Tell us a little more about yourself and your role

With over 20 years line management experience and 12 years in senior HR positions, gained at Lloyds TSB and the Cabinet Office, I’m passionate about what professionals in the field of people management and development can do for organisations, the people who work in them, and the wider community and economy. This makes the CIPD the right place for me to be working. In my role as Professional Development Director, my aim is to ensure that individual practitioner standards are aligned with good practice in particular fields and disciplines so that optimal organisational performance is delivered. Each of those three stages is important – but most important of all is always remembering that it is the improvement of organisational performance that we are aiming to deliver. We don’t stop at defining the standards – or what good people management looks like. By ensuring we have all the relevant qualifications and other products and services necessary, we’re seeking to build the supply of people who can help to foster and deliver good people management and development practice for the benefit of their organisations. It is also a priority for us to build advocacy for this good practice, using our evidence and experience to counter the doom mongers and nay-sayers who take pleasure in knocking the profession – too many of them from inside the tent.

Describe your leadership style

I like to work with and through others, harnessing their ideas and energy. I don’t like game players or to work with people who don’t want to take on responsibility.

What do you believe organisations should do to create a compelling employee proposition over the next few years?

You have to start by understanding the proposition that you are able to offer relative to what you are trying to achieve as an organisation, and to be honest about that. A proposition is an experience, not a false promise. You not only have to think about the basic employment contract, but the psychological contract that goes along with it. HR professionals should use their skills and experience to make the organisation a compelling place to work, in order to optimise the use of that most critical of resources – people.

Structurally, how should HR meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of its employees?

There’s no one-size-fits all answer to this question. It depends on the nature of the business, the quality of the management and many other factors. Whether in-house or outsourced, it will undoubtedly need to deliver a set of agreed services and processes in support of line management and other employees, and to offer high quality advice. But it also needs to offer performance solutions and to lead on building organisational capability. The latest CIPD research into the Changing Face of the HR Function examines the ways in which organisations are structuring their HR functions to meet these challenges. While the Ulrich model offers something of a common theme, the striking thing about the research is the extent to which organisations are or aren’t adapting their structural solutions to meet their own circumstances and the realities of today’s workplaces and business challenges.

Can you characterise the ideal HR professional of the future?

They’ll have obtained a range of different experiences in different business situations and different contexts. They’ll be the kind of people who take on and ask for assignments to test their abilities and win buy-in from stakeholders. They’ll know their own stuff, gaining and using knowledge to apply to their roles. Being people experts will remain absolutely critical to the role. But they’ll also know their organisation inside out. They’ll understand the value it is trying to create, the customers and markets it operates in, and the opportunities that it should be exploiting for future success. All of this should go hand in hand with being really comfortable about what they are about – being effective and authentic means you won’t get trapped somewhere that’s not a good fit. Building your own personal brand and nurturing contacts within and outside the organisation will ensure you’re well placed to develop your career if you find your current role isn’t the right fit for you any more.

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