The CIPD's Scottish Student Conference held on 18 February at Strathclyde University Technology and Innovation Centre, focused on some big themes. Peter Cheese rallied us all with a focus on coping in complex and probably “too” interesting times. He talked of how we had to understand that technology was a tool not a replacement for humans and that we as the people and development profession had to support organisations to be better at dealing with change. Operating by better lights than the next set of results wasn’t just morally right, it was good business as the crises with Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen, Sports Direct, NHS and of course the banking sector, all showed. The world was becoming more complex and that required different skills. Professor Rob Briner who was a major contributor to the CIPD’s systematic review on performance management, and is a champion of evidence based management, challenged us all to think better.
The way we make decisions is too often based on gut, availability of the last thing we read and the opinions of big thinkers who we can over-trust. In a world which is being shaped by fake news and “post truth” mind-set, this approach was more critical than ever. Roving over the stage, prowling and prodding us on our evidence from everything from absence management to neuroscience, the provocative prof got our future talent really thinking, especially with the bat and ball problem which was solved by Xu Bae of whom SQA should be proud!
We had breakouts on the gender pay gap, led by Gilian McLellan of CMS, and a story of how the engagement rubber hits the road from Don McKenzie of Michelin. These are two key aspects of the employee relations and legal knowledge our future talent will need. Whilst understanding how to build their careers they benefited from the warmth, wit and wisdom of Donald Lindsay, now HRD of Edinburgh tech firm Free Agent and formerly a “bedroom specialist” at IKEA. Donald’s talk was funny, poignant and inspiring - he is also our CIPD South East Scotland Chair so you can connect with him at our SE Branch. Paul Campbell of Scottish Water gave a mini master class on transformation and culture change, and later breakouts featured Maria Moreno on Coaching and the University of St Andrews on wellbeing. Our final panel discussion with Patricia Rainey of Marriott Hotels, Clyde Marwick of Baxters and Sarah Copeland of Start Line Car discussing their journey to their HRD role was also inspiring, with much more about missteps and learning than a trumpeting of success.. They all demonstrated that HR leaders need to be business focused without losing the sense that it’s all about people.
One of our keynote speakers was Sandy Begbie, Chief People Officer of Standard Life. Sandy spoke eloquently and engagingly with real evidence about the impact of a company driven by purpose and seeking to do more than deliver results for its shareholders.
The company has done as much to break down the class ceiling signing up to the social mobility index, as it has the glass ceiling and gender. Standard Life has also signed up to the Edinburgh Guarantee which was set up when youth unemployment in Scotland was reaching 20 per cent. They were instrumental as a major local employer in reducing that figure by 80%. A major positive change and an example of what a purpose led business with a people and development focus can do.
See leading Business Psychologist Dr Chia-Jung Tsay discuss Perception and Decision Making in Leaders, Paul Dunne of Santander and Chris Taylor of Sub Sea 7 on Employee Engagement plus many more at CIPD Scotland Annual Conference on 2 March 2017.
