I can’t ever remember a time when I haven’t loved school. I LOVE a learning environment. I deeply believe that we are all learners – always and forever.
 
UW Green Bay has you covered. I had the opportunity to catch up with Nicole Virant, Program Specialist, to learn about what UW Green Bay offers, and what you can expect to find at their booth in the Expo Hall at the 2023 Wisconsin SHRM State Conference.
 
 
Q1: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your role with UW and what part of your job are you most passionate about?
A1: Hello everyone! My name is Nicole Virant and I’m a program specialist with UW-Green Bay. I love helping educate others through our customized training, certificate programs and conferences!
 
Q2: What information can attendees expect to find at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay booth in the expo hall?
A2: The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay booth will offer information on several professional development programs and opportunities, including our brand-new Human Resources Certificate! Our Continuing Education and Community Engagement Division offers various certificate programs as well as customized training development and continuing education units for many industries, so we are excited to share how we can support human resources professionals around Wisconsin!
 
Q3: What is one educational aspect of University of Wisconsin – Green Bay that you think is truly unique? 
A3: One educational aspect that is unique to our team is our ability to collaborate with organizations on creating exceptional learning opportunities. Our division currently serves 80,000 professionals in continuing education and professional development capacities, but it is our ability to work with organizations to ensure that their T&D needs are met that sets us apart. 
 
Q4: What degree and/or certificate programs do you offer that may be of interest to emerging and veteran HR professionals?
A4: We are so excited to present our Human Resources Non-Credit Certificate! This program was created with assistance by regional SHRM organizations, taught by regional subject matter experts in various industries, and will offer participants SHRM Recertification Units. All sessions will be offered live online with a focus on collaborative learning and communication. Registration will start soon, with the first sessions starting in February of 2024.
 
Q5: When and how would a company and/or prospective student connect with University of Wisconsin – Green Bay?
A5: Anyone who is interested in connecting with us can reach out to [email protected] and we can help get you to the right place!
 
Q6: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Wisconsin SHRM Conference?
A6: We are excited to share our new program and make connections with the people we are here to support!
 
Be sure to connect with Nicole Virant on LinkedIn, and stop by the booth for an introduction and to learn more about how you and/or your organization can benefit for the learning opportunities at UW Green Bay.
 
#WISHRM23 #SMILE23 #HRCommunity #HRShenanigans

It isn’t a secret that a company’s culture can make or break the employee experience. But how do you go from just knowing this on a cursory level to actually taking action? Leadership and HR need to understand their company’s current culture and how to make the changes to help them attract and retain talent, improve employee engagement, and deliver on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that result in increased satisfaction and productivity, which then translate into increased organizational performance and revenue growth. No longer can organizations hide behind the value statements they slapped on the wall, make an announcement “We’re awesome!” and expect it to actually be true. On the contrary, employees want more. This was most notable in 2021 and 2022 with the (dare I say) Great Resignation. (I actually refer to it as the Great Realization, but I digress.)
 
As HR professionals, we know culture is important. If you’re looking for support to help your organization build and sustain an awesome culture, make sure you register for the 2023 Wisconsin State SHRM Conference (October 11-13 at the Kalahari in The Dells). Randal Weidenaar, Founder and CEO of VP Culture will have an exhibitor’s booth in the Expo Hall. Additionally, he’ll be presenting twice on Thursday, October 12th:

• 6:30am-7:30am CST - Personality Science: The Key to Understanding People
• 10:15am-11:30am CST – Creating Psychologically Safe Teams, A Scientific Method

 
Both sessions are available in person and virtually. For more information, visit Conference At A Glance. Here you can filter sessions by speaker, and then select the day.
 
Read on for more information about Randal and VP Culture:
 
Q1: Tell us a little about yourself and your role with VP Culture. What led you to VP Culture, and which part of your job are you most passionate about?
A1: I'm Randal Weidenaar, the founder and CEO of VP Culture.  As the founder, I am most passionate about what VP Culture does for the leaders and teams that I bring it to. Valuing people will transform a culture from the inside out.
 
