CIPD – Page 5 – The Consulting Artist

On the Fringe – In Manchester

This year the CIPD conference is back in Manchester on November 5th and 6th. Over the past few years I’ve enjoyed helping out at this event, and I’m really pleased to be going back again in 2014. In previous years I’ve done a lot of blogging, given talks on social leadership, culture and HR, and last year I had a lot of fun curating content for the CIPD on their tumblr channel. Things need to move on, things need to change, and so 2014 is going to be a little different for me. In addition to meeting lots of lovely people and learning something new, I’ll be playing a bit closer to the fringe this year, most of the time with my friend Meg Peppin.

Reflect and Connect

Meg and I have been asked to facilitate some open space conversation around what people are learning and how they might apply that learning in their work. Reflect and Connect takes place on the CIPD stand between 1pm and 1.30pm Wednesday and Thursday. These sessions are open to all, and we particularly hope that people attending the event on their own will take part and meet new people. No ticket required for this one – just turn up, meet people and share something interesting.

The Art of Conversation

Everyone in HR appreciates the power of a good conversation. Join us for a drink and a chat, and play with some simple ideas to explore the art of good conversation. Come and reflect on the conference and exhibition so far, and connect with other professionals in a social setting. This is an early evening get together at Epernay between 18:45 and 20:00. It’s free to attend, please grab your ticket here so we know how many people to expect.

HR Unscrambled

HR Unscrambled is back for it’s second year. What is it? A mini unconference, where you help set the agenda, and then talk about how to make work better with your fellow HR professionals. Last time out – we spoke about connecting, sharing and learning, and the future for the profession. HR Unscrambled is on Thursday morning between 08:00 and 09:15, it is free to attend and you will need a ticket, available here.

If you are going to the conference this year – it would be lovely to see you at some of these sessions. In addition to all this, I’m particularly looking forward to hearing from Rita McGrath as she asks, ‘Are We All Entrepreneurs now?’ and explores how small changes mean so much for business agility. Small is the new significant – a favourite subject of mine. What are you looking forward to?

Data Needs Stories

Data Needs Stories – reflecting on some of the good work happening as part of the CIPD’s Learning to Work programme.

I was at an event last week at which the CIPD launched a piece of research called: Volunteering to learn : Employee development through community action

This piece of work is itself part of Learning to Work – a programme led by the CIPD to promote the role of employers in reducing youth unemployment. In my experience – the gap between school and work is a big one, and I think the role the CIPD is playing here is one of the most exciting and important things I’ve seen and experienced from the institute. I encourage you to take a look and if you’re not already supporting this good work – try to find a way to do so, please.

Back to the event. We heard from a number of people in business who are supporting this work and research through skills based volunteering programmes. I found a lot of what we heard was very heavy with data. Talk of the impact on, and measurement of, among other things:

Engagement scores
Wellbeing
Desire to remain at the company
Networking
Social and environmental awareness

And then we heard from Simon Collins. Simon works for Caterpillar and he too was there to share his experience. Simon spoke about the importance of skills based volunteering from several perspectives:

Firstly Simon was open about how it fits with his own career choice in talent development. He spoke briefly about his own experience as an unemployed post grad, ‘a scary time’, and he talked about how, as a parent, he observes a lack of career guidance and advice in the world of educationHe reflected on how the value of any advice given is often linked to the enthusiasm of the advisor.

Simon spoke to us about the vulnerability that often comes with being out of work, the vital rebuilding of confidence that skills based volunteering can have, and a lovely observation that this kind of volunteering is about helping people see they have something to offer. Simon sketched out a quick tale of someone he spent time with who felt that because he had no ‘work experience’, he therefore had no CV as such. In conversation it transpired that the person had a lead role in a project at University to develop, launch and sell a product. The project had exceeded its targets and Simon rightly suggested that this project was a great example of real work, and something relevant and useful to build on. Simon told his story in a much more compelling way than I am currently relaying it to you – and nevertheless the effect of his story has stayed with me. There were figures quoted by people for many of those data points I referred to earlier, and I can’t recall a single one.

