Hello PPMA members and friends

We’ve had a busy time in June supporting a range of events and we thought it would be good to share the highlights from these key events with you.

Firstly, our V.P. Karen Grave, attended an HR open day for colleagues in HM Prisons and Probations and this was a great opportunity for her to talk about the excellent work PPMA does with potential new members. This is part of our overall strategy to further cement the work Caroline Nugent is doing in building relationships with Civil Service. To add to this, Karen also has an opportunity to go and meet with HMP Business Partners in September for further discussions, and with Caroline, is looking forward to meeting Cabinet Office colleagues in September…all exciting stuff and we will of course keep you updated on the outcomes of these meetings.

On the 27th June, Caroline attended the Public Sector Show (PSS) with other PPMA colleagues. She was part of the main Workforce Panel, who talked about the implications of Brexit for public sector workforces. After the event, Adam Bergin, Head of Programmes with organisers GovNet said the Brexit panel was a great highlight of the day, and Caroline’s words on workforce played a huge part in making this such a popular session.

In addition to the Workforce Panel, Karen chaired 3 Open Theatres along with colleagues who had won PPMA awards. Jan Douglas, Deputy Director of HR&OD at oneSource talked about Productivity, Wellbeing and the role of HR & OD.  Jan said the event was really engaging – the session had a great buzz about it and it also showed that we all share the same issues regardless of organisation or sector.

Next, Neil Keeler, Group People and OD Manager at Southend on Sea Borough Council, who won two PPMA awards, spoke on Workforce Transformation. He told the audience that organisational culture is critical, ideas, thoughts and innovations can be quashed before they have even been vocalised and no organisation can afford that.

And finally, Sue Dunkley, Director of Human Resources at the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and winner of the PPMA Public Sector HRD of the year, spoke about Leadership. Sue and Bradford (and all of our award winners) certainly have a great story to share. Sue felt that the session further emphasised the need for greater collaborative working, as we are all facing more or less the same workforce issues.

All 3 of the PPMA Open Theatres were packed and it was fantastic to see that there was standing room only. The vast majority of the audiences weren’t HR&OD professionals, so it was encouraging that we were able to attract such a broad range of people. Both Caroline and Karen were delighted with how well our award winners supported the day and as always, felt privileged to represent PPMA.

These events are part of our overall marketing strategy to ensure that we have a much more visible presence across the whole of public sector. We are delighted to say that we will be supporting the PSS event in Manchester in November. Additionally, participation of PPMA Award winners will benefit them and their organisations. We hope activity like this will inspire you and other organisations to enter in the 2018 PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards, so keep your eye on our website, because we’ll be announcing those in the not too distant future.