We have been a little quite over here at the ILSHRM blogging desk. After getting our 2013 conference behinds us, many of had to put our nose to the grind stone and get back to doing those things that facilitate our volunteer efforts (our day jobs). The conference season is about wrapped up for 2013 and the folks in Alexandra on Duke Street are getting ready to close one chapter and open another.
The annual SHRM Leadership Conference is right around the corner. Traditionally, this is where year end awards are given and a figurative bow is put on the year, just as plans for the next year are announced. Sadly, I will not be in attendance for this years event, although I have been able to attend more than my fair share of SHRM Leadership events. The word on the street is that those who are allowed to attend may be changing. We will have to see how this plays out.
Donna Rogers, MEd., SPHR
Another change that is taking place is some (perhaps all) of the MAC reps for SHRM will be moving on, turning in their jerseys. I am not sure about the status of all of the MAC reps, but I am aware of our own North Central Region. Illinois' own Donna Rogers will have completed her one year term on the board. We were proud to have her represent our region. While we were not privy to all of their work I personally know that Donna poured her heart and soul into this effort and did all that she could to improve the process. MAC reps are about as close as most of us SHRMies will get to the big guys. So Kudos to Donna for a great job and making those of us from the Mid-West proud. Thus, I can safely say that Donna has set the bar high for the incoming North Central Region MAC rep.
Steve Browne (from his
twitter profile)
That person who will follow Donna is an enigma in Human Resources and here in the North Central Region. If you are active in this space you probably already know this. Steve Browne a.k.a. @sbrownehr will be the new MAC rep from our region. I have no doubt that Steve will follow in Donna's path of challenging the powers that be and pushing for change and improvement. He's is not a bad guy, in fact he a great guy. He is just wired to push the envelope.
So from all of your friends (and there are a bunch of us) here in Illinois, we wish you the very best in your next endeavor with SHRM. - Peace!!
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.
The second day of the SHRM Strategy Conference was packed with incredible takeaways from two awesome keynotes David Novak and Aaron Dignan. Both of these gentleman had very unique and interesting ideas for engaging, motivating, and driving performance in the organization. Not only that they were excellent speakers and I would personally highly recommend either one of them for any conference.
David Novak who is honored as the worlds 30 Best CEO's according to Barron's sported props during his presentation such as a rubber chicken, cheese hat, and standing teeth. His point with these crazy looking props was that regardless of what it is you use in your organization you should reward employees for doing a good job at work. Positive reinforcement is key in driving performance and he used the 3 R's to emphasize this point (RECOGNIZE, RECOGNIZE, RECOGNIZE).
Aaron Dignan will be a leader my son's generation will support in a heartbeat because he totally supported the positive side of what our younger generations are getting out of gaming. I have always recognized what he has been learning while gaming even at his early ages. He is only 11 now and has a very strong understanding of geography, history, and random facts that I am constantly learning from him. Aaron suggests that we think about how gaming affects our brain activity, drive, and desire to compete and design jobs in the same way games are designed that are not boring or don't become boring to the employee. He used examples of cashiers at Target who are scored on the level of speed that they can check someone out. I personally appreciate this because I have been through check outs before and been frustrated that the employee didn't have any respect for my time and just took their sweet time checking me out. I wanted to give them a grade as a frustrated customer.
All in all both of these keynotes both inspired me and taught me ideas to take back and incorporate in my teaching, consulting, and inspiration of other aspiring HR professionals. The concurrent sessions reinforced information I already knew as I attended a session on Metrics and Engagement. Finally, I had the opportunity to see what was new with both SHRM HR research where Mark Schmit talked about the results of the 2010 Job Satisfaction Survey.
On a lighter side we ended the day with a closing party outside by the pool which was spectacular with music and lighted palm trees. It was a fabulous way to network with other HR professionals but the most interesting outcome was that a SHRM staff member met a conference attendee earlier in the day in a session and later connected at this evening event. Both are from the east coast and having randomly met in the west coast they discovered they both graduated from the same high school within a couple years of each other and knew several of the same people having grown up in the same town. So for them the closing party turned into a high school reunion conversation for at least a couple of hours. How awesome is that! It truly is a small world!
Finally, I also had an opportunity to hear Jon Pon, SHRM CHRO, who is also the conference emcee talk about the future of HR. Enjoy!
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.
