SHRM Long Island Conference Inspires HR to Lead in a Culture of Change

Author: Beth P. Zoller, XpertHR Legal Editor

May 13, 2014

The Long Island Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management - (SHRM) held its 23rd Annual Conference and Exhibitor's Showcase - "Innovation: Creating a Culture that Values Change" - on Friday, May 9, 2014 in Woodbury, New York. The conference focused on HR leadership principles and provided valuable advice for HR when facing new challenges and changes in the workplace. Participants had the opportunity to hear a wide range of speakers.

Jonathan Michael Bowman of Clear Picture Leadership kicked off the conference with his Keynote Address - "How to Lead the Way to Picture Perfect Change." Stressing the importance of having a vision and a goal to constantly work toward, Michael used beautiful photography and vivid imagery to inspire HR professionals to become leaders of change, encourage teamwork and build a dynamic workforce. According to Bowman, effective leaders should create a vision and then lead and motivate their team through hard work, dedication and creative solutions.

During the morning session, participants could choose to attend two of three workshops. In "The Innovation of Talent Acquisition: If Values Matter, Shouldn't You Measure Them?", Don Everett, founder of Workforce Interactive, explained how one's values, such as honesty, integrity, loyalty and teamwork, and thinking can cause one to succeed or fail in a job and that HR should take such differences into account when hiring or placing talent. He said that individuals are either intrinsic thinkers (i.e., led by their personal connections and attachments), extrinsic thinkers (i.e., driven to compare and relate options and take risks) or systemic thinkers (i.e., viewing the world in black and white).

For example, an intrinsic thinker would likely be compassionate and caring and well-suited to working as a nurse in a maternity ward, whereas an extrinsic thinker would likely be more successful as an emergency room nurse who must think and act quickly in order to help save lives. In an interview after the workshop, Everett stated that "personality is how people act, but values are how people think. Thinking comes first!"

In "Build a Brandful Workforce: Putting Employees in the Driver's Seat to Drive Change," Julia Gometz, founder of The Brandful Workforce, explained how HR can build a workforce where employees can be champions of the brand they work for. In particular, she suggested that HR can use tools such as communication, celebration, involvement in programs, citizenship and recruitment to inspire employees to enhance the employer's brand and reputation.

In "Disability Etiquette and Awareness," Nadine O. Vogel, founder/president of Springboard Consulting LLC, guided workshop participants through real life scenarios and shared personal stories in order to impart the tools and rules of etiquette HR can use to approach an individual with a visible or invisible (i.e., mental illness) disability. Vogel explained that individuals with different disabilities may find themselves in conflict with one another. For example, an individual with a hearing disability may want the windows closed so he or she can better hear what co-workers are saying, while a co-worker with a respiratory disability may want the windows open for fresh, rather than recirculated, air. Vogel stated that HR must take an active leadership role and meet with each worker with a disability to better understand their needs rather than telling workers with disabilities to work it out themselves.

Christopher M. Valentino, Esq., managing shareholder of Jackson Lewis' Long Island office, and Aoifa O'Donnell, CEO of National EAP, Inc., concluded the conference with a workshop titled "Rolling With the Seas of Change: Developing HR Leadership Qualities During Times of Crisis and Turmoil." Valentino and O'Donnell shared how HR could take a leadership role when it comes to fostering change in the workplace, whether it is initiated by an employer, employees or because of circumstances occurring outside of the workplace, such as a change in the law. They provided tips and advice on how HR can manage conflicting loyalties towards management and employees, by protecting an employer's business interests and minimizing liability while at the same time maintaining worker productivity and morale. Such tips included taking into consideration the laws implicated by the change, providing senility training to managers, enforcing workplace policies consistently and effectively communicating with employees.