Top Takeaways (so far) from #SHRM18

So far, #SHRM18 has proven to be an inspiration of ideas and people.  My top takeaways from the Windy City include:

“Drama is emotional waste.”  @CyWakeman

I love Cy Wakeman and her book, Reality Based Leadership.  In her presentation, Cy described how our brains are binary.  We toggle between the lower order brain, our ego, where drama exists and our higher order brain.  Our higher order brain allows us to focus on reality in order to respond in creative, innovative ways.   Cy’s message is that a leader’s main job is to toggle people up to the higher order brain by focusing on facts and eliminating drama that comes from gossip, venting and assumptions.  We toggle people up by getting them to self-reflect.

 

Jeb Bush was the opening general session keynote.  He challenged the audience to consider what you would focus on if you were the head of HR for the United States.   His three key focus areas, which I agree with are:

1. Comprehensive immigration reform and policy as an economic development strategy.
2. A change in how we see learning and education to focus on career readiness, personalized learning and reform in higher education costs.
3. A second chance society where people who have made mistakes (like having a criminal record) can contribute meaningfully through work. SHRM is focused on this.  A great white paper to read on this from SHRM can be found here.

 

Key takeaways from my session on ROI as seen through the live tweets activity were:

 

Shared by Coretha M. Rushing, SHRM Board Chair, CHRO at Equifax:

 

From Paul Endress @paulendress about Reflective Listening:

“The less you talk and the more you seek to understand meaning from others, the better communicator you will be.”

The key thing I took away to set yourself up for reflective listening is body posture/physiology.  Don’t cross your hands across your chest or put them back above your head.  That is not setting yourself up to listen.  Instead nod your head, put your hands on your desk or on your knees in a neutral position or have a reflective posture where one hand is on your chin and the other propping up your elbow. Maintaining these postures while you speak is just as important when you are listening.

 

The session I have been the most excited about is Neuroscience in HR. Led by David Rock @davidrock, Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, his biggest reminder for me was something we often ignore when it comes to connecting brain science to individual and organizational behavior and that is the issue of capacity.

Capacity of the brain is the first issue that people ignore. For example, how many numbers can you add in your head?  Once you get past adding three numbers at once, most people reach their capacity.  Following this rule in the workplace is important.  If you try to get people to focus on more than three things you lose them.  Identify the fewest possible paths to drive individual change (through habit creation) that can drive organizational change.

 

What are your Top Takeways (so far) from #SHRM18? Have you been inspired too?