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#WorkHuman2019: Creating a Culture of Community

It’s WorkHuman’s fifth annual conference in Nashville, TN in the next few days. It’s my first WorkHuman conference and I’m very eager to learn and experience it in person. I’ve heard of WorkHuman in 2017 – the same year I attended my first SHRM Annual Conference held in New Orleans. I learned so much just from what was shared via social media, from blog posts, tweets, and LinkedIn. The more I hear and read about it, the more determined that I wanted to attend the conference.

This year, I get to be one of those blogging, tweeting, and sharing the in-person experience on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook! It is still surreal to me that I get commissioned to do this, I just hope that I can keep up with the big influencers in the room! I am very grateful to Tim Sackett and Mike Wood for this opportunity!

There are so many sessions to learn from! As I was going through their app, I noticed a pattern on the sessions I was signing up for – Creating a Culture of Community track! So I decided to focus on this track and signed up for the following:

  • The Relationship Comes First: Path to Employee Engagement
  • Leadership is Not A Thing
  • Purposeful Collaboration: Igniting Teams & Changing…
  • Get Out of the Way! Enabling Innovation by All
  • Reimagining What’s Possible – A Story of Culture Transformation
  • Everybody Matters: Transform Your Organizational Culture
  • Beyond Buzzwords: Real Talk on What it Takes
  • Leading Transformation: Overcoming the Invisible Human Barriers
  • The Power and Potential of People-Centric Cultures

I was signing up based on the topic that resonates with me as a #HR practitioner as well as a community leader/organizer. I wear my HR heart on my sleeve and many of the skills and knowledge required to be successful are also useful and transferrable in community involvement.

It was interesting to realize as I was signing up that many people that I connected with in the past two years were also leading those sessions, from Jason Lauritsen, John Baldino, Cy Wakeman, and Robin Schooling.

Of course, I’m also looking forward to George Clooney, Viola Davis, and Geena Davis as keynote speakers – big names who at least uses their money and influence for global humanitarian efforts.

I hope through my experience, you get to pick up a nugget or two that will inspire you to create a culture of community. I also hope that you will add to your bucket list to attend WorkHuman in the near future and make it one of your go to conference for learning!

Full Disclosure: Although I am commissioned to attend #WorkHuman2019, my opinions are my own and may not reflect WorkHuman or any entity affiliated with the event.

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Spotlight on Lona Smart and Revela

I first met Lona Smart at the very first #DisruptHROmaha in April 2018. She was one of the speaker and her company, Revela was one of the Ultimate Sponsor. For the record, I am doing this voluntarily and was not asked nor paid to do this endorsement. I just really dig their staff and their business model. Their community give back is also something I admire in an organization.

As a #HRPro and new to Omaha, Nebraska, I wanted to learn more about the organization and at the same time learn more about Lona. I wanted to share my interview with her and some information on Revela so that anyone who is looking for leadership development within their organization can get a glimpse of what they have to offer.

Lona Smart is a Facilitator and Organizational Behavior Specialist at Revela  located in Omaha, Nebraska. She has experience in leadership positions, private-public partnerships, business ownership and managing complex teams. Her analytical approach and strategic-thinking make her the go-to person in the area of organizational change and leadership development. Lona has her Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Northern Iowa. She has a passion for helping organizations, communities, families and individuals reach their full potential which explains her time spent volunteering and her background in behavioral health.

Lona Smart will be one of the breakout session speakers at #SHRMNE18. She will talk about how to “Create the Employee Experience” on Thursday (August 23), from 11 am to 12 pm.

GT: You’re speaking about how to “Create the Employee Experience” at the SHRM Nebraska State Conference 2018. Is this your first time speaking at that conference? Who should attend your session?

LS: It’s my second time as a speaker for SHRMNE. My session is for people who are looking for a different way to look at the employee onboarding and retention process.

GT: Briefly tell us what is Revela?

LS: We facilitate conversations with leaders so that they can more clearly articulate their 3-5 year picture, where the company is headed and how they can support the anticipated growth in terms of number of employees, revenue, organization structure, etc.  Then help align the organization to execute on the plan.

GT: Why did your company choose a squirrel as part of your branding?

LS: Sometimes leadership teams can feel like they are chasing the squirrels when running their business. At Revela, we help leaders to “focus on working on the business, not in it”.

GT: What is the most memorable feedback you’ve received from your clients?

LS: After working with a leadership team for several months, as we were wrapping up, a manager shared with me that I not only helped him communicate better with his co-workers and staff but also with his wife; improving his marriage.

GT: What do you think is lacking in many leaderships training these days?

LS: Connecting the development to how it applies to the long term strategy of the organization. It’s important to know “why is it important to be better today than yesterday.”

GT: In anticipation of AI as a part of future of work, how would this change your business offerings?

LS: We’re exploring how to deliver training in the way people expect it to be delivered. Looking into Learning Management Systems as an example.  Our trainings are already provided on audio recording as well as hard copies, but we want to use technology to improve how we connect and interact with participants between sessions.

GT: 3 Take-aways for those who will be attending your session.

LS: 1) Importance of key moments and how they leave a lasting impression, 2) Assessment of your own employee experience to look for potential pitfalls, and 3) New or different ideas to intentionally make key moments to create a positive experience that employees want to share with their friends and family.

Follow Revela on Twitter: https://twitter.com/revelagroup

 

 

 

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#SHRM18 Vendor Spotlight: Quantum Workplace

Quantum Workplace will be one of the vendors at the #SHRM18 in Chicago, IL. They are an employee engagement software company designed for a manager-driven work culture. Quantum Workplace is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska (my new home town).  I had the opportunity to tour their new location where I conducted this interview.

Quantum Workplace is the survey engine for the “Best Places to Work” contests nationwide.

I Interviewed Natalie Hackbarth (NH), their Inbound Marketing Manager. 

GT: In an elevator pitch format, what is Quantum Workplace?

NH: Quantum Workplace is an all-in-one employee engagement software that gives managers the tools they need to increase team engagement and effectiveness.

GT: How do you differentiate your product/services from other HR Tech companies?

NH: Our software differentiates in two key ways:

1) First, it’s built formanagers. Our engagement software fits right into their existing workflow, it coaches them on how to be better managers, and it transforms the way lead and engage their teams.

2) Second, it’s provides organizations all the tools they need for measuring and improving engagement in one place. It’s the only of its kind, offering survey and pulses, recognition software, goal setting and tracking software, feedback, one-on-one conversation, ideas and alerts, as well as team and company-wide analytics.

GT: How did your company decide to hold the “Best Places to Work” contests?

NH: Listening to and acting on employee opinions is crucial. Quantum Workplace wanted to honor and showcase companies that valued employee voices and treated people as the most important resource.

GT: Tell me about some of your best success stories with a client.

NH: Fossil Group uses Quantum Workplace to empower thousands of users to own and improve team engagement. PromiseShip, a non-profit based in Nebraska, had never had a method for collecting employee feedback and improving employee performance — and they now use our tool to engage employees in a continuous cycle of improvement.

GT: Are your clients asking you to collect data to determine possible gender wage gap in their organization?

NH: Not specifically, no. But employers can use our analytics feature to uncover almost any trend, gap, or blind spot they might have in their organization.

GT: What AI related features are you rolling out in your upcoming releases?

NH: Quantum Workplace just launched text analytics, giving managers the ability to make sense of employee comments at the click of a button.

If you’re in the market for an engagement software or would like to see your company be honored as one of the best companies to work for, find out what it takes to get you there and visit their booth at #SHRM18! You can find out more about Quantum Workplace at http://www.quantumworkplace.com.