The Institute of People Management (IPM) excellence awards 2014 represented a high point for attendees to the 58th annual IPM conference held at Sun City at the beginning of November. The finalists are icons in the human resources (HR) industry and were chosen for this hour because of their impact, enthusiasm and dedication.
The ceremony itself was a glittering affair that saw many rise from their seats to congratulate the well-deserving professionals who won these prestigious awards.
The theme of this year’s convention was “Human capital; leading the future: creating value for your organisation” and there is no doubt that the current environment is placing HR professionals in more complex situations dealing with more complex relationships, says Adelha Rhoda, IPM excellence awards chairperson and human resources director of Merck – Living Innovations.
“In the IPM excellence awards we sought to recognise candidates who have been innovative in areas such as stakeholder relations, change management, skills development and transformation and who have met these complexities head on, and with inspirational solutions.”
In an era of competitiveness ad commoditisation, which in many instances has removed price and product as factors in the business differentiation equation, there is no doubt that a significant portion of business success is due to the behaviour of each employee.
Their ability to swiftly execute on strategy, interact with others and engage with the end customer is a vital factor in the success of an organisation.
Unfortunately, in many instances there are innovative and capable people who are leaders in both the HR and general business communities, and whose efforts to attract, engage, develop, retain and inspire people have gone unnoticed.
The awards, which this year also include emerging HR practitioner, are designed to attract the youth and new entrants to the HR profession.
The IPM HR emerging practitioner of the year is Precious Jiane, HR information officer at Eskom. The runner-up is Lerato Shawane, talent fulfilment specialist at Accenture. The IPM HR Practitioner of the year is Kenneth McPhail, I/R transformation champion at Denel Aviation & Aerostructures. The runner-up is Tebogo Ramalekana, human capital business partner at the State Information Technology Agency. The IPM HR team of the year is the people engagement and development team at Professional Provident Society. The runner-up comes from Sanparks labour relations team in Kruger Park.
The IPM human resources director of the year is Dr Andrew Johnson, who is general manager of the Eskom Leadership Institute. The runner-up is Dr Mala Singh, executive director for human resources at the University of Johannesburg. The IPM CEO of the year is a joint award shared between Nosipho Siwisa–Damasane, chief executive of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. and Red Shuttleworth, chief executive at GUD Holdings.
“These people are the leaders of the HR revolution, pioneers and frame-breakers who lead the way with innovative and excellent people programme and practices,” says Rhoda. “They, through these awards, are recognised for what they have achieved and will have the opportunity to share their insights and best practices with others, and at future IPM events throughout the next few years.”
The IPM as a dedicated awards committee that has worked tirelessly throughout the year to define the awards categories and the criteria associated with them.
Aristotle said: “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives –choice not chance.”