The 2012 Leadership Series features three programs designed to give you insights on key HR strategies from the perspective of the CEO. Our panelists will share their thoughts on important human capital issues that can significantly impact business success. You will learn how business leaders approach the challenges of succession planning, leadership development and employee engagement. You will hear from successful companies, large and small, representing various industries about the competencies and attributes needed to build the right leadership team for success, whether local, regional or global.

The series opens on February 8, 2012, with Lessons Learned from the Corner Office, a candid discussion with senior business leaders who have spent significant time as CEOs of very successful organizations. You will hear how these accomplished executives rose to the highest ranks in their industries. They will discuss attributes that contribute to a winning organization and the role of HR in driving business success. They will share their lessons learned around leadership development, succession planning, human capital investment and the connection between the C-suite and human resources. They will also share their insights about the skill sets they looked for in their senior leaders, including the competencies human resources professionals need to succeed in today's business environment.

Panelists:

Norman Bobins, chairman, Norman Bobins Consulting, and former CEO, LaSalle Bank

John Edwardson, chairman of the board, CDW, and former president and CEO, CDW

Harry Kraemer, executive partner, Madison Dearborn, and clinical professor of Management and Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; former CEO, Baxter International

The series continues on April 18 with Engaging the Workforce in a New Paradigm. This program will look at employee engagement through the lens of the new economy. Our CEO panel will discuss the strategic drivers that help frame employment practices, policies and cultural attributes that employers are using to retain and engage their workforce. Panelists will address how their organizations are keeping employees engaged and motivated to achieve desired business outcomes through different workplace strategies, including using virtual workspaces, alternative work schedules and social media.

Panelists:

Mary Dillon, president and CEO, U.S. Cellular

Cary McMillan, CEO, True Partners Consulting

David Neithercut, president and CEO, Equity Residential

The series concludes on June 6 with Growing Your Cadre of Leaders, a discussion on strategies companies are implementing to develop their leadership pipelines. It will explore the pros and cons of building leaders from within versus bringing in seasoned professionals. The discussion will include identification of competencies required for future leaders, how leadership development activities shift for emerging market needs, the impact of diversity goals, and generational and global growth issues.

Panelists:

Steve Hagerty, president, Hagerty Consulting

Ravi Saligram, president and CEO, OfficeMax

Third panelist to be announced

Register Now! 

Thank you to our sponsors:

Diamond Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Aon Hewitt

Arlington Resources

BPI group

Challenger Gray & Christmas

City Staffing

CorVel

Egon Zehnder International

Kensington International

Mercer

Slayton Search Partners
Workday

Sponsorship opportunities are still available! Contact Pam Marshall Taylor at ptaylor@hrmac.org for more information.

Despite its incredibly broad jurisdictional reach, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is typically viewed by most employers as not relevant to their workplace. One might not blame these employers for this view, as only approximately 7 percent of private employers are unionized. But as recent NLRB actions have made clear, the agency has jurisdiction over nearly all private workplaces---whether or not those workplaces are unionized.

Recent NLRB Actions

Three actions by the NLRB this year indicate that this agency remains relevant to nearly all private workplaces.

1. In November 2011, the NLRB voted to adopt a final rule for accelerated representation elections, also known as the "quickie election rule."
2. In August it announced the results of its focus on employers' social media policies.
3. This fall, the NLRB announced proposed rules, now effective January 31, 2012, that would require employers to post a notice---similar to workplace posters required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and other agencies---notifying employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

On November 30, 2011, the NLRB held a hearing on Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce's resolution pertaining to quickie elections. By a 2-1 margin, the board voted to adopt the resolution. The new rule essentially eliminates some pre-election rights of employers in order to shorten the time before a representation election is held. The resolution consists of six key changes to the current rules governing representation case elections---those in which employees can vote on whether they want to be represented by a union.

A final rule will be circulated internally among the three board members and finalized before year end while the NLRB still has the Pearce-Becker majority. Currently, approximately 95 percent of all representation elections are held in 56 days. The new rule could reduce this period by at least 30 days. It appears elections could be held in slightly over three weeks (or possibly less) from the date an election petition is filed with the NLRB.

The quickie election rule will also severely limit when a pre-election (unit clarification) hearing can be held. There are also unknown variables (depending on both the wording and the administration of the final rule) that could reduce this roughly three-week time frame significantly further. Also of note, during the November 30 hearing, one board member stated an intent to consider the determination of an individual's supervisory status a post-election matter to be decided only if the issue is not moot after the election. This position could be particularly problematic for employers.

