On Friday, January 22, 2010 the MT|SHRM board was invited to participate in The TN State SHRM Council Leadership Meeting. The Meeting was provided to give Chapter Board Members a fresh look at various tools for leading and guiding their leadership areas. Members of your current or past board who attended and are pictured above are: (back, left to right) Denis Blackwelder, Michelle Thompson, Kellie Conn, Laquita Stribling, Aimee Hill, (front, left to right) Art Smith, Tiffany Coursey, Barbara Stewart and Dennis Stull.
The morning agenda included some powerful training sessions including one session on Leading Your Volunteer Board presented by Sallie Hussey, President and CEO of Hearing Bridges (pictured left). Sallie’s presentation focused on the importance of leading so that others will follow much like the tail-end of the Slinky-dog toy. Sallie developed her discussion from insights she has gained from the Toy Box Leadership book, authored by Ron Hunter and Michael Waddell. Pick up the book if you would like to learn more about this topic.
The balance of the morning learning session was lead by Jim Henderson (pictured right) of Jim Henderson Consulting where he turned our attention to “Change Management for the Volunteer Leader”. Jim’s years as a football coach and experience working with a wide variety of clients enables him to share critical aspects of change management in a very entertaining manner. The content was based upon the four stages of group development: form, storm, norm and perform which culminated in a personal analysis and commitment to working together.
The afternoon was equally packed with solid information for building a stronger board and the MT|SHRM organization through “Using Electronic Media Technology for Marketing and Communication”. Our presenters were Jeff Kirkwood, Director of New and Online Media for YMCA of Middle TN and Kate O’Neil, Founder and CEO of (meta)marketer (pictured left). The co-facilitators provided us with more information about all of the various social media tools available to us, as well as how best to utilize and embrace these emerging technologies within our chapters.
The final presenter of the day was our own, Betty Johnson (pictured right), who passionately and expeditiously enlightened us with tips on “Managing Volunteers”. She explained to us that we are to “Hire, Inspire, Admire and Retire” volunteers appropriately if we are to maximize their impact on our organization while allowing them to grow and develop. She challenged us to engage our volunteers in meaningful work, which is what we want to do. If you would like to volunteer please contact Betty Johnson and let’s work together to build a stronger MT|SHRM organization. Back to Top >>>
Spring PHR/SPHR Study Group Now Forming
About 20 MT|SHRM members met on Tuesday at the offices of Miller & Martin, PLLC, for the first of two study group orientation meetings. Those attending learned how the study program works, the fabulous offices of Miller & Martin where they will be meeting each week, learned about the exam process and how they can receive more than a 20% discounted on the SHRM Learning System—the official study guide for the SPHR/PHR exams.
Shomari Dailey (pictured left), an Associate at the firm and one of the attorneys who works with the group during the semester, welcomed the group. Also on hand to give the orientation were Laquita Stribling, SPHR, Professional Development Chair; Beverley Cooper, PHR, HR Certification Program Vice-chair, and committee members Sheila Holt, PHR and Kelly Barnes, PHR.
“It’s hard to believe, but Miller & Martin has been hosting these meetings for six years now,” says Kara Shea, Member at Miller & Martin and MT|SHRM’s Legal Advisor. “We validate parking for all study group members, provide pizza and drinks for the group each week, and do our best to have one of our employment law attorneys on hand each Tuesday night ‘after hours’ to assist the group—all at no charge to MT|SHRM members.”
Ten Reasons why you should join the MT|SHRM PHR/SPHR Study Group Now
The support from MT|SHRM and the sponsor’s, Miller & Martin, PLLC is phenomenal!
MT|SHRM is providing this free of charge except for the cost of materials which are greatly discounted.
MT|SHRM gives you the opportunity to apply for a scholarship if your company will not pay for the materials.
Miller & Martin, PLLC which is centrally located downtown, provides a state of the art board room, food & beverages, free parking and consultation on study topics.
The guidelines are changing in 2011 from only needing two years of HR related experience to needing a combination of a degree and several years of experience to become certified.
The study group is facilitated by a group of volunteers that have gone through and succeeded in the process.
SHRM sets the bar for the certification and therefore the study materials provide you with everything you need to obtain your certification.
Any MT|SHRM member that has their certification has the opportunity to volunteer by assisting with facilitating the study group. Contact Beverly Cooper, Vice Chair, of the Certification Committee.
Opportunities to network and develop long lasting business relationships.
Support of fellow group members that can benefit from each other’s strengths.
Last but not least when you pass the exam, to be able to display your credentials which will immediately increase your marketability and advance your career goals!
Note – We will be sharing some of the participants’ thoughts in our March newsletter.. Back to Top >>>
MTSHRM and CHOICES
Good News! MT|SHRM will be sponsoring the CHOICES program to be brought to middle school classes in Metro during the spring semester!
