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1The CIPD Profession Map was originally launched in 2009 at the CIPD HRD Conference to set the standards within HR. According to the speech of chief executive of CIPD, Jackie Orme, “The HR profession is changing. More will be required of the HR professional of the future, and today’s practitioners need to be equipped with the capabilities to meet these demands” (Woods 2009).

All these standards and competences have been designed through cooperation with HR specialists, academics, business leaders and their organizations describing the requirements for the HR professional development and increasing HR value at the organizational level. The map covers 10 professional areas and 8 behaviours at 4 different bands of competencies. (as demonstrated in the figure below).The professional areasReferring to the definition given by CIPD, “The professional areas describe what you need to do (activities) and what you need to know (knowledge) for each area of the HR profession”.

(CIPD 2013, pg 5). On the figure it is shown that there are 2 core Human Resources areas (“Insights, Strategy and Solutions” and “Leading HR”) which are described at the center of the map. These areas are applicable for all HR roles in all sectors regardless organization type, location and etc.

• “Insights, Strategy and Solutions” area enhances understanding of organisation type and helps to create strategy and solutions to meet business requirements /• “Leading HR” area plays a main role in extension of HR impact at all organizational levels by developing and supporting others through administration practices.There are also 8 specialist professional areas shown on the CIPD Profession Map. These professional areas show knowledge and skills needed for HR practitioner to support HR activities.• Organisation design• Organisation development• Resourcing and talent planning• Learning and talent development • Performance and reward • Employee engagement• Employee relations• Service delivery and informationThe behavioursBelow 8 behaviours give detailed explanation how HR professional should perform his duties:• Curious – future oriented and looking for innovations;• Decisive thinker – correct evaluation of the available data and capability to convert information through the best way to achieve a target; • Skilled influencer – influencing and persuading people to get required the necessary commitment and support from diverse stakeholders in pursuit to gain organisation value;• Personally credible – building and keeping profitable relationship to bring value to the organization and its stakeholders;• Collaborative – working in a team effectively to achieve team results;• Driven to deliver – correct and punctual application of the work instructions and standards;• Courage to challenge – capability to demonstrate self-confidence while handling with complex problem and facing with others circumstances;• Role model – consistently leads by example, act with a transparency and sincerity in line with organisational standards.BandsThe ten professional areas are divided into four different bands with various levels of responsibilities and the hierarchy of the profession (as described in the below table):Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4Delivering fundamentals and client support Advising and managing HR issues Dealing with HR challenges at organizational level Developing the organizational and HR strategy1.2 I am working as Training Specialist in Human Resources department. With reference to my position, currently I see myself at Band 1 at “Learning and talent development” professional area.

HR Specialist working at “Learning and talent development” area should ensure the development of the organisation resources through the creation of training activities which meet both individual and business requirements. Within this area HR practitioner requires knowledge of effective methodologies for planning, delivery and evaluation of training activities. Also HR specialists should have a good understanding of business type, sector of operations and internal and external factors which impact the business.By applying the CPD Map, I would consider the below behaviours required for the future development within my HR/L&D role.? Curious – This ability helps to collect all needed information and data and apply to learning and development activities. Additionally, it is important to practice innovative solutions to develop training programs (ex. improving distance learning tools). ? Decisive thinker – This behaviour is required to analyze and identify training needs of personnel and operation requirements to set individual training plans and training matrices.

? Driven to deliver – It is another behavioural strength necessary to arrange all training activities in timely manner to meet all project, client, organisational and legislation requirements.In my working role, I have to work with the employees at all organizational levels and cooperate in a team to achieve target results as well as build a network of relationships. It is important to be well organized, have good analytical, communicational and leadership skills.An effective L/D practitioner should ensure that the required person gets required skills and competencies within allocated time frame to meet organisational needs. 2.1 As a service department, HR deals with various customers (both external and internal). There are three main customers of HR department:• Current employees – one of the employees’ needs is to receive appropriate training and development plans in line of his professional role within the company.

HR/L&D practitioner is responsible to implement balanced training and development programs based on an employee’s performance and skill evaluations. • Managers – one of managers’ needs is to have qualified and competent personnel able to perform their activities in an effective and timely manner to achieve business targets. HR/L&D practitioner is required to monitor employees’ performance, have a clear vision of the workforce, and proceed with required training arrangements in time. • Future employees – need to participate in a fair recruiting program having a clear vision of applied job. Effective HR/L&D practitioner should establish right recruitment system, collect and sort necessary employee data (CVs, candidates’ available certifications).

Taking into account different requirements, customer needs may be conflicting sometimes. For instance, the managers’ need to involve the employees with the specific certification may be conflicting with the lack of required certification of the current employees due to workload of latter. In such situations, HR should support the organisation to achieve targets in time and ensure the employees satisfaction.

Precisely for our case, it would be recommended to ease employees’ workload by replacing them for the training period and allowing taking the required certification, which, in turn, will meet both users’ needs.The best way to prioritise needs is to be focused on an importance and urgency of the needs, hence, identifying the needs to be done first regardless the level of customers, and to be concentrated on the results, which will eventually impact on the organisation’s needs. HR/L&D practitioner should be flexible and patient while solving customer needs and be able to respond in the required time frame. 2.2 Communication is the process of sending / receiving information that allows people to share and exchange opinions. Effective communication is more than sharing information. Rather than that, it ensures that the required message is successfully delivered, received and understood.Communication plays a key role within Human Resources department.

Effective two-way communication through HR internal channels impacts on personnel morale, productivity and employee engagement. HR specialists have to ensure clear and timely communication between employees within the organisation. There are three categories of communication:Verbal Communication – face-to-face conversations, telephone calls, trainings, meetings, etc.Advantages DisadvantagesDirect Not documented / recordedProvide immediate feedback Shared information may be forgottenAllow for exchange of opinions Jargons / dialects may be poorly understoodWritten Communication – emails, reports, documents, minutes of meeting, policies, etc.Advantages DisadvantagesDocumented / recorded May not be readWide distribution list Does not provide immediate feedbackCan be written carefully Language barriersNon-verbal (graphic) Communication – posters, banners, and social media channels, etc.Advantages DisadvantagesQuick to interpret May not be looked atEye-catching Symbols may be unknownVisual No feedback2.

3 HR deals with various services both internal and external. Due to fact that HR is involved at several areas such as training and development, recruitment, performance and reward, HR function should be proactive, innovative and responsive. As Mark Souter, HR Product Sales Lead at ServiceNow, explains that “HR service delivery is a perfect way to make a truly meaningful impact to the future of your business” (Souter 2017). Below are some key components for effective service delivery.? Delivering service on time – all HR services should be delivered within the agreed time frame to avoid conflicts. It can be achieved by correct planning of workload and identifying priorities. ? Delivering service on budget – can be achieved as a result of effective collaboration with Finance department. HR should keep records of allocated and spent budget and report it accordingly.

? Dealing with difficult customers – requires effective communication at all levels. HR/L&D practitioners need to stay calm, non-defensive, try to find compromise and respond in line with organizational policies and procedures. ? Handling and resolving complaints – all complaints should be reviewed and discussed in time, the customer should receive prompt and clear feedback. HR/L&D practitioners should ensure confidentiality and be proactive.

It could be achieved by good communication channels to discuss and resolve the problem or difficult situation at the early stages before the conflict occurs.