(L) Donna Rogers, John Sadilek, Diane Kim,
Tara A. Fournier, Lynn Li and Jordan Whicker (R)
Yesterday I judged the 2012 North Central Student HR Case Competition. With this experience I feel I have come full circle having been a room monitor, for HR Games in Purdue, Speaker for 2011 State HR games at Roosevelt University, and team advisor for some of my UIS students earlier this year at ISU for the IL State HR Case Competition. This experience has helped me to grow professionally as well as be personally rewarding that I am contributing to the growth and development of the next generation of HR professionals. Based on these experiences, I have some suggestions for undergrad and grad teams, for advisors, for State Conference planners, SHRM, and Volunteers.
For UNDERGRAD's: Review the HR basics which include definitions, employment laws, available reaources for HR research in your text, exams and class notes. Use governmental webpages such as OSHA.gov, BLS.gov, DOL.gov, IRS.gov for fact based research and statistics to support your ideas. It seems the questions specific to this group was more similar to Assurance of Learning/PHR type questions. The bottom line is never make generalized recommendations without the backup or proof that you know your recommendation is solid.
For GRAD's: Follow advice above im addition to reviewing and solving several different case studies. Your job is to know everything the undergrads are required to know as well as how best to apply the knowledge. It seems the questions for this group is more similar to the SPHR. The bottom line here is be sure to answer the graduate level questions in both your presentation and your written report. Point them out and don't assume the judge will be able to find your response.
For ADVISOR's: Set the team up for success from the beginning. Strongly suggest, hand pick or talk with students privately so your best writers take on the paper portion of the case, your best Power Point or Prezi developers take on that responsibility and your best speakers take the lead on this. Otherwise you don't know who will end up doing each role and when you find out you may actually cringe because you know that so and so does not have the best skill set for xyz. It comes down to planning ahead and coaching for optimal performance as a team.
For STATE Conference Planner's: There was a rumor going around late last year/early this year that we had to duplicate what national SHRM was doing in terms of Case Studies vs the preciously popular HR Games. I was so disappointed when I heard because we went from 14 teams to a handful this year because students did not find it quite as exciting. While I agree that the regional games should be a closer reflection of what it's like to be in HR, I now (especially after this weekend) find great value in continuing HR Games at the State level as prep. The reason I say this is because almost all of the undergraduate teams did not know the HR basics. A solid foundation is a much better predictor of higher level of success than what I witnessed. The students need the basics. The only downside for planners is that a much greater number of volunteers are needed to run such an event. The result is many more HRPros for students to meet and network with.
For SHRM: Regardless of the NeySayers you must continue this wonderful opportunity for students which is ultimately a feeder into this profession. I understand the bumps that have occurred over the past 12 months but it seems the road to success is ahead as long as the focus does not change. I do agree that the direction your heading is a good one with both student success and the profession in mind. As was stated this weekend there should eventually be a separate competition for the grads and undergrads. Regardless of how different and tougher the questions are for grads (and they are) the perception is still out there that it's unfair for undergrads. Sure those with the perceptions may not be considering all the facts but the problem is there will always be folks out there without all the facts. It is better to seperate them and eliminate the potential for misunderstanding in the first place. 2) improve communications before the event and/or state events. This is both a personal experience as well as from those I have heard from which include advisors, participants, and volunteers. And 3) increase support of the state initiatives in this area regardless of the type of event they try to facilitate. The state events are a great way to get students excited and act as a feeder into the region case competition.
For VOLUNTEER's: If you have not volunteered for a state or regional student event in the past - you should. It is a wonderful experience and I do believe there are some roles you can earn HRCI credit for. I challenge you to volunteer at the next event in your state or region and you be the judge of wether or not you walk away a better person for having shared with the next generation of HRPros.
Pictured at the top pf the post, are the winners of this years north central regional competition. Grad students from my alma mater UIUC.
The fact that my first year as director my "goals"
blog post was published 1/7/11
and I am just sitting down to write my second year update on 1/26/12 (finalized
on 1/31/12) should tell you something.
Either I am extremely disorganized or we have been very busy here at the
Illinois State Council of SHRM (aka @ILSHRM). Personally, I prefer the latter even though
at times I do feel the first reason can and has been true at times.
It has been an awesome year and I am so humbled by the
wealth of talent on our board of directors as well as the enthusiasm and hard
work they have put forth to make tremendous headway towards our goals. And by golly they even met and exceeded some
of them. The following is a copy of the
1/7/11 goals list with noted updates (in bold) as well as additions for 2012
which take me through the end of my tenure as Director turning over the reins
to Cathy Plouzek, PHR
for 2013 & 2014.
