HR Leadership Institute

What You Will Learn: Topics Covered

Strengths-Based Leadership

Knowing your leadership strengths maximizes your work potential. After taking the CliftonStrengths Assessment, each participant will take part in a 1:1 debrief to review their results. Participants will reflect upon how they can use their strengths to excel in their career and contribute their unique strengths to lead within their organization. The program provides a comprehensive overview of the CliftonStrengths Framework including its four strengths domains and associated themes. 

Understanding how others utilize their strengths is equally important to a leader's success. Participants will engage in 1:1 meetings to further explore one another's strengths.

Executive Presentation

An essential skill for today's HR leader is the ability to effectively present to an executive audience. Participants will learn the elements of effective presentation including structure, design and delivery. The program will also provide an overview of best practices for using presentation tools.

Participants will demonstrate their ability to clearly and concisely communicate messages by preparing and delivering 5-minute presentations that highlight the practical application of one of their top five CliftonStrengths.

Examining the Current and Future State of the Workplace

To stay competitive in today's HR landscape, leaders must keep up with workplace trends in order to continue meeting business and personal needs in their organization. Participants will review reports on the current and future state of the workplace. Then, participants will engage in a facilitated discussion of what sets organizations apart. Participants will reflect on the strengths and opportunities within their own organizations, and they will identify critical focus areas.

Participants will also take part in a panel discussion featuring three HR practitioners from organizations in Chattanooga. The panel will talk about local trends, provide examples of how they are addressing trends within their organizations and share any additional insights. The interactive session allows participants to interact and ask the panelists specific questions.

Redefining the Human Resources Function: A Strategic Business Partnership

The human resources function in an organization has the potential to serve as a true strategic partner to the business. Yet all too often, business leaders feel that HR is working against them rather than for them. Participants will learn business acumen pillars to enable a strategic partnership including business terminology, metrics, strategy alignment, consultation, root cause analysis, relationship building and influence.

Enabling Data-Driven Decision Making

Organizational data has become increasingly accessible as technology has continued to advance. Data provides HR practitioners with a wealth of information they can use to make data-driven decisions for their organization. However, turning the data into something meaningful often feels to be a daunting task. Participants will learn key practices of data analysis, from data collection to interpretation to visualization. Participants will engage in hands-on practice, applying the skills learned to identify key insights in their own organizational data.

Job Analysis: The Foundation for Human Resources Management

Job analysis is a foundational aspect of HR management, in which HR professionals gather and analyze information about the content and the human requirements of jobs. The context in which jobs are performed is also analyzed. The information from a job analysis can be used in job and organization design, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, compensation and more.

Participants will learn the process of conducting a job analysis for different purposes and will apply their knowledge by engaging in a simulated job analysis process.

Creating an Evidence-Based Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy

Fostering an environment where employees feel a sense of belonging is critical to an organization's long-term success and profitability. Many organizations miss the mark by focusing on performative or surface-level DEI interventions that divide—rather than unite—their employee population.

Participants will learn an evidence-based framework for creating a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy that can be customized to the unique needs of their organization. Participants will learn how to use organizational data to determine where discrepancies exist, identify appropriate interventions and measure meaningful outcomes.

Participants will also take part in a panel discussion consisting of local DEI practitioners sharing examples of their organizations' DEI strategies, implementation challenges they have faced and the positive impact of their work. Participants will have the opportunity to engage directly with the panel and ask additional questions as desired.

Assessing Organizational Culture and Talent Practices 

Attracting, engaging and developing talent continues to be a top priority for organization's in today's competitive landscape. Turnover can be extremely costly, and it can be difficult to pinpoint its exact cause. Participants will learn how to assess talent practices at every stage of the employee life cycle through a comprehensive employee listening strategy. The program will provide strategies for enhancing talent practices in recruitment, onboarding, performance management, development and succession planning. Participants will also gain hands-on practice by creating a personalized development plan.

Boosting Your Organizational and Personal Resilience

According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report, employee stress remains at record-high levels. This stress not only affects employee work performance but also their quality of life. HR leaders are in the unique position to influence key policies and procedures that can help employees better manage this stress both inside and outside of work. Equally important is that HR leaders establish their own practices for managing stresses they encounter daily.

Participants will study the Center for Creative Leadership's Resilience Framework. Each participant will receive a copy of "Resilience That Works: Eight Practices for Leadership and Life." Specific chapters will be assigned each week, and participants will come prepared to engage in weekly book club discussions.

Upon completion of the book club discussions, participants will conduct a resilience audit at the personal and organizational levels, identifying any gaps in their portfolio. Then, they will identify and provide a brief demonstration of one resilience practice they can implement in their own organization. Finally, participants will create proactive and responsive resilience action plans for themselves and their organizations.

Participants will also learn from a guest speaker who will introduce the Total Rewards Model and discuss how different components such as compensation, benefits, performance and recognition, work-life and development opportunities can influence organizational outcomes.

Effective Change Management Processes

At some point, every organization undergoes a large-scale transition or change. How a change is introduced can have a profound impact on employees and ultimately the bottom line. Unfortunately, most change management initiatives are mishandled and can result in dips in productivity, employee attrition and reduced work quality. HR leaders play an important role in helping organizations make smoother transitions during times of change. It is vital that HR leaders are equipped with the appropriate knowledge and tools to effectively do so.

Participants will be introduced to a change management framework that HR leaders can utilize to plan for and ensure successful change implementation. The framework covers five outcomes an individual needs to achieve for a change to be successful: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. Participants will engage in hands-on practice by creating a comprehensive change management plan for an upcoming change in their organization.

Participants will also take part in a panel discussion consisting of local HR and business leaders who have managed large-scale changes in their organization. Panelists will share an overview of a large-scale change they have implemented in their organization, how the change was received, lessons learned and any best practices. Participants will then engage in an interactive Q&A with the panelists.

How You and Your Organization Benefit

• Grow through stretch projects that are directly applicable to your organization.
• Bring fresh perspective to your organization through interaction with other local HR professionals.
• Help your organization stay up-to-date with the latest HR and leadership trends.
• Bring a data-driven approach to the HR function.
• Become energized through dynamic and hands-on learning experiences.
• Boost your confidence in handling challenging organizational situations.
• Gain the tools needed to realize continued success amidst role demands.
• Implement changes more smoothly by learning a change management framework.

Investing in HR leadership is an investment for your entire organization.

Request Support From Your Employer

We provide an employer "approval to apply" letter template that you may use to support your HRLI application request. The letter highlights organizational benefits for employers whose employees participate.

Download Template

Meredyth Ring

Meredyth Ring is a trusted leadership and organizational development consultant with over six years of experience in the human resources field. She earned her master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2017.

Meredyth is passionate about helping organizations create environments where employees can thrive. Her areas of expertise include employee engagement, employee well-being, leadership development, performance management and DEI.

She utilizes a unique and holistic approach to engage leaders on all levels of the organization to create positive and sustained cultural change. Meredyth excels at breaking down applied research into actionable steps to help organizations be more effective. She believes in empowering employees and leaders to reach their full potential and has seen firsthand the power of leadership development to transform lives. 

In her spare time, Meredyth enjoys reading, spending time with her golden retriever Dolly and exploring all that Chattanooga has to offer. 

About Southeast TN SHRM

Southeast TN SHRM is an affiliate chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and serves human resource professionals in the Chattanooga metropolitan area. Whether you are new to human resources or have many years of experience, Southeast TN SHRM offers opportunities for networking, education, professional development and continued support of excellence in human resources.

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