Research Briefing

HR Leadership

Speaker – Linda Holbeche

2.00 for 2.15 until 5.00 on 29th January 2010

at One Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE

As an article in ‘People Management’ magazine highlighted recently, ‘it’s no longer possible to be a credible HR professional without knowing your numbers’. Executives
The HR profession is in a rapid state of evolution and where it develops next is up for grabs. Linda Holbeche argues that the lengthy economic crisis has highlighted the critical need for HR leadership if we are to avoid some of the traps of the past. Sensitive issues such as executive compensation and organisational restructuring for instance need to be addressed from a leadership perspective. If HR practitioners are unable to do this, Linda argues, they will come to be seen as expensive functionaries and will be unlikely to survive in any other capacity than as organisational ‘fixers’.
So if HR leadership is needed, what is it and how can it be developed? Linda argues that ‘anyone who wants to create a healthy work context  and make a difference to organisational success (and beyond) has the potential to exercise HR Leadership at any stage of their career’.
Based on her newly published book - HR Leadership – (Butterworth-Heinemann), this session is about the ‘who’ of HR strategy and will draw on interviews with a variety of HR leaders who have openly shared their experience, challenges and learning on what it means to be an HR leader.  Linda will explore how these HR leaders exercise strategic influence and address the challenge of improving HR capacity. She will look at some of the more challenging aspects of the HR leader role, such as talent management and leadership development, HR transformation, change management and ensuring good governance. The session will also explore how many HR leaders and their teams have accelerated their own transformation in order to tackle some of the key challenges facing organisations – not only dealing with the short-term issues but building organisational capability for change, customer focus, innovation, working across boundaries etc.
In addition Linda will provide attendees with a an overview of how she sees the HR profession developing and where it can make its most valuable contribution in the future, together with insights into how to develop as a future HR leader.

The Speaker:

Linda is co-Director of the Holbeche Partnership, a research based development consultancy. Linda specialises in leadership development, the development of human resources professionals, organisational development/change management and executive coaching. Linda has a strong interest in helping organisations and individuals achieve sustainable high performance. Her career history combines extensive experience and expertise in management and organisational development with a strong track record in leading-edge research.

Until July 2009 Research and Policy Director at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Linda joined the CIPD in July 2007 following her role as Director of Leadership and Consultancy at The Work Foundation. Previous roles include Director of Research and Strategy at Roffey Park Management Institute, Management Development manager for American Express, various senior teaching positions and a spell in publishing.

Linda is author of over 40 research reports and more than 100 articles. A regular speaker at national and international conferences, Linda’s books, include Motivating People in Lean Organisations, (1997), Aligning HR and Business Strategy (1999, 2001 and 2009), The High Performance Organization (2005), Understanding Change: theory, implementation and success (2005). These and her latest book, HR Leadership (2009), are all published by Butterworth-Heinemann. She is chief editor of the Croner journal Developing HR Strategy, member of the editorial boards for Strategic Change (Wiley) and Human Resources Journal (HRMJ), book series editor of The New Skills Portfolio and co-editor of The HR Series (both for Butterworth-Heinemann).
Linda is a member of several advisory boards, a Chartered Fellow of CIPD, a Fellow of both the RSA and the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Linda is also a Visiting Professor at three UK universities.

This event took place at One Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE. 

The per-person fee - £190 plus VAT for members of the HR Society or FISSING, and £275 plus VAT for non-members.

If you have any queries about this event or others in the HR Society Calendar please contact:
Lara Roberts, Programme Administrator
Tel: 01264 774004 ~ Fax: 01264 774009 ~ Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it