Yesterday I posted about attending the SHRM Volunteer
Leaders’ Summit (#SHRMLead) and talked about the Pinnacle Awards. And while the Pinnacle awards are a big part
of the event, there is another aspect of the event that continues to take place
year after year. I am going to call it
SHRM Lobby Day. Every Thursday morning
on the week of the event the SHRM ATeam
(Mike Aitken and his most capable staff) very quickly turn HR pros into amateur
lobbyist.
SHRM trains and equips these folks for a trip to Capitol
Hill, to talk to their Senators and Representative and provide them with SHRMs
position on the Legislation d’jour.
Every time I have ever attended I share’s SHRM’s position on these issues
to a tea. What this does is it not only
allows the HR pro to articulate SHRM position on the matter, but they can then
embellish that position with stories from their state or HR shop – adding to
SHRM’s credibility as the go to source on HR matters. I am convinced this impacts our legislators.
I have had the pleasure of making this trip six times. Five times were as a part of the SHRM
Leadership event and I attended once as part of the SHRM Legislative
Conference.
The trips are empowering and make HR pros feel like you
actually can have an impact on the going ons in Washington DC. So if you are afforded the chance to go to
Capitol Hill … do it, the experience will be most enriching.
Now for a different
prospective on the event I want to share/recycle an older blog post written by
someone I think very highly of, my son Danny Ryan. Danny got to hang out with his dad for a couple
of days at the event in 2012, and see what it really goes on at the event. So for a different prospective on the event, please
click through and check out this post called On
Vacation at SHRM Leadership.
