Change Management Top “HR Skill for Survival”

The well known UK based Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) conducted an online poll among its HR community to determine the most important “HR skills for survival”. More precisely, the respondents were asked to chose three competencies they believed were most important to establish the function's effectiveness and credibility in the organisation. The following results came out:
1. Effective management of change (46%)
2. Strategic thinking (44%)
3. Business knowledge (36%)

I am not surprised to see those 3 items on top of the list but, I have to say, am a little surprised to see change management coming out as number 1. This does however fit quite well with IBM’s Enterprise of the Future survey which key finding shows that businesses are being “bombarded by change”. HR managers will typically find themselves in the middle of the battlefield, trying to keep the link between ground troops and generals, sometimes a very difficult challenge during significant change initiatives.
More details about the survey here on the CIPD website.