GMA SHRM HR Link

By Tracey Meek, GMA SHRM President

"Advancing, Serving, Leading Change," was the theme of the annual Wisconsin State SHRM Leadership Conference. Madison was the selected site for the conference this year and I am pleased to say we had great support and representation at the conference. Each year, the SHRM State Council provides a two-day conference that helps volunteer chapter leaders learn about the resources available to them at the state and national level. This year we had the opportunity to learn more about working with our local student chapters, how to engage volunteer leaders, identifying HR role models and sharing best practices with our fellow chapters. For the remainder of this message, the other leaders of GMASHRM that attended the conference will share their thoughts with you.

Belinda Weber, SPHR, President Elect & Community Committee Co-Chair: The leadership Conference was a wonderful opportunity to share with, and learn from other chapters in our council. We had a great brainstorming session in the afternoon addressing topics such as revenue streams, Board succession planning, and workforce readiness initiatives within various chapters'. We discovered partnering opportunities between chapters and opportunities for the council to support the chapter leadership in their quests. It was especially rewarding to see that we all share the same mission - "Serve the Professional (STP), Advance the Profession (ATP)".

Anthony Dix, Vice President Programming: What I liked best about the conference was the ability to network with other chapter leaders throughout the state of WI. Of particular note, was the "Best Practices Breakout Session" that allowed me to learn new and creative ways of improving our chapter's overall success. The participation and feedback everyone provided was invaluable. The conference is also a great way to learn how SHRM supports chapter leaders and volunteers.

ATP and STP were popular themes throughout the conference. The District Directors did an excellent job facilitating these discussions, which in turn have allowed for all of us to evaluate whether or not we as HR practitioners and volunteer leaders are Advancing the Profession and Serving the HR Professional. Overall, a very dynamic conference that I would recommend to any volunteer leader.

Cassy Barbic, Communications Committee Co-Chair: A few "gems" that I took from the conference were Ed Wood's overview of the Wisconsin State Council, discussions surrounding best practices, and the overview of SHRM Online's Volunteer Leaders' Resource Center. Ed provided a great overview of the SHRM leadership structure, and outlined the four council positions that are opening up: Secretary, Leadership Director, Conference Liaison Director and District Director- South. See related article in this month's HR Link. More info at: http://www.wishrm.org/council_members.html. The online Volunteer Leaders' Resource Center is a great resource for any of the SHRM volunteers, and can be located at http://www.shrm.org/chapters/resources/chaphelp.asp. Overall, it was a content-rich conference.

Thank you to Belinda, Anthony, Cassy and Mary LaFrancois for giving of your time to attend the conference and sharing what you have learned. I encourage all of our members to check out the links above not only are they informative for SHRM volunteers but they provide excellent resources for all of our workplaces.