There are some wonderful ways to meet people in the electronic world currently called social networking. Twitter is one of those ways I’ve been meeting new people and learning from them. During that networking I learned about a Blog Exchange between fellow HR Bloggers instigated by Steve Boese. You can read more about the exchange and see the other great bloggers participating in the exchange on his blog post – The HR Blog Exchange.

Steve says, “A blog exchange is a simple idea where two bloggers are paired up with each other and each submits a “guest post” to their partner’s blog, hopefully done in more or less the style and using the “normal” subject matter of the host blog. So each blogger gets a chance to stretch a bit, potentially writing about something new, and perhaps altering their style a bit, and hopefully most of all having some fun.”

I have been paired with an HR Professional, Trish McFarlane, The HR Ringleader  http://hrringleader.wordpress.com/. I’m excited about this new adventure, and will soon contribute a blog entry for Trish’s blog and she will write one for this blog. Stay tuned for Trish’s input – something a little different for my readers. Have you considered a blog exchange for your network of bloggers?

Cheers,
Lois

The return trip home from the IHRIM conference gave me time to reflect on the last few days. I visit, and we exhibit at, a lot of conferences and tradeshows. IHRIM is, and really always has been, a unique experience. The energy and community between the attendees is wonderful and contagious. Even though the economy is tough, these professionals know they need to invest in themselves and their businesses.

They are looking for ways to improve their processes, ways to expand their minds and perspectives. They share ideas and develop new ones. My favorite quote from the conference was from an attendee. She said, “I’m so glad my company is not freaking out over this economy and is still investing in being great by sending people to conferences and tradeshows to learn and do research.” What a great attitude for both her and her company!

John W. Boudreau, Ph.D. was the opening keynote speaker Monday morning. My biggest take away (of many) from his presentation is that if your leaders and users are not learning how to be BETTER at their jobs by using your technology, then you need to change your approach to your technology or work on your education of how they use it.

For example, if your managers are not BETTER at leading and giving feedback because they are using your performance review system, then it isn’t a very good system. Efficiency is not enough. That gave me MANY ideas to consider and I will be asking LOTS of questions about that for a long time. There are so many layers to the concept that we may talk about it again in this space. I would like your comments, too.

The IHRIM organization is continuing to improve. There were announcements about a bigger slate of webinars to bring education to all members who need to expand their education and awareness, as well as about the new certification for HRIS and HR Technology professionals which to begin in September. I encourage you to participate and invite your colleagues. The energy of this group is invigorating.

Cheers,
Lois

I recently read a great blog* that addresses several reasons why many small companies are gaining business while so many large companies are suffering. Not surprisingly, one of the main reasons is trust.

As CEO of a small company, I know that building and nurturing mutual trust at all levels of our organization creates an atmosphere of dedication and spirit that not only gets us through the ups and downs of the economy, but is also perceived and appreciated by customers and prospects. The larger a company gets – or is – the harder it is to effectively maintain that trust balance.

Although not mentioned in that article, I think another reason is that smaller businesses are more agile. Our release cycles can adapt to the market – as well as to innovation and customer needs – more readily than big organizations and without sacrificing quality. Our customer service support reps can work with customers in multiple ways without transferring them around a labyrinth of support tiers. Our developers have the ability to test and innovate within an incredibly supportive team.

Now I’m not saying that trust and agility are exclusive to small businesses. I work with many large companies that have both qualities in abundance. And not all small businesses are built on trust, integrity and respect. But certain characteristics of many small businesses – such as being privately held, built on integrity, customer-oriented, and directly in control of products and services – naturally foster trust and agility.

Right now, we know our customers need our support and help more than ever. They are the HR departments dealing with Reductions in Force, broken succession plans, and the integration of merged workforces. They are over-worked and over-stressed and often working with heavy hearts in this environment. I’m glad we’re in a position to help them and I hope we never get too big or too comfortable to stop.

*Why Small Businesses Will Win in This Economy, Peter Bregman, Harvard Business Review.

Cheers,
Lois

Many industries make certifications available to help expand the knowledge of their industry members, provide status to those who have proven their knowledge, and give employers a benchmark standard for measuring employee candidates. The Human Resource Industry provides certifications for the various practitioners, and now there will be a new one specifically for the HR technology practitioner. IHRIM (International Human Resource Information Managers) is setting the standard for Professionals in HR Information Systems. The first practice exams take place April 18 and 19, 2009 in San Diego, in conjunction with the IHRIM conference.

I personally pursued the GPHR (Global Professional in HR) certification last year for several reasons. I wanted to:

• Delve deeper into areas of global human resources.
• Motivate myself to meet a deadline to achieve the first level of education, i.e. the TEST.
• Prove that I could do it.

The test was hard; but I passed it the first time (for those of you who have not taken these types of tests, that is an accomplishment). I absolutely loved it!

I am proud of my certification. GPHR certification:

• Validated my knowledge.
• Taught me many new things.
• Allowed me to create a frame of reference when talking to other global professionals in HR.
• Allowed me to connect with others who are also certified, because I know there are similarities enough in our world that we should know each other just because we have the same certification.

I encourage you to pursue industry certification – so look into the new certification by IHRIM. You can ask for more information through certification@ihrim.org.  It’s good for you!

Cheers,
Lois