Natalie Ellis HR

This morning the blogsquad had a chance to ask Peter Cheese any burning questions we had. It was fantastic as we had a small group and in a quiet area of the press office so it was really great to speak to him in a less formal and relaxed environment.

I asked Peter what he thought HR professionals could do to help shape the future of work and who were the key drivers to ensure change is successful. His answer was simple, it’s all down to the capability Of your line managers – it’s a case of need and opportunity.

He said that “Traditionally it is something HR is bad at. We focus on promoting on technical competence and forgetting the underlying skills required to manage and lead people effectively”.

“We need to open the channels of connection to line managers and invest in them which is an opportunity to develop businesses, this includes the emerging demand of smaller businesses”.
When speaking of the plans for the future; “The CIPD are working on investing in our HR function and building capability. The HR profession is not well established in many countries outside the US, UK, Australia and Asia is going to be an area which we project will see huge growth”.

Whilst we all work incredibly hard to make the ACE event a success from a blogsquad perspective; it’s nice to be rewarded and appreciated for bringing the event to life, so we got to let our hair down last night. After all it’s not all work and no play! 

Last night we attended post conference drinks at the town hall in Manchester which was a stunning venue with lovely staff. Thank you for having us!

We then went on for our press dinner and it was wonderful to meet so many people from the CIPD. These guys work tirelessly throughout the event so a huge thank you to them, I’ve really enjoyed my first ever conference so far. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to work and meet some of the loveliest people and I hope to have the opportunity to work with them again soon but one thing is for sure, we’ll certainly be keeping in touch! 

So without further ado, here are some lovely pictures from last night and if you were there I hope you had a fantastic night!

So after a strange start to the day yesterday with the results of the US election CIPD ACE got underway.

We started with a fantastic opening to the day with Peter Cheese’s opening keynote welcoming delegates from all over to this years event.

Margaret Heffernan then brought the concept of super chickens into our lives in a motivational speech which seemed to resonate with everyone in the room.

The focus is heavily upon the need to work collaboratively and driving innovation throughout our organisations to be sustainable for the future. 

I stopped by the Steps Ahead talk at 3pm (they’re over at the CIPD stand again today as well so do go over there and show them some support!) it was great to see so much interest in volunteering and really working collaboratively to help others within our profession. There are lots of new programmes coming up and work on progress over the next few months so do make sure you get involved.

If you’re interested in mentoring and volunteering then do go over to the CIPD stand or search the website for details.

I also spent a lot of time in the exhibition hall and met so many people so thank you for coming over to see me! I got to see the team at Acacia Learning who had some Harry Potter beans and little trees! I won a Monster with my husband’s name on it and had a caricature done over at the OC Tanner stand, it’s definitely worth a visit- it’s highly accurate don’t you think?! 

After listening to Margaret Heffernan’s talk during the opening keynote I can really relate to the above question she asked: who got you to where you are now?

Through mistakes, determination and innovation we can achieve anything, it is never a one man band effort.

I can honestly hand on heart openly tell people who helped me get to where I am today and it’s not through the normal, smooth roads that you’d expect!

I learnt my theory through the support and experience of my first HR role and the team at Woolworths (Entertainment UK). I also learnt quickly how a company can become financially unstuck…!

I studies my level three and was taught by the amazing team at Acacia Learning and during my studies, made friends and a support network for life, thank you Victoria and Thomas!

I learnt that you cannot trust everyone through managers who took credit for my work and passed it off as their own, I took this as a form of flattery and that knowledge is power. Never stop sharing ideas and knowledge it’s how we develop.

Good morning from a dull and chilly Manchester! It’s a full house here and everyone is raring to go!

CipdACE16 has started with a big impact with Peter Cheese taking to the stage and opening the CIPD event of the year. Again there’s a strong emphasis upon the future of work being human and how we can involve everyone not just HR professionals in the ever changing work environment.
With this morning’s shock presidential results over the pond more change is likely on the horizon and it’s up to us to be accountable for our professions and support these changes as they arise.

Peter highlighted that business is facing a crisis of trust with the recent events at Tesco bank. HR need to call for greater transparency and collaboratively, you cannot rebuild trust without it.

Wise words and lost to think about already…