Who was it for?

HR Directors who are either seeking to raise the standards of Business Partnering or are re-designing their structures; and also for senior HR/OD/L&D professionals wishing to enhance their effectiveness.

Outline

A range of challenges and issues concerning senior line-facing HR and L&D roles were sketched out, and some recommended approaches aired.

Content & Outcomes

High level concerns exist about the added value of the business partner over the old 'HR generalist' concept, and whether there is yet a substantive difference. At the same time, some prefer to be seen as 'strategic partners' - is this just playing with badges?

We looked at a number of case studies from member organisations and looked for the answers to questions such as:

• should a partner respond to, or help to shape, the business agenda?
• what are the critical knowledge areas, capabilities and personal characteristics?
• how much supporting structure should a business facing HR professional have, if any?
• what are the critical functional relationships to be effective?
• is it different if you are delivering a generalist versus specialist intervention?
• how does an individual working with the business avoid 'going native' and manage any tensions?
• what metrics do you use to measure your impact, and how were they determined?

Leader Profiles

Andrew Lambert - CRF

Andrew Lambert is a co-founder of the Corporate Research Forum, and has been a consultant on the management of change, mergers and acquisitions for some 25 years. He was a director of Smythe Dorward Lambert, People in Business and Wolff Olins, has headed communication functions at Midland Montagu and TSB Bank, and is visiting professor at the University of Switzerland, Lugano. His many reports for CRF have covered topics such as the future of HR, performance management, the evaluation and measurement of HR, the management of coaching and mentoring, the use of employee surveys, the management of global organisations, and the role of HR in M&As.

Andrew Lambert led this workshop with contributions from:

Andy Hedge - BDO Stoy Hayward

Andy joined BDO in September 2007, as Head of Learning and Development, with a brief to establish the 'BDO Academy' and transform the way learning happens throughout the organisation. He has been a learning and development professional for more than 20 years and has held senior positions with Hewlett Packard, COLT Telecommunications and the BBC. Andy's main areas of interest include enhancing the commercial contribution of learning and development, measuring the impact of learning and exploring new approaches.

10/09

09:00 - Registration

09:30 - Introduction

10:00 - Clarifying business partnering - definitions, titles, roles, etc

10:50 - COFFEE & TEA BREAK

11:10 - Essential qualities of HRBPs

11:40 - Relationships and responsibilities – relationships with the line and other parts of HR

12:20 - Group discussions

13:00 - LUNCH

13:45 - Plenary review of group discussions

14:25 - Delivering and measuring results

14:55 - Raising the bar - standards and development processes for HRBPs

15:25 - Summary

15:30 - Close – refreshments available

Trinity House
Trinity Square
Tower Hill
London EC3N 4DH

To view a map of the Event's location please click here.