Update from the most innovative & thought-provoking HR event

The past 2 days have been spent completely immersed in all things HR for many CHROs and SVPs of HR. Many will ask how that is different from any normal day for those in attendance and really it’s not. However, these professionals have been attending the CHRO Exchange in Palm Coast Florida. The CHRO Exchange is a very exclusive and intimate event for senior level HR professionals filled with numerous interactive sessions and discussions. The CHRO Exchange kicked off with a great keynote session from Kevin Harper, SVP HR Strategy and Operations-Global People, with Walmart discussing driving change to maximize business performance. This session really set the tone and theme for the event.

Overall business performance continues to be a top focus area for CHROs and this topic continues to be front of mind for many professionals. A great question came up: How do you continue to drive and innovate? Every CHRO in the room is trying to find ways to innovate and stay relevant in this rapidly evolving technological world, and it seems to be the consensus that everyone is staring that challenge in the face. The movement with people related analytics seems to be making a huge impact on recruitment, retention, development and training for organizations. Although, many are still new to the people sciences or people analytics they are spending numerous hours working on the projects because HR analytics continues to be time-consuming for most organizations.

The in-depth discussions around leadership development have not been a letdown. Even though the average HR professional believes they have the leadership development strategy under control, many are quickly finding out that they need to do more with their leaders to get them fully engaged. By developing an organizational-centric leadership program, it allows business leaders from all functions to learn best practices from other business partners; senior level executives are seeing a longer retention span among employees and much more engaged team members.

One great presentation used the example of Coach K, the Duke Basketball coach. He is a true leader that has first-rate experience training and developing a generation that many are still wrapping their heads around. As a basketball coach at a university and coaching 18-21-year-olds, the innovative thinking and coaching ideas that Coach K has developed to keep consistent culture among the university is remarkable. The HR professionals in attendance could not stop smiling and nodding at the example. This started many conversations around what makes a great leader and how do you train and develop staff to keep consistent cultures throughout all generations.

Another big topic at the CHRO Exchange has been the multi-generational issues and challenges. This discussion has sparked several debates and opinions. Some have said that millennial’s are no different from the baby boomers or generation X; others find that millennial’s are drastically changing the workforce by making demands for locations, salary, and culture. The digital tools that come into play in generational situations were suggested as both pros and cons for the future work environment. During one interactive session, an HR professional voiced that even though millennial’s are quick learners and understand technologies better than some of the older generations, the idea that all employees want or need an easy online or mobile access to the latest and most recent HR news is important.

While many HR professionals remain fighting to stay relevant in the rapidly developing world, others are focusing on how to advance traditional HR policies and best practices to enhance the overall business strategy. The CHRO Exchange has been filled with top level content and discussions including some of the most innovative and ideas, all driven by the Chief Human Resource Officers.

The conversations have been plentiful and eye-opening to the attendees and have become impressive conversations during the networking activities. As the Editor in Chief, I have had the chance to sit down with several individuals and discuss their HR organization. There will be lots of great content to come from the Exchange. Also, check out the conversations on twitter #CHROXchange, the group has been very active and many of the sessions and discussions have been captured via twitter!

Keep a look out for upcoming content and interviews directly from the CHRO Exchange!