Richmond Society for Human Resource Management 2015 Strategic Planning

Richmond Society for Human Resource Management 2015 Strategic Planning

On July 15, 2015, the RSHRM Board of Directors and Staff continued the great work begun during last year’s planning session. It was agreed prior to the session that the strategy developed last year is solid and to be continued. The approach this year was to build momentum.

During the opening, Jack asked the group what they thought about this approach and any concerns or comments:

·  We have the right issues/areas of focus, and we have more structure as to what to do as a BOD

·  Nice to have a reminder of progress and opportunities

·  Still continue to put more and more on our plates – choices need to be made; decisions about priorities, what needs to give

·  Liked the commitment to a plan

·  Need to find revenue in other places besides monthly programs

A survey of BOD members was conducted to solicit feedback – the compiled feedback from 11 BOD members is attached as an addendum. The agenda included updates on goals for all strategic pillars and initiatives, as well as deeper dives into: Membership Engagement, Programs, and Business Development. The business development discussion included making a decision about transitioning to a non-100% chapter.

Key Decisions/Action Items

1) A non-binding decision was taken to move in the direction of a non-100% chapter, to be concluded at the September board meeting, which will now be a full board meeting.

·  A prototype will be tested and feedback obtained by current and prospective/past members prior to the meeting

·  Begin testing the ideas of going non-100% and corporate memberships with corporate partners as appropriate A

·  process and communication plan will be developed by 1/1/16 (Marisa)

2) Branding and Programming – articulate value proposition for individuals

·  Survey current and prospective members (one survey that branches by membership status), to coincide with Strategic Leadership Conference in October

3) Programs – Schedule won’t change dramatically yet, but start piloting some no-fee options (free socials, informal meet-ups of communities of practice, etc.)

4) Top 15 – Continue

5) Volunteer and On-boarding “transit map” approach – go forward

6) “Marisa’s dinner” – schedule a meet-up dinner with a topic area for discussion (to pilot informal, non-fee based chapter life experiences)

Membership Engagement Deep Dive

·  Defining “networking” – members consistently state that networking is valuable to them, but monthly meeting attendance continues to drop – how are they defining networking and how do we best fill that need?

·  Making it easier to navigate volunteering and committees, maybe have “volunteer socials” – we need….

·  Ambassadors – need not just at meetings; how to make everyone an ambassador

·  Like the roadmap! Like the idea, it may look different; a transit map, “get on the right track”

·  Comments from members about the expense – more free or inexpensive meet-ups/socials

·  Need to be able to explain the value – what you get for your money, a network of resources

·  Message boards

·  Buddy system, mentoring – more robust

·  Are we driving traffic to the new website?

·  E-blasts – leveraging them for volunteer opportunities

·  Have to leverage technology

·  Stopping the stop/start of volunteering; survey not working; need to ensure follow through from member leaders to volunteers

·  May need to re-visit staff/volunteer roles – process and ownership; may need to have staff oversee

·  Best practices of volunteer management – some use single point of contact; need master sheet of volunteer opportunities

·  We need a full member survey

Member Engagement

Current State Actions to Close Gaps Future State

Value proposition is not clear – members and prospective members can’t connect the dots
On-boarding for new members is not as effective as it could be / Clearly articulate the value proposition for different types of stakeholders; develop and execute a marketing and communications strategy
Re-evaluate welcome committee and approaches to on-boarding; develop and execute transit map / Clear value proposition for all – understand WIIFM and appreciate why costs are what they are
Effective and robust on-boarding that gets new members involved quickly and in a meaningful way
Engagement levels not clear; have a sense that engagement not as high as we’d like
Monthly meeting attendance continues to fall; monthly meetings not generating revenue / Better define what chapter life and engagement looks like and how to measure it; Create a pull vs. push – strong survey required to assess needs/wants
Assess continued value of current monthly meetings & pilot other low/no fee options / Active participation in chapter life; great customer experience; value proposition is clear and members connect the value/costs
Revenue needs are met through dues-based chapter, corporate memberships, signature events, etc.
Not enough volunteers and lack of commitment by volunteers (it has improved some the past year)
Feels hard to do / Develop and execute the “transit map” to increase awareness of volunteer opportunities and make it easier for people to get involved/understand what is required, how they can benefit / Every need for volunteers is met with full competency and engagement
Easy to volunteer

