Thanks to my role as Conference Chair for the Indiana SHRM conference 2018, I was able to attend the SHRM National Conference in New Orleans in June.  The conference is always a wonderful time to be reminded and re-energized about my role as an HR professional.  I was joined by over 15,000 SHRM friends and 3000 vendors and speakers.  I’ve included a few random takeaways from some of my favorite speakers:

Laszlo Bock – Former HR leader at Google and Author of Work Rules!:

Laszlo spoke about building an unbeatable organization. My favorite tips were about interviewing and salary ranges.

If you are an interviewee, this is the best interview advice: “Find SOME kind of connection (i.e., school, interests, kids, who knows who, etc.) with the interviewer.”  Laszlo suggests you should hire people who are “better than you in some meaningful way,” but that is difficult to do when we frequently hire based on a shared interest or background; it’s called “confirmation bias, and we all have it.”

“You don’t need to pay fairly, you need a fair process of pay.”  Laszlo referenced LeBron James; would he fit into a tight salary range, or should he be paid what he’s worth?  Bock suggests we have salary ranges with a 50% spread vs. a typical 20% or else your competitors will pick off your top performers.  Having said that, we will also need to clearly explain that compensation really is based on performance and nothing else!

Shane Yount, Principal with Competitive Solutions, Author

Shane spoke about tracking and communicating HR metrics. Are your HR metrics thermostats or thermometers?  Thermostats measure where you are – the current temperature.  Thermometers are active and allow you to impact change.  Make your metrics matter!  Or, ummmm, do you have HR metrics?

Tracy Butz, Owner of Think Impact Solutions, Author

Tracy spoke about effectively managing time. One statistic that stood out to me was that work time has increased 25% and leisure time has decreased 33%.  Ouch!

Patrick Lencioni – Owner of the Table Group and Author of Many Books, including the most recent, The Ideal Team Player. 

Patrick is my all-time favorite business speaker! He spoke about what makes a great team player.

These are the three essential virtues of a good team player: humble, hungry, smart.  He suggests our hiring practices should be centered around these so that we get (and keep) the right people!

“People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.”  As a trainer, this is tough because participants are always looking for that magic bullet.    Of course, there is no magic bullet to being a better leader; most of us know WHAT to do, it’s about actually DOING it!

The SHRM Conference was a great opportunity to hear different perspectives on being an HR leader. I’m excited to put this advice into practice at Purple Ink!

Interested in doing some leadership training of your own? Contact Purple Ink – we offer customizable training sessions on a variety of topics.