… I’d like to share a few goals that I would like our state council to achieve
during my two year tenure as Director. I have to admit these goals are prior to
my looking at the SHAPE plan (again this
years since it just came out). So I am sure it will grow…Our board did meet earlier this month and I
am still in the process of meeting with all of our core board so like this list
last year, it may change as the year goes on:
1.WORKFORCE READINESS (SHRM CLA) 100%
Chapters signing the ESGR Statement of Support (http://www.esgr.org/);
COMPLETED NOVEMBER 2011! Thanks to
MaryJo Martyn and all 20 chapters! Joe
Smedinghoff plans
to continue her work by first polling the chapters to see what initiatives are
already in place and then building a plan for the entire state.
2.Membership (SHRM CLA)
Build SHRM Affiliate Chapters in the Southern part of the state (working on 3
already); we now have 4 in the
works. Research was completed in 2011
and letters to SHRM members in East Metro, Carbondale, and Mt. Vernon have gone
out this week to see if anyone has interest in developing a chapter in those
areas. An additional chapter interest
meeting is planned for early February in Matteson, IL.
3.Government Affairs (SHRM CLA)
Increase awareness of ISC-SHRM & SHRM resources among all state legislators
(with SHRMs help as one of the 10 states they worked with last year); this is truly more like a five year
goal. We did have at least three
chapters invite SHRM to do the Advocacy Program and we are nearing 300
advocates statewide. We still need a
state Advocacy Captain. I’d also like to
see 100% of chapters invite David
Lust to their chapter to
present the program. We had our first
statehouse visit last April and plan our second March 27th.
We added a state legislative affairs director to the board on a
temporary basis to develop our outreach process and to work directly with the
lobbyist firm we hired to watch for HR related bills that we can reach out to
legislators about to increase awareness about SHRM members and their
needs. So far this month they found four
bills (two of which were shell bills) that had an impact on the HR
profession. Reach
100 attendees at our Annual IL State HR Legislative Conference
& Advocacy Day; we did not
achieve this goal in 2011 but it is still a goal for 2012. Watch for registration soon! I hope to increase the state house attendance
by at least 5% over last year’s first every advocacy portion of our legislative
event.
4.Reach
1000 attendees at our annual
conference (in Aug at Drury Lane in Oakbrook); this goal was a bit out there since we really don’t have a chance at
that number until 2014 (after SHRM national is in Chicago in 2013). The reason is our current venue can only hold
972 in the auditorium where all the keynotes present. In 2011 we had 923 totals in the building
(which included attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and media). This year we do plan to sell out early because
John Jorgenson is a
bang up conference director! So plan to
get your tickets in advance.
5.100%
Chapter participation in the annual Chapter Basket Raffle Fundraiser at State
Conference; we were close in 2011 so
this is still a goal for 2012. We did
increase our council giving by matching what was raised at this event and plan
to continue.
6.Develop
a formal Succession Plan with the assistance of a Nomination Committee to be
appointed; the nomination committee was
appointed so the real work will be done in 2012.
7.Finalize
and implement a formal strategic plan started at last year’s Leadership Core
Planning meeting; still in process.
8.Finalize
and implement an updated Website; completed
in March 2011 – additional improvements are planned for 2012;
9.Analyze our financial situation
and develop a backup plan to sustain our council and support our mission for a
year or two in case our income is impacted (primarily our attendance at annual
conference). We did appoint a financial committee and added same as an official
standing committee per our bylaws draft yet to be approved by the board. Both committees will complete goals started
in 2011 this year. and
10.We are still looking at
additional ways to improve the overall operations of the council as we have
grown significantly in a short time frame.
Council management professionals are being sought to help improve the
overall operations of the entire.
Finally, again this year, I just
want to say thank you to all those I have met and worked with along the way and
to those I will continue to work with on the board and in the chapters. I am
humbled to serve you the rest of this year and want you to know that my virtual
door is always open. Call or text me at 217-414-1297, email me at donna@rogershr.com, DM me on twitter @DonnaRogersHR or Skype me at DonnaRogersSPHR.
Last but not least I want to shout out to the world famous Dave Ryan for putting up with
me, posting this post so late, and for writing most but posting all 87 blog
posts last year. Wow!!!
Today, being the fifth day on the job as the new State Director for Illinois State Council of SHRM, I thought I would share a few words. No, really our social media director, @DaveTheHRCzar, gave me a little nudge. I have plenty of time to write for our blog site among the overwhelming list of “to do’s on my desk from paid jobs not to mention our upcoming state Leadership Conference this Monday. So, I will be brief!
