Essay: CIPD Human Resources Profession Map (HRPM)

1.
The CIPD Human Resources Profession Map (HRPM) which has been designed to set the highest standards of professional competencies in HR. (as shown in the image below). It has been developed after using much research including detailed interviews with HR directors across the board as well as many HR professionals.
This tool serves the purpose of expressing the needs of the modern day profession, and how it matures throughout the time of the person’s career. It gives individuals a disciplined approach on what to expect from themselves at different transitions which is shown through the highlighted bands. The HRPM is not only used for self-development but also to add value at all levels of your HR profession. It looks at both ways to enhance both current and future developments.
The map has 2 core Human Resources strategies which are found in the centre. It also includes
• 10 professional areas
• 8 behaviours
• 4 bands and transitions
(http://www.cipd.ae/media/Profession%20Map%20with%20membership%20levels_tcm1037-2666_w1024_n.jpg)
The Professional areas are:
• Service delivery
• organisation design
• organisation development
• resourcing and talent planning
• learning and development
• performance and reward
• employee engagement
• employee relations
The two core professional areas in the center are ‘insights, strategy and Solution’ and ‘Leading HR’, which are significant to any level of a HR professional. The professional areas allow you to reflect on what needs to be done, what you need to know about the four bands and behaviors to follow through with your duties.
There are eight behaviours which are:
• curious
• decisive thinker
• skilled influencer
• courage to challenge
• driven to deliver
• collaborative personally credible
• role model
The behaviors above aid an individual on how their duties should be carried out successfully and to be able to get the most out of themselves and the company.
A summary of this map shows what you need to do? What you need to know and how you need to do it within each role. (www.cipd.co.uk)
The professional bands are split into four transitions which explains what the HR professionals commit to at each level and what is expected to move to the next entry level. Each transition between the bands there will be challenges faced moving from one band to another. Please see table 1 in Appendix .
Having reflected, I am currently at the start of professional transition at Band one with some areas at band 2 and 3. I see that the professional skill that I believe I have and continue to improve on is Learning and development. This area requires the HR Member to ensure that the organisations training and development requirements are available and provided to employees. The HR Learning and Development member must is responsible to look at a variety of leaning methods and techniques. I accept that I am eager to learn, motivated and much organised which are elements of the professional skill. The skill employee engagement is all about having that positive emotional interaction between the staff with great understanding of their needs. Even in my working role it is crucial that I engage with all employees at different levels and identities which I have developed to be able to adapt to all. Most of my duties within my personal and working role and knowledge at the band one level.
Using the CIPD map to reflect on my current behaviours, I have learnt a lot about behaviours I need to improve to progress as well as behaviours I already acquire.
I see myself as good Role Model, but not to the level of someone at band 4. I still have vast room for improvement to fulfil. I’m always trying to push myself, assuring that I organise myself and always meeting deadlines no matter what. So I feel that I have Driven to deliver skill covered in my role.
I can tell that I am very Curious I like to always ask questions and fill the gaps in my self-knowledge. I attend to like to be in the know. This is a great behaviour strength to have as it can show that I am inquisitive and making sure I understand the situation and causes to any problems.
Another behavioural strength of mine is Courage to challenge. I constantly take a range of views and ask questions that can help me clarify the situation and fully understand it. I find that others tell me that I’m personally credible, with sound advice and my promises kept.
Knowledge and behaviours required for a senior HR role such as a recruitment manager would need qualities such as being motivated, leadership skills, knowledgeable, decisive, and aware of the company as well as being able to build relationships. To be an effective HR practitioner you must be organised, open minded and must be able to keep information confidential.
As an Associate level HR member, I would be applying for roles that support the organization with their mission. In this role you would be the first point of call and aware of the appropriate advice on policies. At this level it’s required to have good analytical skills to assist collate information. You must be aware at this level but do not need a dedicated knowledge of HR and will gain experience throughout the transition.
