More Money, Less Problems

All vendors / consultants that sell to SHRM members and / or HR professionals must become SHRM members. My best guess is that less than 10% of the vendor community are SHRM members. These folks are making billions off of the profession while not supporting the association that represents the profession. Start small — like reviewing your contracts for companies that sponsor and / or exhibit at your events and add a simple clause — 10% of employees of sponsoring / exhibiting company must be SHRM members in good standing. If they want to sell to your audience — they need to care about SHRM. I wish we didn’t have to force this but alas sometimes you have to legislate common sense.

Get Serious or Get Out of the Certification Game

I’ve probably attended 100 HR conferences, seminars, webinars over the last three years where continuing education credits were offered. And, when I say offered — that’s exactly what I mean — offered on a plate with little or no supervision and / or constraints. I’m all for the honor system but if we’re going to have a professional certification then we should be diligent in our continuing education process. If HRCI isn’t managing this process – then part ways with them and bring certification in-house. One way or another, certification (and re-certification) should mean something.

Those that make money from HR should be HR certified

Tons of people make money marketing / selling to HR every single day. Consultants, software vendors, services firms, etc. SHRM should create a certification track just for these folks. The content would be about the HR profession. The vendors would gain status, maybe even preference and have a deeper knowledge of the profession. An educated vendor will create better, more sustainable solutions for everyone. If you care about the profession — get certified. Think VHR or something snazzy like that.

The BIG social media tent

For the love of all things holy — please embrace the HR blogging / social media community. Find a way to bring these folks in to the SHRM tent. SHRM should own the master list of all HR blogs in the world. Promote the best of the best HR bloggers and / or HR blog posts. Also, encourage the HR social media personalities to lambast SHRM and / or hold the organization accountable. Critique is good and healthy for all involved. SHRM should own HR social media! They should stop allowing the profession to be defined by anyone with a WordPress account. HR blogging is not going away — time for SHRM to grow a pair and co-opt this important content / dialogue.

Time to Bring Out the 15 Pounder

Over the last decade (or three) a number of other HR related conferences and organizations have been created and, in many cases, are thriving. Let’s stop ignoring that fact. Organizations like: Human Capital Institute, IHRIM, HR.com, etc. SHRM should work with these organizations, form partnerships, share data, co-market, whatever. Also, HR events like: HR Technology Conference & Expo, World at Work, ERE Expo, etc. SHRM should sponsor and exhibit at these events. SHRM should be omnipresent throughout the HR landscape — via SHRM-related events AND non-SHRM events. If any of these other organizations doesn’t play ball — then SHRM should actively discredit them with the membership. In my opinion, SHRM is the 800 pound gorilla that no one fears. Meanwhile, these other organizations steal mindshare, market share and make the leaders of SHRM look like keystone cops.

The Ultimate Glass House

The SHRM website should scream transparency. SHRM must become 100% transparent — facts, figures, pay, succession plans, organization goals, everything. Board meetings should be recorded and made public. In fact, I think SHRM should release all payroll data and make it public as well. Also, entire P&L should be public. Budgets should be public. Hell, every single expense should be public. Everything should be public. I know, I know — transparency is painful — that’s why folks avoid it and that is exactly why SHRM should lead this charge. Think about the wonderful dialogue this would create for all HR practitioners. At any given moment, every single SHRM member should know what we stand for and why.

Give Me Solutions NOT another Circus

Vegas baby! Vegas! Yep — sounds fun — I know, I like Vegas as much as the next guy but the EXPO at SHRM National has become a circus. Most of the vendors give away cheap plastic crap (CPC) to get data so they can market to potential customers. Practitioners stampede through the aisles trying not to make eye contact while smashing and grabbing as they go by. The whole experience is broken. My suggestion is simple — turn the EXPO into a “Solutions Center” and hold both parties to a new expectation and / or higher standard — substantive conversations. So let’s set everyone up for success. No more swag — giving it away OR desiring it.

Safe Bets = Suckage

SHRM needs to hire a renegade for its next CEO. Not a patsy, not someone from HR, not someone that came up through the ranks, not someone what is even vaguely familiar with HR or SHRM. This person should be someone that is young, ambitious and wild. Someone that can help us all re-think the profession. This hire should terrify the membership. In fact, if SHRM members are not completely pissed about the new CEO — then we didn’t go far enough. In my opinion, we need a true change agent as our next leader.

Get Social Media Serious

Turns out — the business of HR has radically changed because of social media. SHRM is a laggard with regards to social media. HR is all a laggard with regards to social media. We need to change that. It’s high time for SHRM to significantly invest in social media — all facets. I suggest SHRM revolutionize the HR function around social media AND teach HR how to navigate this important world. The HR game has changed and the air won’t go back in to the bottle. It’s NOT a fad — for the love of all things holy — please stop acting like it will all go away when you wake up from the dream. Own it!!!

Some Folks Love Ambiguity

Ambiguity, passion and brains — turns out — these are really sexy when put together. Who knew? SHRM didn’t. To wit, SHRM should get in to the un-conference business — not ignore it. The un-conference concept is here to stay AND HR professionals truly like the experience. They like the typical SHRM conference experiences as well but they get a charge like no other from the un-conference experience. SHRM should embrace un-conference experience and give members a way to interact with it — own it and stop thinking that your members wouldn’t like “that type” of event / content.