Free seminars for HRD - day 2

Continuing form our previous post, listed below are the free seminars and workshops available for you to see on day 2 at HRD10.

Thursday 22 April 2010
09:45-10:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone

Introducing 'My HR Map' - CIPD's new online self assessment tool
Discover CIPD's new online self-assessment tool - My HR Map. Learn how you can use it to assess your capability against the activities, knowledge and behaviors in the CIPD HR Profession Map. See how you can plan your professional development with access to recommendations for development. ...more

Delivered by: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

10:00-10:30 Stream: Topic Tasters
Creating a culture of improvement: Trainer assessment and development beyond the happy sheet

Delivered by: Reed Learning

10:00-10:45 Stream: Learning Arena
The Scapegoat, the Trickster and You: navigating organisational change
Working with different organisational characters to deliver an expected happy ending can be a challenge. Whatever your role, join us and ensure you’re the sage, not the scapegoat.

Delivered by: Irving Allan

10:45-11:15 Stream: Topic Tasters
Zen and the Art of Mindless Learning
A short journey of exploration- what kind of learning experiences will create the capacities our organisations will need to prosper in the kind of business "ecosystems" they encounter today?

Delivered by: Jigsaw@work

10:45-11:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone
Maximising Your Own Learning
Move beyond action plans to get the most out of development opportunities, whether formal or informal.
Delivered by: MOL

11:00-11:45 Stream: Learning Arena
Unleashing Energy for Change with Physical Intelligence
Can movement transform the way people learn and engage? Learn about the concept of "I", try our body/brain workout, and experience Physical Intelligence, a new high impact development tool.

Delivered by: Companies in Motion

11:30-12:00 Stream: Topic Tasters
Future-Proof Organisations: The changing face of OD
OD must take into account the emerging need for organisations to recognise and embrace social and environmental issues alongside economic ones. We explore ways of achieving sustainable OD through leadership, dialogue and engagement.

Delivered by: Impact International

11:45-12:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone
New Look Membership & Qualifications - what's in it for you?
Hear about the new look CIPD membership and qualifications. Find out how they'll help you demonstrate and build your professional competence based on the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to be a successful HR practitioner.

Delivered by: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

12:00-12:45 Stream: Learning Arena
The Great Debate- coaching versus mentoring
Join us for an interactive discussion on the differences between Coaching and Mentoring as strategic development tools. Are we using the right tool for the right job?

Delivered by: Centre for People Development

12:15-12:45 Stream: Topic Tasters
Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap
People often know what they should be doing, but still don't do it. Knowing what should be done is not enough! 'FIT Science' is the next evolution in people/business development.

Delivered by: Exemplas Ltd

12:45-13:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone
Feedback Skills
Using this vital skill to improve both your own performance and that of others. ...more

Delivered by: MOL

13:00-13:30 Stream: Topic Tasters
It's All About You
Discover your own communication style and improve your understanding of others during this interactive workshop.

Delivered by: Rada Enterprises

13:00-13:45 Stream: Learning Arena
How to Put Your Audience to Sleep in 45 Minutes!
All of us need a little help with our public speaking from time to time. This energetic session offers top tools, tips and techniques to start the session properly, structure and deliver your presentation with the audience in mind and maximise your personal presentation style. ...more

Delivered by: Blue Beetle Limited

13:45-14:15 Stream: Professional Development Zone
Using Your Head at Work; the Hard Case for Soft Skills
The showcase will introduce a range of recent approaches to soft skills highlight some evidence form surveys and review some key issues.

Delivered by: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

13:45-14:15 Stream: Topic Tasters
In Shape for Development?- The experiential component of OD
Representing current and future organisational structure and dynamics using experiential tools allows stakeholders to explore, discuss and understand both the need for change, and the vision that OD is offering.

