Today’s Monday, which we usually associate with not being one of the most exciting days of the week. But, this week, that’s different – not all Mondays are created equal. Today is the last full day of #ASHHRA15, and it’s a fantastic start to your week ahead. Today is filled with numerous opportunities – as Jon Gordon would recommend – to communicate, connect and commit. 

Begin your day with Sunrise Yoga in the New Orleans room, then join us for a motivational breakfast with health care futurist Ian Morrison. Afterwards, attend a Learning Session where you can earn CEUs, then join us in the Exhibit Hall for lunch and the last chance to fill your Passbook to Prizes. Two blocks of Learning Sessions round out the afternoon, then the evening is free to explore Orlando with colleagues and friends. 

Get out there, and make today an unforgettable Monday!

• 6:00 – 7:00 a.m. Sunrise Yoga
• 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Registration / Cyber Café / Resource Center / Charging Station
• 8:00 –10:00 a.m. Motivational Breakfast: Ian Morrison
• 10:15 –11:45 p.m. Learning Sessions
• 12:00 – 2:15 p.m. Exhibit Hall / Lunch
• 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Poster Presentations —New this year! 
• 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. Learning Sessions
• 2:30 – 5:45 p.m. Executive Symposium (by invitation only)
• 4:15 – 5:45 p.m. Learning Sessions
• 5:45 p.m. AHAPAC Event (ticket required)
• 6:45 p.m. Free evening, plan activities on your own

During yesterday’s Opening Ceremony, ASHHRA 2015 President Deborah Rubens, CHHR, SPHR-CA, SHRM-SCP, took the stage and set the tone for #ASHHRA15. 

And two awards were given to the following health care HR leaders. Congratulations! 

Maureen O'Keeffe, SPHR, CHHR

Jim Frain, SPHR, CEBS, CHHR

 

Since today’s Monday, we’re sure those emails are already starting to roll in. Take advantage of the Cyber Café to check email, and charge your electronic devices at the Charging Station so you can stay connected all day. Both are available today from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. 

Cyber Café: Society for Human Resource Management

Charging Station: Fidelity Investments

 

You won’t want to miss Ian Morrison’s presentation on the future of health care. If you’re wanting to learn more on the future of health care, and health care HR, this is the presentation for you. Morrison will identify the leadership challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and will provide strategic insights on how organizations and individuals can flourish in the future.

Jon Gordon, a bestselling author and renowned speaker, graced the stage yesterday morning to speak about the power of optimism and how it so strongly affects our ability to lead.

Gordon drilled down that the most important characteristic of a leader is optimism. And what do positive leaders do to make a difference? "Positive leaders drive positive culture, and culture drives expectations and beliefs," Gordon said. "It all starts with the culture we create."

In the changing landscape of health care, HR leaders must lead with optimism. All organizations will face challenges, and successful organizations have leaders who lead with optimism about the future. "Our optimism is a competitive advantage," Gordon said. "And positivity is a game-changer."

So how do optimistic leaders build winning teams? Gordon shared his ‘Three Cs’ with attendees:

1. Communication. It builds trust, commitment, teamwork and results. Where there is a void in communication, negativity will fill it. Communicate both collectively and individually. 
2. Connection. Communication builds the process, but connection earns the trust. Earn the right to help people grow by developing meaningful relationships. 
3. Commitment. If we want commitment from our team, we have to show that we’re committed to them. 

And when you have the Three Cs, you can move on to embracing love, serving and caring. 

• Love: The love you put into it determines what you get out of it. Show your love through serving others. 
• Serving: When you serve in small ways and plant yourself as a seed, you grow into the leader you’re meant to be. Engage and serve people where you are: both at home and at work. We bring out the best in others by serving them. 
• Caring: The way we stand out in our organizations is to care more than anyone else. Caring is so much about doing the little things that matter. When you care more, you do more, and ultimately you become more. Excellence begins with caring – when you care more, it drives you towards excellence. 

In the end, Gordon reminded us that we must connect with our purpose. "We don’t get burned out by what we do, but because we forget why we’re doing it," he said. "Remember your bigger purpose."

We had great enthusiasm in the Expo Hall yesterday where attendees had the chance to network with vendors, enjoy a wonderful lunch and an afternoon Appreciation Social. There’s a lot of buzz out there on the floor with many opportunities to win prizes and enter drawings, so get out there today and give it all you’ve got! Also be sure to take advantage of your last opportunity to fill your Passbook to Prizes.

12:00 – 2:15 p.m.: Exhibit Hall / Lunch

The raffle drawing is today! Deposit your completed Passbook to Prizes form in the raffle drum (located at the Center for Excellence in the Expo Hall) before 1 p.m. today. The official drawing takes place at 1:30 p.m., and you must be present to win. 

Finish up your passbook today for your chance to win the following items!

• Apple iPad Mini
• Apple Watch 
• Lytro camera
• Tiffany necklace
• Maui Jim gift card ($250)
• Fitbit Charge HR
• Tumi carry-on wheeled duffel
• Kate Spade handbag
• Xbox 360
• Portable grill

 

This Learning Session addressed rapid transformation of organizational culture, and how, as health care HR leaders, we’re at the forefront of creating and sustaining this powerful transformation. 

We all are well aware of the uncertainty in health care, and the fact that it’s rather unnerving to work in an industry where things are so uncertain. And with that being said, Chip Madera drilled down that now is the time for HR to lead.

HR’s most critical role for accelerating results and transforming organizational culture beings with acknowledging one simple fact – or mantra, as Madera put it – that HR leaders are keepers of the culture.

"This should be your mantra, so I encourage you to repeat it over and over and over; say it to yourself in the mirror every day, and once you get it, it will change you fundamentally: ‘I am the keeper of the culture,’" Madera said.

Madera and Maras shared five attributes of an accelerated culture:

1. Leadership helps define and continually articulates a crystal clear vision and picture of the ultimate patient experience. 
2. Authority is well-defined and management is solely accountable for performance. 
3. It is more fun, more interesting and more rewarding to be a high performer than it is to be a low performer. 
4. Personnel is well supervised.  
5. At least 80 percent of the workforce is jazzed about creating excellence. Urgency, success and momentum are all driving factors for performance. 

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Camilla: I think this event offers a great variety of information, and that’s what I’m looking for. I also really like the fact that it’s specific to health care, which allows me to drill down and get specific to what my needs are and what I can take back to my organization. 

Camilla: I want to attend sessions that talk about reducing time to fill or at least reducing the time to get started when hiring a new person. I also want to attend the new employee orientation session. Those are two specific areas that I’m working on currently, so I want to learn new ideas to make those more efficient and effective. 

Camilla: Learning more about communicating effectively and having those difficult discussions. I think that’s going to be really key to my success – building relationships with both my colleagues and the people I serve. And secondly, I’d like to find out what’s on the horizon for health care HR so I can have an idea of where I want to position myself in my career, as well as provide insight and support to my company as we move into the future.