Imagine your favorite meal. Whether it's Italian, Mexican, American or a cultural segment that I don't frequent, here's what you crave - the quality of the flavor. Most people find a type of food they like, then start mining down into the restaurants that serve that type of food, until they find the locale that delivers it best.
Most people don't label fast food as their favorite. Sure, they go, but for most, it's a matter of
convenience. Order up the happy meal. If you're feeling brave during the cold and flu season, maybe the kids play in the playground... When you are looking for the best, you'll look elsewhere.
What you read professionally follows a similar trend. There are thousands of choices with the proliferation of media on the web. You pick a topic like HR and Talent, then go find the best source.
Analogy time! SHRM is to HR/Talent news and opinion as McDonalds is to food. I'm referring to the periodicals published by SHRM and the database of materials at www.shrm.org. Easy to find and on every corner, but not particularly compelling or memorable. When you are looking for cutting edge, you look elsewhere, usually in a specific space (resources directly related to areas like comp, technology, etc.).
There's a quality rundown of SHRM over at Workforce.com, focused on the direction of the world's biggest HR organization. It's a good piece, so you should give it a look. A few days ago, I posted that SHRM should spend some of the existing $138M war chest by customizing their resources for users and interjecting opinion into the mix.
One of my readers (Frank) commented on that post that abundant resources are available at SHRM, but are often written by journalists who, while good writers, appear to lack the background needed to satisfy HR professionals. Gautam Ghosh wondered aloud on his site that if an American HR pro like me can't get the value out of SHRM, what hope is there for a global pro like him?
I think both takes are correct. SHRM has a lot of resources available, but I don't have the time to dive into the whitepapers at www.shrm.org. I'm unsure of the quality as well. I also don't think the resources are written in a compelling fashion. In an age where there are 57(00) Channels and Nothin' On, it takes personality and opinion to cut through the clutter.
From my view, the next time SHRM takes a position, on an area of HR practice, that alienates half of their readership, will be the first.
And that's part of the problem. Getting and keeping a seat at the table means you have opinions, even if they are unpopular. There's a name for people without opinions in our profession - they're called administrators.
It's OK to disagree. So SHRM, go hire some bloggers and put them on the front page. It's less about Web 2.0 than it is about opinion. Have the bloggers link to the extensive resources you offer and mix it up by taking defined positions on issues that polarize your membership.
And watch the interest and engagement in your membership explode....
