Editors Blog

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development chief executive Jackie Orme will welcome delegates at the opening keynote speech at the organisation's final conference to be held in Harrogate and we will be blogging here, live from the conference hall at 4:30pm today.

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Following her welcome address Orme will hand over to Richard Boyatzis, professor of organisational behaviour psychology and cognitive science, and Annie McKee, co-founder of the Telios Leadership Institute. Their talk: "Becoming a Resonant Leader".

The auditorium is half full.

16:36 Welcomes conferences. Annie and Richard will provide latest thinking on leadership. "Challenging times have been brought into sharp focus by the collapse of the Lehman Brothers and stockmarket has followed it since."

16:38 Hugely impressed by dedication of CIPD staff and respect we have from employers, academics, and media. But I'm also aware of need to be more relevant, to ensure we're leading change and not just following it. We're recognised as having credible expert point of view and having ear of CEO.

16:40 Three things I want to talk about:

1 - Being topical. We're determined to build on advice and research to you [HR professionals]. Like managing credit crunch/ downturn/ complex industrial relations environment. By this time next year i intend half of our research meets those needs: topical, practical, fast, thought-provoking and leading the way.

2 - Capability. The shape of HR is changing, there are more people coming in from other disciplines, 'zig-zagging' and moving between disciplines. We've just completed a comprehensive review of the HR profession today. We've identifed key transition points and routes to membership needed at every stage. I have a firm ambition to ensure that CIPD attracts the very brightest and the very best. By the end of the year we'll be announcing changes to our professional standard and our membership. It will reflect and meet the needs of people wherever they've chosen to join us. whether that's big multi-nationals, public sector... We'll ensure our qualifications are exciting, stretching and up-to-date. We'll be about application as well as qualifications.

3 - The future of HR itself. I believe the future of HR is changing, driven by the change in the nature of leadership itself. in my experince leadership is becoming more values driven, it isnt just about what you do, how you do it is becoming more important in today's environment. Those days of being 'good cop' HR are gone. Take employer branding. There is a necessity to think of what implications are for HR today. We'll never lose the role of employee advocacy and bringing human touch to what we do is a critcal part of what we are. 

In today's business environment we have a huge opportunity to demonstrate our value and capitalise on change. The CIPD will be at the forefront of this debate - next month we'll launch research into the future of HR.

16:50 By the time I speak to you at the annual conference in Manchester I'll have a lot more to share. I'm confirdent we would have built on solid foundations of CIPD - we'll be the leading voice of HR.

17: 00 Annie McKee now speaking, What we're seeing is not new, this is amidst progression - we've seen change for years. Yes it's hitting our economy now -  but we're in the midst of the greatest changes in human history. Our social structures are changing and they're changing fast.

Goes through history of leaders.

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LIVE BLOGGING NOW ENDING... catch Personneltoday.com for the latest news on the CIPD conference.

What did you think of Orme's speech? Sound good or have you heard it all before?

Email louisa.peacock@rbi.co.uk or comment on this blog below.