Why being in the "HR Crowd" can be good for you

I know I’m not alone in having had difficulty with this month’s CIPD Annual Conference because, whenever it’s come up in conversation, the problem of what to call it has scuppered practically everyone I’ve spoken to. Indeed, I recently overheard someone saying that “Harrogate’s going to be in Manchester this year” which doubtless baffled the non-HR people who were in earshot.

With hindsight the reason the profession referred to its flagship annual event simply as “Harrogate” is clear – there was nothing much else to work with. “The CIPD Annual Conference” is a bit of a mouthful, “CIPDAC” (sip-dack?) doesn’t sound particularly inspiring, and the shorter “CAC” is positively unhelpful!

What’s certain, however, is that a common short hand for the event will eventually evolve – because whenever large crowds of like-minded individuals come together, these events assume a particular significance for participants.

Now I doubt that many would argue about the significance of the CIPD conference. However, referring to a gathering of HR professionals as a “crowd” may strike some readers as being slightly strange – and maybe even mildly offensive, because for most of the 20th Century social psychologists have focused on the negative aspects of crowd behaviour.

For example, when I was at university I remember being taught about a study undertaken into hooliganism at ice hockey games in Canada. The researchers here found that mirrors hung from the roof of the arena in such a way that spectators could see themselves helped to increase their sense of individual identity and prevented a decent into mob rule. In essence the crowd was being broken up – albeit psychologically rather than physically. And in the 20th century the only good crowd was a dispersed crowd.

In the past, however, it was more common to study and celebrate the positive aspects of the crowd. My favourite was an experiment conducted by the Victorian anthropologist, geographer, meteorologist, explorer, inventor, and statistician Sir Francis Galton (think Stephen Fry, but even brainier!) at the West of England Fat Stock and Poultry Exhibition.

One of the attractions at the exhibition was a competition to estimate the “dressed” weight of an ox, the individuals getting the closest winning a prize. 787 attempts were made and – once the unfortunate ox had been despatched, butchered and weighed – the organisers handed over their paperwork to Galton.

And what Galton discovered was remarkable. The ox weighed in at 1,207lbs and the average value for the 787 estimates was 1,198 pounds. That’s just 9lbs out which, as Galton observed in a paper which was published in Nature “the vox populi is correct to within 1% [0.7%] of the real value. This result is, I think, more creditable to the trustworthiness of a democratic judgement than might have been expected.”

So a century or so ago it was recognised that crowds of like-minded people can be smart. And, more recently, it has been recognised that belonging to one of these groups can actually be good for your overall wellbeing. Indeed, at the science crowd’s annual UK gathering – the British Science Festival – in September, researchers from the University of Exeter presented a study which demonstrates a clear link between group membership and physical and mental health.

And that’s because, as Professor Alex Haslam explained: “We are social animals who live – and have evolved to live – in social groups. Membership of groups gives us a sense of social identity and for this reason groups are central to mental functioning, health and wellbeing.”

All of which explains why, in what has been a challenging year for many in our profession, the this year’s conference is something we should all be looking forward to – whether we are able to attend in person or not. Because looking at the programme I think it’s clear that as well as being a place where delegates can enjoy the beneficial personal, social and professional outcomes of networking with their peers, it’s also a forum in which, under the direction of an outstanding CEO, smart decisions about the future of our profession will be collectively reached.

In short, whatever we choose to call it, this year’s conference looks like it’s going to be an important event in the history of the HR crowd. See you there.

Published in HR Magazine: October 2009