PM: You have talked about the need for ‘a wholesale restructuring’ of the professional development of HR people. Why is that now necessary?
JO: It’s necessary because in recent times there has been a significant shift in the focus of HR. The profession is at its most mature point yet. We’re now charged with improving the performance of our organisations by building sustainable organisational capability, not just delivering on the day-to-day people management part of our role – although that remains important. So we need to restructure the professional development of HR people to reflect the consequences of this shift.

How do you envisage the role of the CIPD in this process of change?
Well, the first thing to say is that in the last nine months we’ve conducted an enormous programme of research and consultation. For example, we did detailed interviews with HR directors across all the main economic sectors, and with scores of other senior professionals, chief executives and academics.

What’s clear is that our key stakeholders expect the CIPD to do a number of things. They expect us to lead the development of thinking on HR and its practice. They expect us to build the capability that HR people need, today and tomorrow. And third, they expect us to make HR a number one career choice for the brightest and best people entering or moving within the workforce today.

We’ve taken a long, hard look at where the HR profession is now, to understand what excellence looks like, and what it takes to get there. We’ve built a comprehensive picture of the profession at its best, and through 2009 you’ll see the results of our detailed work on what that means for routes to CIPD membership, for our qualifications, and for the support we provide for the continuous professional development (CPD) of people working in HR.

So as you roll out these changes, what are the main themes that people can expect?
I’d say there are two key underpinning principles – relevance and inclusivity. When we talk about relevance, we’re talking about content in CIPD qualifications, membership standards and the support we offer for professional development – content that matches the stretching nature of the HR role today. The HR profession has changed – we all know that! For me, it is best summed up as a shift from a primary focus on supporting line managers to manage their people well, to a primary focus on ensuring your organisation has the sustainable capability it needs to deliver its aims both today and in the future.

We’ve developed a new, dynamic map of the HR profession and what it actually does today – built by the profession and for the profession. This map will replace our existing professional standards, and is designed to evolve as the profession develops over time.

When we talk about inclusivity we mean standards that are rigorous and high, but that also ensure we can develop your career with you, reflecting your starting point and your longer-term aims. We’re looking to deliver greater flexibility and accessibility, and less of a one-size-fits-all approach.

How do current approaches to the development of HR professionals need to change in order to match this evolving role in organisations?
We’ve seen three key messages emerge from our research and consultation process, and the changes we’ll be making in the coming year will reflect these.

First, there is a greater need for HR people to know the organisation inside out. That doesn’t just mean knowing what the organisation does, it means really getting under the skin of the drivers of sustainable business performance, and the barriers to achieving it.

Second, the profession has become broader in reach, with greater depth in its expertise. We’ve identified a greater number of critical specialisms in HR. There have always been specialisms in HR, and many of the old ones remain important. But there are also new ones, and more people pursuing careers based on one or more of these specialisms. So you’ll see our new map of the HR profession – and the qualifications that go with it – covering organisational development, the skills associated with shared services, learning and development, talent management and an increasingly complex reward agenda, amongst others.

Third, HR professionals rely on a combination of technical knowledge (what you need to know), practical application (what you need to do) and behaviours (how you need to do it). We’re hearing loud and clear that what defines great HR professionals is practical application. Our new professional development strategy will still rely strongly on qualifications. But to support great HR we need to do more than just certify the acquisition of knowledge. We need to focus more on recognising and accrediting applied knowledge. Our revised qualifications, routes to membership and support and recognition for CPD will reflect these three key messages.

As the profession develops more areas of specialist knowledge and skill, is the idea of a ‘generalist’ HR qualification still relevant?
Yes, because many people, especially at the start of their careers, want to have a generalist training, and we need to have generalists as well as specialists. But our new professional map will allow us to recognise equally the value that specialists and generalists contribute to HR today. Our new qualifications and routes to membership will serve specialists better, while still meeting the needs of generalists.

This is part of a broader point. We’ll be moving away from one primary, linear route to membership – a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we’ll be developing a much more bespoke approach to routes to membership – one which will recognise prior HR and other experience, previously acquired qualifications, and the widely differing entry points and routes into the HR profession. And we’ll be much better able to offer professional recognition to experienced people in HR, without the need for them to follow a rigid qualifications route that may not be relevant or appropriate for them.

Will this more tailored approach also extend to having greater flexibility in where and how training is delivered?
Yes, it will extend to how people are able to study for our courses and qualifications. We’ll be adopting a far more unit-based approach, which will allow people to study at the time, place and pace that best suits them. For example, we’re already working with a number of pioneering employers to pilot ways for HR professionals to secure national recognition for the programmes of learning they undertake in the workplace.

We’re also aiming to develop new qualifications at different levels to deliver a broader portfolio that spans an entire career in HR. In all of these developments, we’ll be judging ourselves by our ability to increase flexibility and accessibility while maintaining the rigorous standards people expect from the CIPD.

You’ve outlined your vision for the profession and the CIPD – and it’s a very broad brush picture at this stage. When can we expect to see more of the details filled in?
The changes will start to take effect in the second half of 2009, and will be fully implemented by autumn of 2010. I’ve set myself and the institute some ambitious targets for fine-tuning the plans throughout 2009. You’ll be hearing plenty more from us as the year unfolds.