An Audience With Peter Cheese - CEO of the CIPD

OK, I couldn’t resist it, and I am sure Peter has heard it oooooh at least a thousand times before, but at the start of our annual two day International HR Forum event I did say that we would be hearing from the HR profession’s “Big Cheese”.

A lame gag, it is clear that Michael McIntyre won't be quaking in his comedy boots. I don't have his floppy hair anyway. 

But it seemed appropriate for the informality and occasional irreverence that was a hallmark of the two days.

I’ll post a separate blog about that event as a whole over the weekend, in between encouraging my son to do slightly more than the square root of bugger all in preparation for his GCSEs next week.

In the meantime though, I thought that our time with Peter merited more than a few lines buried within an overall summary of the annual event, so here’s a more detailed review of the 90 minutes he spent with us.

So what were the key themes discussed?

Policy:

• Never been a better time to be in HR! Business is now looking beyond rules and regulations in to the areas of ethics, behaviour values, and culture.
• Leadership is the #1 concern of the CEO. Not just the exec team, but leadership at all levels, and the need for strong people management.
• There is increasing recognition that HR is a key business enabler, so Peter is getting increasingly involved at a policy level with discussions with government, trades organisations, other professional institutions, etc.
• Needs to be a more effective tripartite discussion between government, education and business.

HR capabilities:

• Must talk the language of the business. The language of business is the language of numbers. Get comfortable with talking numbers.
• Take advantage of the fact that most of the value of the company is in its people.
• P&L looks at past performance, the wake of a boat. It doesn’t predict future performance, where the boat is going.
• Robust people analytics required. Not just the usual suspects. How do you measure leadership effectiveness, culture change, etc?
• Help businesses find practical ways of understanding and reporting on the value of their people. Check this out: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/valuing-your-talent.aspx
• Adopt a common language. Just what does “headcount” mean?
• Recognize what diversity is actually about. Not just age, race and sex. It also covers aspiration, education, opportunity, flexibility, etc.
• Need to deal with a paradigm shift in the world of work. No longer 9 to 5, office based, full time etc. Need to recognize flexibility, remote working, the contingent workforce, etc.
• Engagement… Most companies recognize it is a “good thing”, but most don’t have an engagement strategy. HR has a role to play in bridging that gap
• Needs to be an alignment of purpose, autonomy (giving space for people to do what they can do) and mastery (to provide opportunities for growth and development). These are the key drivers of engagement.
• Performance is not just “what I do” but “how I do it”. Increased focus on behaviours, culture and values.
• Performance management is changing to reflect the ongoing nature of what it is. Once-a-year, paper-based, risk-managing, ratings-based processes are no longer fit for use with today’s modern workforce.
• Don’t lose sight of the basics. What is human behaviour at work? How do we learn? What motivates us?
• Can we really keep referring to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, using Kubler-Ross’s bereavement curve as a tool for change, etc. etc. when they were created decades ago in a completely different environment?
• Managing change is all about trust and opportunity, not bereavement. The line has a key role to play in instilling trust and taking people with them.
• The “permafrost of middle management”… A key pinch point in any organization, the intersection of strategic and operational, yet too often the blocker. How do we unlock this layer, make them more open to change, add that missing something from top to middle?
• Don’t be afraid to engage in “reverse mentoring”, so you know what the latest trends and developments are amongst the new generation of workers.

The CIPD:     

• Playing catch-up with the likes of ACA, CIMA, etc.
• Will be more demanding of the qualifications, professional standards and capabilities needed.
• There will be a more differentiated membership offer.
• Looking at overhauling the branch network to improve consistency, better reflect regional business agendas and raise the quality of events.
• Reviewing digital strategy so that it will be easier to access the wealth of content on the CIPD site. “Content, Community, Connection”.

International:

• Some 10% of the CIPD’s 135,000 members are based overseas.
• Second largest HR institute, after SHRM (US).
• Recognition that more can be done to help those UK members who have complex international roles.
• Building a collaborative network amongst other country-based HR professional institutes. Particularly in Asia and the Middle East. Starting to focus on some parts of Europe.
• The key will be not to over-extend.

So what was the reaction of the assembled masses? Uniformly positive, actually. Here’s a summary:

• Good to see that he had a clear vision for the role of HR, and the CIPD.
• Great to see such passion and conviction behind the insights.
• If Peter achieves only a fraction of what he articulated whilst in charge of the CIPD then the profession will still have taken great strides forward.
• Very engaged.
• Clearly interested in the international piece.
• No notes, not a powerpoint slide in sight, a very impressive performance.

So many thanks to Peter for taking time out to attend the event. With all due respect to all the other contributors this was in fairness probably the highlight of our two days, and for that I will forgive him for giving me kittens by being a few, fashionable, minutes late :)