to our friends at JSTN.  This will take place Monday evening at 5 pm.  You can watch, listen, tweet or just lurk.  You will see how one of these chats really comes together.  And I believe there will be another big announcement coming from #TChat folks while at Illinois SHRM - stay tuned for that.


There is a ton of stuff going on this year.  To help keep track of it all, our Susan Avello has put together an app to help you.  You can download this app right here.


So come join us, all of us at Illinois SHRM who have been working really hard for last several months to put on a great conference that is innovative, lively, fun, exciting, affordable and enlightening.  Hope to see you at the Drury Lane.  [Click here to register]

Here's a great interview with Susan Avello (@susanavello) and William Tincup (@WilliamTincup) who is speaking at ILSHRM12. In this video we find out the man behind HR's "Drive Through HR" radio shows on everyday during lunch, and a whole lot more.