The new ‘season’ for the London HR Connection (LHRC) kicked off with a bang with an informal drinks and networking evening hosted by new partner, The London School of Economics.

Nearly 100 HR professionals ensured that the 2009-10 ‘season’ for the London HR Connection (LHRC) got off to a great start at an informal drinks and networking evening hosted by new partner, The London School of Economics.

For readers unfamiliar with this unique networking group, the LHRC is a CIPD Special Interest Group and a forum for HR professionals that has been established for many years. Endorsed and supported by Digby Morgan, it holds monthly lunchtime, breakfast and evening events with high profile guest speakers from the world of business, academia, Government, trade unions and the private and public sectors addressing the hottest topics in HR. Speakers confirmed for the coming months include the likes of the RMT’s Bob Crowe and the acknowledged world leader in emotional intelligence, Martyn Newman.

In these challenging times, the ability to network effectively is arguably even more key to our personal and professional development and Digby Morgan believes that the LHRC provides an excellent forum for you to meet fellow HR professionals from a wide range of sectors to share ideas and experiences with as well as the opportunity to take part in some stimulating debates.

A recent ‘top tips for redundancy’ article included ‘reawaken your network’ at a lowly number eight in the list. Of course, that assumes that there is a network to waken and, with all due respect, if you wait until redundancy hits, it might possibly be ‘too little too late’. HR professionals should be investing time and effort in this aspect of their personal and career development and be honing and developing their networking skills throughout their careers.

It is likely that many HR and talent professionals have better developed internal networks whether they are made up of customers from other business areas like finance, marketing or specialist HR areas like organisational design, recruitment, employee relations, training, and so on. However, their external professional network can often be almost non-existent and networking, and the ability to network, should feature as an important consideration and a core capability.

Networking is a skill like any other and of course some are better at it than others. But everyone can improve given time and practice and it’s definitely a weapon the ambitious and effective HR professional should have in his or her armoury. With a combination of a few basic social skills and a little bit of courage anyone can do it. Don’t let the term ‘networking’ put you off. Try to see these as social events that provide opportunities to meet like-minded people with similar interests and desires to make a difference. Persevere to get over any confidence hurdle and avoid the all too convenient excuse of “I don’t have the time”.

Make the time! Begin now to build better personal and professional links both within and outside of their organisation and across all business areas. Not only will this help HR professionals to develop confidence in presenting/showcasing themselves and their achievements, but it will help them build potential choice and opportunities within and outside of their organisations when things are tough.

Effective networking can throw up huge opportunities which can be to the benefit of one’s personal and professional life.

As mentioned, this year the LHRC will be working in close collaboration with the London School of Economics. In addition to hosting various events over the year, internationally recognised and eminent LSE academics and business experts will be helping to lead the discussion at some of our events.

We will be holding ten events over the season and the annual subscription for membership is £110. Alternatively, for £75 you could attend six events or you can simply ‘pay as you go’ for a fee of £35 per event. The LHRC is a not for profit organisation and membership fees are required to cover the catering and administration costs for holding the events.

Digby Morgan and the LHRC feel sure that you will appreciate the unique opportunity that membership of the LHRC offers and, through the affiliation with the CIPD, attending these events counts towards your continued professional development.

For further information or to join, please visit www.londonhr.org.


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