• On the keynote side of the house, Amy Cuddy (author of Presence) is the one I am most looking forward to hearing. I know several people who heard her speak during May’s WorkHuman event in Orlando and all had only good things to say. My own conference, HR Indiana, looked to have her but alas our conference coincided with the start of her term teaching at Harvard.
• I’ve not spent the time reviewing the concurrent session grid to know with certainty everything I am attending. My friend Karl’s session on Tuesday, Advanced CFO Wisdom is likely one you will find me attending. Given the changes coming out of the NLRB (just down from the conference site!) I expect to get some updates on those activities as well.
• One of my favorite things during the SHRM Annual Conference is time spent with the SHRM Foundation. I know they are releasing 2 new reports during the conference, and are partnering with Fitbit on a step challenge. Anyone who has attended SHRM before knows that walking is constant and achieving 50,000 steps during the time the conference runs is a realistic goal. I hope I remember my Fitbit charger!
• Of course, no SHRM conference is complete without the after hours social events. Don’t discount them and the learning and sharing that occurs!
• Speaking of social – the time with my SHRM Blogging friends (and yes, they are friends!) will be a highlight and will serve to recharge my HR batteries. There is no greater group of people than these smart and accomplished HR professionals. I am honored to know them.
• Finally (and most importantly!) I am being joined in DC by my wife and daughter. They will be tourists while I “conference”, but I will have some time to spend with them as well as some family who live in Northern Virginia. It’s my daughter’s 1^st time to our nation’s capital and I hope she enjoys it as much as I do each time I have the chance to visit.

If you’re going to be there, please send me a note. If we haven’t met, I would love to meet you! Reach out via twitter @bradgalin or come by the SHRM Bloggers Lounge (room 102A)

My intent is not to answer any of life’s big questions (like who will win a battle between Batman and Superman) but to trigger some exploration and reflection. My plan is to post the question for all to see on Monday and provide my own response to it the following day. Even if this doesn’t trigger public discussion or disclosure, I hope that anyone reading this will think to themselves about how they might answer the question.

Look for the series to begin next week. Until then, stay warm and safe my friends!

It’s time to do some thinking and reflecting.

There are corporate partnerships aligned with educational institutions that create value and link the knowledge that can be taught in schools with the skills needed by employers.  Creating relevance is key to many students (one of the R’s touted by our superintendent) and having someone to show these real world applications to students can make a difference in both the classroom and the workplace.

Whether we like it or, boosting education attainment is a workforce issue and it is essential the companies step up to declare what they need, how they can help get it, and partner with as many entities as needed to get what they need out of the educational system.

Psychiatrist and author of the book Play, Stuart Brown, provides some tips on how we can incorporate more elements of play into our lives.

Change how you think about play. Remember that play is important for all aspects of our lives, including creativity and relationships. Give yourself permission to play every day.

Take a play history. In his book Brown includes a primer to help readers reconnect with play. He suggests readers mine their past for play memories. What did you do as a child that excited you? Did you engage in those activities alone or with others? How can you recreate that today?

Surround yourself with playful people. Brown stresses the importance of selecting friends who are playful and of playing with your loved ones.

Play with little ones. Playing with kids helps us experience the magic of play through their perspective.  What could be better than that?

Have fun and PLAY!

Any time you think play is a waste, remember that it offers some serious benefits for both you and others. As Brown says in his book, “Play is the purest expression of love.”

Those attending the SHRM conference next week in Chicago have an opportunity to play and contribute to a great cause.  Come to Grant Park next Sunday night at 7:00 to see some HR rock stars playing kickball and doing good for No Kid Hungry.  Knowing the people involved, I’m sure fun will be had by all.  Even if you can’t be there, you can donate to the very worthy No Kid Hungry cause and be a part of playing a role in helping end childhood hunger.  After all, play is the most important thing a child can do! Let’s give all of them a chance to worry only about play, and not from where their next meal may come.

Watching the reunion of parents with their kids in the midst of chaos certainly made me squeeze my two a little tighter this evening.  Please do the same with those you love and care about.  That is the most relevant thing you can ever do!

The ones I love!

This on-going connectedness has many benefits.  We all have areas that we struggle to be as successful as we are in others and being able to look to others who have conquered an issue and are willing to share that knowledge is extremely valuable.  I am pleased as more of my HR colleagues take on blogging and increase their visibility at state and local HR conferences as speakers and the experts that they are.  The more exposure that the HR profession has to many of the great and active voices that are in the consciousness, the better we all can be in terms of pulling together our strengths to benefit the profession, our organizations, and those we work with on a daily basis.

One strategy I am using is to expose my HR staff to some of the blogs I read so that they can begin to explore and see the larger HR world that exists outside our organization and our local SHRM chapter.  Good ideas come from everywhere and building on these is the best way to build a feeling of abundance and avoid the feelings of isolation and desperation that can sow the seeds of doubt.

My current MBA class is focusing on quality issues within organizations.  A phrase from the first class seems appropriate for us who want to learn while in the blogosphere.  Unconnected knowledge is not as useful or satisfying as learning applied for individual and group benefit.  Reach out, share your knowledge, and be willing to suspend your own certainty to learn something from someone else each and every day.

My own organization has been hit a few times with significant events.  The worst, on Christmas Eve 2009, was a fire that completely destroyed one of our facilities.  We were fortunate that the vast majority of our files were electronically saved and that we had great community partners ready to assist.  After the fire, we lost one day of services before having something up and running in a temporary facility.  A more permanent temporary home was secured within a month.



The burned out shell of the United Way Center in Columbus, IN

Even though so much of the focus was on finding a building, replacing the stuff we lost, and tending to the physical needs, the bigger challenge was ensuring that our staff (and even our clients!) were adapting to these forced changes.  During this immediate aftermath of the fire, we saw the raw emotions and natural range of reactions expected by people under stress.  There were occasions of sadness, grief, and anger that popped up in each of us.  We had counselors ready to help people acknowledge their feelings.  It was also beneficial, even healing, to be up and running in a “semi-normal” setting so quickly so that we could again draw upon and utilize the strengths of our amazing people.

This quick turnaround would not have been possible if we had not had contingency plans in place.  Our very active safety committee worked to identify the various resources that might be needed in the event of a disaster.  These plans were again used (albeit in a less severe manner) last week when a couple of residential sites we serve were damaged by a tornado that hit.  Thankfully, no one was hurt and our emergency drills paid off in real life.  One of our houses even had a state surveyor conducting an inspection at the time the storms hit and he passed us without issue after spending 45 minutes in a safe area with clients and staff!

So, if you do not know what you organization’s disaster preparedness plans are, ask.  We have them for fires, tornadoes, winter storms (gotta love the Midwest!), flu pandemic, earthquakes, workplace violence, and several others.  If your question is met by blank stares, a shoulder shrug, or something along the lines of “we don’t have one”, then you have found a great way to contribute something of value to your organization.  Although, hopefully it’s one thing that HR can contribute that will never be used.