It’s good news that individual chartered status could be on the way for full
members of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) –
particularly at a time when the quest to build a stronger platform for the
profession is paramount. This is another building block towards improved
recognition and must be welcomed.
From October this year, full CIPD members will be able to use individual
chartered status as a mark of their professionalism and reinforce the message
that they have reached an externally verified set of standards.
The Privy Council still has to approve this change but this is just a
formality, The CIPD is honouring the commitment it made three years ago when it
promised to push for the individual chartered title when the time was right.
One key component of the individual charter is a commitment to continuing
professional development (CPD).
Such a shift will not be without its pressures as the CIPD will need to
encourage wider take-up of CPD and provide evidence that it is happening among
members by regular random monitoring.
If chartered status is to have long-term value and mean something, there
must also be ongoing confidence in the quality of practitioners emerging from
the qualification process. Understanding the theory of people management and
applying it well in practice is one thing, but business acumen has to be an
essential part of the mix. Some employers continue to complain that this is not
always the case.
Inevitably, you will react differently to the individual chartered status
according to your personal situation and your own level of affinity with the
CIPD.
One wonders how interested and informed the majority of full members really
are in such detail when more than half the 35,000 eligible to vote failed to
engage at all with the election. The institute insists this was a great
turnout, with online voting being particularly high at 15 per cent.
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But this is a time to celebrate not to bleat. The proof of the pudding will
not be about image, it will boil down to individuals delivering positive
outcomes for business. The CIPD and its members now face a major challenge
together – to live up to this hallmark and exceed everyone’s expectations.
By Jane King, editor
