Since the advent of COVID-19 some of the challenges that people professionals are facing are unprecedented.   

Now more than ever, we all need a strong foundation giving us the confidence and capabilities to guide our decision making, actions and behaviours. And that’s where the new Profession Map, launched in November 2018 comes in. 

Values-based and context-agnostic 

The focus of the Map is to provide the core and specialist knowledge people professionals need, the understanding of evidence, and guidance for values-based decision making. It’s this approach that prepares people professionals to adapt to different contexts and change, and ensure that work is based on solid foundations even where no obvious solutions, rules or precedents exist. 

Evidence-based and future-proofed 

In 2015 we started a programme of research to determine what the future might look like, and therefore what people professionals might need from their professional body. 

That research ultimately resulted in the new Profession Map. 

But we know – never more so than in the current situation – that the world of work is shifting fast, with innovation and change happening everywhere.   

That’s why the practical outputs of all our research – like the Map – have been designed to evolve, so that people professionals don’t just keep pace, but anticipate and shape change. 

But how does this help now and what does this mean in practical terms? 

There are different sections that make up the Map, and you can explore more about these here. But let’s focus on what you as a people professional can use to help you make decisions today: 

• There’s the core knowledge which is what you need to know to consider yourself an expert in people, work and change, and;  
• The core behaviours, ways of thinking and acting that should be universal and consistent across the people profession, even in new and challenging situations. 

It’s perhaps no surprise that currently the most popular courses in our member learning content are those that focus on Situational decision-making and being Insights-Focused.  

So while the profession faces unprecedented challenges, and needs to assimilate new information at speed, it’s comforting to know that there’s still a solid foundation to help you make decisions, established in a pre-COVID world, and designed exactly for it.