President's Message

After attending the SHRM National Leadership Conference in DC, I have contemplated my vision for the leadership of our chapter for the coming year. Instead of fracturing our resources into many different areas, SHRM has encouraged us, as chapter leaders, to focus on one thing and to do it well.
 
We can no longer limit ourselves to serving the profession only by training the professional--we need to be known as problem-solvers in the community. Anyone who knows a little about me knows that my passion lies with Workforce Readiness. It was at this leadership conference that SHRM discussed Workforce Readiness and stated that it was a growing national issue with local solutions. SHRM will be focusing on this issue in 2008. They also challenged us to identify initiatives that would increase Workforce Readiness efforts in our area in 2008. We are to prioritize those initiatives and develop a plan of execution.
 
This is where you, the HR professionals representing business and industry, government and education come in. We need your help.

• First, we need to define what Workforce Readiness means within our community.
• Second, we need to determine what single action can have the most positive impact on our community to address our Workforce Readiness needs.
• Third, we need to engage our chapter--our 90+ HR professionals and students--to be the driving force that brings our community leaders and the decision-makers of our schools and support agencies together to discuss the future of our community's workforce.

Personally, I'd like to hear from you. Help us determine what Workforce Readiness means for you, how does it impact your ability to fill your vacancies--your company's ability to grow and develop more advanced products and services. What concerns do you have about the future of the workforce in our area? Help us to identify that one most pressing need in our community and develop a plan of action to address it. Help us identify the key players of our community that can help us make this happen.
 
So, please support our efforts as we start this quest for a better understanding of Workforce Readiness and its impact on our community. Please be forthcoming with your ideas, comments, suggestions, and success stories as we strive to become problem-solvers in our community.
 
Sincerely,
 

Lisa David, SPHR
AASHRM President
president@aashrm.org