In part 3 of our conference session overview, we are excited to share some of the sessions that will help you Re-Engage. We are happy to have a tremendous slate of speakers to share their topics in the areas of engagement, leadership and workplace culture. As many HR professionals grapple with the new realities of hybrid workplaces, mixed generations in the workforce, and a dynamic social, economic, and political climate, here are some sessions to look for:

• Engaging Millennials – Michelle S. Braden – MSBCoach Millennials are now the largest cohort in the workplace, and many are leaders themselves. In this session we explore best practices for leaders and team members to engage, connect, communicate & inspire the Millennials.

• Why Can’t Everyone Just Get Along? Engaging Gen Z in Conflict Resolution- Tammy K Brown – Liberty University and Jennifer Rowland – Rowland Leadership Training and Consulting The workplace is a difficult place to navigate. Effective communication and conflict resolution skills are a necessary adaptation required to plot a course for success.  In this workshop, the focus is on the newest generation of workers that will need the proper tools to understand how to diffuse confusion and confrontation by gaining strategies in the skillset of conflict resolution.

• Re-Engage with Heart – How to Communicate Appreciation that Speaks to the Hearts of Others – Elaine Callahan – True You Brand Alchemy One of the fundamental things people want is to be seen and appreciated for who they are. The key is to express it in a language they can understand.  In this interactive session, be introduced to the assessment tool, Scientific Hand Analysis, and learn about the different appreciation languages.

• Re-engaging Working Parents – Deborah Porter – Porter Systems, LLC The intersectionality of work/life/family continues to present a struggle for working parents. With the rise of Parent/Caregiver ERGs, do your working parents feel seen and heard? Do your ERG leaders feel supported and assisted? This discussion will outline ways to re-engage working parents and Parent/Caregiver ERGs in the new landscape of flexible work trends and working parents.

• Maximum Ability: Engage & Elevate Employees with Disabilities – Paul Artale – Paul Artale One out of every five Americans has a (dis)ability, more than 55% of Americans will have a disability before they retire, and the buying power of individuals with (dis)abilities is $1 trillion per year. Despite these facts showing that (dis)ability is part of every workplace and transcends all identities and affinities, most organizations struggle to create work environments that attract, accommodate, and retain persons with (dis)abilities. During this thought-provoking program, Paul Artale goes beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and helps you understand the personal, social, and medical needs of persons with (dis)abilities in order to attract and retain this extremely underutilized talent pool.

• Dear HR, It’s Okay to Laugh! Using Humor to Strengthen Workplace Relationships – Ashley Dugger – Western Governors University and Sean Wall-Carty – Western Governors University Humor is an often-underutilized tool for HR professionals seeking stronger levels of connection and trust in the workplace. Learn to use humor and enhance your reputation as a credible activist, leader, and champion of levity at work!

• Stand Up and Lead: How Thinking Like a Comedian Builds Standout Cultures – David Horning – Peppercomm, LLC Leaders continue to struggle engaging their teams in an uncertain post-covid world. In this session, participants won’t be transformed into comedians, but rather experience a hands-on introduction to leadership that builds standout cultures.

• Turn The Great Resignation Into The Great Recognition – Ruairi Richard Walsh – James Madison University The Great Resignation has been accelerated by COVID-19. Managers are faced with the challenges of Quiet Quitting and Employee Turnover. To meet these challenges, they need to refresh their approaches to employee retention. We all want to feel valued and appreciated by our employers. Managers need to re-engage employees by using components of Great Recognition including respect, equity, and an enhanced workplace experience. These tools can re-charge, re-engage and retain the best performers.

• Put Me In Coach! HR’s Role in Leadership Development and Coaching for Strategic Success – Ashley Dugger – Western Governors University and Victor Governors Aluise – Western Governors University Drive strategic business transformation by developing a coaching culture to create higher levels of engagement, ensure psychological safety, and deliver designated pathways for skills development as workforce needs evolve.

• Critical Conversations on Unconscious Biases and Microaggressions…”Are you ready to talk?” – Kevin M. Coleman – KMC EMPOWERMENT, LLC Learn to work together in a cohesive environment using proven communication and connection strategies. In the session, attendees participate in role-playing using organizational examples to help recognize unconscious bias and microaggressions.

• How to Create Peer Coaching Within Your Organization – Meredith Bell – Grow Strong Leaders What if you could wave a magic wand and provide everyone in your organization with a coach? Sounds crazy, right? Most of the time, coaching is reserved for senior leaders because it’s not feasible to hire an executive coach for all employees. But there is a way to create a coaching culture where people support each other on an ongoing basis. This approach involves leaders and team members alike learning how to effectively coach one another. And it doesn’t require special certification.

• Adopting a Coaching Culture to Maximize Diversity, Equity, and Belonging of Those You Serve – Melinda C. Hill – Maxwell Leadership Team In this session, participants will be introduced to a new framework consisting of a combination of coaching methods to increase respect and equity.  Participants will be introduced to the Maxwell Method of Coaching to coach and influence those they lead, learn a strategy to interrupt the habitual ways of thinking that keep us trapped in a perpetual cycle of continuous underachievement, and learn to build rapport and connect with intention using Strengths.

These sessions, and many more, will help us re-engage with our employees and will give us tools we can take back to our organizations and share with leaders at all levels. In the post-pandemic business world, re-engaging ourselves and re-engaging our employees will prove to be a challenging but necessary part of moving forward and remaining competitive in the business environment.