The CIPD in 2006–07
It's been another busy and productive year for the CIPD. We've had a good year. We're doing more – and we're doing it better.
We exist to develop and promote good practice in the management and development of people. The stronger relationships we're constantly building with our members represent one way we can achieve this. We now have over 130,000 members. Of these, 48,000 have met the rigorous standards of chartered membership, the kitemark of proficiency in the field of people management and development. Our members engage with us and network with one another in many different ways.
We seek to make our work accessible, useful and relevant through our website, our training and conference programmes, our magazines, books and other publications, our branches, special interest forums and our online communities. We're also more actively engaging with large employers to ensure we can best serve the needs of the organisations where so many of our members work and apply their skills.
Thought leaders
For this engagement to bring about better practice, it's important that we remain thought leaders in our field. Each year, we commission and conduct a substantial programme of practically focused research on the management and development of people. Through our website, our relationships with the media and Government, and innovations like our free monthly podcasts, we make a vast quantity of this information available to line managers and anyone involved in the management and development of people.
On the basis of our research over many years, we know that, through better people management, organisations in all sectors can improve their productivity and performance. Our mission is to help deliver on that potential for the benefit of the organisations our members work for, the wider economy and the public good.
In the past year, our work has included significant research into the crucial role played by line managers in translating people management policies into practice, a detailed examination of the challenges organisations face in managing talent, guidance on the role of employer branding in addressing recruitment and retention difficulties and advice on the best ways to align learning interventions with business objectives.
Supporting professionals
Our qualifications are widely accepted as 'must haves' for people management and development professionals. In the last 12 months, over 12,000 people signed up to study for our professional qualifications, either directly with us or through one of nearly 300 CIPD-approved providers of learning. There's been particularly strong demand for our suite of certificate-level qualifications.
But we're far more than a provider of qualifications. We aim to be the 'must belong' professional body for all those involved in the management and development of people. In delivering the information, learning and networking opportunities, qualifications and other services we provide, we're supporting people management and development professionals and their line management colleagues to do their jobs better at whatever stage they've reached in their careers.
Our work ensures that more people experience the good management that equips them to do their jobs better and to deliver superior performance for the organisations they work for. We do this by adding to and acting on an evidence-based, systematically learnable body of knowledge that we make available to all those with an interest in the management and development of people.
Investing for the future
Our consistent membership growth, our enduring relationships with our members and the success of our commercial activities put us in a position of strength. We run our professional institute as a successful business. That enables us to invest in strategic projects and member services, develop our commercial activities and set ourselves stretching targets for further growth in membership and even better performance in the future. All of this means we're well placed to continue to deliver on our mission to lead in the development and promotion of good practice in the management and development of people.