CHOICES is a fun, interactive program for 8th graders teaching them about self-discipline, time management, real life choices, with the goal of encouraging them to stay in school. The curriculum is very structured and well-tested. You can learn more by going to www.choices.org.
We are looking for MT|SHRM volunteers to agree to be presenters of CHOICES in the middle schools this spring. Each volunteer presenter will agree to attend a mandatory training program for about 3 hours and then present 2 (two) 50-minute segments in 1 classroom. Presenters can volunteer to do additional classrooms without additional training time. There is a tab on the website, under Choices Workshop, for Presenters.
Debbie Grant, an MT|SHRM member, and an employee of Goodwill, already has 4 classes at Jere Baxter Middle School lined-up for us to present CHOICES in mid-late March. She and I are taking the lead on the coordination between MT|SHRM and Goodwill.
If this sounds like something you’d like to do, please contact me by e-mailing me at betty.johnson@givegw.org. My phone is 346-1238.
Just a note: Clarksville SHRM began their CHOICES presentations in November with great success. I was able to attend session 1 in one of the classrooms at the middle school. It was impactful for the kids and the principal and teachers were impressed.
Betty J. Johnson, MBA, SPHR
MT|SHRM Membership Committee member
VP, Employment Services, Goodwill
Have you ever wondered what the various MT|SHRM committees do? If that is the case then this new section of the newsletter will be written just for you. We will be “introducing” you to various committees and sub-committees throughout the year. If you discover that you would like to be a part of one of these committees or you have suggestions that might help a committee reach its goal then we hope that you will reach out and share your thoughts.
The Communication Committee is chaired by Dennis Stull this year, and currently has eight members four are pictured here: (L-R) Rita Weekes, Dennis Stull, Melanie Chapman and Deniene Cooper. Those members not available at photo time are: Wendi Ellis, Cathy Houser, Tracye Mayolo and Kathy Peck.
The Communication Committee has three sub-committee areas: Website, Newsletter and Technology. The Website has several areas that we know we could improve on and with the help of our MT|SHRM Administrator, Katie Guenther we believe that the Website Sub-Committee could enhance the website resources for all of our members. If you are hiding your IT skills under your HR hat then we encourage you to take off your hat, and let your “geeky-hair” down by joining our sub-committee.
For any of you who have been responsible for newsletter publication, you know how difficult it can be to received good meaningful articles in a timely fashion. We are taking the “picture this” approach with the MT|SHRM newsletter. We realize that there is a lot of National and State HR information such as legal updates, HR trends, and HR news available to each of us via SHRM, so we will be focusing our newsletter more on local events.
The MT|SHRM newsletter will be a dual purpose tool – one that tells of upcoming events that would highlight education and networking opportunities for our membership, and secondly to showcase the wonderful contributions that our membership participates in and when and where members make a difference. We will be continuing the “reporter” approach to get a photo and do a brief interview with one of the attendees of the event to get “their take on the event” for each luncheon event (North, Metro and South venues) as well as our other activities such as the golf scramble, PHR/SPHR training, after hour events, etc. If you have a little nose for news or have that inner Lois Lane or Clark Kent we would enjoy putting those skills to good use.
The third and final sub-committee is Technology. Social Media has exploded into our personal lives and is melting over into our professional lives every day. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are tools that are proactively being used for a myriad of reasons in the business world from job searches to networking, to planning company picnics to determining customer wants and needs. As of January 2010, MT|SHRM has a presence on all of these networking tools, and we would welcome having more volunteers who have a passion for social media education, development, and participation.
Are you looking for a meeting location that can accommodate any size group up to 250 guests? How about an opportunity for your organization to also give back to the community at a reasonable room rate? Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) has recently opened up room rental facilities – a Board Room and Banquet Hall that joins it ever increasing popular Culinary Arts Center lunch spot. All three of these facilities are available for rent. The purpose of the SHFB is to provide a central distribution center for companies, groups, and individuals who wish to help provide food for the hungry while working to solve hunger issues Middle Tennessee. For those of you who are not familiar with the SHFB, here is a link to their history page.
The Second Harvest Food Bank is located at The Martin Distribution Center, 331 Great Circle Road Nashville, TN 37228 and is open Monday-Friday: 8:00AM – 4:30PM. After-hour events are based on availability and additional expense may apply.
The Board Room is equipped with a drop down screen and projector for laptop presentation. It will accommodate 25 individuals in a large board room setup or up to 40 individuals broken up into a five square table configuration.
The spacious Banquet Room is equipped with dual drop down screens and projectors for laptop presentations. The room can also be divided into two smaller rooms, each having their own screen and projector.
The total space will accommodate up to 250 guests in a standing reception type event or as a lecture/classroom style event, Looking for a sit down dinner type event? The room will accommodate 200 guests very comfortably.
