As you know from my last few posts, I recently participated in a un-conference for HR professionals – HRevolution. I posted my recap about the event here but I was just one of approximately 50 folks who attended the event and many of these folks also blogged about their experiences and take-aways.
And now, all of these terrific blog posts are in one location for your reading pleasure. Trish McFarlane is hosting the HR Carnival’s HRevolution edition over on her blog, HR Ringleader and it’s a great collection of fun stories about the attendees, the un-conference style, turning tweeps to peeps, and the future of HR. It was a great event and Trish did a wonderful job of pulling all of the stories together.
So head on over to the carnival today and spend a little time reading about HRevolution. Oh, and bring me back some popcorn!
It’s over.
Yep, it’s over. HRevolution is over. Well at least the un-conference part is over. The real work is just getting started.
This past weekend, almost 50 HR professionals, recruiters, CEO’s, consultants and vendors came to Louisville, KY to talk HR. Social media for HR. Technology for HR. The future of HR.
So many great people and so many great conversations and a lot of passion for the work that we do. Everyone in the room was there to talk about how we, and our profession, can be better. And that was inspiring.
A few take-aways for me:
- If you have the opportunity to take your online relationships, offline, do it. It is well worth the time and effort to get to know your twitter/blogging pals offline. I am looking forward to engaging more with the folks I met this past weekend.
- HR is not dead. HR is alive and well, and there are many, many HR pros rocking it out. Every. Single. Day. Can we do some things better? Yes. But are we doing a lot of things well? Yes. Yes. Yes.
- Not everyone in HR will be strategic and not everyone is looking for that ‘seat at the table’. And you know what? That’s ok. There’s work on both sides (transactional and transformational) that needs to get done. Whatever your role, do it and do it well.
- While social media is definitely a topic for discussion among HR pros, we need to remember that it’s just a tool in our tool belt. We need to make sure our culture is thriving and our employees are thriving and engaged. And if that’s not happening, we need to be about the business of fixing that first. Social media, web 2.0, whatever the hot new thing is, can’t fix those issues.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have the opportunity to continue this conversation and help take our profession to the next level. And I’m excited about that!
So, are you ready?
We’re just one week away from HRevolution! Last week I talked about the tremendous amount of support the conference has received and I highlighted two of the sponsors. This week I’d like to talk about another sponsor, Jessica Miller-Merrell and Blogging4Jobs.
Here’s a little info about Jessica:
I’m thrilled to be a part of this conference and I’m looking forward to meeting and collaborating with Jessica and all of the HR/Recruiting pros attending.
Will you be there?
We are just a couple of weeks away from what’s going to be a fantastic HR conference – HRevolution.
What’s HRevolution? Well, you can check out the wiki here, but in short, it’s an event for HR professionals who want to discuss social media for HR, blogging, HR technology and the future of HR. There’s a fantastic group of speakers scheduled for the day, including Trish McFarlane and Ben Eubanks , co-creators of this event, and Steve Boese , who is also a member of the planning team. Check out the full line-up of speakers and topics here.
The whole idea for HRevolution started on Twitter as a back-and-forth between Trish and Ben just a few months ago. That’s right, this is the first year and already we’ve had tremendous support including several sponsors who stepped up financially to help make this a success. Today I’ll be talking about two of our sponsors with more info on the other sponsors coming soon.
One of these sponsors happens to be the really cool ad agency that I work for. Doe is a full-service national agency specializing in all areas of communication (digital marketing, advertising, design, public relations, public affairs, sales promotion and direct marketing). Some of our clients include Maker’s Mark, Hillerich & Bradsby (Louisville Slugger Bats) , Knob Creek Bourbon, Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Central Bank and Norton Healthcare. You can check out some of our work here. We have a social media group that works directly with our clients on all things digital/social media. That group also works on all things digital and social for Doe and I’ve been a part of this group working on our internal strategy. So when I mentioned this conference to our CEO, he didn’t hesitate in his support.
And then there’s Lyn Hoyt with Berkeley Tandem, Inc/Fusion Frames, otherwise known as @designtwit and @awardframes on Twitter. Berkeley Tandem is a certificate and award frame manufacturer based in Nashville, TN. They supply, design and sale wholesale stock and custom frame award products to businesses and non-profits. A few years ago, they changed their sales strategy and decided to sell more direct online and have since launched http://www.fusionframes.com and http://www.awardcertificateframes.com. They’ve had great success with their online product niche and some of their clients include CarMax, Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, Dupont, Intel and HR consultants who incorporate their products into their recognition strategies.
I had the pleasure of meeting Lyn at the Kentucky SHRM conference last month. She is a graphic designer by trade but has gotten more and more involved in HR as an employer. We had a terrific time talking about HR and social media and while I know she’s thrilled to be a sponsor of HRevolution, I know she’s even more excited about being an attendee. From Lyn:
“What we hope to learn at HRevolution is to be better collaborators and content creators, inspiring the HR industry with ideas online and to use social networking in order to continue learning about what our customers want. And as a business owner, hiring and good HR practices impacts the growth of my business. I find myself learning from this group of HR professionals about the tools, planning, practice and strategy that shapes our company’s HR planning.”
That’s exactly what’s going to be happening at HRevolution. And it’s all going down right here in Louisville on November 6th and 7th. We’ll be hanging out at the Seelbach Hilton for the conference and we’ll be checking out 4th Street Live for our tweet-up on Friday evening.
We’re just days away. Are you registered?
