For a professional, they are noted to exercise their possessed knowledge, skills and behaviours in execution of their assigned roles (Cruess et al., 2019). For success of a professional in their sector, they must demonstrate good standing, continuous development and proficient usage of skills. According to CIPD (2017), to differentiate a professional from the rest, they are good in their art and work for optimum gain of others. In the modern digital and era of information, being a people professional is both thrilling and characterised with multiple opportunities. Apart from only working for the benefit of an organisation, they also ensure that community development is achieved. This is the case from the appropriate working environment developed, growth and development and management of issues with human relations.

Professional Behaviours are;

~~Ethical Assessment~~– In CIPD HR Professional Map, ethics are identified as a major behaviour in modern organisations (CIPD, 2024). The behaviour is manifested through an embrace of high-level confidential, just-based practice and putting into account of personalised and organisation/corporate culture. The rationale of this is that any action is ethical based and holistic for the professionals success in their functions. The use of ethical-based judgement is important to make sure professional-based conduct scope past following the guidelines as core area of profession.

~~Building Relationships~~– As part of enhancing collaboration, strong relations are supposed to be initiated (Castañer & Oliveira, 2020). By professionals initiating stronger, sustainable links in workplace entail broad capacity including detailed communication, listening actively and appreciating varying points of view. This has also a positive implication in enhancing the scope of effectiveness of decision making by different engaged stakeholders.

Professional Activities are;

~~Change Management~~– A major activity of the people practice professionals is successfully managing change (CIPD, 2023). This is in their responsibility as strategic organisation partners in CIPD HR Professional Map. The success of this is integrating strategic thinking process, being empathetic and resilient. Their role in change management is hence broad and transcend past simplistic recommendation of the change process. According to Roels and Staats (2021), the strategy is people-centric and enhance how they are adaptable and resilient.

~~Learning and Development (L&D)~~– Considering provisions in CIPD HR Professional Map, people professionals are both curious learners and influencing others. As a best practice, pursuing different L&D strategies elicit ability to acquire appropriate insights for the organisations success. There are different learners-centric strategies put in place with optimum development attained (Naim, 2022). It is hence a people practice professional to harness the process by ensuring there is a continuous-based growth and development process.

People Professional- A people professional is someone who is dedicated to positively impacting an organisation through mentoring, developing, and caring for employees as evidenced by CIPD, (2020). They focus on cultural excellence, engagement, and workplace well-being. A people professional ensures legal compliance while also motivating teams and individuals to excel. Through clear communication and empathy, a people professional aims to bring out the best in others and help the company and its workers achieve their fullest potential.

People Professional Activities

A people professional focuses on activities that cultivate the workforce and enhance the employee experience. Firstly, they oversee recruitment and hiring efforts to identify and attract the best talent that aligns with the company culture and business needs (Ghodasara, 2023). Secondly, they manage training and development programs to ensure employees have opportunities to continuously learn new skills and advance their careers. People professionals work closely with managers to identify training topics that will benefit both individuals and teams.

Thirdly, they lead initiatives surrounding employee engagement, well-being, and inclusion. This involves facilitating feedback surveys, organising team bonding activities, administering recognition programs, and fostering a respectful environment where all staff feel valued and empowered (Osborne and Hammoud, 2017). Through these efforts, people professionals play a pivotal role in building a high-performing and satisfied workforce.

Core Behaviours

Three core behaviors from the CIPD profession map that are important for people professionals are ethical practice, valuing people, and Professional courage and influence.

Ethical practice- As a people professional, behaving ethically builds trust with employees. It involves keeping information private, treating all staff fairly and impartially, and avoiding conflicts of interest (CIPD, 2023). This reassures employees that their well-being and rights are the top priority.

Professional courage and influence- Having the courage to challenge inappropriate behaviors or processes constructively helps evolve the organisation’s culture for the better. It takes influence to enact positive change, which strengthens the professional’s leadership abilities and impact on achieving business goals.

Valuing people- Appreciating diversity and advocating for inclusion fosters a supportive environment where all staff can feel respected and contribute freely (CIPD, 2023). It ensures the organisation draws on a variety of perspectives to solve problems and drive innovation. Employees are more engaged when they feel valued for who they are.

Consequences– If people professionals do not act ethically show courage to challenge when needed, or value diversity, it can erode trust in their leadership and credibility (Bosley, 2023). As a result, employees may feel apprehensive about raising concerns and less empowered to contribute their best work. Without exemplifying core professional behaviors, organisations risk losing talent and lack avenues for progress.

1.2 Ethical values application

For people practice professionals, appreciation and adhering to ethical values is core as it enhance people and corporate/organisation operations effectively (CIPD, 2023a).

It is important for people professionals to behave in line with ethical values such as honesty, fairness and valuing others because it builds trust and credibility. When people professionals are honest and transparent in their communications and decision making, it reassures employees that they will be treated fairly as evidenced by Jha (2024). This encourages employees to be open as well and raise any issues or concerns without fear of retaliation. It also sets a good example for other organisational members to emulate. Ethical conduct further strengthens the people professional’s leadership and positively impacts culture change. It helps organisations retain talent and maintain high standards of conduct to achieve their overall goals.

Personal and Ethical Values Examples

Honesty– Working as a people practice professional, being honest define openness and dialoguing truthfully with others. Amidst challenging situations in my current organisation, there often occurrences which demand an active conversation and maintaining open-based engagement.

In my operation as a people practice professional, in 2023, there was an issue with failure of sales and marketing department to achieve their assigned functions. From the outcomes of performance review, areas for their improvement was identified and recommended.

In 2022 after COVID-19 pandemic emerged, I was forced to come up with a decision to make some of the employees redundant. I demonstrated my sympathy to the impacted staff and openly affirmed on financial implication of the redundancy decision which resulted. I engaged all stakeholders in active decision making with open-based engagement leading to honest-based outcome.

Fairness– In my function as a people practice professional, fairness in all my undertaking is essential for my success. Similar to Khair et al. (2020), this entail not being impartial or favouring any person. In area of career development, I make sure that the employees can ascend to higher and better job placements in the organisation. This is with successful connections initiated for contentment in their job roles. I am able to achieve this by enhancing an organisation practice informed by varying viewpoints and prioritised. In decision making, fairness in assessment of issues at hand in an impartial manner and evaluating its implication to all players is important. To handle the likely disagreements emerging, being objective is essential to resolve conflicts equally and harmoniously.

Application in People Practice

In my role working as people practice professional, this is based on being just and honest. The need for this is having an open-based conversation and trust-based insights. The outcome of this is embracing moral values which guide an effective decision making. According to Keashly et al. (2020), to achieve effective conflict resolution, morally and ethically exercising my roles is core. This improve effectiveness of making decisions, interpersonalised operations and human characteristics rather than hypothetically implementing the process.

1.3 Importance of people professionals

Please click the following icon to access this assessment in full