Navigating today’s times for tomorrow’s success…

All of us can appreciate that uncertainty permeates today’s times; uncertainty in the global economy; uncertainty in the U.S. political cycle; and uncertainty in our professional lives.  In times like these, it is even more important that we focus on navigating the uncertainties in a way that helps us to achieve our desired outcomes.  Maybe for some of us the desired outcomes might be a new job or perhaps even a more rewarding career.  For others, it might be launching a successful business.  Or, it might be an enhanced personal relationship with another or with ourselves; maybe a personal goal such as improved health.  In all cases, we need clarity as to our “true North”; the way by which we measure our direction, actions, and arrival.  This enables us to navigate, regardless of the circumstances, toward success.

San Diego SHRM’s Board has been working on finding our “true North” for most of 2011.  We knew that we were not consistently and optimally supporting our members in achieving workplace excellence.  So, with the help of an expert guide, we set out on a journey to identify our “true North.” And, we have identified it in the form of a strategic statement that is all new for 2012.  Ready?  Here it is:

In pursuit of global workplace excellence, San Diego SHRM guides the advancement, and is the voice, of the human resource profession through consistently engaging our members in experiences which are relevant and valuable to successfully navigating their careers.

What is the big deal about a strategic statement as our “true North”?  This is the statement by which we determine our programs, events, and member offerings throughout 2012.  Once we identified our “true North”, we needed to be sure we have our rudder (mechanism for steering), which for us is in the form of values:  consistent, relevant, engaging, and excellence.  Anything we do in 2012 will exemplilfy these four values.  Finally, after month of work getting clarity about our “true North” and our values, all we need is a propeller to get us going.  For SD SHRM, our propeller is the programming and member experiences that we sponsor throughout each year.  To propel us to our “true North”, we have designed a year of workplace excellence just for you, our members.  It begins with:

• Legal Excellence in the Workplace on January 18^th; a tried and true program revamped to support our members in bringing workplace excellence to their organizations.
• LUVfest on February 29^th featuring keynote Colleen Barrett, President Emeritus for Southwest Airlines, the most successful U.S. airline in history.
• The Art of Engagement workshops on March 27^th (North Coast) and 28^th (Mission Valley) designed to provide human resources professionals with the skills needed to help organizations align their workforce with the most strategically important initiatives.
• Thought Leadership program on April 26^th, featuring Dr. Christopher Collins, Director for Cornell University’s Center for Advanced Human Resources.
• Many, many more to come…

As SD SHRM’s members pursue bringing workplace excellence to their respective organization, we are providing excellent programming and events that are consistent, relevant, and engaging.  In fact, from the above sneak peek into our 2012 events, you can already see that we’re not the same old SD SHRM you’ve become comfortable with.  This isn’t something to fret about.  In fact, we value the relationships we have with our over 1,000 members in San Diego and our service provider partners.  We value the relationships so much that we were willing to adapt our actions to our commitments.  So, unlike those New Year’s Resolutions of old (you know the one; “the I’m going to consistently diet and exercise to lose that pesky 10 pounds”), we will be delivering on our 2012 commitment to you, our members. The 2011 Board of Directors understood that this is hard work, which is why they committed to over 45 hours of face to face meetings, over and above San Diego SHRM Board meetings and monthly member meetings, plus additional research time.  And, rest assured, the 2012 Board is equally as focused and committed.  So, join us on our journey.  It promises to be a truly excellent year that I look forward to sharing alongside of each of you.