An important debate about the role of HRINZ has exploded on the well-known HR blog, 'Up the Down Escalator'.
An important debate about the role of HRINZ has exploded on the well-known blog, Up the Down Escalator, by Richard Westney, head of HR Australasia for FNZ. The numerous, passionately expressed comments testify to the strong feelings the professional body elicits in HR professionals.
In the blog post, entitled Mind the Gap, Westney praised the burgeoning Twitter community that has sprung up around #NZLead - the brainchild of Amanda Sterling and Natasha Pieterse. “[The Tweet chat] is developing into an excellent discussion forum for HR professionals on a wide range of topics,” Westney wrote. And, he has discovered that it is an invaluable networking tool.
This community, and a recent discussion about the CIPD, the UK HR professional body, led Westney to a somewhat unfavourable comparison with HRINZ. “My sense is that HRINZ are standing still while the likes of the CIPD are really driving the future of our profession and pushing debates. Where is the innovative thinking, the white papers, the podcasts, leading the discussion about the state of the profession and where it needs to go in NZ?” he wrote.
By the time of writing, a couple of dozen professionals had left comments on Westney’s post, and the debate had spilled into Twitter, engaging an even wider, international community. Most of the commentary acknowledged the good things that HRINZ does, many comments even came from HRINZ volunteers, but many also expressed sympathy with Westney’s views.
Sterling acknowledged the passion of volunteers, but blamed the bureaucracy of the organisation for sometimes ‘stymying’ their efforts. Pieterse also praised the organisation’s volunteers, but thought that HRINZ could improve communications and work with universities to ensure that HR qualifications here matched those overseas.
Catherine Taylor, HRINZ National President, acknowledged the importance of the debate by posting four expansive comments. Taylor outlined in detail HRINZ’s recent work, but did not agree that there were significant communication problems. However, she did commit to presenting the ‘real concerns’ expressed on the blog to her organisation.
You can read more of the debate here.