Some days I feel like I need to go to a support group for working moms (Hi, my name is Crystal and I’m a working Mom). I know I’m not the only one, but when you’re going through one of those really busy seasons, it can feel like you are. And that was me for the last couple of months. Summer activities. Getting the kids ready to go back to school. And then school starts and whoa, the paperwork, the meetings, the open house, join this group, sign up for that club. (deep breath) And the last two months also happened to be a very busy time at work.
But I’m through the mad rush of activitie
s. We’ve settled into the school routine. Things have somewhat calmed down at work and I’m feeling like I can breathe again. While looking back over this busy season, I started to think about what helped me get through it. Or better yet, who helped me through it – my wonderful support system. As I was thinking about my support system, I was reminded of a three-legged stool and the three legs that partner with me to keep this train running include:
Quality schools and childcare- I am very pleased with the preschool and elementary schools that my children attend. Not only are they surrounded by great teachers and support staff, but both schools also offer solid before- and after-school programs for those days when we need it. We also have the benefit of having extended family nearby who can pitch in at a moment’s notice.
Flexible work Environment – I’m fortunate to work for a company that allows me to have some flexibility with my schedule. I’m able to eat lunch with my children every now and then, chaperone field trips, and attend day-time school activities without feeling the pressure of having to be in the office at all times. I also have access to email and files and can really get just about anything done remotely.
The best husband in the world – And I’m not saying that because he reads this blog. He really is the best. We work together to make our household run as smoothly as possible and he has no problem taking on a little more when I have to spend a little extra time at work. And I do the same for him. It may not always run smoothly, but we get it done!
Being a working mom is a choice I made. I do not look for work-life balance. I don’t think balance exists. I just try to take one day at a time and do the best that I can. And I remember to thank my support system often! I couldn’t do it without them.
What support systems do you have in place to help get you through?
image courtesy mitchrobersonJust a few things that I’ve been thinking about lately:
- Had a great vacation with the family. It was nice to get away from it all and just relax. I don’t think we do enough of that and we’re constantly stressed out about all of the plates we have in the air.
- My one conclusion I came to on vacation – I have to start saying ‘no’ more often. I say yes way too much and then I turn my life (and my family) upside down to make it all happen. I’m going to work on this.
- Mike Haberman of HR Observations , is going to do a series of posts on ISM’s. Racism, Ageism, Sexism – from a human resources perspective. I love Mike’s blog. He’s a solid HR thinker and contributor and I can’t wait to read the series (Read about it here).
- I know I may lose some of the few followers I have over this, but I’m sorry, I’m so over the Michael Vick story. I’m over it. I agree with Tim Sackett in his post on hiring Michael Vick. One point Tim makes is that “Vick did do his time and is paying for his crime. The question we need to ask ourselves is how would we treat him if he wasn’t famous?” ‘Nuff said.
- This conversation around universal health care has been disappointing. The anger and the hatred that we’re seeing at these town halls is, well, scary. I know that there are issues in the proposals that need to be flushed out but can’t we have civil discussions and not shout-fests? Just because you’re the loudest, doesn’t make you right.
- Did we have this kind of angry display with HillaryCare? I don’t remember it being this bad, do you?
- I’m hoping to start posting a little more frequently. I’m trying to get in the habit of setting aside more time to write. Any bloggers out there have any suggestions?
Money in the bank!
Ok, maybe that’s a stretch. But it’s something I want to explore. Do you remember receiving an allowance as a child?
I don’t, because I didn’t receive one. I had everything I needed, and some of the things that I wanted, but I remember having to go to my parents each time I needed or wanted something extra.
So when my six-year old recently started talking about an allowance, I wasn’t quite prepared. She feels strongly that she should be earning money for completing all of her chores. My take on this? I don’t believe that kids should get paid for doing stuff that they’re supposed to do. Make up their beds. Pick up their toys. Study hard and get good grades. All of those things, plus some, are part of their responsibilities as members of our family/household.
But an article in Business week struck a nerve with me (hat tip to @Jessica_Lee for sharing the link on Twitter). The article talks about why minorities aren’t saving more for retirement.
From the article:
“New research out from the Ariel Education Initiative, Hewitt Associates and several other partners shows that African-American employees who earn $120,000 or more have saved $154,902 in their 401(k)s on average, versus $223,408 for their white counterparts—a $68,000 deficit that worries retirement experts…”
Surprised? I’m not. Not from the numbers or the cultural reasons mentioned. The reasons seem so old-school to me, but I have heard some of these reasons from folks my age. These folks carry around a lot of guilt for ‘making it’. When you’re the first to go to college in your family, or the first to get a ‘good’ job, the expectations are high. Not only are you expected to succeed in your chosen field but you’re also expected to reach back, pull other folks up and to help out financially. But more times than not, in the course of growing up, these same folks probably did not have any money management training, or conversations related to retirement. So trying to do all of the above, AND save for retirement, seems like an impossible task. And many people just don’t do it.
So while I don’t believe in allowance for chores, on the other side of the coin, I want my children to learn how to manage money. To think about how much something costs and how to make appropriate spending choices based on the things they’d like to have. And I want them to learn the importance of saving. And while I admire that McDonald’s is working to close the savings gap in their 401(k) plan, I believe that the savings mentality starts at home and early in one’s childhood.
So, we’re not going to pay for chores, but I think we will start a weekly allowance for the kids and we will focus on money management and savings skills. (Got some good tips here and here)
I’d like to hear from you…..
Did you receive an allowance when you were young?
If so, was it for chores or good grades, or just because?
What did you learn from having an allowance?
Do you think you’re a better money manager now because you had an allowance?
image courtesy woodsy
I’m guest posting over at Creative Chaos Consultant today. Head on over there and check out my post on what’s in my HR Toolbox and what I use to stay organized.