Q2: How does VP Culture serve its customers?
A2: We serve our customers by establishing training for teams and leaders of a business or company. The VP Culture School of Leadership is available in person and through our website via video courses. I've also written a workbook to accompany the VP Culture training course.
 
Q3: What service does VP Culture offer that you think is truly unique? 
A3: Everyone knows that a company's culture is top priority. Toxic company culture leads to huge turnover. Bad for business! VP Culture's training is unique because it is based on neuroscience, scientific study and research from the past 40 years.
 
Q4: How do you define “culture”, and why is this so important to organizations?
A4: Culture is what happens between team members, leaders, and each person that interacts within your company. It's the currency of your organization. It's living and dynamic.
 
Q5: What is the connection between culture and business growth?
A5: Everyone wants to know the ROI. Here are the facts: Employee Engagement leads to 21% higher production and 22% higher profits, according to Gallup Research. 
 
According to an MIT Sloan article “High-Purpose Cultures see substantially more significant results. They had an average of 11.5% on stock returns annually over 17 years, compared with an overall market average of 6.4%. They also had employee turnover rates approximately 50% lower than competitors in their own industries. With average turnover costs estimated at 90% to 200% of the exiting employee’s base salary, these lower rates result in significant cost savings as well as knowledge retention within the organization.”
 
Q6: What information can attendees expect to find at the VP Culture booth in the expo hall?
A6: Booth visitors will find information about our training programs. I will also be presenting on two topics Thursday: Personality Science (6:30) and Psychological Safety (10:15) so would love to engage anyone on how they were impacted by these presentations. I'll also have copies of my workbook available.
 
Q7: What is the best way for HR pros and leaders to connect with you and VP Culture?
A7:  Feel free to come and talk to me after the sessions on Thursday. I love to engage with HR professionals! They are in the trenches.
 
After the conference, here's how best to reach me:

• My website: https://vpculture.com  
• Linkedin: Randal Weidenaar
• You can also book a one-on-one with me here: https://vpculture.zohobookings.com/#/customer/randal

 
Q8: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Wisconsin State SHRM Conference?
A8: I've spoken all over the nation, and I can honestly say the Wisconsin State SHRM is the most well-run of all I have attended. So it's hard to choose, but if I had to, I would say engaging with the people on all levels.
 
#WISHRM23 #SMILE23 #HRCommunity #HRShenanigans

I am passionate about continuous learning and professional development. I prioritize and protect it. While I strongly believe that each person should own their own career, it’s also important for leaders and organizations to provide professional development support if they want to retain top talent. Let’s remember that development isn’t always a straight vertical path. Providing employees with the opportunity to grow in different ways – in different functions and roles – not only supports the development of high-potential employees who may be considered key talent and/or a successor, but it may be one of the missing links to your retention strategy. People want to be developed. And if you don’t offer opportunities, another organization will.
 
I’m so excited to welcome Taura Prosek back to WISHRM23!  Last year, she presented “Empower Employees to Lead Their Careers” (you can read the interview here). This year, her session “6 Steps to Building a Robust Career Development Solution” addresses the organizational need to develop a solution that supports internal mobility and embeds development into its talent strategies.

 
Q1: Tell us a little about yourself and your role with Stewart Leadership. What led you to Stewart Leadership, and which part of your job are you most passionate about?
A1: My role at Stewart Leadership primarily focuses on solutions and sales where I build new and strengthen current client relationships. What drew me to Stewart Leadership over 7 years ago was their partnership approach tailoring to the unique needs of their clients.
 
I am also an executive coach and career development strategist so do quite a bit of work in these areas.  I’ve been passionate about career development since my role as Manager, Early Talent, over two decades ago when I facilitated hundreds of career coaching conversations.
 
