GMA SHRM HR Link

By Sue Estes, President-Elect

It’s that time of year when our children (and some of us as well) are returning to school. All the back-to-school activities we’re seeing reminds me of our vision statement for GMA SHRM, specifically the section that refers to promoting life-long learning: “We will encourage members to continually grow and develop professionally through the encouragement and support of their attainment of the highest standards of competence in the HR profession.”

Recently three of us from the GMA SHRM Board attended the WI State SHRM Leadership Conference. The program offered tools we could use to help us learn and grow in our volunteer roles with GMA SHRM with information shared on “best practices” of other chapters, ideas for Board recruitment and succession planning, ethical issues for our volunteer leaders, and an update on Workforce Readiness programs and initiatives. In addition, Keith Greene, SHRM (National) VP of Member Relations, and Milton Perkins, SHRM North Central Regional Director made presentations on “Emerging Trends in HR: Preparing for the Future” and “So You Want to Be Strategic – What’s Next?” Both of these presentations made it clear to me the importance of our chapter programming in providing educational opportunities for our members.

According to SHRM’s Workplace Forecast 2004/2005 – A Strategic Outlook, the top five HR trends (according to HR professionals) were

5. Demonstrating HR’s ROI

4. Responding to the changing demographics of a diverse workforce

3. Preparing for the next wave of retirement and the labor shortage

2. Use of technology to perform transactional HR functions

1. Growing complexity of legal compliance.

Our fall program schedule provides topics that address several of the HR trends that Keith Greene discussed. September’s Chapter meeting focusing on the upcoming labor crisis will give us more information about the issues and should lead us to thinking of the ways that we, as HR professionals, can be better prepared to help our companies meet these challenges. Future GMA SHRM programs will help us in our understanding of legal compliance issues, the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, as well as topics on change management and performance improvement. Our Programming Committee has been busy putting together learning opportunities for our chapter members that will address the top concerns of HR professionals and company CEOs and CFOs. Your input from our recent member survey is playing a critical role in our program planning.

As GMA SHRM members, you have many opportunities though our regular chapter meeting programs, our Wednesday in the Park series, and our Professional Emphasis Groups to continue your life-long learning. Take advantage of all that is offered and register for an upcoming program. You may find that you will take away more than just what the speaker offers…you’ll also have the opportunity to meet other GMA SHRM members and learn from your peers.