Editorial: Concentrate on improving HR talent

Nurturing leaders, a massive breakthrough in female leadership, compulsory innovation, HR thriving through chief knowledge officers and the death of corporate bullshit - okay, we may not have got it all right in our longing for a better workplace but we didn't imagine at the turn of the next decade we would have seen such little progress in some of these areas.

Neither did we expect to be stumbling into 2010 after a bruising year of cuts, freezes, labour battles and threats of a talent drain. And that's just in the private sector. The sheer magnitude of government debt - the number of zeros (12) even larger than those in a banker's bonus - means the public sector has it all still to come.

In my mind two people are inextricably linked with the HR excess of 2009 and its ambition for 2010. RBS's Neil Roden became HR's personification of the financial collapse. Despite countrywide outcry over bonuses, he argues that HR strategy cannot be blamed for the City crisis, rather that it has a critical role to play in its recovery (p7).

Meanwhile, CIPD CEO Jackie Orme had her own annus horriblis when news of her bonus coincided with pay freezes and redundancies at the association. Columnist Richard Donkin is one critic, calling it "double standards" and asking where the CIPD's conscience is (p20). But the continuing vitriol threatens to undermine the important and relevant work Orme is spearheading (p34). We need to move on this year and concentrate on improving HR talent and creating the behaviours and insight needed to add value to business.

Aware that we too need to add value, this month we unveil a brand new columnist and series. Will Hutton is well-known in his role as executive vice chair of the Work Foundation and will be sharing his strong views on the world of work (p19). HR Vision, meanwhile, is a cross-platform series focusing on new thinking in key areas of HR (p7, 49). As well as a monthly feature you can watch leading practitioners and thinkers debating the subjects on www.hrvision.tv.

- Email sian.harrington@haymarket.com