2011 Strategic Advice for SHRM: Make SHRM Matter

Voice of HR invited a number of industry contributors to take a critical look at SHRM and offer their strategic advice to SHRM leadership in a web series, 2011 Strategic Advice for SHRM. 

This is a republication of my response posted on Saturday on the Voice of HR blog. 

MAKE SHRM MATTER

So much of my day, I face more competition for my attention than I have time to give. Let's talk about competition for my attention from within my chosen profession - Human Resources.

I've been a Human Resource (HR) professional for over 15 years and counting. I progressed from an HR department of one supporting 75 employees to an HR Director with a staff of 14 supporting 1500 employees. My career has spanned private, public and federal sectors and is still going strong. I am a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a Human Capital Strategist (HCS), I have more degrees than any one person needs and not nearly enough time.

I read. I write. I conference. I search.

I choose. 

My HR colleagues and friends make a difference every day pushing the envelope, generating new ideas and challenging the status quo. They manage HR effectively by changing human behavior and rally fellow HR leaders to develop workforce strategies to generate talent. They deliver on the plan, they seek out the tough questions and they teach. They are in the trenches, they are at the helm and they practice what they preach.

I follow. I lead. I listen. I learn.

I am inspired.

I am a card carrying SHRM member and have been for over 15 years. SHRM, at it's core, is technical practitioner HR.  It's a necessary and solid foundation that was invaluable to me at the start of my career. As a one-person HR department, I had SHRM on speed dial and the professionals on the other end of the line were beacons in the storm and my one-stop for questions. 

Not any more. SHRM is focusing on and meeting a need - but not my need. I am looking for current, relevant, and emerging ideas.

When I have questions or need information, I am online in business magazines, leadership columns, and blogs. I am in Human Capital spaces one day and Talent Management and Succession Planning spaces on another. I live at the Office of Personnel Management and federal HR sites. I seek out conferences beyond traditional and technical HR.

HR is a dynamic profession yet when I think of SHRM, I see a solid, rigid organization. 

SHRM, create a new reality. Start conversations and let them flow. Let go of being big, of being "the one," of being in charge. Collaborate with other organizations and do what you have to do to provide resources to your members- even of they didn't originate from SHRM. Encourage new ideas, let go of "knowing" the future of HR, and be open to the unknown. Restructure to be nimble. 

SHRM, inspire me. Be the change the profession needs.

Make me choose you. 

*  *  *

The series started on last Monday and runs for another few days. The guidance is respectful, thoughtful, productive, provocative and given with the best of intentions.

Give it a read - all of it - and weigh in with your comments. You have a voice.

Social Media Tools Are Not The Boss Of Me

..... anymore.

A few weeks ago I embarked on a social media nip and tuck to frame up my social media efforts. My goals are to deepen and strengthen my connections, collaborate on a professional project and write beyond the blog

A work in progress, I am reevaluating how I am using the tools and checking out some new ones. Touching on the very basics, here is what I've done so far in no particular order other than the length of the bullet:

• Test drove out Nutshell Mail 
• Created my first Google doc
• Set aside time to write each morning
• Updated my contact form on the blog
• Reduced my RSS feeds to just over 100
• Set LinkedIn to weekly vs. daily updates 
• Unsubscribed from many retail mailing lists
• Deleted memberships in 2 online HR communities
• Routed some mail to a gmail account to check it out
• Decreased the email notifications from Facebook - a lot. 
• Reviewed current LinkedIn groups, added some and left others

Up next is setting aside time to actually read my Google Reader items and not scan them on the fly, reviewing professional email newsletter subscriptions with an eye on reduction, reviewing my Linked In profile, updating my blog roll, dusting off my Google Voice number and checking out Google calendar.

It's a start. It's part of the grand plan. And it's all good. 

How about you? Do you have basic strategies that work best for you? Tell me about them in the comments below. 

Photo credit iStock Photo

My Social Media Nip and Tuck

When I talk to people who are not active with social media, about social media, and we get past the lack of time issues, the first question I am asked is, "what should I use?" I say that I blog and use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. When asked if they work for me, I answered, "yes."

Then I read Framing Your Social Media Efforts by Chris Brogan. Chris writes for business marketing but he got me thinking about how I use social media as an individual. Not the nuts and bolts of logging in, updating, or posting regularly (or not) but looking at, as Chris says, how well I am "tying them all together. "

A Look In the Mirror

I am an experienced-based kind of girl. If I haven't done it, felt it, and learned from it, I can't talk about it. Table talk topics, Toastmasters impromptu speeches, and off the cuff comebacks are not me. I need time to process and I am so much better on the replay. So, while I love the lens Chris offers, I can't have this conversation with budding social media-ites without first taking a look at my own practices.

My social media use has developed over the past 12-15 months without a long term plan and I am convinced that the tools I am using and the way I am using them is not the right combination to get me to where I want to go. Now, as I am looking into the new year and making plans, it's time to put randomness aside and frame up my social media efforts.

My goals are to deepen and strengthen my connections, collaborate on a professional project and write beyond the blog. So, in addition to reevaluating how I am using the tools I am now, I am going to check out some new ones to see if they'd round out the mix.

A Work In Progress

It's a start. It's part of the grand plan. And it's all good. In the spirit of building connections, collaboration and writing, I'll update my progress here. How about you? Do you have strategies that work best for you? Tell me about them.