Delivered by: RSVP Design

14:00-14:45 Stream: Learning Arena
Mediation and Dispute Resolution Training: a drama-based approach
This drama-based presentation brings alive some key approaches to workplace mediation and dispute resolution. Attendees can formulate and even try out a number of approaches to a dramatised dispute.

Delivered by: UK Mediation

14:30-15:00 Stream: Topic Tasters
Not Just a Pretty Interface; aligning e-learning with business goals
Using case studies this session will illustrate how companies are successfully driving business growth and supporting corporate values through strategic implementation of e-learning. Maximizing adoption through stakeholder engagement, learning content design and evaluation. ...more

Delivered by: Information Transfer


14:45-15:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone
New Look Membership & Qualifications - what's in it for you?
Hear about the new look CIPD membership and qualifications. Find out how they'll help you demonstrate and build your professional competence based on the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to be a successful HR practitioner.

Delivered by: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

15:00-15:30 Stream: Learning Arena
'I Want to Give You Some Feedback'
People won't accept feedback if they don't believe it to be credible or accurate. If they won't accept it then has it been effective? How do you therefore encourage acceptance?

Delivered by: Management Pocketbooks

15:15-15:45 Stream: Topic Tasters
The Challenge of the Digital Native Generation
Current and next generation learners will present major challenges to HR over the coming decade. This presentation will stimulate discussion about those challenges and their implications. ...more

Delivered by: Serious Games Institute

15:45-16:45 Stream: Professional Development Zone
Buying in Training - How to ensure you get the training you deserve
This lively and interactive session using example, case study and discussion identifies the key issues that need to be addressed and covers the common mistakes L&D departments make when outsourcing.

Delivered by: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

16:00-16:45 Stream: Learning Arena
Green HRD: steps towards a green footprint
HRD now has to play a key role in improving the environmental performance of organisations. This session draws from a recent CIPD award winning paper for Best New Ideas and CETL award for Green Mentoring. Discuss, learn and develop individual and organisational steps to achieving a greener HRD culture.

Delivered by: Middlesex University Business School

What's driving the business context

Bob Morton from Ciba introduced the session and Liam Fahey

Bob Morton from Ciba speciality chemicals opened the session and during his opening he reminded us that while many other speakers at the event had highlighted the current financial situation we should look beyond what is happening in the financial sector and look at the wider picture. His implication being that if you only look at the end of your nose you miss the real issues and more importantly the opportunities.

Liam Fahey (from the leadership forum) 'launched' himself on an unsuspecting audience with the opening line "good afternoon (it was 0935), those of us not in HR are used to an earlier start." - not a ripple from the some what small audience in the large auditorium. Fahey carried on regardless.

Fahey started to set the scene of what is happening in the world and how this impacts on our future strategy development - not just for hr but HR and business. He asked the rhetorical question "what COULD happen in the future that can screw your organisation?..." "what are humanities greatest needs" Indeed big questions for early on a Thursday morning.

Fahey drew our attention to what he calls the 10 needs of humanity (foci of change):

1. Energy
2. Water
3. Environment
4. Education
5. Poverty
6. Food
7. Disease
8. Terrorism/ war
9. Democracy
10. Population

And asked us how many of us applied this to our organisation when looking at strategy? In conjunction with this he highlighted a range of change domains: Products/ Services, Plans/Strategies, Region/ Global etc.. all of which interact with the global drivers of change. These can create and destroy significant business opportunities. To put these factors into context he pointed out that it did not matter how big or small our organisations were, nor what products or services we offer - regionally or globally, these factors would impact us and our decision making.

We were taken on a whistle stop tour of data and impacts of these ten factors, and shown that it is not difficult to get data on these factors - indeed many of the governmental agencies around the world provide this data for free - all we need to do is use it! This started to make the whole proposition real. No longer were these factors that would impact big and international organisations but each and every one of us.