In conversation with someone afterwards I was suggesting that we should hear more stories – fewer numbers. I was reminded by the person I was speaking with that the numbers help some people to make the case for volunteering and social responsibility in general. Ideally – I see these kind of activities sitting in the ‘right things for the right reason’ box, and yet I appreciate that businesses have to understand and allocate resources to meet needs.

So why am I writing this blog today? Two main reasons. First and foremost because I want to do my bit to highlight the excellent work the CIPD are leading on here. And second – to serve as a reminder that data needs stories. I’m 86.7% more convinced of that now than I was when I started writing this.

Making Way – I’m Not Renewing My CIPD Membership

I am a supporter of the CIPD and have been for a few years. I’ve done volunteer work through and for them and carried out a small piece of paid work too. In 2013, I decided to join the CIPD to see what being a member felt like. Then, in December 2013 the CIPD invited me to take part in a consultation survey about the future for members. Note: the grammatical errors in the text below are exactly as they appeared in the original invitation.

As a valued CIPD Affiliate member, Id like to get your help and views about some changes we want to make to how we structure CIPD membership and the services we offer to members. We want to ensure were evolving membership to meet the changing needs of the profession. So, through this important consultation survey, wed like to understand the specific professional and personal needs which led you to become an Affiliate Member of CIPD.

I completed the survey, one of the clunkiest and leading (as in leading you towards a conclusion we’ve already reached) pieces of consultation I’ve ever participated in, and subsequently blogged about a few ways the CIPD could cocreate better value for its members. Usually when I take part in a survey I expect to see some results published publicly, or at least shared with the participants. In this case, none were forthcoming and after waiting and feeding back my disappointment with the absence of feedback, I forgot about my participation – until news of a reshaped membership and fee structure became public.

Student membership fees are being reduced, and I may be wrong but I think every other level of membership is being increased. The membership fee at my level (Affiliate), is going up this year from £138 to £225, an increase of 63% (wouldn’t it be fascinating to see the results of the earlier consultation to see how they correlate with this action?). £225 is not a huge amount of money to me, and I was already sure the fee was going to rise, loads of questions in the survey I mentioned earlier were about putting fees up (hey – just call me Sherlock). Nevertheless, 63% is a big hike, and this prompted me to stop and think, ‘How, if at all, have things changed for me, since becoming a member of the CIPD?’

I’ve been wrestling with the question for a while, and honestly, I’m struggling to come up with an answer. Yes, I now get a monthly magazine in the post, which I confess I always read, and often enjoy, but a lot of other benefits the institute offers, just don’t attract me. On reflection, I’m not surprised, for although my work is all about people, I’m not in HR.

When I look at the CIPD Profession Map, what interests me is most of the behavioural stuff around the edge of the circle, plus two or three of the professional areas. These things are not the preserve of HR, far from it – and to be fair to the CIPD I don’t think they seem themselves as being the sole custodians and guardians of this stuff either. But the point is, I don’t need to be a member to sharpen my own practice in these things.

If you’d like to play with the map and see how it could work for you – click on the picture and you’ll be taken to the CIPD website interactive version.

I can see value for people in the profession and for people interested in pursuing and retaining professional qualifications, but for me in particular, and for Affiliates in general, I think it’s far less clear what the value proposition is. So – I’m calling a halt to my experiment. I will continue to provide support and constructive criticism as I have done since I became aware of the CIPD, but I will no longer be doing this as a member.

Instead of renewing my own membership, I’d like to offer to pay for two student membership renewals at the new rate of £90. That feels like a much more useful, and potentially valuable course of action to me. Are you a student member of the CIPD, and would you like one of these renewal offers? If you would, then please contact me so we can work out a way to get the money to you. First come – first served.

Update : I received lots of interest to my offer to map for two student member subscriptions, and I’m pleased that I was able to assist a couple of people along the road with their career development.