CIPD Centenary Year Success at the DMS Ireland Awards 2013

CIPD Centenary Year Success at the DMS Ireland Awards 2013

This year’s Awards event was an extra special occasion as the Human Resource & Development profession celebrated 100 years of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).  Karen McMillan, CIPD Director of Market Development for the UK attended the Awards and congratulated everyone attending.  “What a year to land your graduation, the CIPD’s Centenary year, standing here on the closure of one century of the CIPD and facing off into the next.  We now have 134,000 members and as a group of professionals, we’ve collectively come a long way.  There has never been a more exciting time to be in HR and L&D and people like you who have chosen this profession as your career clearly agree.”

This year DMS Ireland were pleased to announce that 98 candidates successfully completed CIPD Qualifications in the past year, 46 of whom had their achievements recognised at the annual awards event which was held this year at the Culloden Hotel, Belfast on 14^th November, with principal Sponsor for 2013, Investors in People Northern Ireland.

Lynn Carson, Managing Director of DMS Ireland addressed the 245 strong audience, “for those of you who have successfully achieved your professional recognition, it is special in that you have reached your goals and we, DMS Ireland, have had a contribution in helping you to achieve those goals.

Lynn then added, “we continue to provide flexible work-based qualifications, encouraging reflective practice and in turn, embedding continuous improvement for the individual and the organisation.  The candidate is encouraged to make recommendations and feedback to the organisation so that it too will benefit from the qualification in terms of added value.  We are constantly encouraging our candidates to align with the business, this is vital going forward.”

Lynn then highlighted that in a recent CIPD survey, it highlighted that business priorities are changing over the next three years with innovation and technology deployment becoming a key focus of attention and what HR will be focusing on to achieve these business priorities.  The five insights which emerged and that HR need to act on, Lynn concluded, are:

• “building better relationships and being visible;
•   demonstrating credibility;
•   keeping talent high on the agenda;
•   seeing the economic climate as an opportunity; and
•   building the future leadership capability of HR.” Karen McMillan of CIPD reinforced the key points made by Lynn and further commented:  “These are times of great opportunity for the profession.”  Asking the audience for three things, Karen added:  “With opportunity comes responsibility and you should:

• Build on your own professionalism and the professionalism of others around you.  Being qualified is great, continuing to keep yourself professional is better and is what will make you exceptional.
• Give young people a chance whenever you can as one in four people in Northern Ireland are unemployed.
• Play your part in boosting the standard and impact of our profession, by ensuring the organisations you come into contact with are demanding great HR and importantly, that you retain the confidence and the courage to call it out when you don’t see it.  There’s never been a greater need for great HR but it’s equally never been under the level of scrutiny it now is.  How we lead our businesses to operate ethically and sustainably is critical to how our profession will prosper.” 

The presentation of certificates was an exciting and rewarding occasion for candidates to receive recognition on achieving their CIPD qualification.  There were also Special Awards presented on the night to recognise outstanding achievement.  Prior to announcing the Special Award Winners, Eric Jenkinson, of Jenkinson Consulting, addressed the audience on behalf of Investors in People (IiP) Northern Ireland, the Principal Sponsor, as an IiP Gold and Champion Organisation to promote benefits of becoming an IiP centre and the value of having such a prestigious award for the organisation and its people.The winners of the Special Awards are outlined below:

• Special Award for Professional Assessment of Competence Programme, sponsored by University of Ulster Business School and presented by Jeanette Harrison:Winner:  Sharon Quail of Bombardier Aerospace.
• Special Award for Foundation Qualifications, sponsored by JL Grant and presented by Lowry Grant.  Winner:  Emma Fell of Shared Services Centre, Arvato, Swansea.
• Special Award for Intermediate Qualifications, sponsored by JL Grant and presented by Lowry Grant.  Winner:  Jenny Hodgen of NACCO Materials Handling Ltd.
• Special Award for Advanced Employment Law, sponsored by Pinsent Masons and presented by Paul Gillen.  Winner:  Jane Robb of The Labour Relations Agency.
• Special Award for Advanced Qualifications, sponsored by Investors in People Northern Ireland and presented by Shauna Mullan, IiP Centre Manager.Winner:  Andrew Cartin of Belfast City Council.
• Advanced Diploma Special Recognition for achieving a Distinction in the Leading, Managing and Developing People Exam (top 7% result in the UK), presented to Aaron Bohan of With Taste, Dublin.
• Candidate of the Year Award, Sponsored by Investors in People Northern Ireland and presented by Shauna Mullan, IiP Centre Manager.  Winner:   Janice Irvine of Tata Steel.

In line with the CIPD Centenary year, DMS Ireland introduced two new Award categories which were open to past and present candidates/clients of DMS Ireland to apply:  The HR Professional of the Year, awarded to the individual who could demonstrate the ability to improve efficiency and effectiveness towards the implementation of specific HR or Learning & Development initiatives; The Creativity & Innovation in HR Company Award,  presented to the organisation that could demonstrate an ability to conceptualise and implement innovative HR practices that address the issues of people management and development.

The award submissions were judged by Donna Parker, Regional Manager of Diamond Recruitment Group, Sponsors of the two new Awards and Therese McKernan, formally Co-Director of HR for Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and currently associate with the HSC Leadership Centre and HR Consultant.The four finalists for the Creativity & Innovation in HR Company Award were:

• Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
• South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust
• Cookstown District Council
• Land and Property Services

The winner was able to provide details of a strategic project focused on the development and implementation of a formal clinical supervision model, including the introduction of 30 clinical support officers who are making a significant contribution in terms of supervision of frontline staff, the clinical governance agenda and meeting professional and regulatory body requirements.  The winner of the Award was Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

The three finalists for the HR Professional of the Year Award were:

• Kathryn Clarke, Department for Agriculture and Rural Development
• Marissa Canavan, Cookstown District Council
• Fred Greer, Wrightbus

The winner had had a lead role in the design, planning and implementation of Core Competency Training within the organisation.  The project included the definition of competency areas as well as design of physical resources and training programme delivery.  The project has provided ‘real’ and ‘tangible’ benefits for the organisation.  The winner of the Award was Fred Greer of Wrightbus.

Closing the evening, Malcolm Davey of DMS Ireland thanked the organisations who helped make the Awards night a great success.  Making a further note of thanks was Therese McKernan, a judge on the Awards panel and past candidate of DMS Ireland.  Therese paid tribute to the drive and leadership shown by Lynn Carson, Managing Director of DMS Ireland and the lengths that Lynn has gone to in making both colleagues and candidates achieve their goals.

The evening was then topped off by the audience giving Lynn a standing ovation in recognition of the work that she puts in at DMS Ireland. 

Sponsors of the DMS awards 2013 included:  Investors in People Northern Ireland (Principal Sponsor), Diamond Recruitment Group, Pinsent Masons, JL Grant, University of Ulster Business School, JL Grant, CareCall, Morrow IT Solutions and Peninsula Business Services.  DMS Ireland would like to take this opportunity in thanking our sponsors in supporting us this year and would encourage you to make contact with them to avail of their services.