2024 GVFHRA HR Summit Recap

Last week HRD graduate assistant, AnaLeah Overbey, had the opportunity to attend her first ever GVFHRA Summit! Read on to hear about her experience and learning from the conference!

The 2024 GVFHRA HR Summit focused on HR Synergy: Integrating People, Technology, and Strategy. Here are some of my key takeaways!

Opening Panel

Opening Panel Takeaway:

1.) Technology is something HR needs to drive.

The panelists suggested HR needs to be in the data business, AI can be used to generate insights, and the incorporation of technology into strategies can help with problem solving.

2.) How do we train people on the basics?

The panelists discussed how the most expensive technology is the one no one uses, and this can be attributed to a lack of training or knowledge on the systems. Thus we as HR professionals need to provide trainings on these systems, and ensure that these trainings meet the learning needs of each individual to be truly effective.

3) Who is governing technology?

As the incorporation of technology in the workplace increases, the question arises who is monitoring the use of systems like AI. Thus, it will be important to update policies and procedures to reflect the parameters in which systems can be used.

The People Advantage: Cultivating Kindness As A Strategic HR Tool

Cindy asserted that kindness has a ripple effect and that one kind act has the potential to reach 125+ people a day. It is important to note there is a difference between being nice and being kind. Being nice includes social politeness, avoiding criticism, and sugar coating feedback. She also provided us with the acronym:

Nothing

Inside-me

Cares

Enough

In contrast, kindness includes looking out for someone else, construct feedback, and honest feedback. For practical application, adopting kindness into the work culture can result in strong team relationships, builds trust, has health benefits, and reduces the number of sick & PTO days taken. Collectively, these benefits increase productivity and performance. Cindy concluded her insightful session with the token of the platinum rule. The platinum rule: treat others the way they want to be treated. Moving forward I will be incorporating kindness and the platinum rule in my practices!

The Art of Persuasion: Perfecting Your Pitch With Storytelling

Why do you need to pitch your ideas?

1) To get information

2) To give information

3) To gain commitment

The speaker argues that in order to captivate the attention of your audience your presentation needs to take the audience on a visual journey. Through this journey you as the presenter are able to create a connection with audience. In addition to taking the audience on a journey, it is important to provide them with a "why". Reflect on the companies or brands you support with your consumer business. Is the reason you choose one store over another connected to the company's "why"?

Building a Storyboard

The "why" (purpose)
Villain (an issue)
Hero (proposed solution)
Creating a connection
Having continuity between slides of a presentation
Highlight what is important one slides (e.g., focusing on relevant data points on graphs)
Simplicity is key

The speaker discussed the Hemmingway Challenge in which an individual is challenged to tell a story in 6 words or less as Hemmingway was once challenged to do. Try engaging in this challenge because it is not as easy as it might seem!

Success Through Trust: 3 Keys to Successful Diverse and Remote Teams

Ken started the session with the argument that people are our most important resource and as such we need to focus on employee well-being. With regard to remote work, individuals need to find meaning in their work and feel connected to their organization to maintain their well-being. Ken also discusses the theory of self determination.

Theory of Self-Determination

Autonomy
- what you can control
Competence
- knowing how to do your job
Relatedness
- connection

Ken also posits the importance of trust through the example the Tylenol Scare. For there to be trust there needs to be transparency, results, simplicity, teams, and most importantly understanding. Understanding how you impact people is key and as such it is important to have good communication & self-awareness. Ken also discussed the DISC model.

DISC

Dominant (eagle): results-oriented, direct, decisive, bottom line
Interactive (parrot): fun, social, optimistic, motivational
Supportive (dove): harmonious, empathetic, patient, sincere
Conscientious (owl): accurate, detail oriented, systematic, analytical

My favorite part of this session was the DISC activity we completed in which we formulated an email asking the engineering team to move the light switch in the auditorium from one side of the room to the other. We identified as the bird that was attached to each component of DISC. I actually ended up presenting my email to the audience, and my email was from the perspective of the dove. Reflecting on the components above, which bird do you most identify with?

Closing Keynote

HR Leadership is Life! Making Your Organization Better Through the Lessons of Ted Lasso

Michael presented on the subjects of mental health and bias. He uses the Apple TV show Ted Lasso to present this topics.

Mental Health

When unpacking mental health it is important to remember we all need help sometimes. In fact, around 25% of adults suffer from an undiagnosed mental health disorder. Additionally, the average delay between onset of symptoms and receipt of treatment is 11 years! When Michael discussed this statistic he compared this to waiting 11 years to get a physical injury treated. Presenting this logic can help reframe narratives and stigmas surrounding mental health. Furthermore, through video examples from the show, Michael was able to show how opening spaces to share struggles allows for better trust and communication amongst workers. Organizations need to make adjustments to their leadership, culture, and policies to address the mental health needs of its employees. For organizational leadership there needs to be a culture of active listening and an embrace of equity in regards to mental health. Organizational culture needs to reflect the following: allowing open discussions of mental health, not shying aware from hard conversations, and eliminating inappropriate jokes about mental health disorders. Finally, organizations need to ensure they have established or updated written mental health philosophies.

Bias

We all have bias. Implicit bias can be defined as our unconscious biases. These biases are not inherently bad and are a useful short cut for decision making. However, these shortcuts are influenced or informed by how we are socialized (e.g., family, friends, education, neighborhood, etc.). In activity during the presentation, Michael presented different pictures of individuals running, and it was our job in to guess whether the pictured individuals were running away or towards something. The activity highlighted that based on our implicit biases we would pick which way the runners we orienting. Ultimately, there were not answers to activity but through the activity it caused us to reconsider the manner in which implicit biases can arise in decision making. The final token of knowledge given in this session was emphasizing that there is not a hierarchy when it comes to bias (i.e., lgbtq+ bias is not over religious bias).

Collectively, the speaker presented deep topics in such an engaging and insightful way. If you have the opportunity to see or hear one of his presentations I highly recommend doing such!

Overall, the GVFHRA Summit was an amazing experience in which I was able to network, learn more about the different facets of HR, and gain meaningful insights from a variety of HR professionals!