Category Archives: Uncategorized

June 3, 2011 · 7:05 am

Happy Anniversary!

Because I’m looking for a job I haven’t gotten personal (or controversial) on my blog.  I’ve wanted to “curate” my digital footprint so that I don’t offend a potential employer or referral.  But I’m going to be personal today.  Really personal.

Today is my husband’s and my 28th wedding anniversary.

I can’t even comprehend what that means.  28 years of loving and being loved by a most exceptional man.  A good man.  A principled man.  A generous and kind man.  A man who knows who he is and who chose to walk beside me through life.  A man who has supported me emotionally, metaphysically and in every other way imaginable.  He’s supported my career (including 9 geographic moves and several instances of living apart when our jobs were in two different cities) in ways that most wouldn’t or couldn’t understand.

He’s my coach, my confidant, my cheerleader and my business advisor.  And my best friend.  He has dressed up in a tuxedo to escort me to black-tie business events; he has traveled around the world with my business colleagues; he has left great jobs because I had promotional opportunities.  He is a good man.

My husband, the coach, is the coach you want your kids to be coached by.  He’s the coach who tells his high school football team to go home and hug their mother and shake their father’s hand and thank them for their love and support.  He’s the coach who tells his college women’s track team members to embrace their inner “stud” while embracing their femininity.  He’s the coach who tells his high school wrestling team “we may not win every match but we’ll be in better shape than every other team we meet – increasing our chances of winning.”

He’s the coach who treats the gifted athletes and the uncoordinated “wanna-be’s” exactly the same – as long as they’re working as hard as they can.  He’s the coach who treats the rich parents exactly the same as the parents who struggle to provide for their families — as long as they’re supporting their child’s development as a complete person.  He’s the coach who treats female athletes the same as male athletes – that is, with respect, support and encouragement.  He’s the coach who never gives up on a kid who gives it all they’ve got.  Favoritism isn’t in his vocabulary.

I don’t know who loves him more:  the student athletes because he treats them with respect; their fathers because he’s a former NFL coach; their mothers because he focuses on character development; or the school administrations because his his athletes get good grades, because he models good sportsmanship and his teams win.

This man has changed my life.  More importantly, he’s changed the lives of hundreds of young people over the years.  Former student/athletes who are now community, religious and business leaders.  Former student/athletes whose children are now competing – and are calling their coach for advice.  Former student/athletes – now business leaders – who look back at key practice situations and send messages of thanks for requiring so much from them and always thinking the best of them.

It’s an honor to be Mrs. Ira-John Gorman.  I use the “Mrs.” with great pride because my partner is the most extraordinary man I know.  And I love him more today than I did 28 years ago when we said “I do” in a small chapel with two friends standing up for us.

We could never have predicted the amazing life we would live together.  But 28 years later, I’m grateful that God brought us together.  More grateful than words can express.

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May 9, 2011 · 11:35 pm

Memo to Baby Boomers: You Don’t Want to Lose Molly!

When you’re our age, sometimes it’s hard to remember.  Actually, most times it’s easy to forget what it was like to be starting out, to be the kid on the team, to be one step behind, to feel awkward, not to know your way around.  It’s easy to forget what being young was like – because it was a long time ago.

In case you’re having trouble remembering what it was like when the way ahead was full of promise, when every task assigned was an adventure, when getting a project to coordinate was like getting a promotion, when a “well done” from someone more senior kept you motivated for days, when turning 25 meant you could rent a car on your own, let me introduce you to Molly.

Molly graduated a couple of years ago with a major in graphic design from a small, excellent liberal arts college in the Midwest.  She went on three “study abroad” programs (to Peru, Barbados and Spain) to become fluent in Spanish, was on the volleyball team, danced in a couple of musicals, produced a campus comedy/improv group and got good grades.  She was a hard worker in and out of the classroom, working summers in her father’s manufacturing business.  A most valuable player in every aspect of her college years.

