The one-day event was held in partnership with HR industry leaders, CIPD members, our internal HRM professional services staff and academic colleagues. The aim was to review the wicked problems and paradoxes that leaders and HR professionals face in today’s world.
Picture: A warm welcome by Dr. Myrtle Emmanuel and Julia Tybura
This unconference was unlike the traditional top-down, formal conference format. This high-energy event provided a rich learning and participant-driven environment. We also explored and shared how HR professionals and re-imagine HR across the various disciplines and become a force of creating value for organisations and their employees.
We started our event with a stimulating keynote speech from Peter Cheese, CEO of CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), on Is HR a force for evil or a force for good?
This was followed by an equally thought-provoking keynote speech by Dominic Hook from Unite the Union’s on the changing role of HR – a Union negotiator perspective.
Whilst we were reflecting on Peter and Dominic’s perspectives, we heard from 4 speakers who each offered provocations on wicked problems they see through an HR lens.
Wendy Cartwright - HR Director and Chair of the Advisory Board of Global Diversity Practice stimulated discussion on - Is it unethical for HR leaders to act politically in their organisations?
Ana Jordan - Vice President for Total Reward at Travelport and a Greenwich alumnus - How do we design competitive pay plans in the current inflationary context and in economies recovering post-pandemic?
Gail Brindley – University of Greenwich HR Director - Recruitment in the current climate.
Khi Rafe – Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a Greenwich alumnus - Prioritising EDI from an intersectional lens. Who gets the first bite?
Picture: Khi giving everyone food for thought in her provocation.
Talking Corners
Following the four speakers, delegates were invited to choose one of out of the four provocations, to review the wicked problems and offer solutions. Our talking corners were also facilitated by our HRM Staff and one MA HRM Student: Shirley Joseph (Race Equality Charter Project Manager), Ibiyemi Akinkuade (HR Reward and Resourcing Manager) , Michael Imomoh (HR Information Systems Officer) and Cristina Ciobanu (MA HRM Student).
Picture: Ana Jordan leading discussions around pay and reward and Ibiyemi Akinkuade supporting
Picture: Gail Brindley and Michael Imomoh talk all things recruitment
Picture: Wendy Cartwright on Ethical HR
Picture: Shirley Joseph gives group`s feedback regarding ethics
Session takeaways
- HR can be a lonely place at times, and we need to draw strength from our HR community
- Inclusivity and fairness are important
- HR need to be in the room with key decision makers before key people decisions are made
- Human resource is a force of good
- Taking the opportunity in unstable times to make impactful changes
- Learn, re-learn and unlearn HR business
Graphic Designer Work with
Reflection
Feedback from our participants
“Very engaging session, talk from guest speakers and the ice breakers”
“It was great learning from HR Professionals on their experiences”
“It was a great day where we all learned from each other”
So, what’s next?
We plan to hold unconferences in the future, so watch this space!
Stay tuned on Eventbrite and Twitter for details of our future GBS unconference events.
A big thank you!
Thanks to our speakers Peter Cheese, Dominic Hook, Wendy Cartwright, Ana Jordan, Gail Brindley and Khi Rafe for their stimulating thoughts on wicked problems in HR. Your provocations gave us food for thought and you kept us engaged throughout the day so thank you for that.
To our attendees, thank you for your high energy and fantastic contributions – you made the Unconference work.
Thank you to Professor Sian Moore and CREW for sponsoring this event – we could not have done this without you.
I would personally like to thank Julia Tybura- our expert facilitator for today. Excellent job, Julia!
We would like to thank Lee Jane Bennion-Nixon and Alison Palmer for their instrumental contribution doing the filming, production and coordination of the film students supporting the event.
Also, we are particularly indebted to Shirley Joseph, Raluca Marinciu and Oktay Asanov for the sterling work you have done in organising this event and ensuring that everything went smoothly today.
And finally, thank you colleagues who were part of the initial discussion about putting on this event and for our graphic artist Elliott and film students for the amazing work you have done to bring this Unconference alive.
Project Lead: Dr Myrtle Emmanuel, Senior Lecturer in HRM & EDI Race Business Partner
