BC HRMA recently launched its members-only Online Community and the conversation has being flowing and growing since.  During Conference 2010, members were encouraged to share their insights and takeaways from the three-day event and post them online to the community.  Here are just a few of the voices that are helping establish a strong community – and shedding light on another stand-out BC HRMA conference.

Why do some change programs succeed while others fail?  Joseph Grenny shared with us the six sources of Influence and how a robust change strategy addresses all, leaving none to chance.  Consider and act on all 6.  These include considering the motivation and the ability of the individual, the ability and motivation of the social environment to support the change initiative  and the structural elements required. This session was so interesting. I have picked up his book, Influencer – The Power to Change Anything, and do plan to read it to understand more.

– Kuldip Taggar

I had the opportunity to get J.P. Pawliw-Fry in a double-header:  Emotional Intelligence and Playing Big.  He had a lot of energy and some interesting things to say about the real predictors of future success – not IQ or Technical Skills but Emotional Intelligence.  That doesn’t mean that IQ Technical Skills are not important but they are, in his words, “threshhold capabilities”.  He talked about 3 critical items that are better predictors of performance:

• Freely admitting mistakes
• Paying attention and listening without jumping to conclusions
• Engaging in difficult conversations

– Laura Jane Lawson

My name is Silke, and I’m a Conference Junkie. Once again, I’ve managed to get my fix at conference this year … for all of my indulgences. Inspiring speakers, fantastic networking, new concepts challenging my thinking and new contacts for business solutions had me leaving on a high on Friday afternoon.  For the next 11 months, I will follow up with a conference contact, read one of the many books I bought or review my conference inspirations (notes) every month. This is my maintenance program – and I’m committed to it.

– Silke Pleus

Daniel Pink was definitely worth the excitement!  I had heard a lot about him previously and watched a few of his talks on the TED website, but his insights on outsourcing, our minds and the future of our world was fascinating. Christine Comaford was hilarious!  I got to go to both of her sessions and her “Go Girl” attitude and Renegade spirit made me feel like a Renegade myself.  And Peter Sheahan, ohhh what to I say about this awesome Aussi?  So fascinating and so true.

– Melissa Appleton

I sat up like a meerkat when I heard Jessica Lee say something that spoke to a recent post I made about LinkedIn connections, debating whether it is more beneficial to have large quantities of connections or a smaller group of quality connections.   Lee said that the number of connections we had on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on) was irrelevant.  Instead, we should care that we’re connected to the right people.  In other words, as a recruiter, it doesn’t matter if you’re connected to 500+ users, what matters is that you’re connected to people who might be interested in coming to work for your organization – or that you’re connected to people who know the people who might be interested in coming to work for your organization. However, I guess what really differs for each of us is what defines “quality”.

– Helen Luketic, CHRP

I caught the live stream of Daniel Pink’s session in the showcase Thursday morning. A lot of interesting information to think about, but what I keep going back to is the idea of applying design models and principles in business. I’m currently reading Glimmer by Warren Berger, which features the concepts of Bruce Mau – an amazing and highly accomplished Canadian Designer (if anyone attended the Massive Change exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery a few year’s back, you’ll be familiar with some of the innovative work he envisions and inspires – www.massivechange.com). Glimmer is about recombining and apply graphic, product and social design to business and community innovation, and it definitely got me interested (thank you to the guys at The Next Institute for recommending it).

– Kyla Nicholson, CHRP