When I’m asked, “Why would we provide career development support to our employees? Aren’t we preparing them to leave?”  I confidently reply, “No, you are preparing them to stay!” I LOVE this work and view it as one of the most important benefits an organization can provide their employees today, which was the inspiration behind this presentation.
 
Q2: Why is building a robust career development solution so important?
A2: People often leave organizations because they don’t see options to grow and develop if they stay.  Recent stats note that as high as 70% of employees say they would be forced to leave to advance their careers. This is crazy!  When an organization supports internal mobility and combines this with offering career development programming and support, amazing things can happen. The benefits include retention, engagement, agility, improved employer brand, better succession planning, and more.
 
Q3: You mentioned that recent studies identified a gap in career development capabilities among internal talent development professionals.  What is the gap, and how can organizations begin to close that gap?
A3: Gone are the days of the typical career path, thus, HR professionals must play a facilitator role in supporting the employee and their manager in a collaborative approach to career planning. HR professionals may not be traditionally skilled in the areas of career coaching, career goal setting, internal resume building, conducting skill gap analysis, interview preparation and skill practice, event networking strategies, and more.  Over 24,000 talent development professionals have assessed their capabilities within the Talent Development Capability Model™ and “career and leadership development” is identified in the bottom five of the total list of 23 capabilities. So, at a time when HR professionals must play a more active role in the career space, it continues to be identified as a skill-set area that needs to be strengthened. This gap can be improved through aligning career development efforts with current talent systems and processes and upskilling HR professionals through workshops, certifications, and resources in all areas related to career.
 
Q4: For organizations that have never had a career development solution, where should they start and how much of their budget do they need dedicated for this initiative? How can HR professionals support a career development initiative in their organizations?
A4: Although HR professionals may lead the career development strategy internally, each employee is ultimately responsible for leading and owning their own career decisions. They simply need the skills and internal sponsorship to do this effectively.  People leaders are responsible for having the important and frequent career conversations that employees are demanding today. Stewart Leadership offers a workbook called “Lead Your Career: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Achieving Professional Fulfillment and Helping Others Do the Same” for only $35 per copy.  Although it is written for the individual employee to career plan for themselves, it doubles as a guide to help anyone who facilitates career conversations. The final chapter is focused on helping people leaders prepare for and hold those authentic career conversations that employees crave.
 
An easy first step is to identify a group of HR professionals who want to strengthen their career development skills to participate in a pilot Lead Your Career workshop with a focus on their own careers. This is a low-risk and economical way to gauge interest for expansion across the organization and there is no better way to learn a topic than by experiencing it first-hand as a user of it.
 
Q5: What can participants expect during your session, and is there anything that attendees can or should prepare ahead of time to maximize the discussion?
A5: Six steps will be outlined as a roadmap to follow as career development is prioritized and integrated into an organization. To prepare in advance for this session, participants can informally pulse fellow coworkers with the question, “How can we better support you and your career here?”
 
Think about a recent role where there were internal and external candidates on the slate for consideration.  Were your internal candidates as prepared as external?  When an internal candidate doesn’t interview well and an external gets the role, consider the message this sends and the cost that results in the short-term and long-term.
 
Q6: What is one thing you hope attendees of your session will take back to their workplaces?
A6: Career development is no longer an “extra” type of benefit. It’s expected. As a first step, I hope that when attendees go back to their workplaces, they prioritize gathering the voices of their key stakeholder groups.  What are employees and people leaders saying about career development and internal mobility?  What are key performance indicators telling you? Conduct a baseline analysis to figure out where you are today so you can put a plan together that supports helping people to grow and STAY in the future! 
 
Q7: What is the best way for attendees to connect with you and Stewart Leadership?
A7: Please visit leadyourcareer.com and stewartleadership.com for more information about our career development solutions and services.  Connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/tauraprosek/, and email me directly at [email protected].
 
