So, you’re back from HREvolution. You’re fired up and driven. You’re feeling warm and fuzzy and ready to take action. You want to influence like Jason Seiden and Paul Hebert. You want to make work meaningful like Dan Debow and Jay Goldman. You want to break out of the echo chamber like Laurie Ruettimann and Lance Haun.

You really want to take action? Well, I am going to tell you the first thing you should do. It is subversive. It is brilliant in its deviousness. Shhh….are you ready? Don’t break out of the echo chamber, break INTO the echo chamber. And, how should you do that?

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Get involved with SHRM.

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That’s right! I said it. Get involved with SHRM. The Big Bad. The 800 lb. gorilla in the room. Godzilla. The Towering Inferno.

That’s crazy talk. You just left HREvolution, an “unconference” that, in many ways, is supposed to be the very antithesis of SHRM. However, there’s a method to my madness…

Now, More Than Ever

This afternoon, in my role as District Director on my SHRM State Council, I will be holding a Chapter Presidents Forum, with the 6 chapters in my region. What’s a major topic? Recruiting volunteer leaders. What was a major topic of discussion when I started as a SHRM chapter president 5 years? Recruiting volunteer leaders. What was a major topic of discussion when I first began getting involved with SHRM as a volunteer leader over 10 years ago? Recruiting volunteer leaders.

The demand is there, the supply is not.

Thought Leader Mark Stelzner implored the audience during the final session of HREvolution to “Speak, Publicly Speak!” However, without that advocate within that local SHRM chapter or state conference, who is going to give you that opportunity to voice your thoughts? You want to effect change? Be the one making the change.

*Serve on your local SHRM chapter board. Did you like the speakers and the conversation at HREvolution? Get on your chapter’s programming committee and have those very speakers come to your turf. Want to know who is speaking at my SHRM chapter’s monthly meeting in 9 days? Thought Leader Laurie Ruettimann.

*Serve on your SHRM state council. Grab a position on the SHRM state council and influence who will be speakers at your state leadership conference. Want to know who will be the keynote speaker closing out our state’s leadership conference in August? Thought Leader Mark Stelzner

*Serve on your SHRM state conference planning committee. Want to make your conference as exciting as HREvolution? Get involved in planning the conference and influence who will be the speakers. What to know who will be the keynote speaker closing out our State SHRM Conference in October? Thought Leader Kris Dunn.

*Talk to SHRM student chapters. This might take time as schools are ending their academic year. But, I don’t know one student chapter who wouldn’t want to have experienced thought leaders share their thoughts about what HR is really like.

China Gorman

A common topic of discussion at HREvolution was the departure of China Gorman from SHRM. To some, she was seen as “The Great SHRM Hope,” “a visible, energetic agent of change for SHRM, an actor on the stage that SHRM really hadn't had before.”

Nothing would carry out the legacy of China Gorman more than taking the energy and spirit of HREvolution by getting involved with SHRM and carrying out her vision.