Developing professional practice (DVP) assessment activity 1

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How to be an effective and efficient HR professional – written discussion

Name: Kelly Heath

Word count: 1744 2703

a)
The CIPD Profession Map
The CIPD Profession Map is a simple map that describes and identifies:
 The four bands of professional competency; Band 1 refers to an administrative type
role through to Band 4 the Strategic HR Leader
 Ten professional areas including two core professional areas that sit at the heart of
every HR role
 Eight behaviours

The CIPD Profession Map helps in evaluating and understanding where professional
development can take place as people transition between levels.

Using the CPD Profession Map at the relevant level will ensure that each HR professional is
operating effectively and efficiently as demonstrated in the ‘Adding Value Employee Model’
by Ted Johns.

The role of the HR professional

According to the CIPD, there are three types of HR actions; administrative, advisory and
executive. The role of the HR administrator involves basic administration, a HR advisor often
acts an intermediary between other business departments and the HR team and will often
be the first point of contact for line managers throughout the business and Strategic Human
Resource Managers (SHRM) may be seen to sit with the executive, managing human
resources that supports long term business goals and outcomes in line with the wider
organisation’s strategy. It is my ambition to reach a SHRM role.

The SHRM could be considered to be a ‘thinking performer’, a professional who continually

acquires knowledge of their business and has a tangible influence on corporate strategy,
which is a skill of an ‘idyllic’ HR practitioner (Whittaker & Johns, 2004, cited by Francis &
Keegan, 2006). They are deeply knowledgeable about external influences and are able to
apply them to an organisation. They see beyond the HR transactional and transformational
activities.

To be a successful SHRM, as well as being a ‘thinking performer’, the CIPD Profession Map
highlights the skills and behaviours which are required.
Two of the key professional areas of the SHRM which are important to me, link closely
together and will support my development towards this role are:
 Learning and Development; and
 Resource and Talent Planning.

Learning and development is about building capability and knowledge at both individual and
organisational level to meet current and future requirements and creating a learning culture
to embed development. CIPD [ CITATION Tel20 \l 2057 ](No Date)

To operate at the ‘Thinking Performer’ level for a HR professional in relation to Learning and
Development the following knowledge and skills are required:
Knowledge Skill
1. Trends and developments in learning 1. Develop learning strategy and plans
from the external market.
2. Conducting training and learning needs 2. Design and delivery of solutions
analysis at individual, team and
functional levels.
3. Adult learning theories, instructional 3. Leadership development and talent
design and supporting technologies. management
4. Building learning and talent plans, 4. Evaluating learning impact
taking into account employee segments
and delivery channels.
5. How to create and manage service-led
and specialist agreements with third
parties.
6. Facilitation models and styles to
manage and optimise a learning event.
7. Embedding diversity and inclusion
principles and research within learning
and talent development activity.
8. How to engage the business in
understanding and optimising the value
of learning and talent development.
9. Business case development, putting a
business case together, including the
identification and tracking of relevant
metrics.
CIPD [ CITATION Pro20 \l 2057 ](No Date)

In my current role of L&D Adviser, I am able to utilise some of these knowledge and skills
already. Being responsible for the L&D function, I have had to write a Learning Strategy that
links into the overall People Strategy whilst also ensuring this aligns to the overall business
goals. This incorporates the end to end learning cycle as well as including other L&D
opportunities like the role of apprenticeships in the business and the values of work
experience programmes.

Working closely with business area leaders, I am able to understand the current and future
challenges for their areas and offer solutions to these challenges through robust LNA’s that
provide clear plans with measurable benefits to allow the return on investment to be
measured after the intervention.
One intervention I have worked on most recently has been the development of an aspiring
manager development programme. This had been successfully run previously on numerous
occasions but using my professional knowledge, understanding what other external
providers were currently offering and thinking about the objectives of the programme, I
proposed a different solution for the last programme. By presenting a clear business case I
was able to influence the Executive team to adopt this new approach which had great
success with 60% of attendee’s currently operating in higher roles than they were when
starting the programme.

Resource and Talent Planning combines resource, capability and talent to meet current and
future business and strategic goals through design and delivery of effective resourcing and
talent plans, including assessment and selection, effective and efficient inductions and
analysis of exit data.

To operate at the ‘Thinking Performer’ level for a HR professional in relation to Resource and
Talent Planning the following knowledge and skills are required:
Knowledge Skill
1. Relevant jurisdictional employment law, 1. Develop talent acquisition and talent
regulations and policy affecting management strategy and plans.
resourcing, assessment and exit.
2. Business area needs for resourcing, 2. Assessment and selection.
approaches to resourcing, for example
hire, develop, contract, exit, retain and
the evolving local situation within the
market for skills.

