ABP Blog
Newsletter Autumn 2009
Posted: 20/11/09You can download the Autumn newsletter in word format here
or You can download the Autumn newsletter in pdf format here
Welcome!
Welcome to the Autumn edition of the ABP’s quarterly newsletter. The nights are drawing in, the wind’s picking up, the rain is upon us but… fear not… this edition includes helpful food for thought regarding HPC regulation amongst lots of other interesting features.
Helen Watts, Editor
Your newsletter
Over the next few editions, you will be seeing the introduction of lots of new interesting features including:
- In the spotlight - interviews with random members of the ABP
- SmorgasBOARD - a platter of interesting facts about your board members
- Conference updates - read about how the conference is taking shape
- A..B..P.. - Just for fun, what else does ABP stand for?!
We’re working hard on giving you a fresh, informative newsletter and providing a voice to the members. Do you have any comments, gripes or opinions that you’d like to share with other members? All newsletter contributions are welcomed! Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
This edition’s highlights…
- Are you clued up on HPC registration? With the deadline looming for HPC registration (30th November), we give you the key facts
- What did the survey say about HPC registration?
- Fancy a light read?
- Check out the conference!
SmorgasBOARD
So, you think you know your board members? Throughout the next editions, you will be able to read more about the mixed buffet of delicacies that work hard throughout the year to represent the ABP members:
- Mark O’Sullivan (Treasurer and Chair of Finance Committee)
- Alan Redman
- Steve Whiddett
- Trisha Cochrane
- Carol Cole (Vice Chair and Chair of Standing Disciplinary Committee)
- Richard Plenty
- Peter Burton
- Stephen Benton (Chair of Membership Committee)
- Deborah Barleggs (conference co-dean)
- Jacquie Brazier (conference co-dean)
- Debbie Hance (Company Secretary and Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee)
Want to know more? In each edition, more and more will be uncovered
Special announcements
Francis Butler
You will have recently received an e-mail regarding the sad and untimely passing of our retiring Chair, Francis Butler. This news emerged as we were preparing to issue this newsletter and Francis will be greatly missed. An obituary will be included in the New Year edition and we would like to extend our sympathies to his family.
Barry Cripps
We would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that Barry Cripps has announced his retirement from the Board. Barry has decided to scale down his business commitments and to focus more on other activities – in his own words, “garden, caravan, logs and supervision are becoming priorities!” Barry has been an active and extremely valuable member of the Management Board. He was responsible for the Education Committee and has undertaken a great deal of work on the accreditation process for Masters programmes. We shall be very sorry to be losing Barry’s expertise on the Board and we hope that you will join us in extending your thanks and good wishes to Barry in his retirement and future endeavours.
“I have really enjoyed my time on the Management Board of the ABP. I feel, however, that my time is up and I’ve gone as far as I can in my service to members, so, it is with great reluctance that I bow to my feelings here and stand down. All prosperity to the ABP and to all its members. May I also be the first to wish you a happy Christmas!”
Barry Cripps
What’s new? ... ABP Conference 10th Anniversary!
Thanks to our conference team, plans for the 2010 ABP conference are now well underway and we are delighted to unveil the theme:
Business Psychology: Endless Possibilities
Next year’s conference is the 10th – its continued success lies in the unique nature of the event as being one with a real emphasis on the practical and business elements of organisational and occupational psychology.
As such, the conference appeals to a wide audience beyond business psychologists – trainers, coaches, L&D experts, change consultants from practice, organisations and public sector.
So if you know of anyone that is interested in applying psychological principles at work to get the best out of their people, do encourage them to join us at the conference in 2010.
The 2010 Conference has been designed around four main streams:
Stream 1: Psychology in Organisations - Practical psychology making a difference
Stream 2: Conversations for Change - Communicating to deliver performance
Stream 3: New Tools for New Times? - Tips, tricks and techniques
Stream 4: Developing Distinctiveness - Setting yourself apart
The ABP Conference is informal and relaxed, yet business-focused and highly relevant to both ‘real world’ problems and for those delegates keen on their own personal learning.
Past delegates have told us that they faithfully attend this conference year after year because every year they leave with at least one bright idea, nugget, technique or inspiration, or new contact which in turn leads them to doing something bigger, better, differently or new at work and in their practice.
