Why I Am Sponsoring HRevolution

I love the idea of a revolution. Revolution represents change, taking a critical look at the status quo, new beginnings. Evolution is another exciting word. It’s about stretching, growing and transformation. Back in July, when my friend Ben Eubanks told me that he and Trisha McFarlane, were working on an unconference called HRevolution, I was enthralled! I wanted to support this however I could.

Although I am no longer technically in Human Resources, I am an HR advocate. I worked in Human Resources for over 15 years. Some professionals have had the fortune to work under fantastic mentors with a plethora of developmental opportunities. I had the opposite experience. I worked in HR departments with poor leadership who consistently lived up to the CEOs’ stereotypes of HR being the dress code police and “personnel.” As a young HR professional who wanted to truly make a difference in my organization I longed for a resource to help me understand how to be effective and what my role truly was supposed to be. The first place I looked was within other areas of my Fortune 500 companies. As a smaller branch of the overall business, the only results my requests generated were more legal and compliance training.

I turned to my local HR chapter. The leadership there didn’t have a handle around how to strategically position themselves in their organizations, much less the authority to tell us how to get there. The monthly meetings were a little about networking, a lot about the sponsors and the speakers were primarily teaching us more about compliance.

Finally, I turned to the National Society of Human Resources Management or SHRM. I became a member, read the magazines and utilized the website. There was fantastic information there that helped. As a kinesthetic learner though, I still had significant gaps that needed to be filled. (By the way, SHRM is also evolving and one of their top priorities is to better position HR professionals. If you want to follow one of the core movers and shakers at SHRM. Follow China Gorman, SHRM’s Chief Operation Officer. She advocates for HR with the government and is a proponent of utilizing social media technologies to hear our voices.)

Despite these challenges, I purposefully tucked away all the lessons I could learn from both the good and bad work situations. (I worked at a company that was bought and sold five times in nine years, so there were plenty of lessons learned there.) I  diligently observed, read anything I could get my hands on and at my last company, directed Training and Development. I also studied for (and passed) my Senior Professional in Human Resources certification or SPHR.

Today, I am a business coach and corporate facilitator/trainer. My motivation around coaching  and training comes from my largely unfulfilled desire to dramatically impact corporate strategy. So now, I take all the lessons I learned and show business owners how to apply them so they can make powerful improvements in their business and their people.

Why am I sponsoring HRevolution?

Because this is an opportunity I wish I had when I was formally in HR. The unconference format means that anyone who has something to say will have a voice. Some of the greatest HR thought leaders, who are real people, in real situations will be there to talk about the state of our industry and help participants improve their skills. There will be ongoing conversations where tough questions are asked and real answers are discussed. Anything that accomplishes all this for the HR profession is something I joyfully support!

Thank you to Ben Eubanks (blog: Upstart HR), Trisha McFarlane (blog: HR Ringleader), Steve Boese (blog: HR Happy Hour and HR Tech) and Crystal Peterson for making HRevolution happen!

Tagged as: Business, coaching, entrepreneur, HR, HRevolution, Human Resources, Leadership, relationships, Sanera, SHRM, Social Media, stretch