3. How to create a recruitment plan from a 3. Induction.

strategy for business areas, from multiple
sources.
4. How to create a situational talent and 4. Exit.
succession plan for a business area,
assessing their need and providing best-
fit approaches.
5. How to make recommendations for
effective assessment and recruitment
techniques/approaches based on business
need and/or have a background in
occupational psychology.
6. How to build and use a process for
induction and transitioning and the value
they offer.
[ CITATION Reso20 \l 1033 ]

Working alongside the HR Director, and with the support of the wider business senior
management team, I’m currently looking to implement a form of succession planning for the
business, starting with the senior manager roles and those roles that have key man
dependencies.

This initial phase involves identifying those people in the business currently who have
potential, and an interest, in developing into a bigger role. It looks at current knowledge,
skills and behaviours and those needed for the role and determines the actions to be taken
and the timeframe for this. It also highlights where we currently have no skills within the
business to fulfil the role in the future and therefore allows us to see where we may need to
develop knowledge or skills in the immediate future or look to recruit bearing these in mind.

Eventually this will be rolled out across all areas of the business and will then look to be built
into recruitment processes.

A by-product of this will also be the development of a Society-wide skills matrix that will
allow us to move further towards an agile workforce.

Succession planning will also link into the staff retention plans for the business. By having
development routes and opportunities it is hoped that more staff will stay with the business
and reduce the time and cost of attrition.

For those that do decide to leave the business, there is an opportunity to understand
reasons for leaving through an exit interview. This allows the individual to share reasons for
leaving and their experience of the business but also allows HR to explore and delve further
into any issues flagged.

There is an expectation that some of those identified in succession planning will leave the
business, as due to low staff turnover there may not be opportunities for all staff who are
developed to move into bigger roles.

Two behaviours that I feel are important in my development to a SHRM are discussed below.

Role Model Behaviour

It is important for any HR professional display role model behaviour and consistently lead by
example. If a HR professional acts with integrity, impartiality and independence, then it
ensures that the rest of the stakeholders within an organisation will value the advice and
contribution of the HR department and consider what is being put forward by them. This is
especially important where an organisation is trying to empower the HR department, as the
reputation they will have can either hinder or encourage this power and influence that HR
have.

Courage to challenge
A HR professional should have courage and confidence to speak up skilfully, challenging
others even when confronted with resistance or unfamiliar circumstances. This is important
when ensuring that organisational practices are compliant with wider regulations,
legislations and employment law. This is particularly important when considering ideas being
implemented by the senior management team, as some decision that they wish to make do
not follow the procedures already in place, putting the business at risk. In these situations, it
is important for a HR professional to be able to challenge by explaining the reasons behind
the challenge with knowledge and confidence, leading to buy-in and understanding from the
senior managers. It is important that senior HR professionals do not get caught in the trap of
delivering on core messages from the leadership team that are contrary to excellence in
people management, motivation and capacity building for the organisation.

b)
My CPD Map Summary and Analysis
Based on My Profession Map assessment, I am exceeding as a Role Model and meeting
expectations in the Learning & Development professional areas as well as the Driven to
Deliver, Collaborative and Personally Credible behaviours. I am developing or emerging in all
other professional areas or behaviours including Courage to Challenge.

Based on my two areas of focus, a SWOT analysis is detailed below:

Strengths Weaknesses
 I adhere to standards, including rules  Doubting my own thoughts and
and regulations, and deliver/exceed opinions even when I have
expectations, working to deadlines information to support these
wherever possible  Being open to new thoughts and
 I take responsibility even when things go ideas without the fear of failure
wrong  Doubting my own abilities when
 I value the input of others across the challenged by others
business, actively listening and asking
questions to fully understand an issue,
whilst moving discussions forward
Opportunities Threats
 Reflect on interactions with others  Without reflection there will be no
where proposals or recommendations learnings to change how I would
have been put forward to review what approach the same situation in the
was successful/unsuccessful to learn for futures
the future  Failing to consider the wider business,
 Attend business-wide briefings to gain as well as keeping up with HR trends,
knowledge of projects across the will impact on decisions made, buy-in
business to support future arguments to future changes and a lack of respect
and consider people impacts in general for the HR function
 Coach others in relation to the  Failure to grow my own confidence
confidence to challenge to support own and that of others in relation to
growth in confidence challenge resulting in acceptance of
 Attend external networking events with the status quo
other HR professionals to gain greater  Failure to build a network of
HR knowledge professionals could impact on my
ability to keep up to date with current
HR topics and impact future career
development

c)
Group Dynamics
Group dynamics looks at the study of groups and how they interact; because they interact
and influence each other, groups develop a number of processes that separate them from a
random collection of individuals [CITATION DDu17 \l 2057 ].
Group dynamics suggest that teams need to pass through a series of development stages
before they can operate effectively [ CITATION ERa17 \l 2057 ].

One theory that breaks down the different stages of group development is Tuckman's theory
(1965) which suggests that there are five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing,
and adjourning. These stages can arise when a new group is created, for example a project
or working group.

