My SHRM Family at VLS

My time as State Director for Illinois is wrapping up.  I have a lot of emotions about this.  I expressed some of them in an earlier post, as the Illinois State Conference opened up.  Now as we near year’s end it is time for the SHRM Leaders annual pilgrimage to Washington D.C.  I have had the distinct pleasure of getting to attend this event since 2007, missing a couple years along the way.  

Nonetheless, I have attended a number of times and particularly enjoy it.  Why one might ask. Attending the SHRM VLS for long-time volunteer leaders is like getting together with family that you only see occasionally.   This is my second family.  I have a wonderful family and I love them all deeply, AND I love my SHRM Family too.

In my post about wrapping up the Illinois State Conference I referenced the event in song, by calling out the Eagles song “It’s Your World Now”.   On my trip out to DC I listened to another song by Eagles member and great all-around musician Joe Walsh.   Joe wrote a song called “Family”.  There are a bunch of lines that reminded me of all my SHRM friends and my relationship with so many of them.

  

Here is the youtube version of that recording.

I've been alone most of my life
I've never known what it was like
To end up somewhere and not have to pack
To be among friends I know have my back

But now I'm here where I belong
I've finally found a wife and a home
And a family that matters, means more to me
Than anything I have ever believed

And when we are gathered together
Tell me how blessed can somebody be

Give thanks, break bread, say grace, bow heads
For all of this love that surrounds me
We laugh, we cry, stand together that's why
It's all being part of a family

Tried it before, never felt right
I never dreamed that someday I might
Be part of something bigger than me
It makes me feel humble, finally I see

All that we have is each other
And that's all that I'll ever need

So, thanks SHRM for all the great memories, from all the leadership/VLS events from Crystal City to the JB Marriot to the Gaylord, and thanks to all the SHRM staff who over the years have always made this an awesome event.

And to all of my SHRMie volunteer buddies that I have met over the years, I so value your friendship, your love of our profession, your passion for everything that you do and for being there for me whenever I call on you. 

I hope to see those of you who are attending and share a moment, and to those that aren’t here, you know who you are and how I feel about all of you.

-Dave Ryan State Director of Illinois SHRM

The Path for ILSHRM

​I agreed to it, and I have been trying to learn from my mentor Connie Wolgemuth on what it is I am supposed to do, and what I am in charge of as the Director of ILSHRM. Connie is fabulous and has been a joy to work with, but I still have a great deal of consternation within this troubled mind of mine.

We recently wrapped up our annual leadership conference (#ILSHRMLead) and now we have survey results. So like most other things I have been involved with to this point in my life, I am trying to understand, analyze and comprehend what the data from the survey is telling me. Once I get it figured out, then I need to develop an action plan as to what we are going to do next year. Isn't that right, we are supposed to learn from our failures and capitalize on our successes.

This year (2016) we moved the event to Bloomington (downstate) for the first time. When I review the remarks people made, they either hated it (Chicago land members) or they loved it (down staters). There were also very polarizing comments about our programming. Everybody seems to want killer, kick ass content that will send them out the door feeling 10 feet, tall ready to go home and lead their organizations and run the best damn SHRM chapter in the world! Oh, and we have to do this on a shoestring budget. So that's what I am looking at for next year.

The "Money Lady" getting ready to do her thing.

It appears to me that this is going to get more difficult. So, I guess this is where the LEADERSHIP thing is supposed to kick in. I do what I think is the right thing, because of my KSAs and life experiences, and if I am right everyone throws accolades my way and tells me how wonderful I am - or....let's not think about the alternative.

Plans for next year need to begin soon, so I had better get this figured out quickly. I think, I am going to need some input from smart people around me, as to what to do about this conference and some of the other matters that are going to be on my plate as the State Director. Who do I trust, whose opinion should I value, who is right? Dunno! I guess this is what I signed up to do.

