Stephanie Bird , Director of HR Capability at the CIPD, shares with us her vision of HR in 2010 and explains how the CIPD’s reach and research is extending far beyond British shores.
When I was asked to write about my favourite topic within HR and what 2010 holds for it, I was initially thrilled to be offered such a wide-ranging choice, rather than being given a fixed brief. But as I thought more, I wondered how to edit down my longlist of possibles against the backdrop of moving into the next decade as well as into another year.
As I reflected, I realised that rather than a single topic, it’s an overall theme that engages me – how does HR truly support sustainable organisation performance, both through what happens in organisations and what HR needs to become as a profession? And it is these two themes that form the backdrop to two major research programmes that I’ve been involved with this year – Shaping the Future and Next Generation HR. We have many emerging answers, but still a lot of questions, so both of these programmes will continue into 2010 and possibly beyond, as we both deepen the learning and explore strands of it more globally.
Our Shaping the Future programme is a long term study, exploring what drives sustainable organisation performance across a number of case studies in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors mainly in the UK, Ireland but with one in Hong Kong. It’s been majoring on the themes of leadership, engagement and OD, about which much has already been written and researched, but looking to see more precisely what it is within and across those themes that really makes the difference to organisations. We have just fed back the results of the first cycle of work to those organisations and will publish our full report in January 2010 (so more about this later…)
I am delighted that all of our organisations are committed to continuing with us throughout 2010, to further research into the main themes – but also to explore some interesting insights that have emerged from our work to date.
Our Next Generation research programme was conceived against a backdrop of seismic change affecting organisations, not least the recent financial crises and the subsequent impacts on so many aspects of our lives.
Many of the conventional wisdoms we grew up with are being challenged. Also, although a lot has been written over the last decade about what HR is doing, and the structures and models through which it does it, much less has been said about what HR should actually be for – a more dynamic purpose, fit for the next decade.
We wanted to stimulate debate and lead thinking, so we went out to test some initial propositions with organisations noted for excellence in at least one area of their HR capability – how were they evolving their strategic focus and practices, what new ways of working did this demand of HR and how did this impact on the nature of HR leadership?
This led us to explore concepts around organisation agility and authenticity, new partnerships across organisations, true drivers of organisation insight and HR’s role in a longer term stewardship and guardianship role.
Our initial findings fell into three main areas. The first was that a focus on operational efficiency and effectiveness, although necessary, was not sufficient. There was a new element of organisational equity at play – this was the key to unlocking sustainable performance. It’s about doing business today in a way that builds rather than erodes long-term value. It’s increasing the capacity of the organisation, moving on from organisation health to agility, and from engagement to authenticity – an organisation that’s the same on the inside as to the outside world. It encompasses building a future-fit culture, and future-fit leaders. The second theme is moving HR towards an insight-driven future; taking HR from a service or process driven function to one that has the business, contextual and organisation savvy or ‘smarts’ to drive what’s really needed for sustainable performance. And our third finding is another shift for HR – moving on from eras where HR championed the individual (voice of the employee), or the business (voice of the executive) through to offering real independence of perspective and challenge. From partner to provocateur, if you like, and the essence of a true profession. This leads us to new ways of doing the tough stuff, and has some clear messages for the sorts of skills HR people will need to be successful in these stewardship roles.
The exciting thing for me looking forward to 2010 is our plan to broaden our exploration into Asia in the first few months of the year, and then to look at some areas in more depth, again potentially globally. I think this will be a great way for us to take a leadership role in the emerging thinking around the future of HR way outside the bounds of the UK.
So, to sum up – my favourite topic is HR and its role in sustainable organisation purpose. I can’t think of a better or more challenging one for both 2010 and the new decade. It will be fascinating to see where it takes us.
Stephanie Bird is Director of HR Capability at the CIPD