Before she graduated she had a job offer from an alum who was building a small startup division of a specialty retailer.  He needed a Marketing Coordinator who would be a most valuable player for the business and be willing to grow and develop with the organization.  A true entry level position.  She would have to move to Denver and then to the West Coast to the retailer’s headquarters if the team met their goals.

In the first 12 months on the job, Molly did a little bit of everything including planning logistics for a trade show and designing and producing the division’s first product catalog.  She was eager to learn, worked hard and nothing was beneath her.  Every assignment was a growth opportunity.  Every business trip an opportunity to expand her contacts.  She took on more and more complex and critical projects and became the go-to person on the team.

When the team made the move to the West Coast, there was no question that Molly would make the move too.  So now, under the full view of the corporate marketing team, Molly has more opportunities to learn, to get involved with bigger projects and to gain valuable experience.

Molly just turned 25, has 2 years of work experience and knows she could probably propel her career forward a couple of notches by leveraging her experience to find that next big step in a bigger company.  But she’s not doing that.  She’s thrilled with her colleagues and her boss and her company.  Her job continues to provide extraordinary experience and skill development and she’s proud of her work, her progress and her company.

But the keys to her “stickiness” are her relationships.  The relationships with her new boss, the division president and other corporate leaders who are coaching her and providing her with great learning opportunities and actionable feedback.  It’s all about how they care for her as a person and as a professional so why would she consider leaving?

I saw her work first hand last week when she produced an extraordinary marketing event at a company here in Las Vegas that is distributing her division’s products.  She was wrangling celebrity chefs, two CEOs, the press, the production crew, her senior management team and the logistics teams from both organizations like a pro.  She was confident, on top of every detail, and the event was gangbusters great.

So why discuss Molly?  Because she’s a lesson for all of us Boomers who believe all the hype about how different (and difficult) the GenYs among us are.  I think it is hype because in Molly I saw myself at 25.  And it made me think that, although the context of starting a career has changed significantly in the last 30 years, people are still people.  Young people want to learn, want to be trusted, want to try their wings.  They want their bosses to invest in them and care about them as people.  They want to be respected.  That’s what I wanted when I was 25.  And 30, and 40, and 50.

I loved talking with Molly and hearing the excitement in her voice, feeling the energy she exuded, and knowing the slight fear of not delivering what was expected – all at the same time.  Because I remembered when that was me.  Like Molly, I was lucky to have found organizations and bosses willing to create real relationships with me and to provide incredible opportunities for learning and development.  To trust in my abilities and to take risks in my intelligence and inexperience.

Strip away all the technology, the mobile apps, the globalized economy, and the effects of the recession and remember what it was like to be an excited, inexperienced kid full of dreams about how our fabulous career would unfold.  And then take a new look at the GenYs in your organization and talk with them the way you wanted to be talked to 30 years ago.  Create solid, real relationships with them and coach them the way you wanted to be coached.

While my Molly is certainly special, I think there are a lot of Mollys out there.  And the key to keeping the Mollys in your organization is creating real, personal relationships with them.  Trust me.  You don’t want to lose Molly!

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May 2, 2011 · 10:01 pm

Two Sides of the Conference Coin

I had the great good fortune to attend two HR conferences last week:  HRevolution in Atlanta and Bersin & Associates’ IMPACT: the Business of Talent in St. Petersburg, Florida.  HRevolution was a one-day conference; IMPACT was a two and-a-half day conference.

IMPACT was about introducing new research focused on HR effectiveness; HRevolution was focused on discussing HR’s opportunities to transform itself.  IMPACT is a traditional conference; HRevolution is an unconference.  And both were outstanding.

130 activist HR professionals descended on Atlanta on Friday afternoon.  This was the third HRevolution unconference organized by Trish McFarlane, Ben Eubanks, Steve Boese and Crystal Peterson, a team who wanted to provide an alternate HR conference experience to those who couldn’t afford the big ticket conferences and who wanted a community energizing experience to kick-start their learning.  The HR activists who attended this week came from all over the world, from all walks of HR life and who were bound together by the relationships they have created on the social web.  Yes, there were tweeters, bloggers, FaceBookers, LinkedIners: all manner of social web inhabitants.  All there to solidify their relationships in person and take their online discussions to a deeper level.