Additional changes to the elections rules are still under consideration by the NLRB. These include e-filing of election petitions, mandatory scheduling of hearings seven days after the notice of hearing is served, filing of position statements, inclusions of phone numbers and e-mail addresses on the voter eligibility (aka the Excelsior voting list), and the reduction in time to file an Excelsior voting list from seven to two working days.

Implications of Rule Changes

Employers will now have significantly less time to provide employees with facts that would result in an informed choice in any NLRB election. Coupled with the board's aggressive initiative to make itself relevant to every workplace through its notice posting rule and Section 7 (the social media and handbook) enforcement initiatives, an employer has reason to consider a comprehensive preventive labor relations program.

Over the past year, the NLRB has succeeded in at least reminding all employers that they need to be aware of the NLRA. At a minimum, employers need to educate themselves, train supervisors, and ensure that their policies meet the new rules and standards promulgated by the NLRB. With the publicity the NLRB has received over the past year, employers can count on the fact that whether or not they are aware of their obligations under the NLRA, it is likely that their employees will be aware of them, regardless of whether they are represented by a union.

Read the full article

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to take the place of appropriate legal counsel.

Summit attendees stream into the Opening General Session with Peter Leyden

Boasting a record attendance of 875 participants, HRMAC's SUMMIT 2011 more than fulfilled its promise to enhance the HR field by offering new leadership tools, opportunities to connect with peers and fresh ways to grow personally and professionally. The day was filled with innovative ideas and creative learning tools including a demonstration of "visual language" to chronicle the day's events. Each session was graphically interpreted by visual journalist Eileen Clegg through murals she drew as each session progressed. In addition, throughout the day, audience members were invited to Tweet on the Summit Twitter feed and to participate in surveys using their smart phones.

Implement Digital Media Strategy

SUMMIT 2011's opening speaker, Peter Leyden, explored the paradigm shifts altering our technological horizon. Paradigm shifts start as small movements away from the old way of doing things and then in some cases experience a massive, exponential shift, as with the digital revolution. "Digital media bowled over newspapers, books, magazines, radio, music, TV and film," Leyden noted. The iPad was the missing link, according to Leyden, that enables us to read books, receive news and view video on a single mobile device. High bandwidth gave us open-channel video, which in turn gave us nuance--expression--in mobile communications. With projections that 90 percent of Internet traffic will soon be video, Leyden advised companies to incorporate video into their communication strategy now.

The Power of Going Social

Following a break in the Exhibit Hall, where attendees networked and engaged with each other and the Summit exhibitors, Jeanne Meister took the stage. Her presentation echoed Leyden's theme of interconnectedness as she discussed three driving forces shaping the 2020 workplace: demographics, the contribution revolution and the social web.  

Graphic mural by visual journalist, Eileen Clegg, representing Jeanne Meister's presentation

Meister exemplified the changing workplace demographic via YouTube, with a video by Greg Justice. Titled "I Am the World's Most Interesting Intern," the video shows Justice rapping about his experience as an intern at Cisco. Meister noted that audiences are roughly split in their reaction to the video: Justice is either an HR nightmare or a creative and skilled asset. Either way, his performance can serve as a template for understanding millennials in the workforce. One way millennials distinguish themselves from other generations is by their instinct to use video and text to communicate, receive feedback and learn. But in order to stay competitive, Meister emphasized that we all need to be digital natives.
 

The contribution revolution is taking shape in the corporate world through gamification, according to Meister. Marriott, for example, uses My Marriott Hotel, a computer game likened to Zynga Inc.'s Farmville, to introduce potential employees to the hospitality industry and engage them in the brand for recruiting purposes.

 In discussing the impact of the social web, Meister projected that by 2020, social media will connect employees, customers and partners for immediate communication and increased productivity. The "power of going social," Meister says, is that, among other benefits, it promotes migration of top talent to companies known as social workplaces.

What can HR professionals do now to ease their company toward the 2020 workplace? Among Meister's suggestions were to build a case for leaders to be engaged in social media; visit websites affecting social leadership such as klout.com and glassdoor.com; be a "lurker" on HR-related Twitter hashtags, such as #hr and #socialrecruiting; identify HR policies ripe for re-imaging in terms of social media, including mentoring; and monitor your company's usage of social media against that of competitors.

After the lunch break, the HRMAC Awards of Excellence were announced. The Volunteer of the Year award recipients were Frank DiLeonardi, director, Account Management, Towers Watson, and Bill Doucette, VP, Human Resources, NES Rentals Holdings, and the Leader of the Year award recipient was Randy Lewis, SVP, Supply Chain and Logistics, Walgreen Company.

