‘Shrmlead’ Articles at Everyday People

Belong !!

This past week I was fortunate to attend one of my favorite events – the SHRM Volunteer Leader Summit. It’s a great event for many reasons, but the main draw for me is being with other HR volunteers. We have a common bond. It doesn’t matter if you are attending for the first time or have been attending for several years. There is an instant recognition and affinity because we share some commonality in our experiences.

The sessions are great. The chance to visit Capitol Hill and advocate is amazing !! However, when you talk to people in the hallway they share about the people they’ve met, the connections they’ve made and the experiences they’ve had throughout the conference. They focus on how they “belong” to each other. This is more than some sappy emotion. It’s a tangible factor that draws people together.

I know that many HR bloggers write about “engagement” because it is something that also is a really and not some Kum By Ya spirit circle. However, I think we’ve overlooked a key component and that is that people want to belong. I’m not talking about belonging to SHRM or a local HR Chapter, but those are great examples of where this can happen.

Belonging, I believe, is a human desire. We want to be part of something that is bigger than ourselves, and we want to do it with other people. It could happen in many arenas from churches to civic groups to professional associations.

One quick side note on this . . . Belonging is not generationally exclusive. People of all ages want to belong. Different ages may choose to belong in ways that we haven’t traditionally thought of, but they all want to connect. People naturally want to connect and not be alone.

As HR professionals, what are we doing to make sure this happens for our employees and within our companies? You see, if people feel they truly belong in their role and at your organization, then you’ve tapped into something that is much more powerful than merely being engaged.

The challenge of belonging that often keeps people outside of groups is that we don’t ask people to join us. We get used to being a part of a group and enjoy it so much that we lose sight of the fact that someone once asked us to belong. We should never become so comfortable that we don’t reach out to others to have them become part of something. The moment we start forgetting that new people could add to our place of belonging, it will become stagnate and shrink quickly. In the end, people will make a decision to go somewhere else. They will find another place to belong.

This week make sure you are doing some things to make belonging a reality for yourself and others.

Belong Yourself !! – You need to quit trying to do HR on your own. It will never be effective for you. Connect with your peers. I’m asking you to join me. Seriously, if you do nothing else, reach out to me and I will make sure you’re connected !!

Ask Others !! – Don’t let people shift in the wind hoping to land somewhere that has value. Be intentional and ask others to join you where you belong. With so many social media platforms, you can get someone to belong with you easily.

Do This at Work !! – Make sure that your employees know that they belong. Don’t assume this is happening. Reach out and be intentional to evaluate where people see their sense of belonging in their position and within their department and the company as a whole.

I love belonging. I know you do too. Let’s make sure that occurs !!

Be Relentless !!

This past weekend was phenomenal because I spent it with the 50 SHRM State Directors at the Regional Summit. It’s great for so many reasons such as developing leaders, sharing best practices, learning what successes others are having and the most recent news from SHRM itself.

The true highlight for everyone attending was learning from Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt as Talent Anarchy !! They showed everyone a valuable tool with the Hack Lab. Hacking isn’t “new” to the business world, but it is lacking in HR and in volunteer leadership roles. The level of energy and creativity was incredible !!

They also highlighted their great work from their MUST HAVE book Social Gravity which break down the immense value of our social capital. When this session was completed, there was a sharing of take aways, and a vast majority of the group shared that they were going to work on being more connected to each other.

In fact, my favorite response came from the North Dakota State Director, Stephanie Winterquist, when she said she was going to BE RELENTLESS at improving her social capital !!

It made me wonder if others in HR would be relentless too? I know that “connecting” is an overused plea in HR blogs, but it keeps coming up because people just aren’t doing it !! As soon as the conference was over, and before I caught my flight home, I sent a Linked In invitation to intentionally connect with the folks from the SHRM Leadership Summit that I hadn’t yet. This isn’t to gather more “friends” or “followers.” It’s to find others who can be resources for you and for you to be a resource to others.

HR will sustain its relevance the more it’s connected !! That is an undeniable fact. So, you have to ask yourself – will you be relentless too? I think it’s time for all of us !!

Together as one !!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the SHRM Leadership Conference. It is a true favorite for me because it is made up of fellow HR volunteers from all over the United States !! I also had the chance to meet some great people from SHRM India !!

What continues to amaze me at these intentional gatherings is that people still tend to run in the groups of people that they know. People stick within their State more than cross boundaries to meet others even though we are all in the same profession and we also have the commonality of volunteering !!

Fortunately, I have always believed in expanding boundaries. I love connecting with new people wherever I go and SHRMLead was a great opportunity to “reach across the aisle” and make this happen.

When I did this, along with my compatriot John Friend from North Dakota, incredible things began to happen !! People began to recognize the great things that bring us together. We have a passion for HR, people and seeing the profession strengthen and grow now and into the future. We also want to see it be relevant and necessary in all businesses and industries.

However, this won’t happen unless we start to realize that we are all in this together !!

If we want HR to be better – we need to be together !!