While billed as an unconference, HRevolution was more of a highly-participative structured conference.  An opening keynote by Liz Gottung, CHRO of Kimberly Clark started the day with a frank overview of HR’s opportunities and goals in a legacy-burdened, paternalistic culture.  Her candor about her leadership challenges was motivating to the attendees who then made their way to a series of breakout discussions on topics like “If HR is so bad, what you doing about it?” “Pop Culture, Politics, and HR”, “Diversity and Inclusion = Innovation in the 21st Century” and “Designing HR for Influence.”

Few of these sessions used PowerPoints and session leaders – discussion leaders, really – expected  attendees to jump in to the discussions at hand.  And they did!  It was fun to sit with Courtesy of Monster30 or 40 other knowledgeable HR-related folks and debate topics like “If a high EQ is so desired in leaders why do such a high proportion of CEOs have low EQ scores?” and “what is influence and how can HR professionals develop more of it?” and “why do we insist on creating activity-controlling policies for flexible workers when we should be focusing on measuring outcomes?” and, well, you get the point.

One particularly engaging session, “HR Slam,”  broke the attendees into groups and asked them to solve an actual business problem provided by the session leaders.  A small, family-owned chain of restaurants is experiencing sudden and unexpected turnover in its small group of managers and asked for suggestions on how to move through their crisis.  The group with the most compelling and complete set of recommendations won $50 gift cards, so the competitive juices were flowing.  The restaurant chain owners ought to pay attention to the advice that was generated:  it was remarkable.

The toughest criticism I heard all day was that there were too many great sessions led by too many great leaders to pick which sessions to attend.  I felt the same way.

At the end of the day, HRevolution was a success because it was flawlessly planned and executed, the attendees came to play, the session leaders engaged with their attendees, and a spirit of camaraderie pervaded the space.

IMPACT introduced several new Bersin & Associates research reports by its analysts, all deeply knowledgeable and engaging speakers.  The research overviews were impressive, presented in actionable bites and gave the attendees just enough information so that the value of the full reports was crystal clear.  Made me want to go home, get on their website and download everything they’ve got.  And I am doing just that.

Additionally, IMPACT featured a number of in-the-trenches HR leaders who shared what was happening in their organizations on such topics as the use of social media in strategic staffing (AT&T, Actuant, Darden), re-building HR as a critical business performance asset (UnitedHealth Group), improving organization effectiveness by creating a robust HR analytics/business intelligence function (Eaton, Accenture), successfully leading organization change (Kaiser Foundation, CA Technologies), and transforming business through learning (SunTrust Bank, Thomson Reuters, The Cheesecake Factory, Teradata Corporation, Cisco Systems).

Sponsors of IMPACT, solution providers, were provided a large Demo Room to set up tables and engage with attendees.  It was a sort of genteel expo, not the usual frenetic tchotchke-laden expo hall.  Quite enjoyable, actually.

I really enjoyed all the built-in opportunities to network with the other attendees.  There were 3 receptions and robustly timed lunches and breaks.  The whole conference experience was designed for 450 senior HR leaders (they sold out and turned away 40+ more!) who don’t need a lot of noise and hoopla to engage, discover and learn.  I did all three.

So.  Two great conferences.  Two great experiences.  Two different audiences (although 3 of us were at both).  I really appreciate that there are many options for HR professionals to come together and learn.  I like seeing the trend of HR professionals reaching out for what they need in new ways – and conference organizers responding with new kinds of experiences.  There truly is something for everyone.

My only complaint?  Sponsors at every conference I’ve attended this year have raffled off IPads.  I haven’t won any of them.

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April 11, 2011 · 4:25 am

Don’t miss this conference!

