Welcome back! If you haven’t read parts one and two of our #SHRM14 update, please do so! (It’s worth it, I promise!) Without further ado, here is the final installment of Wendy’s recap:
Another noteworthy session I attended was one on Strategic Planning. This one was so full of information, it was hard to get it all. But here are some highlights that I believe are applicable to everyone.
HR needs to promote, provide and model strategy. Companies need to make decisions and HR needs to be involved and proactively ask the tough questions. To strategize:
- Start with a picture of today’s environment
- Create a shared vision; all need to agree where the group/company is going
The intent is to develop the vision, then the mission, then a description, then the goal. Each goal will have a set of objectives and strategies to reach the goal. Goals are long-term and never go away; the only way they change is if the vision changes. Objectives are measureable and quantitatively measure the accomplishment of goals. There is a difference between measuring results and the activity; for example, a company may have a goal of having 2 membership drives in a year. That definition of the goal doesn’t take into account why there should be 2 a year, the quality of the membership drives, or even who is responsible. The more accurate goal would be to increase membership; an objective would be to sign up 25 new people, and a strategy would be to have 2 membership drives.
Some common mistakes that organizations make in strategizing are:
- It doesn’t happen
- Inaccurate measurements are used
- They jump straight to strategy before defining critical success factors and barriers
Planning needs to be done in phases: Assessment, Strategy and Implementation. The need for planning often has to be sold to executives because time taken away from other priorities. To get the executives on the same page, it’s helpful to vision-cast with them:
- The most critical issues the company faces
- What the drivers are for change
- The changes that need to be made to ensure the drivers work
- Information that needs to be gathered
- How to move forward
Once the strategy is developed, monitoring needs to occur:
- Monthly – did we do what we said we were going to do?
- Quarterly – Are we making the progress we intended to make? Review the performance against the direction that was developed
- Annually – Are we going in the right direction? Update the strategic plan if necessary.
Strategic Planning doesn’t work in companies in which people don’t want to change and where they don’t believe in the plan. Therefore, the implementers need to promote the strategies, provide the goals and objectives and then model them for the organization to see.
The last day of the conference, the keynote speaker was Laura Bush. (Side note: there was security throughout the building, and the 8 or so from her security team that were standing at the entrance to the hall were very stringent in their duties.)
Mrs. Bush’s address was very well presented and received. She started by giving an update on her family and what they were involved in since leaving the White House. Then she transitioned into what it was like being in the White House for the 8 years they were there. They anticipated that the challenges of the country would be within it instead of outside of it—Russia was no longer the enemy, there was peace in the Falklands, and the President’s focus was on education and prescription and Medicare drugs. Her task was to find her duties as a first lady. She just wanted to be herself: someone who strongly believes that literacy is an essential foundation for democracy and that books have the ability to shape our journey as a nation. One of her favorite memories was when she helped host a reading event at the DC mall; 30,000 people were able to review books, talk to authors and enjoy the day. A couple of days later she was on her way to the Capitol to talk with Senator Kennedy when a Secret Service agent told her that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. That evening they were taken to a secure location and she was able to see her husband for the first time that day and know that he was safe. They woke up to a different life on 9/12/01. As a first lady, Mrs. Bush was no longer speaking out against illiteracy; she was now speaking out against brutality against women and children in Afghanistan and other countries.
The day the Bushes left the White House was a bittersweet day. They knew they had done their best for the country; the President liked to say of the country, “We are the big ship, America. We may lean to the left or right, but we stay on course.” They both felt very fortunate to have had the experience of living in the White House. As she looked back on the period, she remembered October 30, 2001. The President was scheduled to throw out the first pitch, which at any other time would have been a lighthearted duty, but actually was more melancholy because citizens were still grieving over 9/11. They soldiered on because they felt it was the job of any American who wants to make a difference and stand up to failure, humiliation or mortal danger. The greatest honor of being First Lady was to observe not just her husband, but all of America, standing up.
Mrs. Bush concluded her speech as the President of SHRM took the stage to ask her some questions. Here are a few of her answers:
You are known as one of the most beloved First Ladies….tell us your management philosophy.
You all know management philosophy—treat people with dignity and respect. That is what is important now that things are so “unsimple” in our society. We can be anonymous now on web sites and people can say whatever they want to say. We can’t have that in our relationships with each other. Everyone has the chance to spread civility throughout our organizations, and that is a good beginning.
What would be the most surprising thing for people to know about life in the White House?
People would be surprised by how normal life is in the White House. Although we had dinner cooked by a chef (she misses the chef the most), we would eat together then watch television. The girls would have people over; family would come to stay.
What advice would you give young women today who are entering the workforce of life.
To women: you can do anything. Women in the US are doing very well. There are more women in college and graduate school than men in the US. Part of the reason is because we started paying attention. The fact is that we need to pay attention to boys too. Boys are much more likely to be in trouble, drop out. We need to pay attention to all of our children—all children need nurturing. My daughters didn’t want their father to run for President, but now they are glad he did. They met so many people and did so many interesting things.
The last mention I’ll make regarding the conference, is that I was able to learn more about the SPHR certification change and we will be sharing more information soon.
Ta-da! You’ve made it through our recap of the 2014 SHRM Conference! Congratulations! Please feel free to share your own SHRM experiences by commenting below.