As I prepare to post this, I look back over this blog site and see all of the stuff I wrote as the Director of Social Media and now I am soon to be the State Director, hmm quite a change in roles and responsibilities. ILSHRMies soon you will be passengers on the craft which is being piloted by @DaveTheHRCzar former Director of Social Media turned ILSHRM State Director. I will need all or your help - please be gentle with me!

-Dave Ryan Director Elect ISC-SHRM

SHRM 2015 VLS Wrap Up

The SHRM Volunteer Leaders’ Summit is wrapped up, and we are about to turn the page on another year.  This year I found a new and different SHRM.   SHRM is listening to its member and changing. SHRM members are not nearly as combative this year as they were in 2014.  So, IMO as we say on twitter, I think most of those who attended, came, participated, lobbied, listened and were energized, which I think is the purpose of the event.

SHRM CEO Hank Jackson at the VLS.

Gone were the distractions of the SHRM “Certification”.   Changes were announced to the Volunteer Leader’s Resource Center (VLRC), we saw changes in the name and the styling of the entire event now call VLS (even though the hashtag #SHRMLead) still remains, and this is strictly a personal observation of mine, but I saw a new and different CEO.  The Hank Jackson we saw in 2015 is the guy who runs SHRM.  He is totally comfortable with that, and that he has a bunch of Human Resources Pros around him at the events.  Hank laughed and joked with us and even cracked a joke or two when talking about problems.  He has assumed the role and it just feels like he has become very comfortable with his staff and his membership and his role at the top.

Steve Browne at the VLS.

We also saw at this meeting where our collective friend Steve Browne made the transition to the “other side.”  No longer is Steve a chapter or state council official, he is now on the board of directors of SHRM.  Those of us who know Steve are proud of him and look to him to share our vision of HR with the board.  I am sure he will excel in this role, and I wish him well.

For those who are new to chapters or state council operations, an appropriate amount of learning and resources was offered up. The sessions I attended were spot on and offered me a lot of ideas and ways to attack problems in my upcoming role as State Director. As best as I can tell from a show of hands, it looked like about 50% of the attendees were first time attendees.  The more veteran members could work on being a little more welcoming IMO.  And we need to get more millennials at these events!! (Repeat that last sentence!)

A concept of #HR two point oh or 2.0 was rolled out. What is it? I am not sure we know. Things are changing rapidly and I feel we are being asked, to be ready, to deal with these changes.  Tom Peters spoke of these coming days in “Thriving on Chaos” in 1987; I think we are there and HR 2.0 looks a lot like that.

For me thought the best part of this, and any other SHRM conference is seeing old friends and making new ones! That is simply grand and cannot be replaced by anything else.

ILSHRM Members in the Headshot Lounge

Like most of the other attendees, I am going to head home and pour this renewed vim and vigor into my role and do my damnedest to make #ILSHRM the best we can be. The event allowed me to spend a lot of time with my #ILSHRM people and build a stronger bond with all of our board members, which is great as I am going to need their knowledge, skills and abilities to move ILSHRM forward.

I nearly forgot to mention this, the Marriott Marquis is simply over the top - top notch facility.  It is a prIivileged to stay at properties of this caliber.

Lastly for me, this is simply fun, I enjoy the whole conference atmosphere (meetings, airport delays, drinks, sleep deprivation, smiles, knowledge, being out of town, the SHRM Store… you get the drift) and I think that is why I stay involved.  Being a SHRMie and attending these events gives me something I don’t get anywhere else – so I have to keep coming back.

This is not to be patronizing in anyway, but I also want to thank all of the SHRM staff for being so engaging and making these events the way they are. By reading this you know how I feel about SHRM Conferences, and it is all of the work that you do that creates those feelings in me – and I am sure I am not alone!