2.1
A study that has been devised by the IES, it has found that HR customers want the department to be proactive, responsive and supportive. Managers need the HR department to carry out clear processes and strategies with an independent mind. The study it was found that the customers valued the HR department when they were supporting employees through change and dealing with conflict difficult situations. It’s quite clear that the managers and the employers want a clear insight to what is expected from them to do and what services HR offers.
To be able to understand their customers’ needs and demands this function must obtain thorough feedback from them.
http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/report-summary-what-customers-want-hr
Not every stakeholder or customer has the same needs . Each customer has different needs the employees for instance may need training, pay rises and better quality treatment whereas directors don’t want to be too involved or disturbed with pity small issues and everything running smoothly. Shareholders want great profits while customers want good quality and an exceptional experience and great customer service. The community will want the organisation to be socially responsible, giving back to the local area as well as being eco-friendly. There are also regulatory bodies who have needs such making sure the business is compliant and behaves as well as the need of the company passing inspections.
Directors and executive management would regularly require to be provided with the statistics so that they can generate budgets and forecasts. Line managers will need to be coached by the HR function in how to deal with their staff. Manager’s need the results rapidly and working longer shifts to meet demands whilst employees want more time off to balance their work and personal life.
HR need to fulfil the current and future needs of their clients by making the right choices after identifying there needs for development and to provide the relevant training.
A successful department will always be a step ahead with supporting strategies available to fulfil the needs of the employees and clients. It’s fundamental that the department recognises the labor markets need for implementing future policies. A benefit of this is to be able to recruit from a broad work pool.
It’s essential that the HR member must ensure that their workloads is prioritised and that they can respond to their customers’ demands in a professional timely manner with the correct advice given. Its their duty to access the level of importance, taking into consideration the organisations demands. Doing so can allow HR handle queries according its urgency. Elements such good practice and following business policies and missions as well as legislations are important to bare in mind when making decisions. The true value of a great HR professional is one who spots any signs of problems ahead of time. Customers’ needs should be fulfilled complying with the budget set.
2.2
It’s vital that the message being communicated has been delivered in the best possible way effectively and efficiently. Different customers of the business are approached in different manners. For example, communication with the board of directors is very formal and regularly to say some suppliers may have communication which might not be so formal and straight to the point. I have demonstrated this in my table 3 in my appendix.
2.3
A HR practitioner may deal with so many different issues a day from sorting out an induction day, assisting an employee with an issue and or devising a recruitment strategy. I prefer using email as an immediate form of communication at work as it’s quick and documented, I can also relay back to it if needed. urgent messages like a change to a deadline I would make a phone-call as I’d be able to get a straight answer saving time. Sometimes the other person may speak too fast for you to remember the vital information as it’s not documented.
HR usually try to collect feedback which aspire them to make positive changes using surveys, breakfast clubs or feedback boxes. Building and maintaining relationships with both internal and external customers is key to having effective service delivery. It’s crucial that all requests are dealt efficiently in a timely manner so conflicts don’t occur.
Dealing with complaints is a responsibility of the HR team and have to come to an end resolution. A HR member would have to listen to the customer and take notes, they will need to interact by probing questions to get a better understanding of the situation. Complaints shouldn’t always be seen as a negative, it can actually be turned into a positive feedback by improving what went wrong.
3
3.1
Continuing professional development (CPD) is the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond initial training. (http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/managing-your-career)
It’s a group of different techniques and approaches that assists one’s personal or professional growth and development. CPD allows users to compare the standard of others in the same field and allow the user to reflect. CPD aids individuals to continue to become the most effective and self-efficient at the workplace. CPD can assure that you are able to move with the time and the trends as knowledge and skills are constantly evolving and it’s vital not to be left behind. The world we live in isn’t static, updates are being developed constantly. The change allows individuals to broaden their knowledge and to stay up to date with competitors.
CPD can be very useful to use for many reasons such as:
• To track your achievements and keep a record of how far you have advanced.
