Conference News: Wed., June 28

McCullough: Spirit of 1776 Needed in 2006
When the American Revolution was in its infancy, there was a job vacancy -- head of the Army -- that the Continental Congress was charged to fill. It chose a man who had only a few years of education and no record of military brilliance and who had never commanded an army in his life. He wasn’t a great intellectual or a brilliant orator. “And it was one of the wisest and best decisions Congress ever made,” according to David McCullough, author of 1776, which hit The New York Times best-seller list at No. 1. In the June 27 keynote address at the SHRM Annual Conference, McCullough illustrated how George Washington’s spirit and perseverance made him a born leader, one “that men and women would follow."

Erickson: Meet Coming Demographic Challenges Head-on
Don’t plan to solve all your future labor shortage challenges by recruiting from foreign countries, Tamara J. Erickson, an executive officer and member of the board of directors for the Concours Group, told those attending her June 27 Masters Series presentation at the SHRM Annual Conference. “Population growth around the world came to a screeching halt in 2000, and the trends in life expectancy and birth rates will continue to alter the makeup of workforces for decades to come.”

Accommodate, Don’t Litigate
It’s far better to accommodate than to debate—in-house or in court—about whether an employee’s physical or mental condition is or is not a disability, attorney Kathy Perkins told her audience in a late Monday session at the SHRM Annual Conference. “Adapt or accommodate to help employees do their jobs or do them better—if, when and how it makes good business sense,” she said.

Lawler: Expect Constant Reinvention of Jobs
“The economic reality that companies face today is vastly different from that of 30 years ago,” said University of Southern California business professor and researcher Edward E. Lawler III during a Tuesday session at the SHRM Annual Conference. As such, he said, companies need to drop some practices, pick up others and basically reinvent themselves to ensure their success.

Next Generation Tools Help Contain Heath Costs
Integration of cost-containment tools such as disease management programs, predictive modeling and physician profiling can optimize the value of dollars spent within a health plan, Nancy Blough, executive vice president of the American Health Data Institute, told attendees at the 2006 SHRM Annual Conference. “Get your people jazzed up about health, ratchet-up preventative care and education, and steer employees to the best care,” Blough said.

Barsade: Look Below Surface for Organizational Culture
Organizational culture can be defined a system of shared values and beliefs (including reward systems) that interact with a firm’s strategy and people to produce behavioral norms. But, speaking as the first of three presenters in the 2006 Masters Series, an in-depth educational experience sponsored by the SHRM Foundation at the SHRM Annual Conference, University of Pennsylvania professor Sigal Barsade had a simpler definition: "Organizational culture" is the answer to the question “What is rewarded around here?"

Session Reaches Out to Public-Sector HR
Despite challenges in attracting and retaining a quality workforce-increased competition with the private sector, budgetary constraints, an aging workforce and subsequent knowledge loss as workers retire -- more than three-fourths of HR professionals in the public sector have no mandate to transform their operations. That was among the findings Glenn Davidson shared during Tuesday morning's session of Public Sector Day at the SHRM Annual Conference, "Transforming HR in the Public Sector: Addressing Operational Challenges."

Scorecards Show How Leadership Development Affects Bottom Line
For years the impact of training and development programs was said to be too tough to quantify. Fortunately those days are over. Now tools such as leadership scorecards can help human resource and training professionals track the results of development initiatives and report to senior executives their impact on the bottom line. Leadership scorecards provide a framework that companies can follow to obtain up to five different levels of evaluation for development programs ranging from training, coaching and mentoring to 360-degree feedback programs, said Lynn Schmidt during her session at the SHRM Annual Conference.

Diversity Policies Need To Be Unambiguous
Unclear diversity policies have been successfully challenged in lawsuits, said Douglas Mishkin, lawyer with Patton Boggs LLP in Washington, D.C. When a diversity policy became “exhibit A” in a successful lawsuit, that meant diversity policies had come of age, just as harassment policies became a routine business practice, he said. But diversity policies require more from companies than just being enlightened and embracing the idea of diversity, Mishkin said. The policies require company HR executives to be smart and prudent and to do the hard work of drafting clear policies, training company officials and establishing complaint-handling mechanisms.

Conference News: Tue., June 27

How Gerstner Beat the Blues at IBM
Former IBM Corp. Chairman and CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr. learned a lot about reforming big business during his nine years at Big Blue. Financial challenges, a rigid corporate culture and a demoralized workforce were just some of the issues that Gerstner faced during his effort to lead the company’s turnaround. The former CEO shared his experiences, along with a few unorthodox ideas, at the SHRM Annual Conference during the June 26 general session. Gerstner said one of his first tasks in revitalizing IBM was to study the company’s culture and identify barriers to its success. “Everything you do to try to adapt and change and renew a company -- whether it’s organizational change, marketing, finance, HR -- takes place in a crucible and that crucible is culture,” he said.