Dave Ryan ISC SHRM Director Elect

New Leadership at ILSHRM

Hey y'all, as the Blogger In-Chief for Illinois SHRM, I am happy to report I have a new boss.  No, no, no --it's a good thing. It is not like the stuff many of us deal with on a day to day basis where we have bosses come and go.  This is a planned, orderly transition.  It is the Change of Guard.  Donna Rogers has completed her two-year term as State Director and passed the torch on to Cathy Plouzek.  While you don't find Cathy out here in the blogospher yacking about this or that, she does have a presence out here in what I will call the HR Social Space as you can find Cathy on LinkedIn and on Twitter as well.

Cathy lives in the Peoria area and has been active in the Heart of Illinois SHRM Chapter for many years.

I will, as subtly as I can, suggest to Cathy that she could take some of this space and share a few comments about our organization and just where she plans on taking us. So for the meantime consider yourself informed of our leadership changes.

And as an FYI Donna Rogers has taken a position on the SHRM Mac Council, I guess I need to get her to write a post about that!.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

SHRM Leadership 2012

It is November.  In SHRM circles it is time for the annual pilgrimage - or at least that's what it seems like. Every year in November SHRM holds its annual SHRM Leadership Conference. Hundreds and sometime more that 1000 SHRM volunteers from all over the globe travel to the Washington D.C. area and hear what it's all about. I have been fortunate to attend this event a number of times, in my different roles as an active SHRM Volunteer.  So for me each year the conference always offers something old and something new.

This year, for the first time in a long time the event itself is going to be held in a different location.  For many years the event was held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, VA. I always found the place to be very nice. You can board the Metro, shop underground or dine without going outside from the hotel. I always thought that was kind of neat.  Nonetheless, this year's event is going to be held at a new facility The Gaylord National Harbor Hotel and Convention Center, which looks like a pretty swanky place from what I can tell.

I used to thing the The Leadership Conference was really a single purpose event where SHRM Leaders welcomed and thanked their loyal volunteers for their work, and then showed them the way; by explaining in  a deep rich way who SHRM really is, what their mission is and how each person in their role as a volunteer is a vital link in the chain.  While this is still true, as a sage veteran I have also come to understand that there is something else equally important as a part of the conference. That part of the conference is SHRM Lobby Day.

Congressman Schock touring our production facility.

Last year was the first time that I had participated in this event. What is SHRM Lobby Day - in short it is a large contingent (2011 was 400+)of SHRM members descending on Capitol Hill, meeting and greeting with our elected representatives in our roles as HR Professionals.  We were well prepped at breakfast, by the SHRM Legislative Affairs team,   then given our mission,  We went to the hill and  met and spoke to the legislators and their staffs, on issues important to SHRM.   (If you want more detail you can read a post from last year.)

I am participating in SHRM Lobby Day again this year.  In fact, that one visit has lead to me developing a solid relationship, and a visit to my workplace with my Congressman Aaron Shock.  I strongly urge anyone who is planning on attending to participate in SHRM Lobby Day, it will be good for you, your employer and for SHRM.

Lastly as an "old dog" I really enjoy getting to the mothership (SHRM Headquarters) and seeing all of the people who have I become really good friends with over the years and who have helped me succeed in my volunteer SHRM roles. So watch out Mr. Midkiff and Ms. Hughes, I will be looking for you when I am in town.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Meet the ILSHRM12 Speakers - Benjamin McCall

We are using our blog site to showcase some of the things that will be going on at ILSHRM12 next month.  In this post, we would like to feature a young man who will be speaking for the first time at Illinois SHRM. We are bringing Benjamin McCall in from Ohio.  Some of us from Illinois had an opportunity to see Ben present last year in his home state of Ohio at the OHSHRM conference.  Ben had the 7 a.m. slot on day three (the last day of the conference). He packed the room and he killed it with his presentation.

No doubt Ben will bring that same energy and excitement with him this year to Oak Brook. Here is a little preview of what Ben will be discussing at ILSHRM.


You can visit Ben's blog site at  www.rethinkhr.org.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Thoughts on the Illinois SHRM Leadership Meeting

The Illinois SHRM Leadership Conference at Grizzly Jack's

in Utica, IL January 9, 2012.

