Name:
Changing People Keynote - challenges and opportunities for societies
Description:
Changing People Keynote - challenges and opportunities for societies
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T00H15M43S
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Upload Date:
2022-05-02T00:00:00.0000000
Transcript:
Language: EN.
Segment:0 .
CAROLINE NUGENT: So I've got quarter of an hour, so it's quite a whistle-stop tour. And I've put quite a bit on the slides because I know that you take them away with you. But I'm happy to speak later on some of the issues that's on there. So I'm Caroline Nugent. I'm the HR director for the Financial Ombudsman and I'm also a NED and trustee of the-- we call it the CIPD, so the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So I put a little bit of history about me because I've worked full-time my whole time, but I've also been voluntary throughout that period, and I think it was really important for me to show you that. So PPMA, I was the president. So I'm the immediate past president of the PPMA. So as part of my tenure, I had to do lots of visits, I'd have to do lots of speeches, and that was all done in my personal time.
CAROLINE NUGENT: I wasn't paid for that position. CIPD-- I'm not paid for that position. When I worked for One Source, I was HR Director for two London boroughs, whilst also doing the president. So I know what it's like when you're busy and you're trying to fit anything in. So I've put that in for some context. So I thought I'd give you a little bit of some of the challenges.
CAROLINE NUGENT: A really recent one, this happened two weeks ago-- CIPD membership, great. We wanted to change. We have plastic membership cards and we wanted to change those, do our bit for the environment. So we changed them-- paper, slight plastic. But we didn't tell our members why we were doing it. So when our members opened up the packets, some of them tore.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So all over Twitter, all over social media, "They're saving money. This isn't on. Why are they doing it?" So there's a really key message-- if you're doing changes to any of your membership, tell people why. We thought people would understand because last year, we'd asked what people wanted.
CAROLINE NUGENT: This year, we forgot to correlate it back. So a real thing for me, and I've put communicate-- its vital. One of the other things-- National Trust, 4 million members. They wanted to reconnect with children. So great, who could say that was wrong? Who would challenge that? Most of their members at that time were older and didn't particularly want screaming children running around, spoiling their quiet time while they're wandering around.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So again, did they ask the members? Did they tell the members why they were doing it? So I did a little bit of googling some of your websites. I'm not going to name anybody. But some of your websites, you've got things like what your strategy is. When you click on it, doesn't go anywhere. So if I'm a new member and I'm looking at potentially joining, that experience-- actually, would I do it?
CAROLINE NUGENT: If I'm a young person coming into the profession, would I decide to actually join the membership if what I'm being offered, from my perception, isn't ideal? So again, it takes time. We've had to do it at the PPMA. Have a think about do you keep your technology up to date? 'Cause that's your window to the world. And just another thing, we-- I'm over 50 now.
CAROLINE NUGENT: And you had a career and you went through your career, and you really stuck without much change to your career. That doesn't happen now. A lot of young people swap and change. And they're not just swapping changing companies this swap and changing professions. So why would they join your professional body? What would they get from it that they see is going to give them longer-term careers?
CAROLINE NUGENT: So again, think of it from that perception. So are people prepared to pay? So the Accenture research that's down on here-- people get monthly toothbrushes, toothpaste. We get things through the post that you look at you and you think, really? You can't even get to the shop to buy yourself a toothbrush? But this is what younger people are prepared to pay for. If they see something on your membership that actually gives them that added USP, they're prepared to pay for it.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So I've got a 21- and a 23-year-old, and I actually asked them what-- my daughter is also a member of the CIPD. I said to her, would you pay-- her company pays for her-- would you pay? And she actually said, to be honest, mum, I'm not sure. She said, at the moment, I'm doing my training, so yes, I'm happy to pay if I had to do it myself. Once I've got through my training, actually, am I getting anything that I can't get when I google?
CAROLINE NUGENT: So think again, once you get people in, are you able to retain them longer-term? So they are willing to invest their money, but they want to see some value back for them. So it's not just a job. I want to give my values, my commitment to how I operate in future. So it's really important that people see an added benefit in actually joining sort of any organization.
