Glad you found my comments useful. Full disclosure, I discontinued my SHRM membership about 3 years ago and haven’t looked back. And honestly, I’ve picked up a lot more useful info outside of SHRM than I did when I was in it.

But shhh…. don’t tell anyone I said that!

Chris
.-= Chris Ferdinandi – Renegade HR´s last blog ..Paul Hebert on Incentives and Motivation =-.

Ben, first, thanks you for tackling this issue. For the longest time, I had given up on attending my local chapter’s SHRM meetings. I felt I could not justify asking my supervisor to cover the cost of meetings with topics that were truly out of the scope of my duties. Perhaps, now if I were to submit some of your ideas to the local chapter, plus a few of my own, I’d have a reason to attend.

Chris, thanks for helping me see the bigger picture. I totally understand what you mean about the “policy influencer stuff”. I know it is not a true waste of my time, but I would like to learn something now to help me build towards later. My learning style has been to build upon what was learned previously. Also, thanks for the invitation of assistance, I have visited your blog and the Buzzwords Bingo is a blast. I may suggest it for our next Team Building Meeting.

Robin S., thanks for your words of encouragement. I have not attended a meeting in over a year because as I said to Ben I could not justify asking to attend. Come to think of it, I could not justify asking my supervisor/the company to cover the costs of becoming a member. I constantly go to the website to see what conferences are being offered, but to no avail… However, I see that as my job grows there seems to be more topics that I may be able to learn something from e.g. the upcoming workshop on Metrics.

BTW, Chris, great point about the organization being relevant to my needs. I await Robin’s response.

Tamara

Thanks for the refreshingly honest and insightful answer!

Chris
.-= Chris Ferdinandi – Renegade HR´s last blog ..Paul Hebert on Incentives and Motivation =-.

I am not sure how Robin will answer the question, but I am going to take the liberty of tossing my 2 cents in. Like Robin, I have been a long time SHRM member, both on the National and local chapter level, a leader both on the chapter and state level, and before that a student chapter member (can you say ASPA?). While I agree with Robin that changing it from the inside is a great concept and I encourage all those who want to be involved on the local leadership level to do so. It is very rewarding and a great way to build or improve on leadership and project management skills.

That being said, I agree with you that it is not the individuals responsibilty to make the chapter relevant to their membership. It is the responsibility of the chapter leadership to make it so or people will vote against them with their dollars and lack of membership. Local chapter leaders need to continually get feedback from members and prosepective members, and act on the feedback, to make it a place where HR pros can receive value and continue to be members. Local chapters have numerous places to turn for help in this area (both National and State). If they don’t, like you said “liquidation sale”, which I have seen happen.

Great statement on your part and I am looking forward to Robin’s answer.

John Jorgensen
Director, Illinois Statet Council of SHRM

I’d like to pick your brain, as someone who’s been very involved with SHRM, on something that’s always bothered me about the “change from within” mindset.

SHRM charges me money to be a member – Shouldn’t I expect to receive services that are relevant to me? And if SHRM doesn’t provide them, why is it MY responsibility to help get them in place? If I’m going to be doing all the work, why not just start my own HR organization and charge people who want the same things I do to be members?

Can you imagine if for profit organizations operated with that attitude? “You’re a customer and you’re not happy with our services? Why not become a member of our company and implement the services you want!” They company would be out of business faster than you can say “liquidation sale”!

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks,

Chris
.-= Chris Ferdinandi – Renegade HR´s last blog ..Paul Hebert on Incentives and Motivation =-.

Just as you work to FIND value from your chapter membership, chapters often struggle with finding a way to provide value to a very diverse audience of members. My chapter, for example, has recent grads/new HR pros such as well as “very-seasoned” HR pros/VPs/Directors with 30 plus years experience. And this is not just a struggle at the chapter-level; SHRM constantly works to address this issue.

Personally, I have adopted Ben’s approach over the years; “change from within.” Easier said than done sometimes, but if it works for you and your chapter, I strongly encourage it. Ben has some great suggestions for adding value – some other ideas might be suggesting to the volunteer leaders of your chapter that they create some “Special Interest Groups” such as a book club, or SIGS based on HR core areas: ER, Recruitment, Benefits, etc.

Stay involved and before you know it, YOU will be the SR HR Pro serving as the “welcoming voice” to new chapter members/new HR pros.