First, I would like to share a little about my SHRM volunteer responsibilities over the years leading up to my current position on the state council. I joined our local chapter, CIC-SHRM, in the mid-90s and that’s about as clear as my memory gets. What I do know is that in 1997 I became active on the chapter board and joined SHRM in 1998 as a strongly encouraged requirement for being a board member. Before that I did not know anything about the national organization. In 2001, while still being involved in my chapter for another four years I joined the Illinois State Council and have been active ever since. Here is a rundown of the positions I have held in order but I can’t exactly remember the dates. Those 20 years in HR is starting to show!
CIC-SHRM
• Public Relations/Publicity Chair (newsletter)
• Legislative Director (started the first chapter Legislative Conference)
• Vice President/Programs Director
• President-Elect/SHRM Foundation Director
• President (2 year term)
• Outgoing President (finishing in 2005)
• Since then the Chapter Librarian
ISC-SHRM
• Conference Co-Chair (2 years representing my chapter with another state chapter)
• Conference Chair (they made it an official board position)
• Diversity Director
• Director-Elect/SHRM Foundation Director
• Now! Director
Second, I’d like to share a few goals that I would like our state council to achieve during my two year tenure as Director. I have to admit these goals are prior to my looking at the SHAPE plan. So I am sure it will grow. Also, this is prior to meeting with our core council board this weekend which may affect the finalized list and work plan as we move forward (so this is tentative but I don’t doubt I will get support from the board):
2. Build SHRM Affiliate Chapters in the Southern part of the state (working on 3 already);
3. Increase awareness of ISC-SHRM & SHRM resources among all state legislators (with SHRMs help as one of the 10 states they plan to work with this year);
4. Reach 1000 attendees at our annual conference (in Aug at Drury Lane in Oakbrook);
5. Reach 100 attendees at our 1st Annual Legislative Conference (last year was our inaugural event);
6. 100% Chapter participation in the annual Chapter Basket Raffle Fundraiser at State Conference;
7. Develop a formal Succession Plan with the assistance of a Nomination Committee to be appointed;
8. Finalize and implement a formal strategic plan started at last year’s Leadership Core Planning meeting;
9. Finalize and implement an updated Website with the help of Carrie Gurski which was started last year; and
10. Analyze our financial situation and develop a backup plan to sustain our council and support our mission for a year or two in case our income is impacted (primarily our attendance at annual conference).
Finally, I just want to say thank you to all those I have met and worked with along the way and to those I will continue to work with on the board and in the chapters. I look forward to meeting all the HR leaders in the state because there are so many of you! I am humbled to serve you over the next couple years and want you to know that my virtual door is always open. Call or text me at 217-414-1297, email me at donna@rogershr.com, DM me on twitter @HRWarrior or Skype me at donnarogerssphr. I look forward to working with you!
It is the year’s end and at Illinois SHRM just like at many other volunteer organizations personnel changes usually take place around this time of year. At the top we have a new incoming State Director – Donna Rogers. We also have a new Director Elect Cathy Plouzek, and we have the outgoing, Past State Director John Jorgensen. While we have a number of personnel changes we also have some folks like your truly are hanging around for another year or two.
One of the things that I am going to do next year is add some new voices to this blog site. For the most part, postings so far, have come from me, Dave Ryan, the Director of the Social Media for the State Council. Having looked around at other sites and other organization I have invited more folks who are involved with SHRM here in Illinois to be contributors and give new and varied content in regards to what is going on in the World of Human Resources.
The three folks mentioned earlier, John, Donna and Cathy all have agree to generate 4 to 5 posts for next year. In addition to the IL SHRM executive gang, we have lined up IL SHRM’s membership director and all around great guy Jeff Williams to our crew. Jeff currently writes at his own blog site HDLeader. Our Director of Marketing and Communication Heather Hammitt will also be contributing to our blog site.
To another prospective, from the staffing portion of Human Resources, Chloe Rada, The President of Staffing Management Association of Greater Chicago will be a regular contributor to the site.
We have been fortunate to grab two more contributors who have been instrumental in creating a new SHRM chapter in the Metro East area. We are thrilled to have Trish McFarlane who regularly blogs at HRRingleader, and her co-conspirator Chris Frede who also has her own site, HRBouy, as regular contributors for 2010.
So if I go back and count up the bolded names I see nine names listed. The plan was to have 12 regular contributors. So if my math still works I need three more regular contributors. Please let me know if you would be interested in contributing.
In addition to the weekly contributions, we plan to be presenting guest posts from upcoming conference speakers, and others who are present on the HR scene. So be looking for exciting thing coming from this the Illinois State Council of SHRM and this site next year. - Dave Ryan Director of Social Media Illinois State Council of SHRM
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!
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