CAROLINE NUGENT: I put this one up because I really liked it. And it's actually-- when you look around the room, and again, I'm over 50, yeah? People-- are we diverse in our organizations? And I think it's something we really do have to ask if we want to keep members and we want to get people engaged with us in future and staying. Are we representative of the modern workplace?
CAROLINE NUGENT: Now there's things you can do and I'll talk about some of those shortly. But even on the diversity-- more men than women. Again, not unusual, but in 2019, that's still the case. So just something for you to reflect on. So the average age of a trustee is 61-- not surprised. 8,000 organizations have actually somebody over an average age of just 75.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So when you think about that person, that's probably going to be an older white man. Do they understand what your members actually want today from their society? I put the 5% responded to a job advert because that's the only amount that were actually advertised. Most of these trustees, NED positions, anything like that is by word of mouth.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So again, if you're not mixing in the right circles, how on earth are you ever going to get the opportunity to sit on a board? Now the CIPD actually advertised their position. If they hadn't have done, that would have been one of the challenges that I would have put in because I think it's absolutely right that everybody should be given the opportunity to apply for it.
CAROLINE NUGENT: The one 0.8% under 25, quite stark. But the one at the bottom, yeah? 85% would consider becoming trustees aged under 35. That's not ideal, is it? What are we doing to engage them? What are we doing? And again, I'll pick out something about networking, mentoring, to give people the opportunity to join your societies in the future.
CAROLINE NUGENT: I'm sorry I'm rushing through, but I'm just conscious I've only got a quarter of an hour.
MODERATOR: You've got eight minutes.
CAROLINE NUGENT: Yes. [LAUGHS] So again, I've put these in the slides so you can you can take them away, and I'm happy to talk through. But people want to be engaged. People want to give something back, particularly younger people. So you have a real opportunity to get people into your organizations and to help and think differently going forward.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So a couple of things when it goes right. So Blagrave Trust particularly wanted to target under 25s, so they advertised for two NED positions for under 25s. They got two very successful people who have been there now for two years. So they brought in a different perception. They were able to challenge on some of the things, some things we would take for granted. They were like, well, why?
CAROLINE NUGENT: Why have you done it? And when people ask you those questions, sometimes you think, just because we always have. So just having people that would give a slightly different viewpoint. I put the cycling club not because it was a society but just to show you again how people join. I would think, why would you join a club to go cycling? You've got a bike, just go cycling.
CAROLINE NUGENT: A bit like toothbrushes-- go and buy. There are 12,000 members worldwide now in that. That's from suddenly deciding to set up, [? I want to go to cycling with somebody in a park. ?] So that momentum that you can get together, that also now-- they have their own clothing, so they've successfully diversified into clothing. Who would have thought when just one person said, "I fancy somebody to go cycling with," the power of that networking and the opportunity to actually change.
CAROLINE NUGENT: I've put there about businesses must buy-in. I was only able to do the president role and things like that because my company understood-- it was a local authority, but it understood actually it was getting something back from me going, learning lots of things, bringing it back in. But it's really important that your company sees that they're getting something from giving you the time, particularly if it's voluntary.
CAROLINE NUGENT: And I put family, my family-- again, if you want to do voluntary work, and sometimes they're in the evening and things-- can people do it? Can people really spend the time if they've got young children? They're in a very early stage of their career, they're perhaps still learning-- can they spare the time to actually do it? So you do need to get the family support.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So when I was a president, this is-- the society's been going for 42 years. I was the first president to actually take my husband and my children to the conference because I felt it was really important that people saw who I was and that is important they join in. So well-being-- I think if you could put something in there to show that you are actively trying to help your members, that-- well-being is a very cliché word at the moment, but it does mean that people are more likely to buy into something if they see they are physically and emotionally getting something back.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So Future Stars-- at the PPMA, we actually have three programs. We have Apprentice, Rising Star, and Peer of the Year-- director level. And we invest in those people and we give them free opportunities. We put them through intense programs. The companies don't have to pay for it. We do it through sponsorship.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So again, there's no cost to us as companies to put these people through these programs and it exposes them to things they would never get the chance to do. So PPMA is a small organization, we're not talking of thousands and thousands of members. We're not talking lots of money. But we've managed to put these together through getting sponsorship.
