THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN

How HR professionals are

neglecting their own L&D
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 2

C
IPD chief executive Peter Cheese has likened HR and L&D
professionals to “the cobbler’s children who have no shoes”
– they are so busy building great learning and development
programmes for the rest of the organisation that they
neglect their own development needs. At last year’s CIPD
Learning and Development Show, he pointed out that the best
way to build great learning for others is to stay relevant and keep
learning yourself. “We have to invest in ourselves,” he urged.

So why is the HR profession so bad at investing in its own

development? People cite a variety of reasons, from a lack of time
and self-confidence, to an overly internal focus, to HR having such
a broad remit that practitioners just don’t know where to focus
their learning efforts.

Nick Holley, director of learning at the influential HR network the

Corporate Research Forum, says: “I spend 50% of my time with
HR professionals and 50% of my time with other senior business
leaders, and while the latter are very happy to switch off their
phones and concentrate on what they are learning, HR people are
constantly up and down every time their phone buzzes. If CEOs can
find the time to learn, why can’t HR people?”

HR is in ‘the service’ of the business, of course, and

sees itself as enabling the business, but failing to keep
its skills up to date is, as Tim Baker, consultant in the
HR practice at search firm Odgers Berndtson, points
out, “to the detriment of the business”.

True, the demands on HR have grown exponentially.

Wellbeing and mental health, diversity and inclusion,
culture, employee engagement, ethics, digitisation,
artificial intelligence (AI), behavioural economics –
these are just some of the areas where expectations of
HR are rising. Yet they still need to keep on top of their
core activities in an increasingly competitive talent
marketplace. With no significant expansion of their
teams, many are struggling to cope. ➤
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“The function is constantly being told what it lacks, which affects

its confidence, and that, in turn, feeds into nervousness about
developing itself,” says Baker.

It’s a vicious circle but HR professionals need to find a way of

breaking out of it, or they will compromise both their own career
prospects and the success of their organisations.

“If we don’t learn, we become less interesting to the rest of

the organisation, because we look one-dimensional,” says Perry
Timms, chief energy officer of PTHR and adviser to the CIPD on,
among other things, HR’s use of digital and social media. “The
organisation will bring HR in at the end of a discussion because
‘they have to’ rather than involving them right at the beginning
because they have something valuable to contribute.”

Timms, who is also author of Transformational HR: How human

resources can create value and impact business strategy (CIPD/
Kogan Page 2017), adds that if HR is to be the transformational
force it should be, it needs to transform its own thinking in order
to become more agile, innovative and so on. “If it doesn’t do that,
it’s like putting unleaded fuel into a leaded engine,” he says.

David D’Souza, CIPD membership director, warns that

in a fast-changing world HR has to work ever harder
just to stand still – but that’s not good enough: “We
need to be ahead of the game.” Yes, he admits, there
is more to keep up with than ever before – “but it’s
never been easier to do. The smartphone most of us
carry around with us all day is a mine of information.
We can access research, TED talks, articles – you
name it – any place, any time. So actually the barriers
to learning are very low.”

“If HR is to be the transformational force it should

be, it needs to transform its own thinking in order to
become more agile and innovative. If it doesn’t do that,
it’s like putting unleaded fuel into a leaded engine”
PERRY TIMMS, CHIEF ENERGY OFFICER, PTHR; ADVISER TO CIPD
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 4

IT’S NEVER BEEN

EASIER TO LEARN...
...Because learning
has evolved too. While
face-to-face classroom
learning still has its place,
it is increasingly being
augmented or replaced
by online learning – even
CIPD qualifications are now
commonly studied online.
And not only does online
learning meet the growing
requirement for flexibility
– you can learn when and
where you want – but
learners also get access to
a wide group of peers, from
different countries as well
as different organisations.
Keith Watson, an HR
consultant and CIPD tutor
for ICS Learn, a leading online training provider to the CIPD, says:
“A real benefit is the realisation that there is no one ‘right’ answer,
but instead a variety of justifiable answers that will help you be a
better HR practitioner than someone who gets their view purely
from a textbook.”

Even formal online learning (a CIPD course, for example), if it is

designed properly, can be digested in bite-sized chunks – on your
way to work, or between meetings. “You can log in for as little
as 15 to 20 minutes and listen to a podcast or read a short unit,”
says Watson. “You don’t have to take days out of work or block out
hours of your personal time to study.”

But what skills should you be seeking to develop, and what’s the
best way of doing it? As Baker points out: “HR people often don’t
know enough to know what they don’t know.”

CIPD qualifications can provide an obvious starting point, giving

you an up-to-date understanding of best practice across a range
of generalist and specialist subjects – not to mention access to
CIPD’s plethora of thought-provoking resources. ➤
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 5

But you should also take an outside-in approach, rather than

focusing too closely on policies and procedures in your particular
field. “Keeping your core skills refreshed, rather than taking them
for granted, is a given. But you have to keep extending your horizon
and think about the system you operate within, rather than a
narrow ‘HR’ solution to a problem,” says D’Souza. That means
thinking about the business as a whole, and the environment it
operates in. CRF’s Holley says: “The purpose of HR is to build the
capability of the organisation in order to help it deliver its strategy
and create sustainable value. That has to start with a passion for,
and curiosity about, the business.”

