A global platform for HR professionals

By Ravi Jayasekera

In the changing and rapidly evolving landscape of business today, HR leaders are looked upon to add the powerful dimension of being ‘organisation strategists’ who not only face but also shape the people challenges of the future.

The Association of HR Professionals (HRP) has always endeavoured to provide our members and the HR community a platform for best practice sharing and networking. We are very pleased to announce that this year we are partnering with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to provide a truly global knowledge sharing and networking experience for the Sri Lankan HR community.

As a leading authority in global HR, SHRM envisioned a powerful platform for international HR leaders to come together, interact with business leaders and equip themselves with futuristic concepts for their organisations. This platform is the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition, which has, over the decades, become the hub for HR professionals from around the world.

This year, the 63rd SHRM Annual Conference moves to Las Vegas, where between 26-29 June 2011 thousands of international HR professionals, academicians and leaders will congregate to learn about how to address the challenges of the future, interact with a network of over 15,000 leading HR professionals and partners from over 140 countries and represent their organisation amongst global giants recognised for HR excellence.

Past participants reflect

HR practitioners from Indian sub-continent, who experienced the conference, reflect positively on their participation.

“The SHRM Annual Conference is a great platform to share, exchange and learn about emerging trends in HR and new developments in this field. It is always exciting to keep oneself informed and updated with the latest in one’s chosen area,” says Ravi Shankar, Senior Vice President – Human Resources, HCL Technologies.

Deepak Kaistha, CEO, Planman Consulting and Dean, IIPM, who attended the Annual Conference in 2010, says, “The conference has helped us in building effective and concrete relationships with peers and colleagues who can share information, insights and inspiration that can be a vital help to self growth and growth of the organisation. It also provides multiple opportunities to interact with HR leaders and with counterparts from across the globe. It was definitely an enriching experience that helped me and the team evolve and inculcate best practices.”

SHRM Annual Conference 2011: From the ‘now’ to the ‘next’ in HR

This year, SHRM has taken special measures to select the very best programs for international HR professionals, which will feature the largest number of practitioners, business and global management sessions ever.

Some of the highlighted topics include strategic business management, key talent management, international HR, total rewards and personal and leadership development. Beyond these issues, the conference will empower the participant with thought leadership on emerging and futuristic areas of HR excellence through mega-sessions, some of which are:

nThe 2011 Ultimate HR Booster Shot

nThe New HR Business Model: Integrated Strategem

nLeading Organisational Excellence by Avoiding the Top 10 HR Leadership Mistakes

n    Engaged Leadership: The Leader Side of Employee Engagement

nSurviving and Thriving Organisational Change and Loving it

Interact with inspirational leaders

The rigour of the conference sessions in 2011 will be punctuated with inspirational sessions by globally recognised thought leaders like Sir Richard Branson, the renowned British entrepreneur best known for the Virgin brand, Barry Rand, the CEO of AARP, the world’s largest non-profit, non-partisan membership organisation dedicated to social change and helping people aged over 50 improve the quality of their lives, Tony Hsieh, the maverick CEO of zappos.com, Inc., an online shoe and clothing retail venture, and author of the bestseller, ‘Delivering Happiness’ and Emmy Award winning actor and philanthropist, Michael J Fox.

We can leave a mark!

Besides the personal benefits, the Conference provides a great opportunity for South Asian participants to represent our corporate philosophy on a global platform. Pramod Sadarjoshi, Ex-Executive Director and Ex-Group Head HR, for IDBI BANK Ltd., who attended the 2010 Annual Conference to expand his knowledge horizons, experience global benchmarks and network with global HR professionals says: “The India story is good and in many areas, our sub-continent HR professionals are world class. The complexities they handle are unique and challenging which makes them very good. However, global HR practices in technology, leadership development, diversity management and inclusiveness are very advanced and it will help to assimilate and implement the ‘work-ethic’ practices here, which include customer-centricity, professionalism and organisational abilities.”

No wonder, all roads for HR professionals will lead to the 63rd SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas in June 2011, which is beckoning the best HR minds from our part of the world to join their global peers in charting out the ‘next’ for HR.