In this instance, you may see ‘Forming’, the orientation period where the group become
familiar with each other, taking place at the initial meeting. Storming is the stage in which
the group challenge each other and test different roles in the team. Norming is the next
stage, where the group will accept each other, and roles become established within the
team. The last stage, performing, is where trust is gained and because of this, solutions
emerge, and the group become interdependent of each other. The final stage is adjourning,
and project teams will see this stage frequently as they are only temporary for a fixed
period.

It is important for an organisation to consider this theory when selecting a new project
group, as if individuals are carefully chosen based on skills that they possess to compliment
other’s skills, it makes for an optimum team. It also means that awareness of group
dynamics and the stages that need to be passed through, strategies can be used to push the
group through those stages to reach the performing stage as quickly as possible.

Group polarisation in a group means that the decisions that are made as part of that group
are a lot riskier than if individual decisions had been made. This is important to consider
when groups working together are designing and discussing an idea. Myers (2005) explained
that group polarisation is most likely to occur when the members of the group already have
slight tendencies toward a particular topic. For example, within the business, if a topic is to
be discussed, such as changing the opening hours of the branch network, it is important to
create a working group which consists of members who are impartial, rather than only
consisting towards those who are partial to the idea of the change. This will help to ensure
that group polarisation doesn’t take place and decisions are not biased by this.

Minimising and resolving conflict in the workplace.

Conflicts at work take many forms. It might be an individual with a grievance, a problem
between an employee and a manager or conflict between two co-workers. Any conflict can
get in the way of work and make your business less productive [ CITATION ACA14 \l
2057 ].
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Resolution Model
The Thomas-Kilmann model describes five different conflict modes and places them on two
dimensions:
 Assertiveness – the degree in which we satisfy our own concerns
 Cooperativeness – the degree in which we satisfy others concerns

The five modes are:

 Competing – assertive and uncooperative – satisfying your own concerns at the
expense of others
 Avoiding – unassertive and uncooperative - avoid conflict without satisfying anyone
 Collaborating – assertive and cooperative – try to find a win-win solution to satisfy
all
 Accommodating – unassertive and cooperative – satisfy others over yourself
 Compromising – assertive and cooperative to an extent – find an acceptable solution
that only partially satisfies all

The Thomas-Kilmann model helps team members make sense of the conflict behaviours
occurring within a team, identify the team’s challenges in managing conflict and find
constructive ways to handle those challenges. [ CITATION Con20 \l 2057 ]

The Kraybill Style Inventory (TKSI)

The Kraybill Style Inventory is very similar to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Resolution Model
in that it has five styles of responding to conflict:
 Directing
 Avoiding
 Cooperating
 Harmonizing
 Compromising

The main difference between Thomas-Kilmann and Kraybill is that the latter stated that
there were usually two phases to conflict: the calm phase and the storm phase.

The calm phase of conflict is when emotions are still somewhat in control and the storm
stage is when emotions have taken over and things get heated [ CITATION Res20 \l 2057
]

The Kraybill Style Inventory helps an individual to understand their own, and their
colleagues, style in each of the phases as these can very often be different. By knowing these
styles before conflict occurs can reduce and manage conflict situations.

Training managers to handle difficult conversations with employees can minimise and
resolve conflicts at work. This is important because all too often minor issues which could
have be dealt with at an early stage, are often left to become a much bigger issue than it
needed to be. Therefore, training managers in holding these conversations and being able to
sense when an employee had an issue and ask the right questions to get the discussion going
helped to deal with issues when they were small and easily rectifiable, rather than when
they escalate into a grievance. Training the managers to deal with the issues with empathy
and sensitivity allows them to set the tone for discussing problems further.
Works Cited

ACAS. (2014). Managing Conflict at Work. Retrieved 02 29, 2020, from

https://archive.acas.org.uk/media/653/Advisory-booklet---Managing-conflict-
at-work/pdf/Managing-conflict-at-work-advisory-booklet.pdf
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01, 2020, from https://www.psychometrics.com/assessments/thomas-kilmann-
conflict-mode/
Dugas, D. (2017). Group Dynamics and Individual Roles: A Differentiated Approach
to Social-Emotional Learning. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational
Strategies, Issues and ideas, 90(2).
Francis, H., & Keegan, A. (2006). The Changing Face of HRM:in search of balance.
Human Resource Management Journal, 16(3), 231-249.
Janis, I. (2008). Groupthink. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 36(1), 36-36.
Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2015). Psychology. Worth Publishers.
Profession Map - Our Professional Standards v2.4. (n.d.). Retrieved 01 25, 2020,
from https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/LD_tcm18-9649.pdf
Raes, E., & al, e. (2017). Human Resource Development Quarterly: An Exploratory
Study of Group Development and Team Learning, 26(1).
Resolving Conflict: Understanding the five conflict styles. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 01,
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conflict-styles/
Resourcing and talent planning. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 04, 2020, from www.cipd.co.uk:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/RTP_tcm18-9643.pdf
Tell me more about different areas in the CIPD Profession Map. (n.d.). Retrieved 01
24, 2020, from https://mycpdmap.cipd.co.uk/learn-more