IMPACT 2011: The Business of Talent® is almost upon us.  This year’s theme is Building the Borderless Workplace and is organized by my friends at Bersin & Associates, this conference is a must for HR pros and leaders who are interested in learning how to link HR practices and people-driven strategies to business results.  And I wouldn’t miss it!

More than 30 (!) in-the-trenches HR and business leaders will share their experiences and present in-depth case studies including representatives from Accenture, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Caterpillar, Energizer Holdings, Inc., JetBlue Airways, Kelly Services, Lockheed Martin, Scotiabank Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and The Cheesecake Factory.  And Bersin analysts will discuss their latest research on innovative approaches to recruiting, effective learning cultures, continuous learning, new models for leadership development, high-impact HR, and much more.  The conference is April 26-28 at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Most interesting to me will be the ability to network with the speakers, the analysts and more than 300 other HR and business leaders attending the conference.

And, for readers of this blog, my friends at Bersin are offering a $100 discount off the already-discounted registration fee of $995 for members and $1295 for non-members!  To reserve a spot, go to http://impact.bersin.com/ and enter the promotional code CHINAG.

Let me know if you’re attending – we can meet up for coffee and compare notes!

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March 25, 2011 · 11:01 am

I Heart Recruiters!

I guess I’m an HR Conference junkie.  Because here I am at my first EREexpo and I’m lovin’ it!  (With apologies to McDonald’s.)

EREexpo is presented by the folks at ERE.net – led by David Manaster.  Because he knows I know HR conferences, he asked me if I had any suggestions for him.  And you know what?  I don’t.  He and his team have done a spectacular job.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s the best conference – altogether – that I’ve attended in the last 12 months.

Networking:

The nearly 500 attendees are here to engage with the content and each other.  I’ve been to a lot of HR networking events in my time, and these recruiters and talent acquisition leaders know how to network.  At the jam-packed opening reception last night the connections and re-connections being made were a thing of beauty.  These folks came to meet their peers, share the latest in “what works” and help each other be more effective.  Aggressively open and supportive.

Speaker Selection:

I am absolutely impressed with the quality of the keynotes and breakout sessions.  The Keynotes are all practicing recruiting leaders.  Leaders of actual recruiting functions inorganizations.  Practitioners.  Organization leaders.  So their content is full of current examples of what their organizations are really doing in the field. These aren’t sales pitches from consultants or “motivational” stories.  Actual relevant and actionable content by practitioners in the field.

Breakout sessions – only three at a time – are also nearly all led by practicing recruiting leaders.  The consultants who are presenting are true thought leaders.

Social Media:

I am thrilled to see that all the keynotes and one session per breakout time is being live streamed for any interested viewer.  Free.  As in no cost.  How’s that for using the power of social media to strengthen a community and drive stickiness to a brand?  During coffee breaks the great Steve Boese from HR Happy Hour is streaming live interviews with speakers and other notable attendees to keep the content flowing between sessions.  A truly brilliant move on ERE’s part – and not just because I was one of the interviews.

Awards:

This really caught my attention.  The ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards presentation took a 90 minute keynote slot.  There were 8 categories and representatives from the top 2 finalist organizations in each category were on the stage.  That’s 16 people sitting on the stage.  The winners and 1st runners up were announced live very attractive trophies were presented.  So far pretty normal.

Then the magic started.  The chair from last year’s conference moderated the winners and the audience in a panel Q&A/discussion session that let the audience look under the hood of the winning organizations’ strategies and tactics from the people who led the innovations.  I’ve never seen such engagement between a panel and an audience.  There were more questions than than time to answer.  (Of significant interest to the audience were the successes with putting wounded warriors to work at some very impressive organizations)  It was a very powerful session.

Venue/logistics:

The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego is a stellar conference property.  The conference rooms are set up classroom style with table covers – a very nice touch.  Very comfortable and accessible.  ERE sprang for complimentary WiFi throughout the venue for attendees – a meaningful differentiator.  Other conference organizers should note that feature.  The food is pretty good, the staff is extremely accommodating and the sleeping rooms are lovely.

