This phrase reminds me of the possibility we have to cultivate, plant seeds, and fertilize gardens, in order to reap the benefits of our work.

As human resource (HR) health care professionals, we have the opportunity to plant seeds of possibility within ourselves and our organizations through the HR Leader Competency of Personal Leadership... soliciting, actively listening to, and appreciating diverse views of our employees. Research shows that creating an inclusive environment where employees can express diverse views is a top driver of employee engagement. Let's use April as the month to plant those seeds!

ASHHRA provides us resources to fertilize our minds through webinars, toolkits, white papers and ASHHRA HR Concierge. If you have not taken advantage of these resources, you are missing a wonderful benefit of being a member. Take a moment to check out these resources.

Attending the annual conference is another way we can cultivate our garden of personal leadership and knowledge. We are fortunate for the seventh year to have MetLife sponsor the Annual MetLife Conference Scholarship. The scholarship provides $1,500 for one attendee from each of our nine regions to attend the conference. If you are interested in being considered for this scholarship, please click here for more information. The deadline is Friday, May 10.

I invite you to join me in reaping the rewards of our gardening efforts to open our minds and expanding our views to be inclusive of all possibilities.

Strength Through Inclusion,

Grace Blair Moffitt
ASHHRA 2013 President
Vice President, Human Resources
Cone Health
Greensboro, N.C.