Q8: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Wisconsin State SHRM Conference?
A8: The in-person connection at this conference can’t be beaten.  This conference is filled with people buzzing in the gathering spaces and the energy is contagious! See you all there!
  
Taura’s session is offered virtually and in person on Thursday, October 12th from 10:15-11:30am.

#WISHRM23 #SMILE23 #HRCommunity #HRShenanigans

I'm so excited to highlight Restaino & Associates as one of the 2023 Wisconsin State SHRM Conference vendors. When I was relocating my family (husband, 2 young children and dog) from Colorado to Wisconsin in late 2018, I was referred to Restaino by a colleague. I reached out, and was immediately met with such an enthusiastic welcome. I was sent a package that included a ton of materials about the city, surrounding activities and communities, and places to eat, shop, and explore. Restaino helped with connecting me to reputable movers for the entire pack & ship experience, and as well as to one of their realtors (shout out to Matt Silvern) to assist with temporary housing and to help us with home buying locally. I highly recommend Restaino & Associates to all of my friends and colleagues who are looking to sell/purchase a home, and for those looking to relocate for business or personal reasons. 

I'm thrilled to introduce you to Gail Johnson, Corporate Relocation Manager and Concierge Director:

Q1: What information can attendees expect to find at the Restaino & Associates, Relocation booth in the expo hall?
A1: You will be greeted by Restaino Relocation Specialists, Nayda, Gail, and Kate who are vital resources for you when hiring talent from outside the community. They are happy to answer any of your questions. Pick- up brochures on the state parks, biking trails, farmers markets and more! Plus, sign- up to win a $50 Amazon card, our famous chocolate suckers, pens, Wisconsin cookie cutters, and more!
 
Q2. You’ve been with Restaino for many years now.  What drew you to this company, and what has kept you here for so long?
A2: 14 years!  What drew me to Restaino Relocation- they value people! They set you up with the tools and resources you need, along with flexibility of work-life mix.  The people we have had the privilege to serve over the years has made my career with Restaino purposeful and fulfilling. Helping people settle into the community, to call it home, provide connections to anchor them, and acclimate them to the community is priceless to them.  What’s kept me here for so long?  The wonderful team I work with, recruiters, HR team, and the clients we serve.  The trust they place in us is valued and we want to deliver on what we say we can provide. 
 
Q3.  What is one service that Restaino & Associates offers that you think is truly special?
A3: We tailor our assistance to our clients' interests and needs.  It’s not a cookie-cutter approach and it’s not a script that we read.  We truly care about the people we assist in transition and understand the decisions that they are striving to make.  Plus, with a team of three, we are available seven days a week.

One service we added several years ago has helped so many transferees is our assistance to their spouse/ partner in their search to find a career in our community. We have a large network of recruiters and HR Associates to share their resumes which is a win- win for both people.

Kyra, you were a joy to work with! Your excitement to move in and get acquainted with the community was wonderful! It has been nice getting to know you and watch you flourish. The Madison community was truly lucky to have you bring your talents and warm personality to the community. (**All the feels.**)

Q4.  How do you personalize the relocation experience? 
A4: Taking the time to host a conversation to learn of your interests and needs, and start the process from what matters to you throughout the entire process and settling in.  From setting up your tour, researching housing (whether rental or home finding), school information / introductions, moving companies, mailing a welcome box and so much more.

Q5. When and how would a company connect with Restaino for services?
A5: We recommend early in the interview process, as many people exploring a position haven’t been to the area and may not know all the amenities we offer: green space, the arts, lakes, parks, farmers markets, and so much more. 

If you would like to learn more about Restaino Relocation and how they can assist you or your company provide personalized relocation and home buying (or selling) experience, start the conversation by emailing: gail@restainohomes.com. 

Gail Johnson, Corporate Relocation Manager and Concierge Director 
Website: MadisonRelocation.com or Restainorelocation.com
LinkedIn: Gail Johnson

#WISHRM23 #SMILE23 #HR #HRCommunity #HRShenanigans