I recently went to the NCSHRM 2024 conference in western North Carolina. This conference in particular is the place where HR professionals gather to talk about how to support people in the workplace. The speeches were terrific, and I gained a lot of strategies to use when consulting with corporate leaders so that they can benefit from my new knowledge.

Here are a few highlights of some sessions I attended and my thoughts on them: 

• On Day One, I attended Kat Barrack's "Getting DEI Back on Track" was deeply related to the mission of Our Future is Kind in that we envision a future where everyone matters and voices should be heard. This entails looking past the outside packaging and instead looking inside to the contents of the person. What needs they have and what unique talent they bring to the table is what’s important.

• From Day Two, I distinctly remember Stefanie Adams, with her new book "CheerLEADERship," who ran a great session on leading across generations. She defined the different generations, what motivates them in the workplace and in life, what modes of communication they prefer, and how they see different issues in employment. People are different, and what they want, need as well as their skills can vary a lot on the group-level and between individuals. That’s why it’s always a must to pay attention to these differences when we are trying to build trust and relationships at work.

• I also really value another session from the same day: The session on psychological safety in the workplace by Amy Wartham provided measures for how to determine if you are in a psychologically safe or dangerous work environment. She also presented ideas on how to change a less safe work environment into one that is safer. This is much the same idea as in the blog post "The Trust-building Process", as employees lacking trust due to feeling unsafe can really lower the productivity of the business.

• Day Three opened with early sessions, one of which I attended: "Be Good…or Be Memorable." This presentation, led by Jennifer Leake, was entertaining and helpful when thinking about average or good employees and how more focus on them and their needs can turn them into superb employees. This topic works nicely as a continuation of the previous point: When we finally change the work culture and create a productive, supportive, and nurturing space for growth, that’s the moment when overall work performance increases.