What else can I tell you?  This conference is the complete package.  Excellent content from current practitioner/leaders, excellent social media approach, excellent execution on the logistics.

The most impressive things about this conference, though, are the attendees.

I  recruiters.

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February 21, 2011 · 1:51 pm

The King of All Social Recruiting

    You know how Howard Stern is the King of All Media? 

     I now declare Bill Boorman King of all Social Recruiting.

I’ve just returned from TruLondon, a social recruiting unconference.  It started on Wednesday with a day of Master Classes – unlike any Master Classes you’ve attended.  These were 45 minute sessions led by experts on topics ranging from Global Diversity (one of the sessions I led) to HR Challenges to  Personal Branding to Case Studies of Rackspace, Hard Rock Café and Zappos (another session I led).  The session leaders presented prepared remarks for 10-15 minutes and then opened the floor to questions and discussion.  Three sessions, sometimes four at a time, gave the attendees a real smorgasbord of learning and opportunities to engage.  Thought leaders and practitioners from all over the world attended, although the U.K. and the U.S. seemed to represent about 85% of the crowd.

On Thursday the real two-day unconference began and the meetings rooms overflowed with energy, expertise and passion for social recruiting.  TruLondon was, quite simply, a happening. 

A couple of words about Bill Boorman, the self-described conference disorganizer, and host to all the track leaders, sponsors and attendees.  He’s like the ring leader at the circus.  He keeps the lions at bay, makes the elephants behave and keeps the horses jumping through flames of fire – all while delighting the crowd.  If the timing isn’t quite as posted, if the speakers’ topics change at a moment’s notice, if a speaker doesn’t show:  no matter.  Our genial host was out in front ensuring that everything ran smoothly.  And it did.  In a manner of speaking.  Because the focus was on engagement not precision of operations.  I rather liked that.

Bill collected an incredible array of talent and expertise from the global social recruiting scene to lead sessions and to participate in the discussions.  In fact, it was hard to tell the experts from the attendees:  everyone was energized and passionate about connecting, learning and sharing.  It was less of a conference and more of a revival meeting.

From my perspective attending TruLondon provided a rich and meaningful experience:

  • I met many social recruiting experts from all over the world with whom I’ve connected through social media but never met face to face
  • I learned so much about the intersection between recruiting, social media and technology – especially what’s happening that’s innovative and bleeding edge
  • I have a much greater understanding about job boards and their role in the employment cycle (thank you, JobSite!)
  • And I have a sense that the confluence of global talent needs, the recruiting function, social media and technology holds great promise for organization leaders as we create sustainable strategies for managing our talent and our talent pipelines
  • And, it was in London, my favorite city in the world

Bill’s Tru Unconferences – coming to a new city every month this year – need to be experienced.  If you are a recruiter – internal or third party, if you are an HR professional, if you are involved in talent communities, heck, if you just want to hang out with smart visionaries and talk one-on-one with thought leaders in this space, you should attend a Tru Unconference.  But come ready to share, to engage, to network, to connect and to participate. 

And leave your notions of what a recruiting conference should be at the door.

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February 7, 2011 · 4:04 pm

What Comes First: Employees or Customers?

As a business leader, I’ve always believed that one of the most important aspects of my job is to create and lead a culture that motivates employees to come to work every day and do their very best work.  I’ve always known that in order to acquire, delight and retain customers my organizations (at the local, regional, national and global levels) needed to acquire, engage and retain the best talent.  I’ve always known that the link between customer and employee satisfaction is strong.

Over the last few months I’ve been able to take the time to read some great books, articles and research reports; to meet with thought leaders and executives; and to attend conferences and courses focused on these aspects of organization and leadership success.  Now I’ve got more than a “gut” instinct that the focus on creating a culture that puts customers first by recruiting, developing and retaining the right employees brings dividends that are more than repeat customers and happy employees.  Now I’ve got real data.

