London to Louisiana – Beyond HR

In a few short weeks, Neil Morrison and I are heading off to the 2014 Louisiana SHRM Conference. I’m excited to be the conference mc this year, and Neil and I are giving a talk on the morning of day two. What will we be talking about? Here’s an excerpt from our pitch.

Beyond HR

We believe that in addition to the functional expertise HR already does so well, there is something more we can do to create greater value for our organisations, colleagues and customers. This is more than just being a strategic partner, or being commercially focused, this is a role that only HR can play.

HR is uniquely positioned and connected with all other parts of the organisation and it is through a systemic approach that these connections can be tuned in such a way as to help the organisation create additional strategic value.

Adding value comes in many shapes and sizes, and whilst it’s tempting (and sometimes necessary) to focus on the ‘next big thing’, we also believe that small is the new significant. Our approach focuses on participation and experimentation, on developing unique internal and external relationships, it focuses on both macro and micro environments and delivery through people, not around them.

I’m excited about this gig. Neil and I share some thoughts and views, and of course we have differing opinions too. We’ve never been afraid to disagree in public, we come from very different walks of working life, and I hope we can create some useful tension and pose some interesting questions for our conference guests.

And seeing as how some of our conference guests may not have visited London, or experienced us previously, we’ve also put together a short, ultra serious video which we hope will help position our talk. Enjoy.

Baton Rouge or Bust!

I had a fantastic time in Louisiana earlier this year. It’s a friendly supportive place and the encouragement I got from people at the Louisiana SHRM conference helped me step out of my comfort zone and have a lot of fun. I knew, even as I boarded the bus from Baton Rouge to spend a couple of days in New Orleans, that I wanted to return.

At the end of July, I spotted a note on Facebook from Neil Morrison which read, ‘2014 I want to do a US HR tour…’. I put two and two together and thought, I should ask Neil if he wants to pitch for the Louisiana 2014 gig with me. Ask I did, and he kindly agreed, and Louisiana accepted our offer. Should you happen to be in the Baton Rouge area April 7th and 8th 2014, we look forward to seeing you.

Here’s a very short extract of how things went last time. If you like bloopers – it’s worth paying attention around 22 seconds in 😉

Have a great weekend

Southbound

I got the email containing my ticket to the 2013 Louisiana State HR Conference this week. I love it when little things like that happen. They validate what you already know, and somehow make it seem more real. And when that happens – I do what every self respecting person should do, I sing about it.

Happy Friday – have a great weekend