Impact HR – people are our greatest asset: HR stepping up to the challenge at #CIPD10

So here’s my 4th blog – and 2 in as many days. I think I’m now suffering from blogitis.

Come and see the live blogging though at VBI - 1pm on Tuesday 9th & Wednesday 10th and 12.15 on Thursday 11th. Bonfire night may be over, but we can create some firecracker discussions in the ACE Interactive zone I’m sure.

At VBI - a new offering for CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition - we’ll be looking at the things that HR practitioners are doing; would like to do more of; and haven’t even thought about doing – to drive up the capability and credibility of the HR function.

I wear my CIPD badge with pride. So when people ask me, I tell them what it stands for and then what I stand for. Too long has HR been the butt of jokes (but then we’re not the only profession to bear that brunt); but with organisations struggling to cope with changing customer demands; recession; globalisation and employee choice, we are in the unique position of helping organisations survive and thrive attracting, developing and retaining top talent. We all know through our years of HR practice and keeping an eye on current trends, we can only do this working together with Senior Execs and line managers.

I’m on a mission to develop a people management acumen in managers that means the HR function can move away from day-to-day “fixing” and move into strategic visioning and planning to capitalise on the people power around us.

Now, I was at an event at the excellent Henley Business School last week. In amongst the 50 or so HR practitioners there was a view that the term HR Business Partner is not helpful, nor liked. We don’t partner the business: we are part of the business. Sorry Mr Ulrich, we don’t have to like your tags, even if we might like your 3-legged stool model.

I also saw a Group HR Director speak 2 weeks ago, and he talked with such authority about his business performance figures, strategic direction and how he’d managed to engender support for HR’s role in solidifying and boosting organisational success, it proved it can be done with bells on.

So at VBI I hope we can do a number of things to help this cause:

• get people on fire;

• understand the choices around them;

• drive out averageness and become exceptional.

After all do you want to belong to a maligned corporate function or one that shows what it’s made of and delivers fantastic ways to leverage that people-power.

I’ll use a phrase I heard last week (from one of the most inspirational people I’ve worked with of late Exec Coach and HR pro Chris Matchan) – “HR leaders need to gatecrash the Senior Managers’ love-in and agitate them towards letting HR do its thing with their talent”.

We know what we want, we know what we’re doing, let’s make it happen starting at #CIPD10 with Cris Beswick and I at VBI in the Exhibition area - right near the coffee lounge.

Yours on fire: in pursuit of the exceptional; and choosing to push the feeling on,,, Perry