Holley, who used to be global director of people development at

Vodafone, spent several days every year in shops selling phones to
customers, out in the field helping to build physical infrastructure,
attending corporate sales meetings, working in the call centre,
learning how to build the network, and so on. “When I joined, I
wanted to know how the business worked, from the bottom up,
so that’s what I did, rather than flying round the world building
training programmes,” he recalls. ➤
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 6

“HR people shouldn’t physically spend most of their

time at their desks. Talk to other areas – marketing,
internal comms, legal, finance – it’s all joined up but
HR too often works in a silo”
NICK HOLLEY, DIRECTOR OF LEARNING, CORPORATE RESEARCH FORUM

But you have to look beyond your own organisation, too. “You
need to understand big challenges such as Brexit, AI, changing
demographics and so on, and the impact they’re likely to have,
because you’re going to need to build capability to respond,” he
says. And Timms advocates looking at different business models –
such as social enterprises or tech start-ups – to stimulate thinking
in more traditional operations.

But working in interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams within

the business can be both the best way to learn and the best way
to solve an organisational problem such as attrition or graduate
recruitment, says Timms. “It helps you breathe outside your own
oxygen tank, and it’s a way to learn organically, on the job, rather
than going off on a course.”

And HR should have the humility to ask for help. “When I got my
first HRD role I’d never managed a big budget before, so I went to
my account manager in finance and asked for advice,” he recalls.
“I didn’t want to go bonkers or dangerously under-spend –
and she was brilliant. I learned how it all worked, and within
18 months I’d halved the HR budget, which made me quite
popular.”

Holley advises HR people to note in their diary

where they physically spend most of their
time – “and it shouldn’t be at your desk.” Talk
to other areas, he says: “Marketing, internal
comms, legal, finance – it’s all joined up, but
HR too often works in a silo.”
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 7

A PROBLEM SHARED
D’Souza observes that as businesses become more fluid and agile,
traits become as important as particular skills – “and one of
the crucial traits that organisations are looking for is ‘a learning
mindset’”. People with this attitude view learning and development
as just part of the way they operate rather than something they
‘do’ at designated hours of the day – and they instil a learning
culture in their teams. Holley is an exemplar: “The first thing I do
when I wake up in the morning is scan several different sites on
my phone, and in the space of 15 to 20 minutes I’ve learned five
or six new things, which I then stick on Twitter so others can learn
too,” he says.

D’Souza agrees. “HR is about solving problems, and getting on

Twitter for half an hour to chat with people who are experiencing
the same problem as you are can be immensely valuable,” he says. ➤

“As businesses become more fluid and agile, traits

become as important as particular skills – and one
of the crucial traits that organisations are looking for
is a ‘learning mindset’”
DAVID D’SOUZA, CIPD MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 8

“You have to be smart about learning. Look at the gaps

you might have in your team – technology, psychology
etc – and get each member of the team to skill themselves
up in one of these areas. Then share your knowledge”
PERRY TIMMS, CHIEF ENERGY OFFICER, PTHR; ADVISER TO CIPD

While some of the most valuable learning is organic, on the job,

you also have to give yourself time and space for self-development.
“Get a mentor or a coach, read outside your profession, go to
conferences (not just HR conferences): there are lots of ways to
learn,” says Holley. But you also need to give yourself permission
to learn. Timms recalls: “When I first headed an organisational
development and talent team in the not-for-profit area a
number of years ago, they told me they weren’t spending time
on developing themselves because it felt self-indulgent. I had
to point out that they were actually selling their internal clients
short – because they weren’t stretching themselves there was no
new thinking, no pioneering work, no innovation. They got it then,
and we baked that business case into the talent and development
strategy so that we could justify it.”

But you have to be smart about learning, adds Perry: “Look at the
gaps you might have in your team – technology, psychology etc –
and get each member of the team to go away and skill themselves
up in one of these areas. Then share your knowledge.”

The HR directors who win a coveted ‘seat at the

table’ have demonstrated they are an equal member
of the leadership team by talking the language of
the business. “They contribute their specialism
but are not limited by their HR perspective,”
says Holley. Commercial acumen is an absolute
prerequisite: “To say ‘I’m a people person, not a
numbers person’ just doesn’t cut it. HR people have
to be comfortable with numbers, and they have to be
comfortable with data and analytics.” ➤
THE COBBLER’S CHILDREN How HR professionals are neglecting their own L&D 9

However, he observes, many tend to get hung up on the latest fad

or guru as a sort of proxy for real understanding. “Big Data is an
example. They see it as a silver bullet because it can collect lots
of data on attrition, sick days, training days and so on – but all
that is meaningless if you don’t know what question you’re seeking
to answer. You have to start with the business issue, not with a
solution looking for a problem.”

HR people no longer have a choice. Increasingly, their

organisations are focusing on outcomes: “They want to see HR
making a demonstrable difference,” says D’Souza, who cites
evidence-based thinking, the ability to draw on a genuinely
multidisciplinary approach, and the ability to gain and use insights
from data (witness the recent gender pay gap reporting) as being
among the top requirements of HR people.

“In the past we might have got away with not knowing things, but
now that everything is much more transparent, and audit trails
are clearer, it is much easier for others to see those gaps in our
knowledge and point the finger at us,” says Timms, who argues
that curiosity is one of the most valuable attributes of any HR
person. “We tend to sit on our hands in the corner of the canteen,
but because we are supposedly all about people we have more
excuse than anyone to poke our noses into things.”
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