Programs Deep Dive

·  A LOT of work that isn’t generating the revenue (monthly programs) – propose fewer monthly and explore other options: programming by company size; tailor to specific groups, and market accordingly; more partnerships and webinars; leveraging speakers coming in for other companies

·  Don’t know what the members want – need to survey

·  Need to target the opportunities/interests groups

·  Value proposition of associations has changed in general

·  People want to talk with vs. being talked at (more experiential, engage audience) – facilitated vs. trained

·  Evolve monthly meetings – panels, world café, more interactive, mini-conference

·  Hosting of special interest groups by companies

·  RADR model – passion about the topic; people with common experience of “going through the same thing”

·  Partnerships with ICF, ATD, Mercer, etc. to offer programming jointly

·  Have a topic area and schedule informal meet-up over dinner – coaching vs. performance management, culture, employee engagement, succession planning, wellness, etc.

Business Development Deep Dive

·  Top 15 initiative – have meetings with assigned companies by 9/15

·  What do we need to know in order to decide 100% chapter? What are the risks? What would members pay? What options would they have for membership? Corporate memberships? How to price based on the changes impacting associations?

·  Value prop – knowledge is free and widely available now – what can you get from RSHRM that you cannot get elsewhere?

·  Charter will need to be changed to go to dues based chapter

RSHRM Organization

Current State Actions to Close Gaps Future State

Traditional, old school, a push strategy (build it and they will come, but they aren’t)
Value proposition still not clear
Members not as engaged as we would like, not as many members as we would like; less clear how to participate / Continue to execute on current strategies that are working well and
Clarify and articulate value proposition and define desired chapter life experience
Conduct full survey of members to understand needs connect dots on value for fees; implement road map for volunteers and on-boarding / Relevant, trending, innovative; pull strategy – the Go To Resource for Talent Development, HR, OD; “Convener”, “Connector”
Clear value proposition
Easy to participate, members as ambassadors and promoters; clear how to participate and highly engaged in chapter life
Revenue today: affiliated chapter, monthly meetings, events, sponsorships / Top 15 initiative; plan to move to dues based chapter and enterprise memberships / Revenue future: enterprise memberships, dues based chapter

Other notes:

·  Professional advancement – campaign needs to be ramped up and notifications tailored effectively re: certifications (1 hour vs a day); HRCI/SRHM confusion

·  Marketing and communication strategy re: learning opportunities

·  E-learning

·  Community leadership – RSHRM CCWA database – meeting planned; grant money? Snag-a-job framework?

·  D&I joint program opportunities; Increase diversity of RSHRM membership; communities of practice

RSHRM BOD Feedback: Strategic Planning Preparation 2015

Looking back on the past year, what stands out for you as successes that RSHRM has had?

Special Events

·  Diversity and Inclusion seminar (9 comments) -- delivering a high quality Symposium in partnership with VCU

·  Strategic Leadership Conference (7 comments) -- attendance and execution; delivered high quality conference

·  Sterling Awards (7 comments) -- support and participation from Richmond based employers; outstanding execution of the event itself; increased participation to 460 people and 60 companies recognized

BOD and Strategy

·  Strong BOD transition as several long(er) tenured members have left and new members have moved on; great addition of Brett as the Finance Director and streamlining of financials has been fantastic – unsure as to how difficult identification of replacements was??

·  Great leadership (Jack!) and very robust board involvement/ Board member engagement & participation

·  Established a few, critical Strategic Initiatives for 2018 and a critical few associated goals for 2015

·  Establishing D&I as a key fifth pillar for RSHRM

·  Recruiting a strong BOD – six new people engaged with great background and commitment; new roles for four prior board members for a total change in 10 out of 17 positions

·  New Board members – new ideas and energy

Other

·  Stronger breakfast chapter meeting speakers/Good speakers at chapter meetings—diverse topics (not many repeats from prior years); Staying up-to-date with topics for chapter meetings

·  The website looks fabulous!