Upon the closing of the Illinois State Council Leadership Conference,  I got in my truck and headed home with my Springfield SHRM chapter buddy Pattie Currie.  We talked about the confernce  for about the first 30 miles.  One of the things we discussed was the merging of old SHRMies and the New SHRMies. The state leadership conference like the National Leadership Conference (which takes place in Nov. at SHRM Headquarters) brings together folks at all levels.  This is a challenge,  because there are some old dogs, and some folks completely new to the SHRM organization.

Then I got home from our the meeting and my wife says, "Well what did you do?" This really gave me pause to reflect, again, on what had just happened, as I spent the last day and a half with a group of my HR/SHRM friends. What makes us old hands keep coming back?  While there is always the new stuff that gets discussed, there is always a bunch of basic stuff that gets re-hashed.  After some deep, albeit breif introspection, I have decided it is a deep and unabiding respect and committment to SHRM and the HR Profession. Even though the new people continue to come in and the old hands keep hanging on it is difficult to balance the needs and interest of both groups.

With my involvement in ice hockey, I have seen how USA Hockey addresses this with thier annual officials clinics. After struggling with this for years, they have finally taken thier annual seminars and broken them into two groups.  The groups are Levels 1 & 2 (new/begining)  and then the Level 3 which are the more Senior officials.  In most instance you must have three years of experience to be a level 3 official.  I think USA Hockey has decided they will teach the more advance official more advance concepts, and hope that the older officials mentor the younger officials.  After years of dropping the puck,  USA Hockey has decided that the old dogs either know how to do it, or are never going to learn.

While the SHRM message is always somewhat of a combined message; it is one that everyone needs to hear and then there are the orientation parts.  Let's take the SHAPE plan for instance.  It is important that we all know the changes to the plan, and I suppose it is equally important for the newbies to know that there is a SHAPE plan and what it is.

So maybe we need to challenge the SHRM format and have at least some  break outs for the old dog and some sessions for the newbies.  It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to make that happen.

In the meantime, us old dogs will just keep on coming back.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

SHRM Strategy Conference Wrap-Up

As a final follow-up to the SHRM Strategy Conference I wanted to share the following press information with you that was written by Kate Kennedy, @SHRMPress.

Oct. 5, 2011    HR Executives Consider Business Risk and Innovation

As human resource executives gathered Tuesday, Oct. 4, in Chicago to examine business risk created by technology, global competition and market uncertainties, an Internet entrepreneur turned the risk posed by social media upside down.  The biggest risk associated with social media is not investing enough time with it, BranchOut CEO Rick Marini told the 100 business leaders.

Social media is the most scalable way to get real-time information from customers, who in turn become marketers for you, he said. And Facebook, he added, brings incredible efficiency to keeping in touch. BranchOut is a professional network on Facebook

Marini was the dinner speaker on the opening day of the SHRM Foundation’s Thought Leaders Retreat -- “HR’s Role in Managing Business Risk” -- an exclusive event for chief human resource officers and CEOs.

Other quotable moments included:

·        To drive innovation, organizations need to set an aggressive vision and challenge orthodoxies, said Arun Leslie George, senior vice president and head of HR at Coromandel International of India. Align innovation to business goals and metrics, he suggested, noting: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

·        The retreat, held before SHRM’s Strategy Conference (Oct. 5-7 in Chicago), continues Wednesday with speakers including Susan Podlogar, vice president of global compensation and performance for Johnson & Johnson.

Oct. 5, 2011    HR Thought Leaders: Balancing Risk and Opportunity

The Society for Human Resource Management’s Strategy Conference opened Wednesday, Oct. 5, with former General Electric HR executive Bill Conaty admonishing the 500 attendees not to forget the “human” in human resources.

“Don’t forget why we are at the table,” he said.

Conaty, co-author of The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, said the HR leader of the future will need to have a critical fit with the CEO and CFO, the trust and confidence of the senior management team and a capacity for complex problem solving and operational savvy.