Afternoon panelists discuss leadership development

Accelerate Leadership Development

Next up was the panel discussion on strategies companies are using to develop emerging leaders. Panelists Robert T. Cancalosi, chief learning officer at GE Healthcare; Ted Forbes, managing director of talent management at United Continental Holdings; Scott Golas, vice president of human resources at Centro; and panel moderator Suzanne Sinclair, director of leadership talent acquisition at Allstate Insurance Company, discussed leadership traits, talent development, cultural transformation, generational issues, and diversity and inclusion.

Asked to reference a word cloud formed by responses to an audience poll, Forbes cited coming together, learning from mistakes, agility, adaptability and flexibility as key leadership traits in emerging leaders. Cancalosi added collaboration, and he likened "high potential" to the intersection in a Venn diagram, where the three circles of ability, aspiration and engagement overlap. Golas emphasized the importance of fit and discussed Centro's Employee Manifesto, noting that if applicants "just have high ability" but don't match up well against the manifesto, "they won't get in the door."

Panelists agreed that accelerating the time it takes to develop leaders was a top concern. Forbes called for executives to change their mindset on executive coaching, and Cancalosi agreed, stating that the conception should move from "we're fixing dysfunction" to "the world is too complex and you need help." Linking the importance of coaching to culture, Cancalosi said that GE Healthcare is developing a culture of coaching throughout the organization as part of its five-year cultural transformation.

Attendees pack the Summit Expo

Formula for Success

Summit closed with a look at collaboration and creativity with author, Nilofer Mechant. Co-creation is what's needed to ignite performance, said Merchant. But companies continue to see employees merely as cogs, and "this is why business is broken." Employers want to fit employees into a box, reflecting the old way we think about work and hiring. Just as a building's windows have gaps between them, so do the hierarchical boxes in corporate structures. That space between the boxes blocks opportunities for trade-offs and shared discussion.

Merchant offered an alternative to hierarchical thinking based on her formula S(uccess) = P(urpose)T(alent)Culture. Purpose is about people coming together because they believe in what they are to do; Merchant said that when people are engaged in solving problems, profitability, productivity, quality and loyalty increase. Talent is how we create, and the important factor is what we do with people once we get the right ones on board. Culture relates to how we hold ideas, whether clutching them tightly or sharing them openly; how we pass to each other, that is, whether we can let go and trust that the others will do their unique part; and how we hand off, whether we merely hand off our portion of the task or share responsibility for achieving the entire goal.

Ultimately, Merchant said, "the future is not created; it is co-created," and she encouraged the audience: "I have an idea that this is the group to do it, to ignite performance."

Planning has already begun for SUMMIT 2012, which will be held on November 8 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. 

Linda Murphy, JR Katz

Linda Murphy, of JR Katz, is the winner of the iPad drawing. Linda referred 23 prospective members to HRMAC through the Membership Flash campaign and one company has already joined! We appreciate the support and enthusiasm displayed by our members during this campaign--you truly are our best advocates!

Do You Know How to Maximize the Value of Your HRMAC Membership?

• Attend Interest Group programs or other HRMAC events--take advantage of low- or no-cost professional development and networking opportunities (most qualify for PHR/SPHR recertification credits).  Check the Calendar of Events now!
• Join the HRMAC LinkedIn Group
• Like us on Facebook
• Check out HRMAC's YouTube channel--ChicagoHR--to view snippets of SUMMIT presentations and other programs and fun photos from social events!
• Reach out to your HR colleagues via the HRMAC Membership Directory and HR Marketplace, HRMAC's online buyer's guide - your source for providers of HR products and services.
• Volunteer for a HRMAC committee (watch for the Call for Volunteers in May 2012)
• Visit the HRMAC website regularly for new programs and resources; bookmark hrmac.org!
• Log on to hrmac.org to view the New Member Orientation online
• Remember--your company is a member of HRMAC, and all employees are entitled to HRMAC member benefits. Be sure HRMAC has contact information for all your co-workers so no one misses out on HRMAC events and activities. Email hrmac@hrmac.org to add your co-workers to your company roster. 

Kick off the New Year right with a night out with your HRMAC colleagues. Good food, good wine and good conversation...the perfect recipe to shake off the winter blahs. A menu of select wines, an array of artisan cheeses and other fine hors d'oeuvres will be served.

This event is always a sellout! $49 member rate; $95 non-member rate. Register now to secure your spot!