So here are 10 reasons to attend the 10th ABP conference:
- Learning and knowledge sharing
- Great value for money
- Opportunities for networking
- Leading keynote speakers
- Practical, real life, applied solutions
- Practitioner led and focussed
- Introduction to latest theories, techniques and tools
- Great entertainment and fringe activities
- Inspiring and varied speaker streams
- Organised by professionals for professionals
Book now here!
Promote your organisation, sponsor the conference!
Would your organisation be interested in supporting the 2010 conference by being one of our Sponsors?
You have the opportunity to display, exhibit and demonstrate your products and services to the estimated 200 delegates. You can sponsor the conference in 4 ways:
Raffle prize
Donating a prize for the Gala Raffle
Entertainment
Sponsoring part of the conference entertainment (e.g. the wine on one of the evenings, the drinks reception, the magician, the Band)
Merchandise
Sponsoring a conference “give away” on which you would have your company logo and website (e.g. pens, highlighters, post it notes, bags, chocolates in the room, etc)
Take a stand
Having a stand and therefore the opportunity to network and engage with delegates at the conference.
Depending on your financial level of sponsorship you will be able to display, exhibit and demonstrate your products and services to our estimated 200 delegates.
“Three levels of sponsorship, Bronze, Silver and Gold”
Gold
Title of “Primary Sponsor for the ABP 2010 Conference”, display/demonstration space to exhibit and promote your company and services offered in our exhibition area, company logo on invitations, event programme, posters, PowerPoint welcome and interval slide for the event, option to put a leaflet about your company and services and/or promotion material i.e. pens/key rings etc in the delegate packs, company logo on the ABP website page for the event, with a link to your website, short article about your company as the Primary Sponsor in the Event Programme, option to put a short article in the ABP Quarterly newsletter, 1 free day time delegate place to attend the event and 1 free exhibitor pass.
Silver
Display/demonstration space to exhibit and promote your company and services offered in our exhibition area, company logo on invitations, event programme and posters, company logo on PowerPoint welcome and interval slide for the event, table to display promotional leaflets about your company and services, option to put own promotion material i.e. pens/key rings etc in the delegate packs, 1 free exhibitor pass.
Bronze
Company logo on event programme and posters, table to display promotional leaflets about your company and services, company name and details mentioned at the Really Useful Raffle/on/next to the item being sponsored.
If your organisation is interested in sponsoring the conference and would like to get more information about the available options, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 01737 555 862.
Feature: HPC Registration update
By Debbie Hance, Francis Butler and Mark O’Sullivan
Many of you will have recently received your HPC registration pack and an invoice for a rather hefty £120 (this will increase to £156 when the next two years are due, since we are currently benefiting from a pro-rata rate). Judging by the number of queries coming our way, we think that the transfer of the regulatory reins from the BPS to the HPC in July has caused concern and confusion around the use of titles, the value of HPC membership to practising business psychologists and what this all means, in real terms, for us as a profession (see HPC survey results). With the deadline looming for HPC registration (30th November), we have decided to use this edition to present you with the key facts and issues surrounding HPC registration.
Key facts
Registered Psychologist and Occupational Psychologist will be regulated titles, so can only be used if you are registered with HPC. So, for those of you who are already fully qualified and registered with the BPS as Chartered Occupational Psychologists and who have also paid for registration with the HPC under the transfer terms – you may continue to use the title Chartered Occupational Psychologist. However, if you are retaining your BPS membership but have decided not to sign up with the HPC, you can call yourself a Chartered Psychologist (but without the ‘Occupational’). While if you’ve signed up with the HPC and have given up on the BPS, you can call yourself an Occupational Psychologist (but without the ‘Chartered’). Other terms, such as “Organisational Psychologist”, “Work Psychologist” or “Business Psychologist”, may still be used freely, without registration with anyone. However, we need to be wary of both HPC and BPS future intentions – both bodies have clearly stated that they feel all psychology titles and specialisms should be regulated, so it may be just a matter of time.
