Caribbean HR Managers - Want to make an impact in an upcoming strategic planning retreat?

So you're an HR professional and you're someone who either attends strategic planning retreats or you intend to attend them in the future, and you want to make a great contribution. You want to represent the function faithfully, and you want the executives, the CEO, board members to understand the contribution HR can make and that you can make as a professional. But there's a challenge, and it's one that we've noticed in years of working with strategic planning teams, is that the input of HR is often not taken seriously, or sometimes the representative from HR engages in a way that doesn't represent the function faithfully. The result is that the colleagues, the executives, the board members at the retreat don't get all that they need from HR. And if you happen to be the head of HR in that position, your own brand, the perception of you, could actually be damaged. So I'm not saying these things lightly. You know, as if I'm kind of just exaggerating. I don't mean to do that, but we have seen a pattern from 20 years of facilitating strategic planning retreats that more times than not, the individual who makes the least contribution either stays quiet or says things that aren't really on point. Tends to be the person from HR. Now, I can understand and could explain why, you know, if you have an MBA and if you're thinking strategically and if you have a finance background, and we could talk about all the different ways that that could make a difference. But if we accept that there is this perception out there and that it does lead to HR making a contribution that is way below its capacity or its ability or its importance. I know from talking with folks who work in the function after the retreat that they wish they had said more. Before the retreat, they would tell us, you know, all of the ideas that they want to bring and the importance of the people component to any kind of strategic planning. But something happens in the retreat and that contribution doesn't get made. And afterwards, there's often a sense of regret or even guilt that they should have stood up and said something, said much, much more to get their points across, to be heard and to be understood and to educate their colleagues with respect to what's possible through their own people what can be done, some of the limits, things that can't be done, um, the difference that great talent management, succession planning, performance review, all of the things that need to be put into a company that's doing really well. Because the truth is, there is no strategy that we've ever seen that— no great strategy that doesn't rely on a huge people component, and that element needs to be really strong. But any strategy, any breakthrough strategy, anyone that's gonna disrupt an industry relies on people. And the HR function has got to play its role for the strategy to reflect what the people can do and what even the smallest of investments can allow them or help them to do. More to the point. So I'm going to invite you, if you're interested in having the kind of impact that can be made in these retreats, and if you're interested at all in contributing to what kind of what we're up to in companies, which is to help them to create disruptive strategies, that you consider attending the conference that we have coming up. On June 24th to 26th, the Caribbean Strategy Conference. You could come, get inspired by some of the stories that are going to be told from different industries. We actually have a whole track on just talent management, but we have others on industries like tourism, skills like analytics, a number of areas in which you could draw inspiration. We're also going to have a number of experts who are going to be sharing their experience and their tips and tricks and techniques and their approaches to leading strategy sessions here in the Caribbean. People who've led many, many of them, and you could come back with a whole bunch of new ideas, but more to the point, you'd actually come back perhaps ready to lead, because everyone who attends our conference is going to walk away with a blueprint. Customized blueprint. So we're going to give you a, uh, basically an outline of the method for managing the process of producing a breakthrough or game-changing strategic plan. We're going to describe a timeline to you from July to December and ask you to change that timeline based on what you learn from the conference so that your company could be ready to implement a game-changing strategic plan in January 2023. So that's a big part of what you'd walk away with, and it's not something that you'd find in from reading a textbook or just from browsing the internet. It's something that we're giving to you. It's a, in a way, the best practices that we have uncovered from working in the region in this area. As I said, for a couple of decades and through multiple, multiple countries. And if you're someone who's an HR professional, you probably know that we offer Caribbean HR Forum virtual conference. So this conference, this opportunity is just the beginning because we're making a commitment to continue this conversation beyond the strategy conference include a great deal of what we want to pass on to HR professionals in Caribbean HR Forum virtual conference in September 2022. So this is the beginning of a journey. We know that it's not— it's going to take more than just a single exposure to change the perception that many executives have about HR, to bring many of the HR professionals that we know who sit in retreats to give them the kind of the skills, the language, the way of viewing the world that would make a difference. But we want everyone who comes to the strategy conference to walk away being inspired and able to lead, lead the process. Like, once the conference is over on Saturday, to lead the strategic planning process in their company that starts on Monday. Well, they might not be the only leader because certainly their CEO is someone who is leading as well, but to play a leadership role. And that could mean sitting down with the CEO and saying, I think we need a game-changing strategy for January, and here's a plan, a blueprint for getting it done. That kind of conversation is the one that we want you to have from taking the— being at the conference. So I'm going to invite you to register. Take advantage of a great discount that we have. If you're in Caribbean HR Forum, it's an even better discount. Um, invest in yourself and your career. If you're— if you've never been to a strategic planning retreat, I would recommend that you get yourself prepared. Spend the 3 days immersed in what's gonna be maybe a major part of your career as an HR professional. Because if you tend to stay, if you want to stay in the field, and even if you're a consultant, there's a point at which you'll be sitting in one of these, one of these sessions. And you'll quickly discover that these sessions are very, very high stakes, that the key investments and the key decisions that drive the company for the future are made in these sessions. And it's no place to learn on the fly or to learn by book up or VAPS or learn at the last minute. It's far better to go prepared knowing what to expect so that when you're in your first strategic planning retreat, you can make a serious contribution from the first minute. So I invite you to once again to join us, become someone whose input is expected rather than someone who is not expected to provide that kind of leadership. Become that kind of person by coming to the conference. And you could be seen as someone who will become vital to any strategic planning process that you happen to come across in the future. Don't sit quietly ever again in a strategic planning retreat. Make the biggest contribution. Go ahead and make this investment in yourself. Take care. This is Francis Wade, and I'm signing out from both Caribbean HR Forum and the Caribbean Strategy Conference 2022.