Why Organisational Development is the strategic future of HR

Blog Author
Emily Allen
Product Manager - HR & L&D

The CIPD’s Annual Conference and Exhibition always delivers with innovative, inspirational and thought-provoking speakers and workshops – and this year’s event was no exception with the quality of content we have come to expect and, I personally, really look forward to.

Organisational Development pioneer and author Dr Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge delivered an absolutely stimulating talk on day one. It was great to hear her reinforce the message that we emphasise with our learners; business orientation and the concept of HR practitioners having a robust awareness of the strategic context in order to be a ‘desirable commodity’.  She provided a stimulating conversation around the importance of systems thinking, the dynamics of the ‘human cloud’ and shared with us the six megatrends affecting organisations:

• Unpredictable complexity of the macro environment
• Increasing global resource scarcity
• Growth of IT
• Consumer rights and transparency
• Impact of endemic population movement
• Demographic shifts

What was also fascinating was Dr Cheung-Judge’s insight into where we as practitioners fit with this and the discussion on the concept of ‘self’; ‘Don’t let the little me take over, develop self-awareness, own every word you say’ and ‘Use self as an instrument…then you can’t blame your tools’. A refreshing call to action to remind us of the importance of our role and accountability in treasuring our most important asset, our human capital.