Our Winter Circle of Peers dates are starting to feel like a mini World Tour! We have been to the Isle of Man and London and next week we’re heading to Gibraltar! We thought as we were at our halfway point we would reflect on our London event.
In London last week there were three presentations at our event in Cineworld, Haymarket. The first by Stuart Holdsworth, Head of Learning and Development at Cineworld, who graciously welcomed us to one of Cineworld’s oldest cinemas and gave a fascinating presentation on the company’s plans for the future and their dedication to providing training and education to all their people. Cineworld have teamed up with ILM and Cullen Scholefield to develop the talent of their senior managers so there is an expert pool of talent to draw from and utilise in their business.
Our second guest was Dr. Wilson Wong, Head of Insight and Futures at the CIPD, who presented an update on his three year research programme, ‘The Changing Contours of Fairness.’
In his presentation he spoke about the idea of ‘lenses’ and how the subject of fairness can change when viewed through these different lenses. He suggests that when analysing issues we need to “discover which lenses apply in the situations but also to look at the situation through alternative lenses and understand the implications of the different views and therefore implications for fairness.”
The fairness lenses he discusses are:
- Organisational justice
- The socially just distribution of goods
- The principles of outcome
- Capability
- Temporal perspective
- A matter of interpretation
Usually when dealing with difficult situations where there is a possibility of hurting another person we are told to ‘put ourselves in their shoes.’ We may think we’re doing this well but usually there are so many angles and feelings to consider that we can quite often find ourselves lost in someone else’s shoes. This is far from a perfect system and so this idea of lenses offers a form of guidance and allows us to look at each situation systematically from all angles to see the whole picture and predict the outcome.
Our very own Maureen topped off the day with her talk, A Taste of India, where she discussed the main differences and similarities between HR approaches in the UK and those in India.
All three presentations were well received and looked at HR through their own different lenses, leaving us with a lot to think about! If anything it’s made us realise just how versatile lenses are, with their ability to sharpen and alter, they bring clarity to any situation.
If you would like to explore Dr. Wong’s research further then the report is available on the CIPD website.
Next week on the Circle of Peers tour, We’ll be in Gibraltar, so stay tuned for more insights!