Every year we attend the CIPD Centres Conference.  This year it was in Stafford – a red brick time-warp type of conference centre.  We do this for a number of reasons – it enables us to mingle with other centres and share best practice, we have the opportunity to talk informally to CIPD colleagues and we have the opportunity to be updated on CIPD’s thoughts.  So in the spirit of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and demonstrating that we really do walk the talk by showing that we  actively meet CIPD’s behaviours, it was good to reflect on which ones we met and on what we learnt so that we can share that knowledge with our people, our candidates and our clients.

So first of all what about the behaviours?

There are eight – you can click on the titles to download the detail.

• Curious
• Decisive thinker
• Skilled influencer
• Driven to deliver
• Collaborative
• Personally credible
• Courage to challenge
• Role model

So in this example perhaps we are acting as Role Models, we are being Curious and we are seeking to remain Personally Credible.

What was interesting?

The key points

• An update on employment law
• A thought provoking session on Can Organisations ever be Fair?
• Social media: the implications for HR

Employment law

Stephen Taylor, Senior Lecturer at University of Exeter Business School and CIPD Employment Law Examiner led this session.  He covered four main areas:

• Major statutory developments 2012 – 2013
• Major developments in case law
• Other interesting recent cases
• Future developments

Can Organisations ever be Fair?

We met a new member of the CIPD Research Team, Wilson Wong.  His presentation was great as it immediately engaged and got you to really think about fairness.  Wilson has a lovely way of gently challenging your perceptions of fairness.  Of course the answer to the question is no!

Wilson gave some practical ideas of looking at the organisation through fairness lenses so that a more considered view could be taken. It became clear to us that whilst people feel more comfortable with a black and white case – it either complies or does not comply with the “rules”, increasingly in our global and complex world the “rules” will be less easy to see.

Social Media

Dr Sonia Rignall, VP Talent Development of ARM Limited, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, gave a fascinating insight into their use of Social Media.  85% of their 2,500 plus globally based employees hold degrees and to quote Sonia many of them “had brains the size of rooms”.  So the challenge here is how can HR support innovation, development and communication via the effective use of Social Media.

Again a theme of unpredictability came through – as individuals decided on how they wished to gather data.  Her learning portal has not been used as people prefer to use their own ways of gathering information.  Over 55’s listen to the radio (Radio 4) and under 25’s prefer Facebook so how to communicate with an age diverse workforce.

Linkedin as a recruitment tool must now be seen as a standard method of recruitment – what does this mean for agencies who are also using this as a tool?

So this blog is an example of the way forward – Carol and I are synthesising what we have heard with our experience and offering it up to you to assimilate, discuss, delve deeper or park.  As ever the choice is yours!!  Perhaps that is the message….

We were given great handouts which will be available in electronic copy next week.

Let us know if you would like us to send you a copy.