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SHRM Rolls Out Five-Year Plan
After SHRM announced its new five-year plan -- with an emphasis on attracting senior HR executives, developing world-class research, operating as a financially sustainable organization, expanding its adviser and advocacy roles, serving the HR needs of non-HR professionals and expanding into emerging global markets -- CEO Lawrence O'Neil discusses SHRM's future.
With an increased emphasis on attracting and engaging senior HR executives, developing more research and increasing membership in emerging markets around the world, the Society for Human Resource Management has introduced a five-year plan to shape the organization's focus going forward. In an interview with HREOnline, SHRM CEO Laurence O'Neil says the group set its new path after conducting a strategic business review earlier this year. The new international focus is specifically aimed at India and China since member companies have operations in those regions, and the countries have also proved themselves as emerging global leaders that are "very clearly linked to the U.S. economy," says O'Neil, who heads up the Alexandria, Va.-based industry group that has 250,000 members. "We know we are global," he says. "The question of whether or not there is a linkage across the globe is now, I think, a moot one." But could increasing its focus on India and China, countries that already have workforce organizations of their own, upset the 575 existing chapters whose members may feel that emphasis is being taken away from them and their needs? "We will not in any way diminish our focus on chapters ...," he says. "It is truly not an either or." O'Neil -- who visited India last December -- says SHRM is not competitive with the local HR management associations in other countries, but instead acts as a strategic partner. It even has an office in Mumbai. "As a not-for-profit, we are remarkably positioned to see those who support the profession and their organizations as strategic partners not as competitors," says O'Neil. "And they are seeing us that way."
Attracting Senior Leaders SHRM's plan also centers on attracting and engaging senior HR leaders -- and that's a good thing, says Edward Lawler distinguished professor of business at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, and founder and director of the University's Center for Effective Organizations. "That's certainly an area they can improve in," he says. "SHRM has really directed its products more than anything toward day-to-day practitioner HR people. The people at the very top are not so much interested in that." SHRM is targeting HR executives, O'Neill says, because they set organizational agendas, influence trends and define standards for the profession. High-level outreach also helps the group achieve another one of its goals: serving the needs of non-HR professionals -- among which are initiatives such as healthcare reform, pension reform, succession planning, leadership and labor relations. "These individuals have the experience, skills and working relationships that are essential in helping to educate professionals in other disciplines (such as business, government, academia) and through the media about the importance of exemplary HR," he says. "In short, as the top leaders in their profession, they are often the best spokespersons to communicate how great HR practices are a critical element to every organization's success." O'Neil, however, could not provide specific programs or initiatives SHRM will implement to attract and engage those senior leaders, citing the newness of the plan. He did say the organization has "a wide-open door" where its members can offer suggestions -- and he promises to communicate specific initiatives at a later date. Another part of SHRM's plan is to shift the focus of its research and knowledge-based content. Their research articles, labor and market data, surveys and other research will now concentrate more on providing information about ways HR departments should respond to the economic crisis as well as deal with an increasingly global business environment. "We are finding that our members and [the] companies they work for have specific needs that are really different than they might have been two years ago," says O'Neil. "So we want to focus it, hone it and direct it." The group also wants to expand its adviser and advocacy roles. As part of that, SHRM plans to prominently display appropriate information on its Web site, as well as ensure that call-center advisers offer articles that focus first on the most appropriate information before offering articles that focus on nuances. For example, if a company is going through layoffs for the very first time, HR leaders most likely would want to know what to do in the early stages of the process, rather than being bombarded with articles detailing aspects of the process from start to finish. Finally, SHRM's new strategic plan is designed to ensure that the non-profit organization continues to be financially sustainable. Finances are fine, even in the face of the downturn, says O'Neil, who notes that the item was included in the plan to make sure the organization continues on the right path. "We want to be prepared regardless of whether we hit another bump that no one expected ...," he says. "We will be ready and prepared to move forward and support our members."
September 29, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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