It is worth noting, however, that, for the next 3 years the HPC will have a grandparenting route in place (starting from July 2009). This will allow those who have not completed the BPS Chartership process to gain registered status. While that process is open, the HPC have confirmed that they effectively can’t restrict the use of titles. This means that if you are already a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, you could continue to call yourself one, without being registered with the HPC, until July 2012. At this point you will need to decide what you want to call yourself as you will need to be registered with the HPC if you want to continue to use the titles Occupational Psychologist, Registered Psychologist or Practitioner Psychologist. The BPS believe that the title Chartered Psychologist will remain the professional gold standard and think that many public sector contracts will require either Occupational Psychologists (i.e., you will have to be registered with the HPC), Chartered Psychologists (i.e., you will have to be a current BPS member), or both (?).
We suspect this may represent a misunderstanding regarding how clients see the occupational psychology profession. Except in the case of certain specialist functions used almost exclusively by a few public sector bodies such as DWP and CSSB, even the most elaborate tendering procedure is likely to see only a small part of the work of most business psychologists as restricted to people described as “psychologists”. Much of it will in practice also be open to HR and general management consultancies, and cannot be restricted to those registered with the BPS or HPC. For the moment, it is unclear that any organisations will demand that you are registered with either or both when tendering for work, and if this does happen it is difficult to predict which one will carry more weight and value in the future. If you work for, or provide consultancy services to, large organisations and have any comments on this issue, we would very much like to hear from you. You can either join our discussion thread on LinkedIn or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Feature: To HPC or not to HPC?
By Trisha Cochrane
“Covering my arse until the dust settles” was a quote summing up many of your feelings concerning HPC registration in our recent survey exploring the question “to HPC or not to HPC?”.
We had 167 responses (thank you), of whom 69% were Chartered Occupational Psychologists. The majority (71%) of this population have opted to stay with the BPS and register with the HPC, meaning that you can continue to use the Chartered title as well as officially describe yourselves as Occupational Psychologists. The BPS is still important to nearly all of you, with both positive and negative comments pertaining to its value. However, very few of you indeed had anything positive to say about the value of HPC registration and there were some strongly-held views in this respect.
This picture is somewhat different to that gained from the ABP membership survey carried out earlier this year (ie before the reality of HPC registration had hit home), where 44% of you were planning to register with the HPC, 22% definitely not, and 35% still undecided.
BPS+HPC
When asked why you made your decision, 40% of the ‘BPS+HPC’ category cited reasons succinctly covered by the quote at the beginning of this article; keeping your options open, waiting to see if employers/clients demanded it, and minimising future risk were important issues.
20% also mentioned that you wanted to maximise your professional standing and credibility (“I only get half of what I need from each, so both makes sense”), and 15 per cent in order to retain your professional titles (“I worked hard to become Chartered”).
17% specifically mentioned the importance of BPS membership. For example, “I value their learning and development activities and conferences”; “BPS offers a huge amount compared to the HPC in terms of my learning and status with clients as a Chartered Psychologist”; “I’ve stayed with the BPS because (unlike HPC) it contributes to my CPD rather than merely making me tick boxes to prove I’m still learning”.
Other comments related to thinking that registration was mandatory or that public sector clients may require it.
BPS Only
The 16% of Chartered Occupational Psychologists who have decided not to register for the HPC felt that it was too expensive or of no value. 50% mentioned that the health/clinical orientation of the HPC was simply irrelevant. “The HPC appears to be irrelevant for occupational psychology. The fiasco with the protection of titles means I can remain a ‘chartered psychologist’ or call myself a business psychologist without needing to pay the HPC for their services (whatever they might be – it’s unclear what value I would gain from joining them beyond the title ‘occupational psychologist’ and CPD - which I can do myself).”
“I don’t consider myself a health practitioner and most clinical psychologists working in the NHS haven’t bothered to become chartered or signed up to a practising certificate - and the NHS isn’t bothered either - so what’s the point?”
HPC only
There were no responses in this category, although one respondent indicated this was their likely path, saying: “The BPS is more general and services are not as good as CIPD for work psychologists, although the DOP conference is still useful. Since they no longer can be said to control professional competencies for Occupational Psychologists they could become an irrelevance. Chartership could become redundant as the HPC will eventually set its own requirements for registrations.”
If you don’t join the HPC, what are you going to call yourselves?
You mentioned a range of titles, with two thirds going for Business Psychologist. Others were simply Chartered Psychologist, Work Psychologist, or Organisational Psychologist. A number of you regularly use different titles depending on your work situation. For example: “Business Psychologist in the UK and WOP when I work in Europe”.