Great leaders balance a passion for business with compassion for people, he said. Among his advice for professionals: “Great leaders do great succession planning.” “Be problem solvers vs. problem identifiers.” “When you stop growing, the game is over.”

SHRM CEO Henry G. (Hank) Jackson also included the importance of talent management in his remarks. “The question for all of us is: How do we differentiate our organizations and ourselves?  I would argue that as HR professionals … we must ensure that every employee has the opportunity to succeed at his or her greatest degree of potential.”

The 2011 Michael R. Losey Human Resource Research Award was presented to Dr. Sara Rynes, the John F. Murray professor of management and organizations at the University of Iowa and editor of the Academy of Management Journal. In accepting the award, Rynes described research as “the new competitive advantage.”

The conference, which features 17 speakers, continues Thursday, Oct. 6, with presentations by Jeffrey Garten, former undersecretary of commerce, and Bridget van Kralingen, general manager of IBM North America.

The conference followed the SHRM Foundation’s “HR’s role in Managing Business Risk,” an exclusive event held Oct. 4-5 for CEOs and chief human resource officers.

Why are HR executives considering risk now? Wayne Cascio, the Robert H. Reynolds chair in global leadership at the University of Colorado, said concern about business risk is a “byproduct of what happened and what we’ve been through with the global financial crisis.”

But he noted, “The danger of focusing on risk is that we miss out on the flip side – opportunities.” He encouraged HR leaders to put their organizations in “a position to benefit from an uncertain future event.”

 Oct. 6, 2011   SHRM's Strategy Conference: Talent Management Critical to Transformation

The company of the future defines its purpose so employees are truly inspired, has a global mindset and a broad network of ideas and talent, and is agile and resilient, finance expert Jeffrey Garten told attendees at the Society for Human Resource’s Strategy Conference in Chicago.

At the heart of the company of the future is HR. “It’s all about having the right people in the right places at the right time,” said Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management.

“The company of the future is a talent machine.”

Garten, former undersecretary of commerce for international trade, opened Day Two of the conference attended by top HR executives. “Leadership development has to be elevated to the same level as strategy and risk management,” he said, adding that he believes top executives need global experiences that allow them to experience culture and an understanding of public policy.

Brian Dickson, senior vice president of professional development at SHRM who hosted the conference, told the 500 attendees about a recent visit to Cuba by a SHRM delegation. At the heart of dramatic change on the island nation, he noted, is a shift from the public sector to the private sector. “Our time in Cuba brought home to me in a very vivid manner that change, anticipating change, adapting and managing change is integral to the well-being and very survival of our institutions.”

Thursday afternoon’s keynote speaker, Bridget van Kralingen, general manager of IBM North America, spoke about lessons learned from transformation and longevity. “Move to the future before it moves to you,” said the executive of the 100-year-old company. Don’t move when everyone sees it. “Move when it’s lonely.”

During the Oct. 5-7 conference, SHRM’s vice president of research, Mark Schmit, briefed reporters on the 2011 Job Satisfaction Survey, which will be released later this month. For the fourth year, job security was the top driver of job satisfaction, Schmit said.

For the first time, research included data on employee engagement and identified gaps between what employees value and how satisfied they are with what matters most to them. While 63 percent of employees responding to the survey said job security is very important to them, only 28 percent said they were very satisfied with their job security.

For more information about the Job Satisfaction Survey, contact SHRM Media Relations.

SHRM’s conference, “Creative, Effective and Scalable Strategies that Deliver Results,” ends Friday with Don Tapscott, author and authority on the impact of technology, speaking about “Rethinking Talent for the Age of Networked Intelligence.”