If we want SHRM to be better – we need to be together !!

If we truly want to be global – we need to be together !!

The only thing that keeps us from doing it is that we need more folks to reach out and be willing to connect with each other. We grow stronger as a whole when we incorporate the phenomenal ideas, approaches, strengths and diversity of our geography and our opportunities we face !!

By the end of the week I had been meeting and hanging out with people from Ohio (gimme since it’s where I’m from), North Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, California, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Montana, New Jersey, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Washington, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, and India !!

These weren’t just chance meetings or passing each other in the halls. We spent time together advocating on Capitol Hill, sharing ideas in breakout sessions, sharing meals and the occasional adult beverage, and laughing about the incredible field of HR !!

I’ve written that one of my favorite groups of all time is U2 and their song “One” captures it all – “We’re one, but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other – Carry each other”

This week reach out. Make that intentional connection with other HR people. Join me in starting to bring us together. It’s going to happen !! And I’d love it if you were part of us . . . together !!

Do Something About It !!

This coming week I get to attend the SHRM Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. The gathering is for Regional, State and Local Chapter leaders. We get together to share what’s great and also give input on how we’d like to see things improve.

Before going further, let me be clear on my stance on SHRM . . .

I’m a fan !!

I know that things can be improved. However, I would state that we could make that argument not only about our various organizations, but about our profession as a whole as well.

I didn’t used to have this perspective and I was once far from being a “fan.” Let me share a story about someone who was EXTREMELY intentional with me in the past . . .

I have been facilitating a monthly HR Roundtable in Cincinnati for the past 12 years. I never would have made it this far if it wasn’t for one fateful meeting. We had another full house and the session went very well. At the end of the meeting, I was complaining about our local SHRM chapter and pontificating that the Roundtable was “so much better” than what they had to offer. A person heard this and she literally pinned me to the wall when she did.

She said, “I’m tired of you bashing our chapter. If it’s so bad do something about it !! Don’t just sit here making comments. If you want it to change, then step up and get involved.” Now, you have to understand that this great person is about 5 ft. 2 in. tall and I’m 6 ft. 5 in. tall. It was quite the site.

This wasn’t some passionate SHRM zealot. It was a person who cared about the chapter and didn’t like people making snarky comments about it as if they were film critics who never saw the movie.

I took her words to heart. I jumped in with both feet !! Instead of easing into a volunteer capacity, I ran for Vice-President of the chapter. I won (which surprised me) and that lead to beint the Chapter President. During my tenure, our chapter won the Pinnacle Award from SHRM at the same conference I’m attending this week. I went on to be involved at the State level and lead a phenomenal team two years ago for the Ohio HR Conference with our HR Rocks theme !! We had the most successful conference to date. Could have stopped there, but then took on the role of State Director for Ohio SHRM – which is where I am . . . for now.

Please forgive my personal SHRM history. The point is that because someone stepped out and confronted me to take action, I have had incredible fortune and success. I also have made lifelong friends and have done a small part in trying to make SHRM and HR better.

So, this week I am geeked to see friends, make new connections and see what else I can do to make SHRM even better. I hope that this week you can do the same in your corner of the HR universe.

It’s time to quit wishing things were better. Do something about it !!

Get rid of the “n’ts” !!

This may seem like an odd title, but I was slapped back into reality at our OHSHRM Leadership Day for Chapter Presidents. We had a great, upbeat day which featured a Leadership Bootcamp lead by Tom Terez to open and then Bruce Boguski to close with a great motivational piece about how we approach each day as people in HR and our lives in general.

One item Bruce hit on is the words we use. Seems simple, but it’s amazing how many negative words just fill each and every moment of our days. We use these words when we talk about others and even ourselves. It was especially telling when he asked us to reflect on these words in our work as HR professionals and leaders.

What are the words ?? You know them all too well. Most of them end in “n’t”. Words like “Don’t”, “Can’t”, “Shouldn’t”, “Couldn’t”, “Won’t” . . .

Does this sound familiar? You wake up to head to work and you tell youself you don’t want to deal with so-and-so today . . . You can’t handle how another department is handling a certain situation . . . etc.

When you sit back and think of how many “n’t” words fill every sentence that we use, you’ll be shocked. (I had to really had to be intentional in writing this post to see if I could even do it without n’t words other than for examples !!)

Now, think about our HR practices and policies. The vast majority of the ones I see are written with more don’ts vs. do’s. If we continue to approach our employees with what they can’t, or shouldn’t, do – how can we expect them to look at what they do from a positive perspective ??

It’s time for us to change this !! We can, and should, be genuinely positive !! Who says that we have to continue to go with the flow of darkness that seems to take up most aspects of media, entertainment and culture?

We’ve come to a point where positive people bother us. Well, I plan to bother people. A LOT of people !!

It’s a real challenge, and I’m only one day into it, but I’m going to do my best to reduce and get rid of the “n’ts” – I hope you join me !! Think how much better our workplaces would be if HR took this approach !!