·  Annual Legal Update

·  Increased financial discipline with new Treasurer and enhanced web master support making admin tasks easier

·  Strong start in Workforce Development initiative through employer survey and engagement in Capitol Region Collaborative Organizing effort

·  Involvement in Workforce Development – serving as key players on Richmond Regional Collaborative

·  Enhanced engagement with key employers (top 15 initiative)

·  VCU Student Chapter Involvement (esp. Speed Mentoring event)

What are some areas of opportunity that you think would help RSHRM continue to improve as an organization?

Membership Engagement

·  Clarity and ways for members to get involved

·  Welcoming new members so they get engaged and know what RSHRM is all about quickly

·  Engagement of members in critical interest areas – early career professionals development, small company HR depts., mentoring, development, networking, etc. – Free meetings that are more topically oriented, perhaps?

·  Diversify the membership base

·  Membership levels

·  Keeping members interested

·  Grow membership, grow corporate funding, member engagement

·  Membership Drive

·  Defining and promoting value proposition to the Membership

·  Engage new members and current and prospective volunteers quickly and regularly

·  Developing successful on-boarding for new members

Partnerships and Corporate/Senior HR Engagement

·  Continue to explore matching organizational/industry learning preferences with the Richmond SHRM learning opportunities offered (e.g. D&I Symposium appeal to Dominion & Altria).

·  Reaching out to complementary organizations to partner on program delivery using the VCU/D&I partnership as a model (i.e., ATD, NAAAHR, World at Work, Intl Coach Federation, etc.)

·  Build broad support among the senior HR community who represent the top 50 employers in Richmond

·  It would be nice to have the support of the senior members of Richmond’s HR community—but this has always been a struggle

·  Great that we will be partnering with CA SHRM to provide additional webinar learning opportunities to members

·  Expand on community partnerships (like Dominion) who have helped us to host our various conferences

·  Continue to work with other organizations that share some of our goals.

·  Leverage revenue growth through membership packages and sponsorship opportunities geared to 4-6 annual signature events.

·  Continue to explore sponsorship “blueprint” and approach new sponsors (as well as existing sponsors to offer a new strategy)

Other

·  Build simple, documented processes and role descriptions to facilitate turnover as BOD members transition

·  Establish an ongoing succession list from which to recruit and develop committee leaders and board members

·  Collections

·  Overall organization

·  Confusion amongst national and local chapters

·  Continue Top 12 campaign with Goal of making all visits by 12/31

·  Improving the Volunteer recruitment, placement and training

·  Changing our 100% status with SHRM

·  Defining the right ‘mix’ of programs we offer

·  Website improvements, providing additional ways for people to participate other than morning, chapter meetings, increased mentor/mentee relationships.

·  Streamline committee and volunteer work as much as possible to improve/increase participation from members (some committees have no trouble and an abundance of volunteers, others struggle to get enough volunteers to get the work done).

·  I think Richmond SHRM needs to provide guidance on the certification issue (HRCI vs SHRM)

Strategic Pillar Grades:

1)  Diversity and Inclusion – A-

2)  Member Engagement – B-

3)  Community Leadership – B

4)  Professional Advancement – B

5)  Business Development – B

Additional comments or suggestions:

- Stay on track; follow the agenda (maybe use a timer to allocate time appropriately); continue to build upon last year’s outcomes—I hope that we do not see a departure from last year’s strategic work.

- Let’s plan to keep our current Strategic Initiatives, refined as needed and maintain focus on the critical few things we can do to serve our members and our community well.

- Biggest issue for me is ensuring we get members to register and make collections timely for proper cash flow.

-I am new to the board and I would like to see a smoother transition and well documented processes. This will reduce the ramp up time, allowing for more productivity.