CAROLINE NUGENT: And I mentioned earlier about mentoring-- I've got a real thing about social mobility. So I came from a working class background, very proud of where I came from. I got everything I've got-- nothing give it to me on a platter. I've worked hard for it. But I've had to push myself. I'm very nosy and I've pushed myself into situations.
CAROLINE NUGENT: Are you able to access and give people some-- a bit of a foot-up, give them some mentoring? I passionately believe every professional should mentor somebody else. An hour a month isn't a lot. And to me, it allows and perhaps breaks down some of those barriers of who you might have on your societies, actually in your group settings.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So BMJ study on well-being, they actually found over-40s, by belonging to a society, physically and emotionally, again, it improved their well-being. So there are real opportunities to come from this. But technology-- we all think technology is the answer to everything. People are now starting to challenge and say, is it? So we think everybody is happy to put everything on Facebook, but don't just use social media as your only way of getting in touch with members.
CAROLINE NUGENT: People are starting to break down a bit with that relationship with technology because of data breaches, so if you've got your members details. So what can we do? I say communicate. If you're going to make changes for the right reasons, just tell people. Business plans-- so we rebranded the PPMA.
CAROLINE NUGENT: We had a marketing strategy. We had a business plan. It needed a complete refresh. So again, you've got to have people that are committed. There's lots of stuff on the web if you Google. Our stuff's on there. Just think about what you want going forward. And your marketing strategy is really, really important. So we didn't have any professionals tell us what we needed to do.
CAROLINE NUGENT: But we looked at what was our opportunity-- don't just target HR professionals. Target chief executives.
MODERATOR: You've got two minutes.
CAROLINE NUGENT: Yeah? Two minutes, thank you. Technology, I've mentioned. Flexibility-- lots of societies have meetings in London. Lot of people can't get to London. We do them during the day to make it easier, people can't do it because of working. We do it during the evening to make it easier. People can't do it because they've got commitments. So have a think about in your particular society how you could do things differently.
CAROLINE NUGENT: And look at your tailoring of information. So it's really important, again, as a member, if I get a newsletter, I want to get something relevant to me. I don't just want a newsletter. So have a think about is there a breakdown that you can put. Sponsorship, and should we pay for roles? There are lots of people in the gig economy now. They're not getting regular income. So if they do manage to get on a board and they suddenly get a job, they can't turn up that day because they can't turn down the money.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So there's this real thing about whether we pay for people to sit on boards and to sit on societies. Actually, some people, if they're not being paid, can't sit on those boards, because I can't turn down my gig economy job for the day just to attend a board meeting. So again, we are potentially stopping people taking the role, so consider sponsorship. And welcome feedback and admit your mistakes. So put yourself in your members' shoes.
CAROLINE NUGENT: Go and have a play on your website. Go and ask some people completely nothing to do with your society and say to them, can you just come and have a look and see what we offer? Just to get somebody's independent view. One of the big things-- and again, I won't go into too much details-- but we did an MOU, four different societies, to actually share the things that we could offer our members.
CAROLINE NUGENT: So if I'm a member of CIPD, I can also attend PPMA meetings. I can attend university HR meetings. So again, look at could you share between societies some of your offerings to members? I put this, just again, because Wikipedia-- very, very successful, but actually, Encarta at the time was the most successful company. It was bigger. It had better things.
CAROLINE NUGENT: But Wikipedia came together through collaboration. The other one-- Encarta's dead, yeah? So again, use lots of opportunities that you've got for people to put their own ideas. People believe in governance and things like that. Use opportunities. And I put this in because I love the quote. But actually, just because you've got 600 members, just because you've got 6,000 members, actually, are they all engaged?
CAROLINE NUGENT: Are they just there because their companies are paying it, but they're not contributing? So really delve beneath some of your statistics and start looking at some of your diversity data as well, because as I say, we are changing as a society. So I'm sorry it's a whistle-stop tour. [LAUGHS] Hopefully, there's just a few bits there. There's lots of stuff I've done today that throughout the day people will be picking up and expanding on, but just to give you a slight overview.
CAROLINE NUGENT: And as Tracy said, I am around if people just want to catch up for questions. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]