As we shared in our Celebrating Female Trailblazers in Learning & Development article, we had the opportunity to interview inspiring female leaders in L&D. We loved sitting down with Jeanne Morris, one of our valued partners at SHRM, to hear her words of advice on developing leadership qualities and aspiring to leadership positions.
Can you please tell us about your role at SHRM?
I was recently promoted to Senior Vice President, Consumer Products at SHRM. I oversee the design, development, and delivery of all SHRM’s business to consumer (B2C) products and programs, while adhering to SHRM’s audience-centric marketing strategy. These B2C products include SHRM’s certification preparation courses and operations, specialty credential programs, the People Manager Qualification (PMQ), eLearning products and partnerships, and all the products within the SHRM store.
How does your organization partner with HC?
SHRM and the Holmes Corporation have been in partnership for the last 35 years and I’m honored to have been part of it for thirty of those years. I value their talented staff. They are some of the best and brightest I’ve ever worked with while at SHRM. This partnership is important because together we reach more than 30K participants annually.
Last year, our partnership reached new heights, as we redesigned the SHRM Learning System. This redesigned system sets up our examinees for success by ensuring they are well prepared and confident. Once they earn the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP, the sky’s the limit for their HR careers, as these credentials remain the gold standard in this industry.
Why do you enjoy working in L&D?
My passion for learning and development (L&D) has never wavered over these past thirty years. It’s especially rewarding to watch our participants develop, grow, and achieve their HR career goals via our programs and products. Part of that passion stems from the fact that L&D is always evolving, which enables me to challenge myself and those on my team to create products that are innovative, immersive, and engaging for all HR audiences.
Speaking of innovation, it’s an exciting time in L&D, as the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with human intelligence (HI) is top of mind for leaders in every industry. SHRM is at the forefront of this movement and to meet this need, we are developing an AI specialty credential for release in the summer of 2024. It’s our top priority and we expect this specialty credential to help transform the workplace! To this day, I feel it is an honor and privilege to be a leader at SHRM. It is immensely satisfying to impact so many HR professionals and others in the world at work.
What advice do you have for aspiring leaders?
My advice for women entering the workforce with their sights on leadership roles is simple and effective. Show up as your whole selves at work. Be humble. Ask questions. And seek information, advice and counsel from the experts and leaders around you. People appreciate humility and authenticity, and the courage it takes to try, whether you succeed or fail, and depending on the outcome, the audacity to get up and try again. The talents that you bring to a job are unique to you, so you want to let them shine!
SHRM’s culture is defined by our guiding principles and the one that I identify with in terms of leadership qualities is collaborative openness. To me, it is about building trust with your team and building a team brand, not just being recognized as the leader of the team. There is nothing more rewarding to me than witnessing and experiencing my team succeeding and achieving their goals.