Even some of you who are joining the HPC suggested that you would not be using the protected titles: “Although signing up, I’ll still use Business Psychologist or C.Psychol unless in a specific situation where the protected title would be better for a mix of possible reasons.” “Despite registering, I have changed my title to ‘Work & Organisational Psychologist’.” And finally, “I don’t see it as a big deal as even though ‘professionally qualified’, I rarely use the C.Psychol tag as I find my clients are interested in ‘what it does, not what it is’.”
Dazed and confused
A number of you were still unclear as to the implications of HPC registration and we hope that this issue of the newsletter has helped to clarify things somewhat.
Finally, my apologies to those Chartered Psychologists who are not Occupational – I designed the survey very quickly, forgetting to ask for your views specifically. But thank you for pointing this out (!) and responding anyway; your comments were very much in line with others’. Some of you are applying, through the grandparenting process, to be registered Occupational Psychologists with the HPC, whether you are Chartered or not. In fact, at least one respondent noted that, “I have applied for HPC registration through the grandparenting route as a practical and more realistic alternative. Occupational psychology is not an academic discipline but a pragmatic and practical profession”.
Trisha Cochrane
Jobbing Psychologist (with thanks to a friend who recently coined this new title)
ABP Marketing & Communications Committee
Book review
By Peter Burton
Clever: leading your smartest, most creative people
by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones
“How do you lead people who don’t want to be managed? That is the question. People may object to who the leader is, but they do want leadership from someone they respect.” So said one of the many business leaders the authors interviewed for this book.
Given the prominence of ‘employee engagement’ in the leadership discourse at the moment, this book is very timely. Although dealing specifically with the leadership of ‘clever’ people, defined here as highly talented individuals with the potential to create disproportionate amounts of value from the resources that the organisation makes available to them, the leadership style it advocates is broadly applicable to a much wider range of employees whom organisations want to engage and retain. It deserves to be widely read by leaders and by the business psychologists who advise them.
At the risk of oversimplifying the book’s very thorough analysis of what makes ‘clevers’ tick, and how leaders should respond, I believe a few basic principles emerge from the multitude of case studies the authors have included: respect for individuals; confidence and trust in them; recognition of their achievements; the need for the organisation as far as possible to adapt to their needs; protecting them from ‘organisational rain’ (excessive bureaucracy); openness, authenticity and humility on the part of management. For those who think this is a recipe for anarchy, the authors emphasise the need for organisational structure and discipline, and the maintenance of high standards. They also warn that ‘clevers’ have the potential for causing disproportionate disruption and may take delight in opposition for its own sake.
It could be argued that much of the book’s content is old wine in new bottles, but in view of the prevalence of my way or the highway management attitudes, a recapitulation in a single volume of what is needed to keep and get best value from people is a valuable contribution to the management literature. Read it, whether or not you think your people are ‘clevers’. You might be surprised.
Peter Burton
St Albans
October 2009
In the news
By Helen Watts
What’s hot in the world of HR and business? I’ve trawled through various newspapers and websites in order to bring to you a selection of news stories which I believe will be of interest to you.
- Strikes: the psychological impact on non-striking staff
- Unite members vote to strike at Fujitsu
- EHRC probes claims ethnic minority staff were asked to join BNP
- Employees cost business £1.3 billion in personal social networking… whilst we’re on the subject, have you joined the ABP’s Facebook groupyet?
- .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
- Employers expect legal disputes to soar next year
- Dell female middle managers to mentor their male colleagues
- BA union in strike poll deadline
- UK factory activity sees big rise
What’s hot in the world of psychometrics? Selected articles from Assessment and Development Matters (formerly Selection and Development Review) are listed below.
Derailers and personality
Structure of Work Effectiveness as measured through Saville Consulting Wave
Level A CPD!
Did you know that next year the Level A qualification is being revised? There will be a number of new competencies and standards that everyone undergoing Level A training will have to meet in order to achieve qualification. The BPS Psychological Testing Centre inform me that next year there will be a public register of Level A holders. Whilst current Level A holders will be grandparented onto it, they will need to maintain a record of CPD ensuring their Level A skills and knowledge are kept up to date. To help kick off this CPD, TPS Developing Organisations, is providing non-profit Level A refresher training, in Birmingham on Dec 2nd and in London on Dec 10th. Click here for more information. Places are getting booked already. Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) pronto to secure your place.
