Central London Branch Winter eNewsletter 2011-12

I am not sure I can get away with being the first person to wish you a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year, however, as we enter the festive period, perhaps we should reflect on the past 12 months and, perhaps more importantly, think about the new year to come.  Tis the season to decide on your New Year's resolutions!  We at the Central London Branch feel we can help when it comes to your personal development.  Future employability and career success is directly correlated to the time we spend on our personal development.  As a branch, our aim is to provide as many free development opportunities as we can.  Last year we ran 75 events.  Our programme for 2012 includes such topics as coaching skills for the HR practitioner, reflective writing, business strategy for HR, e-learning, wellbeing, how to get a NED role in the not-for-profit sector, measuring creativity, and a day in the life of a HRD.

Legal events include the Equalities Act, a redundancy update, agency workers regulations, a TUPE masterclass, and a how to run disciplinary interviews workshop.  Much thought has gone into the programme and I am indebted to all the volunteers of the Events Committee who put the programme together. This year we are also planning to run two events for which a small charge will be made.  In Association with the Westminister Business School we are co-hosting a HR Conference on 4th April.  Speakers include David Fairhurst, HR's most influential HRD, Paul Modley of the Olympic Delivery Agency, together with Julia Tyson of Wates and Penny Davies of Balfour Beatty.  We are also planning to re-run the workshop that was so successful last year: Developing your Competences - the HR profession map.  Finally, just in case you think we aren't sufficiently forward thinking enough, Angela Wright of the Westminister Business School is hosting a session entitled 'When I'm 65 will you still need me?'

Hopefully there is something for everyone.  Just in case we have failed to whet your appetite, I am delighted to inform you that as from 1st April 2012 it is planned to make all events held by any of the London branches open to all members (that's almost 20,000) irrespective of where you live or work. So no excuse for not attending at least one event next year.

As most of you will know, the CIPD changed the grading structure this year. For those of you who are currently graduate members, this status of membership will disappear in 2012.  However help is at hand!  The branch can help you regrade to Chartered Member.  We held a successful workshop last year and, subject to demand, will hold more this year. Likewise we now have more than 30 branch members receiving mentoring.  So if your CPD includes upgrading or mentoring please contact our Administrator, Caroline Kennedy here http://www.cipd.co.uk/branch/clondon/contactus.htm.

Lastly, on a sombre note, Jackie Orme, our CEO, is currently on long term sick leave. I am sure you would want me to send her our very best wishes and to wish her a speedy recovery.

So, as we get into the Christmas holidays, take time out to recharge the batteries, think about 2012, and put a personal development plan in place. Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a New Year full of personal development with the Central London Branch.

Michael Moran, Chairman, Central London Branch

Upcoming Events

Places are still available for our Christmas LinkedIn networking event by Lincoln Coutts on 14th December at Hudson.  Details here: http://www.cipd.co.uk/branch/clondon/_events/121411%20Christmas%20Event.htm

We have held 30 events over the past 6 months and are very indebted to Hudson for providing us with a temporary venue since Manning House closed. We will also be using Interhealth as an events venue near Waterloo from March onwards.  Legal events are generally held at the company offices of the organisers. As a courtesy to the venues, please do not arrive before the event nor stay longer than necessary afterwards. The main HR events are as follows for the first half of 2012:

- Coaching skills by Joan O’Connor 17 January
- Kim Stephenson on Financial Decision Making on 19 January
- Social media event on 24 January with Doug Shaw
- Nick Parker on 26 January on Change your Language
- Barry Hoffman from Computacenter on a Day in the Life of an HR Director on 31 January
- Michael Moran on Business Partnering 2 February
- Barry Rodin from Employment Conditions Abroad doing a talk on Local Pay for Expats on 9 Feb
- Reflective writing by Gill Gustar on 21 February
- Mediation by Concensio and Kelly Rotari on 28 February
- Linda Sykes on NLP event on 1 March
- Reward Issues for Pensions on 27 March with Angela Wright from University of Westminster
- Sarah Pryce Head of HR from RNLI on Leading Transformational Change on 24 April

The main legal events are as follows:
- Agency Worker Regulations at DAC Beachcroft on 30 January

- ‘The Fifth Reason – “some other substantial reason” as a fair reason for dismissal’ by DMH Stallard on 23 February
- Burgess Salmon round up of Employment law on 27 February
- Equalities Act by Hill Dickson on 7 March
- Redundancy Update by Bird and Bird on 14 March
- The Disciplinary Hearing by Manaches on 28 March
- Immigration on 18 April with Watson Farley
- TUPE for beginners with Gibson Dunn on 23 April

Please watch the web site for full details and we look forward to seeing you there. If you are interested in volunteering for the events committee, please let me know on Simon.Richardson@totalrewardsolutions.com.

Simon Richardson, Central London Branch Events Coordinator

Financial Decision-Making

Kim Stephenson, author of 'Taming The Pound', will be delivering a talk on ‘The Facts and Fiction of Financial Decision-Making’ on Thursday 19th January 2012. The event is at 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start and is kindly hosted by Hudson, Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS.

Maximising Engagement and Participation Through Social Media 

Doug Shaw, founder of the consultancy firm What Goes Around, presents what promises to be a lively event entitled 'Utilising Social Media to Speed up Communications and Boost Trust within Organisations through Greater Transparency.'   It's hosted once again by Hudson (address as above) and is on Tuesday 24th January 2012 at 6:00pm for a 6.30pm start.

Employment Law seminar

The February employment law seminar on Thursday 23rd February 2012 is entitled: 'The Fifth Reason – “some other substantial reason” as a fair reason for dismissal.'  Registration starts at 5.45pm for a 6.15pm start.  The event will be run and hosted by DMH Stallard LLP at 6 New Street Square, New Fetter Lane, London EC2A 3BF.

Find out further details and reserve your place for these and all our events here: http://www.cipd.co.uk/branch/clondon/events

Susan Kan, Central London Branch Events Committee