The First Harvest Café cordially invites you to join them every Friday from 11am-1pm for an all-you-can enjoy buffet with a six-week rotating gourmet menu. The cost is $12 and all proceeds go back to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.
The Culinary Arts Center can also be rented for groups up to 75 individuals except during the First Harvest Café operating hours. The large room has a scenic window view that allows for guest to enjoy the outdoors with the comforts of indoor climate control.
Want to learn more about how your organization can utilize these state-of-the –art facilities and enjoy a delicious meal all while giving back to the community? For more information contact Leigh Clark, Events Manager at 615-627-1565.
Metro Monthly Meeting - February 11, 2010 (11:00am-1:00pm)
Economic Outlook: Perspectives on the Nashville Region 2010 presented by Garrett Harper, Ph.D., J.D., M.B.A, M.P.H., M.T.S., CCR, Research Director, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Harper will review the trends in the Nashville Regional economy and demographics. The presentation covers the historical trends in the business cycle, current economic conditions in the region and the near and long term patterns of change in demography and economic composition. Nashville performance is shown in relation to national and regional conditions in 2009-2010. Materials will include very recent and current data, also available following presentation.
Legal Workshop February 24, 2010 (5:00-6:30pm)
Employee vs. Independent Contractor - Avoiding Pontential Pitfalls of Misclassification presented by Bill Fiala, Esq. and Jeb Gerth, Esq., Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, LLP.
The presentation will discuss how to identify whether an individual is properly classified as an employee v. independent contractor.
Understand that a sea change is occurring as it relates to labor and employment standards. President Obama’s initiatives are the most far reaching since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. Learn why the president of the nation’s largest union is, by far, the most frequent visitor to the Oval Office. Hear what the Administration’s backup plan will be if the Employee Free Choice Act is not passed.
Over the long-term, the people you hire and promote will likely determine the success or failure of your organization. This seminar reviews the fundamentals of effective selection and promotion programs from three perspectives: human capital, HR program design, and EEO litigation.
North Monthly Meeting - March 3, 2010(11:00am-1:00pm)
Creativity in Business: Finding the second right answer presented by Gary Minor, Executive Director, the 21st Century Leadership Institute.
The presentation will include an brief introduction to many tools readily available to facilitate the development of new ideas, a logical research based argument for why we need to look past the first “right” answer to any business problem to more fully develop viable alternatives and a motivational challenge to stretch business leaders to actively seek and employ more creative solutions to both typical and novel business issues in a time when “business as usual” is likely not enough, now and in the future.
Has your company, or one of your employees, experienced some type of HR-related situation that would be of interest to our membership? One of those situations that has prompted you to say, “I should write a book!”. We would welcome the opportunity to let you share that experience with our membership - Funniest moments in HR, "I can’t believe they did/said that in an interview", etc.
Perhaps you have experienced an unethical practice that we could alert the membership to, like the fraudulent resume website. Whatever, your noteworthy HR news may be, we would like to hear from you.
If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please submit your item to Dennis Stull by the 24th of each month for publication in the following month's newsletter. Items received after the deadline will be considered for use in a future edition.
To sponsor an edition of this Newsletter, please contact Janet Meek at (615) 376-8348.
The morning agenda included some powerful training sessions including one session on Leading Your Volunteer Board presented by Sallie Hussey, President and CEO of Hearing Bridges (pictured left). Sallie’s presentation focused on the importance of leading so that others will follow much like the tail-end of the Slinky-dog toy. Sallie developed her discussion from insights she has gained from the 
The afternoon was equally packed with solid information for building a stronger board and the MT|SHRM organization through “Using Electronic Media Technology for Marketing and Communication”. Our presenters were Jeff Kirkwood, Director of New and Online Media for YMCA of Middle TN and Kate O’Neil, Founder and CEO of (meta)marketer (pictured left). The co-facilitators provided us with more information about all of the various social media tools available to us, as well as how best to utilize and embrace these emerging technologies within our chapters.
The final presenter of the day was our own, Betty Johnson (pictured right), who passionately and expeditiously enlightened us with tips on “Managing Volunteers”. She explained to us that we are to “Hire, Inspire, Admire and Retire” volunteers appropriately if we are to maximize their impact on our organization while allowing them to grow and develop. She challenged us to engage our volunteers in meaningful work, which is what we want to do. If you would like to volunteer please contact 
Shomari Dailey (pictured left), an Associate at the firm and one of the attorneys who works with the group during the semester, welcomed the group. Also on hand to give the orientation were Laquita Stribling, SPHR, Professional Development Chair; Beverley Cooper, PHR, HR Certification Program Vice-chair, and committee members Sheila Holt, PHR and Kelly Barnes, PHR.
