Social media is revolutionizing the way that individuals, companies, and governments build relationships with key stakeholders. By encouraging SUPERVALU associates to embrace an enterprise social network, CEO & President, Craig Herkert, was able to drive mass collaboration and further engage associates in his vision and the company’s business strategy. Join Herkert to learn about his commitment to HR as well as SUPERVALU’s use of social media and its effect on the company’s success.

How do you foster an environment where innovation is more than a catch phrase? Medtronic recognized the competitive advantage that a creative human resources department would provide and articulated a strategy that encourages bold ideas. HR is traditionally a conservative, risk-averse function, but by working with the team, Caroline Stockdale was able to modify the company outlook, introduce innovations and abolish the traditional performance management process with positive results. In this session, Stockdale will give a firsthand account of the steps Medtronic implemented to encourage their employees to be innovative.

Session discovery topics:
• Creating a broad framework of principles and clear strategies
• Changing HR's mindset and the culture — increase comfort with risk
• Monitoring your results to continually refine the change process and keep pushing the envelope

The American Society of Training & Development predicts that by 2015, 60 percent of new jobs will require skills that only 20 percent of the workforce possess. Companies are already finding it difficult to find talent in the areas most critical to their growth. However, while finding qualified talent is one of today’s biggest recruiting challenges, it is by no means impossible. Many organizations are finding innovative ways to compete in a limited talent pool. This session will explore the opportunities businesses have to find the qualified talent they need in this increasingly competitive market and solutions they can implement within their own organizations to bridge the impending skills gap.

In the demanding domestic climate in 2008, the Board of Directors at Polaris made a strategic decision to expand the company’s product portfolio and global footprint. The new CEO tapped Jim Williams to head their HR function, leveraging his multinational and acquisition experience. Since that time, Williams has overseen a dramatic period of growth and transformation at the company. Join this session to learn the unique set of challenges that arise when an organization expands and evolves at a tremendous rate and across a number of boundaries.

Session discovery topics:
• Growth is a good problem to have but brings its own set of challenges
• It is essential to have the organizational capability to support an acquisitive agenda
• Talent acquisition and development globally presents a new dimension of complexity

Drawing on his book, “The Thought of Work,” Professor John Budd reveals the wide-ranging nature of employment by uncovering the diverse ways in which influential thinkers and practitioners conceptualize work. This is important for an HR professional because effectively selecting, motivating, engaging and rewarding employees depends on what work means to them. Join Budd to discover a conceptual framework of 10 different meanings of work that can provide a foundation for customizing your strategy to the varied values of your employees.

Session discovery topics:
• Thinking about the diverse meanings of work
• Linking these meanings to employee motivation, engagement and other HR issues
• Understanding the HR implications of a conceptual framework in which the meaning of work differs not only between but also within workers.

There is a lot of talk today about workforce dashboards, predictive analytics and workforce planning. However, many organizations struggle to determine the critical few workforce factors that drive business results and even fewer feel they have the structure, processes and tools to ensure evidence-based workforce decision-making. Helen Friedman will discuss how metrics can be used to prove or disprove your human capital hypotheses, help you understand links between practices and outcomes, and explain how to model various courses of action.

Session discovery topics:
• Building workforce and HR dashboard development
• Using predictive analytics to get to the root cause of key issues
• Integrating workforce planning into business planning

In a global economy, where information is economic power and our employees are the biggest source of data leakage, companies have come to understand the need for information security. The CEO, the CIO, the CISO and their departments are all part of this security discussion. Often companies do not think to include Human Resources. How is it that the people that hold much of the responsibility for the company’s employees don’t play a role? Join Special Agent Lizabeth Lehrkamp as she discusses how HR is a critical component of your company’s overall information security posture.

Session Discovery Topics:
• Reviewing why HR is important to information security
• Identifying risks to your intellectual property
• Becoming a valuable member of the security team

This is a year that promises to be filled with change. As the HR and HR technology markets are at a critical infl ection point, which side will you find yourself on at the end of the year? Jason Averbook will look at HR and technology developments in the first half of 2012 and also look ahead to pending developments for the remainder of the year. He will highlight action plans to measure relevant data, partake in social media and ensure HR leaders are well equipped for growth.

Session discovery topics:
• Evaluating the current and future state of the HR function
• Involving line of business is more important than ever
• Assessing if your HR service delivery model is still efficient