Where did I get the data?  I’ve read research reports from BlessingWhite, Gallup, SHRM, the U.S. Department of Labor and others.  I’ve read books by Chip Conley, Mark Sanborn, Geoff Colvin, Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld, Tony Hsieh, Jim Collins, Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright and Jonathan Haidt among others.  I’ve had conversations with Tony Hsieh, Dave Ulrich, Doug and Kimberly Rath, Cathy Missildine-Martin, Paul Hebert, Joe Gerstandt, Jason Lauritsen, Chris Hoyt, Lars-Henrik Friis-Molin, John Sumser, William Tincup and many others.  Basically, I’ve been a sponge.

And the outcome?  Well now I see clearly that while having happy, committed employees is critical for organizational success, having the right happy, committed employees makes the difference between good customer service and exceptional customer service;  the difference between good organization performance and exceptional organization performance — by any measure you wish to use. 

The right happy employees are determined by what will exceed the customers’ expectations.  And that’s about culture and values. 

To create a culture that retains happy employees feels good on many levels.  What leader doesn’t want to walk around and see smiling faces on their employees?  But to create a culture that retains employees happy to make your customers ecstatic is the secret sauce of organization success. 

The reason for an organization’s existence is not to create a “happy” environment for employees.  The reason for an organization’s existence is to create value for its stakeholders by serving its customers.  You win in business by serving your customers better than anyone else.  And it’s clear to me now that the key to serving your customers better than anyone else lies squarely in creating a culture that attracts and retains the right employees.  I’m not sure many leaders see the difference here, but it seems huge to me.

In the hard work of creating a motivating culture almost every organization starts with their employees:  what makes them happy, what will engage them, what will motivate them to commit over the long haul.  I’ve come to believe that the hard work of creating a motivating culture needs to start at a different place:  conversations with customers and potential customers.  What is important to them in their interactions with your employees?  What values will motivate their engagement, their commitment over the long haul?  Once you have that input you can begin to translate it into organizational values, characteristics, behaviors and skills that become the basis for your culture work – and, ultimately, your talent acquisition, engagement, development and retention strategies.

It’s clear to me that both culture and organization success has to start with the customer.  Only then will you know what kind of talent acquisition, engagement and retention strategies will lead to the type of organizational success that will value your organization among the strongest financial performers and land you on the lists of best companies to work for. 

In other words, when creating and leading your organization’s culture look first to your customers and second  to your employees. 

Most do it the other way around.

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January 31, 2011 · 11:16 am

Chynna or China?

I’ve been doing a lot of public speaking lately:  keynotes, workshops, “chapter” meetings, business group talks, etc.  This is an activity I really enjoy and have been doing for years.  I’ve been fortunate to speak to business, academic and professional groups all over the world including Warsaw, Eindhoven, Zurich, Lisbon, Prague, Beijing, ShangHai, and Mumbai as well as great domestic locations all over the U.S.

 These experiences have been notable for a number of reasons:

  • People of all walks of life all over the world want to be connected with their counterparts
  • The issues and concerns of these populations truly are more alike than different
  • There is a continued thirst for learning everywhere in the world
  • Technology usually works (don’t know why that is notable, but it is)
  • The audience is always surprised (pleasantly, I think) at my desire to really connect with them in a personal way
  • The people who introduce me usually get some important fact wrong in the introduction

I was promoted to CEO by introducers long before I was ever in the C-Suite.  More than once I’ve been introduced as Chynna Phillips – the only other “China” people have ever heard of.  A couple of months ago I was introduced as the COO of Zappos.com (In my dreams…I do use a Zappos.com case study in some of my speeches on employee engagement and retention).  Being introduced as “China” in China was interesting.  Kind of stopped translation traffic a couple of times. 

Public speakers have to quickly get over being bothered when the introducers don’t get the facts quite right.  Especially in other countries when the introduction is in a language you don’t understand and the only words you recognize are your name and your organization’s name!  That’s when I smile warmly, shake the introducer’s hand and say “Thanks you for that lovely introduction…I think!”

