HRD 2007: Learning and Development Conference and Exhibition

Citation

(2007), "HRD 2007: Learning and Development Conference and Exhibition", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 21 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2007.08121eac.001

HRD 2007: Learning and Development Conference and Exhibition

HRD 2007: Learning and Development Conference and Exhibition

This year the Chartered Institute of Personal Development (CIPD) organized the 22nd Annual Human Resource Development Conference, the largest and most influential conference in Europe’s learning and development calendar. The conference moved location this April to ExCeL, London Dockland’s international conference and exhibition venue.

An important addition to the conference was the international subject stream, which demonstrated the move towards a more global approach to HR. Other themes included building leadership capability, coaching skills, the latest trends in training, managing change, organizational development, talent management, getting both senior and line manager buy-in, training evaluation strategies and performance management.

Delegates flocked to hear from an impressive list of speakers including Greg Dyke, (“What do leaders really do?”), Bill Bryson (“Igniting an appreciation for learning”) and George Kohlrieser (“Leadership: overcoming conflict, influencing others, raising performance”). Best practice case studies, master classes, practical half-day workshops and guru interviews combined to make this a varied and lively event.

One of the key issues the conference addressed was how to get managers buy-in to training. A session on this topic was held by Norman Jardine (European Commission), Mark Moorton and Matthew Newman (AXA PPP Healthcare).

Mark Moorton and Matthew Newman delivered a case study of their innovative training tool “Project Julie”. This was an entertaining session which captured the attention of delegates as they were gradually introduced to the mysterious character of “Julie”. “Julie” in fact is a fictional character in a soap opera-type training tool, devised to update employees with the essentials of employment law, in particular discrimination.

Julie was a Christian being bullied at work about her religious beliefs. Over a long period employees at AXA were gradually exposed to Julie’s story via a variety of media, including posters on toilet doors, blogs and forums, the intranet, and eventually actors as it climaxed in a court case for employees to witness. The post-court case evaluation questionnaire proves the success of the campaign to the board – 93 percent of employees professed a greater awareness of discrimination issues, while 79 percent expressed an interest in learning more about employment law.

Norman Jardine talked about the role of training in the European commission, where an emphasis is put on language training and each employee is entitled to a substantial amount of ten days of training per year. He emphasized the need to make the board responsible and “talk their language” in order to gain their support.

Another important theme of the conference was the role of new technology to learning. Nick Reed and John Harris (Capita) and Clive Shepherd (The Training Foundation) delivered a presentation on “blended learning”. Blended learning builds on the explosion of e-learning to incorporate a more encompassing approach to technology and learning, including a variety of new medias such as discussion forums, wikis, blogs, podcasts and interactive e-learning.

Shepherd stressed that “blended learning” is not merely a re-branding term for trainers to use; it is a useful word that acknowledges the need in workplaces for all types of learning. He emphasized that trainers are not enough, classrooms are not enough, computers are not enough – but all complement each other and are necessary in today’s world of learning. The message from this session was that traditional and new learning methods should be employed together to help facilitate informal learning that is vital to any organization.

Closing the conference was an interview with author and journalist Bill Bryson: “Igniting an appreciation for learning”. Evan Davis (BBC Economics Editor) interviewed Bryson about new and compelling ways to engage with the learner.

Bryson described how his award winning book A Short History of Nearly Everything combines anecdote with theory to make science interesting to the everyday reader. He addressed the problem of certain subject matters being automatically fascinating to teachers, yet dull and inaccessible to the learner – and often a teacher is unaware that their subject is perceived this way.

Bryson explained how one method for his writing is to find a funny nugget in a science chapter that has been glossed over, then to research it to form an entire story in his book. In essence the issue here was whether Bryson as a non-science writer is better equipped to write science books than an expert is, as he can view the subject matter through the eyes of the learner. The lesson to take back to work was that any subject matter can be taught in an exciting way, which is demonstrated perfectly by the case study from AXA.

The next Chartered Institute of Personnel Development will be held in April 2008 at the same venue.

More information about the CIPD can be found at www.cipd.co.uk