Alternative Benefit Strategies: Not Whether But Which
If nothing else is certain about the direction of employer-provided benefits, it’s that current cost trends are not sustainable, said Gary Kushner, SPHR, CBP, who has advised three presidents on health care issues. Peering into his crystal ball and predicting possible benefits scenarios 10 years hence, Kushner, president of Portage, Mich.-based Kushner & Co. and a perennial SHRM Annual Conference favorite, offered “Three Alternative Realities for Employee Benefits in 2016.”

Understanding the Unconventional
Understanding applicable laws that influence an employer’s decisions with regard to employee appearance and conduct is the key to preventing lawsuits, according to Jonathan W. Yarbrough, managing member of the national law firm Constangy, Brooks & Smith LLC, who led the session. However, though body odor, hairstyles and tattoos have prompted legal challenges, many can be resolved in a reasonable manner, he said. In the case of body odor complaints, for example, Yarbrough said employers should first try to determine the cause of the problem. If disability is the culprit, there are easy accommodations that can provide solutions.

Respect Spreads Like Germs
Disrespectful behavior in the workplace can be infectious, said Cornelia Gamlem, SPHR, president of Gems Group Ltd., an HR consulting firm. However, during her Monday afternoon session at the SHRM Annual Conference on “Etiquette at Work,” she emphasized that courtesy is also contagious, and that management’s role in spreading such an infection cannot be understated.

Timing, Buy-in Critical To Evaluating HR Initiatives
There are many benefits to conducting evaluations of human resource management initiatives, but one of the most compelling reasons for measuring performance is that it shows that HR is building a long-term perspective, according to Marjorie A. Derven, managing partner with Hudson Research & Consulting Inc. in Piermont, N.Y. In a Monday morning session at the SHRM Annual Conference, Derven also said that evaluation can help the HR department meet business needs more effectively, use corporate resources more judiciously, add professionalism to its role and ensure the department becomes a valued partner to its clients.

Leadership Development Makes Best Even Better
Founded in 1954, Texas Children’s Hospital is the largest pediatric hospital in the country. Located in Houston, it employs a staff of approximately 6,400 and is the primary teaching hospital for Baylor University’s College of Medicine. The hospital handles more than 2 million patient encounters annually and says it is firmly committed to its guiding principles of customer service excellence, accountability, integrity and valuing individuals. So what’s the problem? Growing pains have made it tough to find and keep good people and to stay focused on the people side of leadership, said hospital vice president Linda W. Aldred during a Monday afternoon session at SHRM’s Annual Conference.

The Times, They Need To Be Changing
Too few people pay attention to how well federal agencies are doing their jobs, Frank Ostroff, managing partner of Ostroff & Associates, said Monday at a symposium for chief human capital officers of government agencies. "Ninety percent of the things that go on in Washington are about policy," said Ostroff, while only 1 percent of those in the government think about whether an agency is meeting its mission.

Conference News: Mon., June 26

Powell: Inspire Troops, Set High Standards
Gen. Colin Powell took no prisoners June 25, charming the troops with the big guns of warmth, wit and lessons from a dazzling military career as the keynote speaker at the opening session of the SHRM Annual Conference. “You have to inspire people,” said the retired four-star U.S. Army general and Secretary of State. Whether it’s a 40-member platoon or an army of 1 million, “people want to be in a unit with high standards,” he said.

Taylor: Find Courage To Lead in Tough Times
HR professionals must take proactive steps to promote talent management, control health care costs and infuse everything their organizations do with the principles of diversity, SHRM Board Chair Johnny C. Taylor Jr., J.D., SPHR, said June 25 at the opening general session of SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exposition in Washington, D.C. “Courageous HR leadership is the key to the most pressing challenges facing our businesses and our organizations today,” said Taylor.

A Carrot a Day Means Employees Will Stay
If you want to attract and keep 24-karat employees, deploy the power of those other “carrots,” the ones that motivate and reward, advised Chester Elton, best-selling co-author of A Carrot a Day and a related series of employee-motivation guides. “People are any organization’s most important asset, but do you make them feel that way?” he asked during a Sunday Super Session at the SHRM Annual Conference.

Variety Is Spice of Recruitment Messages
Not all music lovers enjoy the same tunes, and not all “foodies” love the same cuisine. So companies selling those products must cater to the unique tastes of individuals in these groups to attract new customers and build loyalty among current customers. So it goes with recruiting job candidates from the four different generations that make up today’s workforce, said Cam Marsten, president of Charlotte, N.C.-based Marsten Communications. He described how companies must tailor their recruiting messages to reach each of these groups during a June 25 session that helped kick off SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exposition, held in Washington, D.C.