• It can allow you to uncover any gaps or particular skills and knowledge which you need to gain.
• Quite a useful tool to use for any interviews or job application questions.
• The CPD is a documented process which is crucial to use to reflect upon and to include both personal and professional achievements.
• This may also be a mandatory requirement of a job role
• This can also be used to help one decide if their career is moving the way they want or whether to take a new career direction.
• Evidence of your competencies and encourages control of your learning and development
• Shows how committed one is
I shall start my CPD by keeping a log of what achievements and experiences that I have been through. It will allow me to review my accomplishment rather than trying to remember it from memory. It requires a great commitment and motivation to record your new experience. Assists you to enhance your knowledge and skills to deliver the best possible service to your client. CPD is all about continuous development. Once you complete a new experience and have learnt how you can put into practice the next step would be to continue to develop the skill.
3.2 Personal SWOT Analysis
This exercise will help allow me to identify what things I am good at doing and areas of which need to be improved. It also allows me to pinpoint what opportunities and eliminating any threats that may come way.
Strength’s
• Work experience
• Educated
• Good interpersonal skills and outgoing
• creative
• I have a BA (Hons) Business Studies Degree
• Personal character- social adaptation
• Good networking skills
• Healthcare industry knowledge
• Other awards received such as
• Confident to speak up and speak publicly
• Excellent organisation skills
• Supportive friends and family
• Forward thinking
• Sociable
• Punctual Weaknesses
• Limited work roles – always medical or healthcare organisations
• Writing skills need to be improved to higher quality level
• No leadership experience or traits- find it difficult sometimes to delegate
• Lack of work for the last couple years
• Shy
• Dyslexic
• No experience in digital marketing
• poor stress management skills
• afraid to take risks
• easily distracted
Opportunities
• Strengthen my network group
• Utilise my skills
• New career direction which can lead to wider career prospects
• Enhance personal development
• Learn new software updates such as Microsoft office 2016
• Once I complete CIPD level 3 I have the opportunity to go ahead to the next level up.
• Take up new courses that may increase my knowledge of the industry
• Read more
• Find a mentor
• Attend CIPD networking
Industry events. Threats
• Time management
• Falling behind
• Not enough money to carry out opportunities
• Fear of failure
• Work/personal/study balance the workload
• No HR work experience
• Not understanding a task
3.3
As a HR student, it’s important for me to develop myself as much as I can in order to do this I must consider what my learning styles are. In doing so I will be able to assess customised approaches for training to suit my learning needs.
I have completed an extensive questionnaire which was designed by Honey and Mumford. The findings were that I scored the highest as a ‘Reflector’ learner type. Now that I have established my style its appropriate for me to set my goals and recognising what are the learning styles are available.
A Reflector shows strengths such as thoughtful, good listener and comprehending information, careful and rarely jump to conclusions. I can agree that I have these traits however I need to be able to look at the areas of development in this particular style. Key development points for a reflector which I can agree to be that were quite slow to reach a decision as we tend to be quite cautious and do not like to take risks as we like to be safe. However another development area which was pointed out which I have already developed within myself is that ‘reflectors tend to hold back in direct participation. I have focused on this skill over the years and currently tend to be very involved in discussions and always initiate conversations.
To continue to develop my learning technique I will try to so new things, change up my routine and practice thinking on my feet. I have also been initiating conversations with new people which also have improved my confidence levels. It’s vital at this stage for me to continue to nurture my development growth.
I am currently studying for my CIPD Level 3 Human resources course and am now at an Associate member at Band 1. This is the beginning of the ladder for a new starter like myself. As a new member there is a criteria that I must follow which is established by the CIPD’s HR Profession Map. At every transition all members including myself must demonstrate the core competencies of the map which are the ‘Insights, strategy and solutions and leading HR.
A key skill a practitioner must have is independent thinking as at times they may have to discipline their boss.
Reference:
https://www.cvtemplatemaster.com/careers-advice/ – CV template master HR and careers guides.