Friday, October 2

8:30 am - 10:00 am Concurrent Workshops

Intercultural Communication Tools for a Diverse Workforce
Track: Global Perspectives
The emphasis is on understanding and applying a set of intercultural communication and problem-solving tools and concepts that will increase our effectiveness as listeners, as communicators and as problem-solvers in multi-cultural settings. The seminar will increase individual awareness of culture and of cultural bias, and will offer concrete methods by which to facilitate and manage inter-cultural conflict and to work successfully as a cross-cultural negotiator, facilitator and communicator.
Jon's experience includes work with large businesses, with state, local, federal and tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations, communities, unions and individuals.Jon has worked in Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica, the former USSR, Russia,Guatemala, Ecuador, Cuba, Canada, Australia and Poland and England. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Jon trained English mediators for England's largest community-based mediation program in beginning and advanced mediation and advanced negotiation.Jon is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Indian Nation.


Employment/Labor Law for Tribes and Tribal Businesses
Track: Native American-NativeAlaskan HR Management
Growing Reservation economics have resulted in the hiring of hundreds of non-Indian employees. As the court system chips away at Tribal sovereignty, Tribal HR professionals are now faced with navigating increasingly complex relationships with federal and state employment/labor laws. Our panel will cover 3 components:
1) New Twists and Turns: Understanding How Federal and State Employment/Labor Regulations Apply to Tribes;
2) Geared for 2009/2010: State of Union Organizing in Tribal Enterprises; and
3) Practice Stragies: From Policies to Handbooks to TREOs.


Don't Bring It to Work
Track: Organizational Development
You Know The Type - maybe an office clown like your uncle...or the woman who manages to look busy but avoids work like your sister...or the long suffering victim just like your mother-in-law. Does your office have one of these or maybe a rebel? These learned patterns are painfully annoying and simply don't work.

Behaviors learned around the family table are the same ones you bring to the meeting table at work. This is not only true, it's unavoidable. There is a structural similarity between families and work groups. This program addresses behavior at the core of work place anxiety, tension, and conflict.

In this unprecedented time of business crises, your company must do more with less. Cooperation is vital. Economically induced stress triggers survival mechanisms that like a virus, impacts everyone. Learning how to help your company climb out of the anxiety arena equips you for long term success. You will learn to de-activate office politics that undermine motivation to create a new culture where creativity, enthusiasm and innovation are thriving and work becomes an adventure in productivity, profit and purpose.


Attracting and Retaining Gen X and Y
Track: Recruitment and Selection
Gen Y, a generation that is estimated to be three times the size of the Boomer generation, is entering the workplace with different expectations of the employer and the body of work, while Gen X is already challenging how work is done. Equally challenging to attracting the two generations is the retention of Gen X and Y. Learn what is and is not working when hiring and retaining Gen Y and X.


Labor Relations under the Obama Admininstration - EFCA/Union Sponsored Initiative - Approved for 1.5 SPHR credits
Track: Strategic Management
The new Obama Administration has raised the hopes of organized labor to implement numerous labor friendly initiatives such as the Employee Free Choice Act. This session will highlight and discuss the key initiatives and steps employers can take to address them.


Builders, Boomers, Xers & Nexters: Working with Generational Diversity
Track: Organizational Development
In a competitive and global economy, an age-diverse workforce is both inevitable and needed. Four generations are currently in the labor force today and this is unlikely to change with people staying in the market well beyond typical retirement age. This is a diversity course designed to give leaders and organizations a competitive edge with labor relations, marketing, mentoring, succession planning, recruitment, retention and training programs by increasing understanding of generational diversity and generational blending. By participating in this session, HR practitioners can propel their organizations towards greater health, creativity and productivity via increased awareness and use of generational values.


Generation Differences in the Workplace: Let's Work Together
Track: Total Rewards Have you ever wondered how they REALLY think? Why aren't they as committed as you are? Are you just too old (or young)? Are THEY just too young (or old)? The reality is that workers change between their 20s and their 60s, the generations themselves exhibit interesting differences, and it is perfectly natural to question the work ethic or resistance to change exhibited by those who are not like you. This session will focus on both differences and similarities between the generations, and identify tools and techniques to help us improve our working relationships.

10:15 am - 11:45 am Concurrent Workshops

Global Immigration Today - Approved for 1.5 GPHR credits
Track: Global Perspectives
Educate listeners on the future of employment without borders. Legal implications for employers with internationally distributed work forces including employees, suppliers and vendors. The panel will address issues including the application of US labor law to foreign offices and the management of integrating foreign employees into domestic workforces. There will also be a detailed review of changes in labor and employment law under the Obama administration. Lastly, a review of potential trends in global outsourcing and legal issues surrounding protected technology and intellectual property.


Home Grown: Developing Leaders from Within Tribal Communities
Track: Native American-Native Alaskan HR Management
A true leader has vision, knows traditional ways, shares and develops leadership, serves and protects the tribal community, develops trust and shows respect for all tribal people. Often a person assumes a leadership role, not because he or she has chosen that leadership position, but because that leadership role has chosen him or her. It is here where human resources can truly impact tribal communities for generations to come: by providing appropriate personal and professional development opportunities that align the role and responsibilities of leaders and managers with those of the community's culture, mission, vision and values.



Bridging the Generation Gap: Part of the Diversity Conversation
Track: Organizational Development
Participants in this session will talk about the challenges facing employers when working with an age diversified workforce. Session participants will learn to:
- Understand the connection between age, race and other dimensions of diversity
- Identify how the age conversation effects organizational success
- Examine how each age group approaches work place tasks and responsibilities

Generation Y and the Death of Employment-At-Will?
Track: Recruitment and Selection
America's newest generation of workers has been described as 'the most coddled and over-parented generation in history.' They change jobs quickly and know that portable trade secrets and proprietary information are valued in the workplace. Gen Y workers are standing the traditional concept of employment-at-will on its head and shaking up the way that companies need to do business. This session will provide practical suggestions for dealing with the influx of twenty-somethings in your workplace.


It is a 'Plan' not a 'Document' - Approved for 1.5 SPHR credits
Track: Strategic Management
Strategic planning is the opportunity to plan for the future and have every employee engaged. A strategic plan is not static, but is to be a 'living' document. Management recognizes that circumstances and events may require changes in a plan, so how do you implement those changes? Who's managing the process against the plan? When should the progress be reported and to who? If I am not in the 'C' suite do I still need a strategic plan?

A Magnetic Culture at Your Organization for All Generations
Track: Total Rewards
Employee turnover costs the US economy an estimated $5 trillion annually. Keeping and motivating a workforce of talented people is one of the most important challenges that organizations face today. Tim and Murat guide participants to appreciate the benefits of creating a 'Magnetic Culture' in the workplace, analyze related statistics and devise an action plan to implement proven strategies to increase engagement and 'magnetism' at your organization. Utilizing a conversational, case study-based approach to information sharing, paired with an interactive group action planning session, this session aims to provide you with the knowledge and tools to make the best workplace possible through improved strategic management tools.