If you’re contemplating speaking in front of groups whose first language is not your own, you have to think about what kind of translation you prefer.  If you use simultaneous translation you have to really prepare a speech script and stick to it because the translator is reading off the script into the headphones of the audience.  If they’re really, really good they can follow when you go off script, but it makes their job horrendously difficult, your message may not get through and you’d never know.  This approach is typically used when the audience is quite large, more formal, and, in my case, their comfort with English is not strong.  It’s an expensive proposition.  The benefit for your message is that an hour-long presentation takes an hour.

If you have a translator translate as you speak, it’s difficult to build enthusiasm and momentum because you have to stop every 20-30 seconds for the translator to translate.  PowerPoints really help in this scenario because they keep everyone focused during the starts and stops.  (In many places around the world business people and students have comfort with written English, but not spoken English.)  The real rub here is that an hour’s worth of content takes two hours to present because, essentially, everything is presented twice:  once in your language and once in theirs.  So you choose whether to have the audience sit for two hours and struggle through the content or to edit your content like mad to have a much shorter presentation.

Honestly, my preference is the simultaneous translation.  When I get going on some data, a real life example, or an anecdote that proves my point, I find it almost impossible to stop and wait for the translation.  On the other hand, when I get going on some data, a real life example, or an anecdote that proves my point, I frequently wander off the script so I can tailor it to the audience and that’s hell on a translator.

All that notwithstanding, whether I’m introduced as Chynna Philips or China Gorman, whether the technology works or not, whether they got my title right or wrong, whether a translator is involved or not, public speaking is about creating moments of learning, inspiration and, for me, connectedness.  That’s why I enjoy opportunities to share with audiences of all types in big cities and small communities, with students and with professionals, in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world. 

Public speaking isn’t the only way to understand that, truly, we are more alike than we are different.  But it’s one of my favorites.  And if you’re going to get my title wrong in the introduction, I really like Queen.

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January 6, 2011 · 5:42 pm

TRU London: Here I Come!

I wrote a lot about HR conferences last year because I spoke at a lot of them.  And because some of them are changing their approaches to engaging their target audiences.  And because I learn a lot at HR conferences.  And because people who attend HR conferences are among the best in the profession.  And they’re fun.

I’m pretty excited that my 2011 HR conference experience is starting next month in London at TRU London 3.  Did I mention it is in London, my favorite city in the world?  Bill Boorman, founder of the TRU unconference movement, invited me to be a track leader as well as to lead a master class prior to the start of the event. 

While I’ve been a speaker at HR conferences that bent the rules (see my post on RecruitFest! last fall), I’ve never actually participated in a true (no pun intended) unconference.  So I’m really looking forward to this. 

I’m not sure what to expect as a track leader, but I’m gearing up for great discussions, divergent points of view, a truly global perspective, and the chance to hear from people way smarter than me about the latest approaches to recruiting.

My master class is going to be focused on tying engagement to recruitment.  In Turning Back the Tidal Wave of Turnover I’ll provide some of the most recent engagement data from leading organizations like Gallup and BlessingWhite and lead a discussion about what the data means as organizations start losing employees to the improving economy and start hiring again. 

I expect to learn a lot from that discussion as well as from the interactions with a great group of track leaders that include thought leaders like Craig Fisher, John Sumser, Laurie Ruettimann, Glen Cathey, and many more big thinkers whom I have not yet met.  Here’s the website to check out the other leaders.

So here’s the deal:  join us in London February 16-18 for TRU London 3.  Sign up here and make your reservations today.  I can’t imagine a better spot to be in the middle of February – or a better group of people with which to learn. 

And did I mention that it is in London?

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December 6, 2010 · 4:48 pm

If I could change one thing about HR…

My friend Michael Carty and his colleagues at Xpert HR in the U.K. (whom I have never met!) invited me to contribute to their blog series: If I could change one thing about HR…

Please visit my guest post there at http://www.xperthr.co.uk/blogs/employment-intelligence/2010/12/china-gorman-if-i-could-change.html



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