As an example of using this data Fahey gave a brief case study looking at the mobile phone sector, he showed how the first 1/2 billion users are now changing their phone on average every 12 months, that the second 1/2 billion users have different requirements - and that the further down the user population you go the challenges faces - to the extent that the business model that works for the first 1/2 billion users is completely inappropriate for the second billion users etc... so as organisations we need to adapt to market needs greater than anything we have done before.

Lehey outlined the 10 factors and the potential impacts. He stated that 15% of the worlds population live with an abundance of water - that leave 85% with a water shortage - so their needs will be different, both in terms of services and application of technology and products. In this context he discussed two US based organisations that are pulling their manufacturing out of India and China and relocating them to the US on the basis that the water situation in the two countries will have a significant impact on production capability. So these 10 factors are being used by organisations for strategic decision making.

Food - demand is outpacing supply, and this is an area that needs to be looked at - both use and waste if we are to have a sustainable business model.

Terrorism - this was an interesting one, he asked us on a scale of one to ten of impact on us as a world population and economy where terrorism would be.... then he asked the same of human based viruses...... his answer was that terrorism was -10 and human virus was +100 in terms of impact. he cites SARS which only lasted for a few months and to all intents and purposes only really hit one region - he then asked us to imagine what would happen if a disease really spread and to thing about the impact..... He then asked what sort of effort and priority our governments were putting into protecting us from these factors - he mentioned that the UK only has enough vaccine for 5% of its population for a flu pandemic....

In Disease he looked at the increasing cost and impact of diabetes, both to the health of a population, health care implications and on product R and D. fascinating stuff.

Fahey skirted at a rapid pace on so many areas that I could not do them justice here.

Closing

He closed with challenging HR. HR needs to drive these things (the 10 factors) to influence senior management. We (HR) need to be both overt and subversive, we are potentially hold the key for success for our organisations... no one else is doing it...

Where ideology meets human circumstances ideology always loses.... this is as true in business as it is in politics... so values are all very well but just how far will the organisation go to support them? ( what would you do/ not do for £10m ?).

In the Q&A section in response to a question... You must remember the following two rules:

• Rule #1 you cannot predict the future
• Rule #2 ... remember rule #1

He said it was not about predicting the future - but running scenarios based on the information he has shared to forcast possible situations, he said that incidents like 9/11, the financial crash have been identified by scenario planning and some organisations are better position BECAUSE they had CONSIDERED the possibility... not because the 'predicted it'

He intimated that people are THE strategic asset and as managers we need to ensure that this asset and resources is utilised effectively - whatever that means in a given context.

Summary thoughts

It was a shame that there was a small audience and a a 'reluctant' applause. For me this was one of the most powerful and enlightening session of the conference. For an HR manager or director to be truly strategic we need to look beyond the policy and procedures and develop contingency and strategy to deal with the possible future scenarios. One colleague Fahey mentioned said that in an exercise looking at 'worst possible situation' - over 90% of them had already occurred - so strategic and scenario planning is of critical performance.

Fahey did not 'sell' his own books in fact they were not mentioned in the presentation - I for one will be buying some of them - a highly recommended speaker - in fact I would say mandatory reading/ listening for all CPP and other HR 'students'. I hope the MP3 of this session will be widely available.

How to get engaged at work

This session was led by Beverly Alimo-Metcalf of Bradford school of management.
In this session we were introduced to a range of research projects around leadership, culture and engagement .

Traditionally people have been recruited into leadership roles on the basis of competence . This has been shown to be ineffective and a risky strategy. What is important for future leaders is the ability to create a culture of engagement and to reduce stress within the organisation . Research was highlighted that showed that 65-75% of employees cite their boss as the main source of work place stress. Something we all need to address.

Some of the questions posed to us include;
How important is engagement for your organisation ?
Do you really know how engaged your colleagues are?
How can you influence the creation of an engaging culture ?

Comments
A good speaker but the session was a little too focused on the placement of their products, rather than tangible actions delegates could undertake, indeed much of the content was about out with the old - yet seemed to put weight on 2003/4 research when the speaker said times were changing.