Conference review

Citation

Robinson, V. (2008), "Conference review", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 7 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2008.37207aaf.011

Conference review

Conference review

CIPD Annual Conference 2007, Harrogate, UK, September 18-20, 2007

This year’s conference featured over 40 seminars on current issues such as talent management, human capital and leadership. Delegates heard from experts from Vodafone, BUPA Care Homes, Virgin Atlantic Airways, First Direct, easyJet, HM Revenue and Customs, DHL and Microsoft. Following are highlights from the event.

Greg Dyke, previously director general at the BBC, Sir Gerry Robinson, former chairman of Granada TV, Allied Domecq and the UK’s Arts Council, and presenter Jeremy Paxman provided a lively debate on leadership, HR’s role in a successful business and managing redundancy and change. Greg Dyke told delegates:

The single most important thing in an organization is spotting people with ideas – spotting talent. The whole purpose of HR is to get the best people and make sure they are picked up by the system and trained appropriately.

Allan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, shared lessons from his new book, On Leadership, for which he interviewed top business leaders, from Phillip Green to Rupert Murdoch and James Dyson, on what it takes to successfully lead an organization and its people in today’s competitive business climate. He commented:

Leadership is about doing the right thing. In today’s global knowledge economy CEOs need to pay attention to social issues and diversity, as well as developing employees’ talents and skills through training of the workforce.

Dr Kevin Money, director of the John Madejski Centre for Reputation, Henley Management College, used the art of story telling to convey the benefits of positive psychology in the workplace. This is a branch of psychology that focuses on positive rather than negative emotions and aims to discover the personal strengths and competencies that allow individuals and communities to thrive. He told delegates:

Everyone experiences emotion at work so the challenge for employers is to get their people to think more positively and learn from what others do well. It is up to those at the top to create a positive culture where employees take time out to reflect and share experiences in terms of what is working well and why.

Julian Birkinshaw, professor of strategic and international management at the London Business School, explored his new principles of management. They assess how “control” can be reduced and vision liberated; how organizations can be designed that assume people want to come to work; and how environments can be created for entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. Birkinshaw said:

Management needs rethinking around one simple premise – less is more. Companies that have taken a serious and radical look at their management processes have often ended up with simpler and more powerful models. The alternative principles can lead to dramatically different ways of working that would involve far less management effort and significantly better outcomes.

Vanessa RobinsonCIPD (www.cipd.co.uk)