A…B…P…?
By Helen Watts
Each edition, we want to broaden your essential commercial awareness by introducing you to completely random, yet interesting, fellow ‘A.B.P.’ organisations! This edition… we introduce… Autograph ABP. Autograph ABP is a charity that works internationally to educate the public in photography, with a particular emphasis on issues of cultural identity and human rights. Check out their website! www.autograph-abp.co.uk
Each edition, I also want to introduce you to my geeky world, presenting gadgets which I think you will find useful…or at least good fun. This edition… I’d like you to consider the USB Sim and Card Reader, a great gadget which amalgamates all your removable storage cards, so you can back up all your camera files etc, but also vital files from your phone on your SIM card.
Upcoming events
Women As Leaders: A one-day conference*
- The Graduate Centre, The London Metropolitan University, Wednesday 2nd December, 2009
This one day conference brings together some expertise from both academic and practitioner backgrounds. All the speakers have a particular ‘slant’ on the issues surrounding the leadership role(s) that women play or are allowed to play within traditional organisations.
Who will be speaking?
Dr. Ruth Sealy from Cranfield Business School will outline the results of years of research into the reasons behind the skew in the gender ratio in Boardrooms, Professor Malcolm Higgs from Southampton University will present his recent studies into the narcissistic nature of male leadership in businesses, Pauline Crawford, Richard Bellars, Dr. Pete Jones will talk about Implicit Attitude Theory and run a workshop to demonstrate how the specialist software can be used to identify gender stereotyping in organisations.
What’s the programme?
09.30 - Registration and coffee
10.00 - Welcome
The Importance of Organizations
Nigel Marlow
10.15 - Glass Tumbler
Dr. Ruth Sealy
11.00 - Break
11.15 - Pathology in the Boardroom
Professor Malcolm Higgs
12.15 - Lunch
Experiencing IAT
14.00 - Richard Bellars
15.00 - Break
15.15 - Gender ‘Politiks’
Pauline Crawford
16.00 - Implicit Attitude Theory
Dr. Pete Jones
17.00 - Vin d’Honeur et canapés
Inclusive fee: £115.00
Booking details: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
* This is a non-ABP event
The benefits of being an ABP member!
Are you taking advantage of your ABP membership benefits? …
• Right to refer to oneself as a Member/Principal Member of the Association of Business Psychologists
• Use of the ABP logo on stationery and website
• Access to extensive presentation resources from previous Events and Conferences
• Opportunity to host events that showcase the member’s own services, insights or specialist approaches to business psychology
• Opportunity to attend events free or at a reduced cost, to support you in your CPD
Remember… ALL members benefit from…
• Networking opportunities with other members including the opportunity to meet with and work with members on subcommittees to help develop the profession of business psychology
• Right to form or join existing branches, in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, The Midlands and the North
• Opportunity to form or join Special Interest Groups e.g. Business Leaders group
• Attendance at the acclaimed Members Only Annual Conference
• Advance access to online jobs listings
• Mentoring services for new and junior members
• Continuing Professional Development – access to CPD activities & training courses
• The seasonal e-newsletter, full of interesting and useful features
New services coming soon! ...
• Placement of a personal business link on the links page of the public website
• Access to the Members’ Area of the ABP website and Association information
• Access to the Members’ Area Jobs and Opportunities page
• The right, by Principal Members, to place their expertise information, email and website links on the Find a Psychologist service
• Access to the ABP Message Board
Not yet a member? Join us!
Being a member of the Association of Business Psychologists brings a host of benefits and applying is simple. To join as a full ABP member you should be a person who either manages, is partner in, or employed in, a business providing psychological services to business or the public sector. Alternatively, you maybe employed as a psychologist in a relevant capacity (e.g. in HR) in a business or in the public sector. We also offer affiliate membership. Go to the membership levels page to find out the full requirements. The subscription for all categories of membership is the same - £30 plus VAT. This is great value for money, and low in comparison with other professional membership organisations. To apply to join the ABP please go to the join us page.
Facebook!
Why not join our new facebook group, a chance for members to network, socialise, and share any ABP thoughts and comments!