http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115582:cipm-is-going-places-&catid=105:saturday-magazine&Itemid=566
'CIPM Is Going Places'
Mr. Popoola, Lagos, Nigeria:
The three-year tenure of the outgoing President of the Chartered Institute Of Personnel Management (CIPM), Popoola, ends on March 26. A Human Resources consultant, Popoola speaks with DELE FANIMO on his achievements and the aspirations of the institute.
HOW has it been these past three years as the president and chairman of council?
I was elected the President of the institute at our AGM in 2010. Whoever is the national president is also the chairman of the council. The council is the apex body in charge of the Institute. So, rather than how it has been for me, I prefer how it has been for us these three years because leadership is a collective thing.
It has been a wonderful time to the extent that we had outlined what we hoped to achieve.The Institute being a professional one, every three to four years, we have a retreat to review our strategy. We look at what we have done in the past period, what is the context of the environment, and what do we see as the key ways forward for the future. In this retreat, we define what we call our imperatives, and by these, our must-win virtues to be achieved and these become our guiding lights for the next two years. As it turned out, the committee that is responsible for crafting and designing that imperative is called the Strategy Planning and Implementation Committee, (SPIC). And I have the honour of being the chairman of that committee and was part of the drafting of most of the strategy and planning that I inherited as president; So, looking back at these past three years, I'm very pleased and content, and grateful to God for being able to move the agenda massively forward. We have hit a lot of our key buttons, but we still have room to go. It's been very wonderful these past three years.
How has the institute contributed to the practice of HR in Nigeria?
When we say we are the apex regulatory body, regulation is in the bigger sense. When we say 'regulation as a company', the thinking about it by the people is to catch people and force them to terms, but we still say a regulator must set the pace. You must articulate thoughts of the jobs and having set them, you must help your constituencies to raise their skill and competence levels. We have added great values to the regulation to the extent that we are a great player as it concerns and is expected of HR practitioners in this country; we organize exchange programmes, we organize experiential opportunities; we organize events to promote networking of members.
The institute provides the opportunities for its members to network. Unfortunately, many HR practitioners are not yet members of the institute, and that is where we have concern. To that extent, we have challenges of how to expand our membership so that a lot of practitioners out there can be within the circle.
In about a fortnight, you will be doing a ground- breaking event/project; can you shed more light on this?
Part of the planning is to continue to expand the institute. The plan is to build a millennium building that is grand, more modern and bigger than what we have now. The one we have now is a three-floor building but the one we are anticipating to build will be five floor building and it is such that will grace us with a new look and that is why we call it the millennium building in this same premises and it will be equipped with newer and contemporary facilities.
What are the challenges facing the execution of this project in terms of cost and other factors?
One big challenge is financing the project, but we have identified four sources of finance. The first one is internally generated finance; we have been planning this for a long time, so before now, we have been saving some money towards the project. Secondly, every member will be charged a certain levy that will be used to advance the project. Of course we have the corporate members. Third source, is seeking support from friends and stakeholders who are ready to support such progressing projects like this one, so we will identify key players in economy, private companies who will be willing to support us on this project.
How much is being projected for the building of this complex?
The round figure for the project is about 1billion Naira but we are hoping that when we get nearer we can still save more cost, it might be slightly more but we believe the money will be enough to deliver the complex, it is about millennium building
You are reputed to be the architect of the rebranding of this institute; do you believe this project is sustainable?
I have 100% belief that this project is sustainable. It is even not about me, but I can tell you that the new leadership is part of this tenure led by me. I thank God that it's during my tenure that this is happening. I can tell you that I inherited the design of this building, I believe leadership is a continuum and it's collective, those two words are very important. In my own case, I had excellent support from my past president so I am assured about sustainability, we are all together. So, I have no doubts.
Many practitioners are not yet members of the institute, what are you doing to bring them to the institute?
That challenge is actually not peculiar to our institute; there are many practitioners in other professional areas, they don't necessarily join professional bodies. Let's face it; we have to be very ruthless in the assessment of the matter, what are attributable to those who have not joined. So, that is why the rebranding thing was very important, we should ask what value proposition we are giving to those who have not joined. I can say happily as an Institute, CIPM has giving more commitment to this proposition.
For instance, we use to have induction of few numbers once a year. However, in 2012 we had two induction ceremonies where we inducted close to 800 people. So, it has been growing in leaps and bounds, yet, we have not got to where we are going and this is partially due to our style because we need to be more active. Some of our processes for admitting are not as friendly as they need to be, … we are looking for ways to reduce the stress and make it easy for people to join while not diluting the brand.
What qualifies a practioner to be a member?
You can be a member as a prospective practitioner. If you are a young graduate, there are examinations you will take and basic minimum level of knowledge. The examination will place you to acquire the knowledge required to say 'I am a member'. But what qualifies a university graduate or HND holder? You must take necessary examinations and they are in stages. But if you already practice and you have evidence of what you have done and you meet our requirement it's compulsory to admit you as a member. So you can be quoted to be a member when one meets requirement of knowledge skills and when one commits to abiding by our code of conduct, the ethics of the profession.
Your tenure as the President ends this month, what advice would you give incoming leaders?
Incoming leaders to the institute cannot be outsiders, so what to give is not advice, it is a reminder on the need to maintain the high standard that our institute is known for. Brand-building, especially for policy like this, of course is a journey and it takes a long time to build a reputation. It doesn't take time to erode it. The institute must be ambassador of that brand. I will like to remind them that they are carrying a huge responsibility and advise that they keep the reputation at the highest points.
Looking back, what would you have done differently, given another opportunity?
Okay, that area I think we need to focus on is how we engage younger members. Historically, personnel functions had not so many young people in it, but these days there is a generation of new young practitioners and the point is how we inculcate culture into the younger generation.
Also in the area of being more visible and louder when it comes to advocacy, we need to do more, so that when people are asking or seeking opinion relating to HR practice, we will be the natural point of call even in Government.
Tell us about yourself
I really love to live a balanced life. I believe that there are pillars in life that make life balanced. You have God, Family Life and I believe there is a pillar around hobbies (Things one likes to do). I Iove cars and like to drive, I enjoy lengthy discuss and I also enjoy walking or riding bicycle.
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