It’s 7:00 a.m. in Orlando and the conference is nearly shaking from a packed house of HR professionals participating in what Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt have introduced as the #HRMashUp, this just one exercise in their enjoyable yet informative session. Jason has dawned the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition in various capacities presenting strategic concepts rooted in authenticity that truly humanize our profession while informing and guiding constructive disruption.
I am not easy to impress, but I can genuinely say that Jason is among the most-engaging speakers the #SHRM17 Annual conference. I caught up with him to give you all a sneak preview of his forthcoming talk (get there early, this session will be full)!
1. Jason, what have you been up to since your packed-house presentation at #SHRM16 ?
It’s been a kind of a crazy year professionally! After three great years working at Quantum Workplace, it was time for me to transition. I needed to focus my career full-time to speaking, writing, and advising leaders to help them solve the riddle of employee engagement. It’s been an awesome (and mostly fun) transition.
In other news, my wife was elected to serve on the city council in our community. This has been a really cool journey to share with her. In addition, she closed her bakery business the fall after nearly nine years and joined me as a partner to take on the marketing and operations side of my business. Most people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them that I work with my wife. It’s working out great for us. Maybe I’ll end up delivering a session on this someday. Ha!
2. What can we expect from your presentation at #SHRM17 ?
We’ll be talking about courage. Last year, I was invited to speak at DisruptHR Chicago. My message was that if HR really wants to be disruptive, it’s not about new technologies or practices. The real disruption comes when HR learns to be courageous about driving change within our organizations. The reaction to the message was great, so I decided to build a longer session to dig into the “how” of courage for those who are ready step up to a greater impact in their role.
3. You’ve been known to get the crowd pumped at in your Mega Sessions. Can we expect an opportunity for crowd participation at #SHRM17 ?
I’m still working this out. In a session about courage, it seems like we need to do something to push the envelope a bit, right? I guess you’ll just have to come and check it out to get the answer to this one.
4. You’ve seen the SHRM Annual Conference from a vendor, speaker and attendee view. Any advice for people attending #SHRM17 from these diverse groups?
Focus on connecting with others (attendees, speakers, vendors, everyone). Get to know as many people as you can while you are there. The most valuable thing about a conference like this is the relationships that can form. I have come to love this conference because it affords me the opportunity to both reconnect with so many colleagues and form new relationships. I can personally point back to SHRM Annual conferences as where I met several people who today I consider friends and invaluable colleagues.
5. Any parting words for HR Professionals out there?
Know that your job is critically important to your organization’s success and every employee that works there. Believe it in your heart. You owe it to each one of those people to do everything you can to create a work experience that is both good for the employee and good for the organization’s success. This is righteous work. And, people are counting on you.
But remember, you don’t have to do this alone. There are literally thousands and thousands of others out there doing this same righteous work. Find those people, connect with them, and help each other. The SHRM Conference is a great place to start.
See you there.
Jason has seen our profession and the SHRM Annual conference from every angle. This makes him uniquely qualified to present material that is guaranteed to provide actionable take aways to bring back to your workplace.
Find out more about Jason @ www.jasonlauritsen.com
Session Details: vWhat Are You Waiting For? Finding the Courage to Make an Impact
David Kovacovich is an Engagement Strategist, Organizational Culturalist, and Behavioral Economist. He has been a member of the SHRM Annual Conference Social Media Team since 2013 and is a keynote speaker in the NCHRA lecture series. David is on Twitter at @DavidKovacovich and blogs at Dave's Weekly Thought.
- 0
- 391 views
Add new comment