Review of day 3.

So another good day today. Neil’s and David’s presentations were particularly good, and although I consider myself a pretty good speaker, this is after all a key part of my role, and I do take my hat off to them both, and other HRDs, who can hold down their day job and present like this as well.

But I do wonder in connection with Anne Lise’s presentation whether both speakers were looking at what it means for HR to be world-class through today’s business paradigm, rather than that which may be required in the future.

Business and people entering organisations are changing so quickly, and the current employment dynamic is so broken, that I’m not sure… actually, I simply don’t believe that today’s left brained approach provides an appropriate framework for considering the future.


The other point I have been reflecting on during my journey home is what is happening to the CIPD show? Numbers are definitely down – the auditorium was less than half full during the final key note. And quite a lot of these people aren’t paying. Parking which used to be impossible is now easy and the taxi drivers are commenting that they’re not getting the same levels of business. Some of the exhibitors commented to me that with the change of date they’re not even getting the same numbers of students.

Why is this? I suggested to a couple of people in the CIPD reception on Wednesday night that one cause might be social media. People can access information via webinars, blogs, podcasts and many other sources so why pay to spend three days in Harrogate?

But then, I’m not sure that many HR professionals are into social media either. Handing out leaflets inviting delegates to visit this blog, I found that I had to explain what a blog is to many of the people.

Is it just that HR folks are too busy? I think this is the major worry. Whatever we might think about world class HR, the size of the gap between this and current reality is phenomenal. If HR people don’t want to visit the CIPD show, they need to ensure they’re still getting the same level of high quality inputs elsewhere.

Perhaps this blog will provide one source of inspiration. If you are visiting this blog for the first time and are new to social media, please think about subscribing and getting my posts on a regular basis (not quite as regular as for the last three days). Look half-way down the blog on the right hand side, just below the world map, and ‘subscribe by email’, or within a little bit more work to set it up, ‘in a reader’.

And please add your comments too. I look forward to hearing from you.