Off to SHRM Leadership

In 1997 when I first joined the largest HR organization in the world (now approaching 300k members), I really had no idea what an impact that organization would have on my life. The organization is the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). My best friend since Kindergarten actually recommended I join since I was doing HR work in addition to training employees. She had been a member of the local Central Illinois Chapter of SHRM (CIC-SHRM) for years and highly recommended that I join to network and develop my skills. Boy did that ever happen in a big, big way! I had previously been an active member of the local and national American Society of Training and Development (ASTD). Active in ASTD was nothing like active in SHRM. From that day forward I have grown as well as the chapters and state council within Illinois. Of course, all this did not occur without some very active, hard working, and dedicated volunteers along the way.

Now I am heading to Washington DC to lobby congress about HR related issues that affect long term strategic success and livelihood of business (Education Tax Credit & Paycheck Fairness Act). Not only that I am attending the National SHRM Leadership Conference with a delegation from Illinois of 30 plus. The reason that is such a big deal is when I joined the organization I had no idea what the Illinois State Council of SHRM was or even that it existed. Over the years, I heard the same thing from so many others in the state. Although the organization, which acts as a liaison between the national association and all of the chapters and at large individual members, was in its infancy back then little did we know just how much progress would be made in such a short time.

When I first started attending this conference at the start of the decade we only had a couple people from our entire state. I remember meeting and seeing delegates from other states gather in droves. Texas and Indiana seem to jump out from memory. They all had matching shirts and pins to show off their team spirit. Little by little each year the awareness grew and our chapters began to become more active partly due to our encouragement. They were always invited before but we really helped them understand that their roles are bigger than what they do locally. We gave the chapter presidents voting rights at the state level as well as began to share profit in our growing state conference. Last year Illinois SHRM had its biggest conference ever with more than 750 attendees. Prior to that year our norm was 300 to 400 and our max had been around 500.

We have made progress in other ways too primarily by reinstituting the position of District Director and traveling all over the state to conduct an ISC Road Show and the latest SHRM Foundation DVD roundtable program on such topics as Succession Planning, Recruiting & Retention, Ethics, and much more.

With over 59,000 HR professionals in the state and over 10,000 of them belonging to the largest HR organization in the world—we are proud to be representing all of them. So to say I am proud to be in the company of 30 other highly respected and valued volunteers throughout the state is an understatement. I am ecstatic! Thanks to our director we are going to be showing our team spirit too like the other big states for the very first time. All in “Cardinal” red (representing our state bird) sporting our fairly new logo! HR has a presence in this state and we mean BUSINESS! ISC-SHRM is a resource for all things HR and we do know “NEXT” for business of all sizes. Call us anytime!

- Donna Rogers - President Elect ISC-SHRM

SHRM Leadership Conference 2010

As we move into the fall that means November is just around the corner. For anyone who has been active in SHRM they know that means the SHRM Leadership Conference. This year is no different with another return engagement at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, VA.  The conference is largely directed toward new volunteer leaders.  These are local chapter and state council leaders and their staffs. In the years that I have attended the conference usually has 1000 to 1300 attendees.

If you are a new SHRM volunteer no doubt you would find it most beneficial to attend this conference.  Throughout the event you are immersed in what SHRM is all about and who they are as an organization.  You get to meet and hear from many of the key players within the organization.  You can see that people like Pam Green don’t take themselves all that seriously in this video clip 

 

And if you really want to get a long winded view of the conference you can read this story I wrote in The CIC-SHRM Jan/Feb 2008 newsletter,  a couple of years ago. Follow the link and scroll to page 5.

Now having talked a little bit about the conference, you may wonder why I would want to go back.  This year I am going with a mission.  Myself and several other folks who are advocates for Social Media/New Media are attending in hopes that SHRM will give us our due this year.  Many of the state councils as well as local chapters are using Social Media tools.  We want to show SHRM our support for these tools and SHRM’s need for continued support.

So if you are going to be there, and are a social media enthusiast, leave me a comment or find me on twitter or LinkedIn and we will look for you out there. Also be sure to add your name to the list of attendees on linkedin.l

-Dave Ryan IL SHRM Director of Socail Media