SHRM Blog

Remove the Barriers to Raise the Bar

by Robin SchoolingOn October 27, 2011 0 comments

There are many things that great leaders can do to create opportunities for employees to perform at their highest possible level. Aside from developing and sustaining strong personal relationships built on a foundation of trust, feedback and coaching, leaders have the power to implement workplace initiatives such as flexibility, inclusion and a culture of candid communication. We all want to have a ‘great place to work’ so we tinker and adjust and align our ways of operating and our workplace values with our goals and strategy. We speak of empowering our employees so that they can have control over...

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The Essence of Strategy

by John BellOn October 26, 2011 0 comments

I’ve always loved strategy. Maybe it’s because I grew up playing chess; maybe it’s because I can be stubborn. Luckily, good strategists are also stubborn. They have to be, because in today’s “light-speed” business world, most of their business colleagues are anything but strategic. They either believe that strategy is a deterrent to opportunity or they’ve never experienced the strategic disciplines of a prudent mentor. I suspect these folks have never enjoyed the sales and profit rewards that result from rejecting non-strategic opportunities in the name of maintaining...

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Player, Please: Gamification & Social Engagement

by Matt CharneyOn October 25, 2011 0 comments

Lost in all the buzzwords and best practices about social media recruiting is a simple fact: it’s supposed to be fun. In the olden days of faxed resumes, form cover letters and cold calling, engaging talent could be a chore. But new methodologies have developed along with new mediums. As more and more employers are finding out, the business of work doesn’t have to feel like, well, work at all.

One of the emerging new topics in talent acquisition is the concept of gamification, a concept so new it’s not recognized by spell check. Gamification can...

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Business Success and Making Sacrifices

by Sharlyn LaubyOn October 24, 2011 0 comments

One of the sessions I really enjoyed at this year’s SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas was presented by Sue Meisinger, former CEO of SHRM, on the “10 Things Your CEO Will Never Tell You, But HR Needs to Know.” If you missed the session…well, that’s a bummer but Sue did mention a report you might find interesting. Booz & Co. compiles a CEO study each year that offers some insights about the role of the CEO in today’s marketplace. It's an interesting read and you can find a copy here.

In reading the report, one thing...

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Work/Life Balance - Are we Kidding Ourselves?

by Susan AvelloOn October 20, 2011 0 comments

Since October is National Work and Family Month, it’s a good time to discuss work-flex.

I love how Jason Seiden described “work/life balance” recently at Illinois SHRM: “We talk of it as something we separate by a slash and then hope we can balance everything in between. Trying to package them and keep them separate doesn’t work…There is no rigid separation.”

More and more, we seek a middle ground between what works for us, our organizations, and our employees—whatever their stage of life. But does a flexible workplace really benefit everyone, or are we...

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Creating a Red Rubber Ball Moment in the Workplace

by Jessica Miller-MerrellOn October 18, 2011 0 comments

Have you ever had a red rubber ball moment? Kevin Carroll, author of the Red Rubber Ball Book Series describes these as when play transform even tense, high-stakes moments into pure fun and result in deep connections formed that can last a lifetime.

My first experience in a post-college and professional environment was while working for Target Corporation as part of the company’s store management team in an HR capacity. My official title was Executive Team Leader of Team Relations or ETL-TR for short. While I worked exhausting...

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SHRM's Shirley Davis: A Woman to Watch

by Amy ThompsonOn October 17, 2011 0 comments

SHRM is proud to congratulate our very own Dr. Shirley Davis for being named one of Profiles in Diversity Journal’s “100 Women Worth Watching” for 2012. As SHRM’s head of Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, Shirley has been instrumental in advancing the D&I field – and has become a leading voice on the challenges and complexities associated with managing diversity in a global workplace and marketplace. While she’s helping organizations and business navigate this advancing field, on a more personal level, she’s been an inspiration to many, including her 325 colleagues...

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8 Ways to Feed a Need and Stifle a Fear to Innovate from the Middle

by Ann TardyOn October 13, 2011 0 comments

Flight Attendant vs. Consultant

“They paid some consultant millions of dollars to figure out how to load this plane. They should have just asked me. I’ve been a flight attendant for 22 years.” I overheard this on a recent flight when the boarding process caused a traffic jam of people.

Office Managers vs. Corporate Headquarters

“They said they wanted to ‘empower us’ to come up with our own ideas for developing our agents, and so we did. We actually got excited about the opportunity to do something different, but when we submitted our proposals to them,...

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Cool Tools HR Tech Wrap-up 2011

by Craig FisherOn October 12, 2011 0 comments

There I was, at a steak house on the Vegas strip, with 4 Brits and a German who couldn't pronounce Mojave. They had, as I had, driven into Las Vegas from Los Angeles, through the mountains and desert, a couple of days prior for HR Tech 2011.

That dinner was one of many highlights for me during a few days spent speaking at HRevolution and covering the HR Tech 2011 Conference.

I was very impressed with the unconference conversations and sessions at HRevolution. The...

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Experimentation and Discovery: How Science can Help you Transform HR

by Jason LauritsenOn October 11, 2011 0 comments

For being a profession with heavy detail and conformity requirements, I’ve always wondered why we aren’t better at using the rigor of science within our work in Human Resources. It would seem to me that the structure and process of the scientific method would appeal to us since we spend much of our time working with structure and process all day long.

And yet, when we look at how we approach our work in HR, there’s not as much science involved as there should be. Science, afterall, is really the practice of studying the nature and behavior...

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