Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Annual Conference and Exhibition, Manchester, UK, November 9-11, 2010

Citation

Clake, R. (2011), "Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Annual Conference and Exhibition, Manchester, UK, November 9-11, 2010", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 10 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2011.37210bac.005

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Annual Conference and Exhibition, Manchester, UK, November 9-11, 2010

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 10, Issue 2

Forward planning and forward thinking was the theme of this year’s CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition. The future-focused theme underpinned the conference – from Jackie Orme, CIPD CEO’s opening address and through the sessions delivered by business leaders and HR directors over the three-day event.

Jackie Orme delivered a strong message to the whole profession as she opened the conference stating that “what we do over the next two years will define the role and contribution of our profession for the next 20 years.” And over the course of the conference, delegates got a snapshot of what that role should be; from insight driven HR and measuring strategic impact to developing the leaders of tomorrow and HR’s role in challenging the organization. Tellingly, sessions around increasing capability, dealing with change and improving performance were also popular, reminding us that even as we look to the future and build our influence and strategic importance, the complex challenges of day-to-day operations still remain.

The future of HR

To help understand HR’s evolving role further the conference saw the launch of CIPD’s new HR outlook survey – discussed in a session chaired with speakers: Alan Walters, Unilever, Kathleen Harrop, Experian, and Siobhan Sheridan, DEFRA. With responses from over 2,000 HR professionals in UK organizations, the top three priorities for businesses in the coming year emerged as managing costs, growing the current business and focusing on customer need. What did this mean for what is top of the HR agenda? Managing change and cultural transformation is the most commonly mentioned priority (identified by 50 percent), followed by employee engagement (41 percent) and improving performance management and reward (38 percent).

Discussion in the “Outlook for HR” session ranged from how to become more curious as a profession (identified as a behavior in short supply in the survey) through to how to best tackle the HR agenda at a time of cost reduction and redundancies for many. While the research revealed many were anxious that the function could be perceived negatively in this context, speakers were keen to highlight the opportunity that these circumstances could provide for HR to demonstrate the role they could play in the change process and in helping shape discussions about the future needs of the organization.

“Forging a New Path Forward” was the topic for debate in the closing keynote, with Chris Grayling, employment minister, issuing a call to arms to the HR profession to help support the Government’s Work Program, and Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary at union Unite, highlighting the importance of the skills agenda to help place and keep people in work. HR’s voice in this debate was provided by Lucy Adams, director of people at the BBC who reinforced the message about HR’s need to step up to the challenges of the future and become a more forward planning and forward thinking profession.

Rebecca ClakeCIPD Adviser, HR Practice Development Team.

For more information Visit www.cipd.co.uk