In a turbulent year the world over, where reality TV stars become Presidents and Britain goes maverick and Brexits from the EU it's safe to say it's been a challenging year. However, here at Changeboard, we haven't let all this dampen our spirits.
We invite you to take a little jaunt down memory lane with us as this year draws to a close. We look back at the last 12 months and pick out our most personal highlights.
January
To start the year off with a bang Changeboard spoke with the CIPD's CEO Peter Cheese. He gives us some really valuable insights in the world of HR, along with some strong nuggets of advice, including the notion of never doing a job that will make you want to wish your life away, as well as confirming that there indeed has never been a more exciting time for HR. We also discover that he is a life long Chelsea FC fan and has a love of pork pies....
We chose Peter Cheese as our January highlight not only for his great interview, but also because he went down an absolute storm on social media. If you're not already following him, here's his twitter handle: @Cheese_Peter
February
February was the month that our re-design was launched, the first issue featuring Isabelle Minneci, HR director, L'Oreal. Look at the evolution of Changeboard over the last year... a great team collaboration and designed up by our very own Graeme Sapsed (G-man).
We couldn't do a round up without including our office mascot, Dino. He's been with us through thick and thin. Here he is at a group reading session a few issues back:
March
It goes without saying, for March our highlight was our flagship event - the Future Talent Conference 2016 and we're thrilled and excited to say that our next Future Talent Conference will be taking place at the iconic National Geographical Society on March 1st 2017.
Future Talent Conference 2016 speakers
Here were some of the very best bits from a very thought provoking day:
March also saw the launch of our Future Talent Forum, which was announced at the conference. The Future Talent Forum is a premium membership event forum, providing networking and thought leadership for all senior managers and leaders with responsibility for people, learning, organisation development, talent and resourcing. We've been working in collaboration with The School of Life, Complete Coherence & Common Purpose to bring these thought provoking events to life. Join the conversation... #ChangeboardFT
ASHRM International Conference 2016
As the rest of the team were celebrating the overwhelming success of the Future Talent Conference 2016 - Karam Filfilan, Middle East editor, Mary Appleton, editor in chief and Jim Carrick-Birtwell, CEO had to hot foot it out of Sadler's Wells and catch a flight that night to Dubai where they hosted 13th ASHRM International Conference 2016 the following day with an amazing array of speakers incluing Dave Ulrich, Sir Clive Woodward (again), Alan Watkins, Dr Khaled Biyari and many many more.
Dr Khaled Biyari, CEO, STC & Karam Filfilan, Middle East editor
April
Mental health matters
We launched our editorial series with mental health charity Mind and in turn Mind's debut article was the most read article the whole of April.
The piece was written by Emma Mamo, Mind's head of workplace wellbeing.
Other mental health articles of note:
- Spotting signs of poor mental health - Poppy Jaman, CEO, Mental Health First Aid England
- Mental health matters - Dr Mark Winwood, head of psychological services, AXA PPP Healthcare
- 5 minutes with Paul Farmer, CEO, Mind
Also on 16th April our financial accounts manager Yousuf Malik had a beautiful little arrival, his daughter Fatimah Binte Yousuf was born.
Congratulations Yousuf & family!
May
In May we published the conference issue of Changeboard magazine with exclusive content from all our speakers including interviews with the self proclaimed mental health poster girl Ruby Wax (our cover star) urging us to adopt a more mindful exsistence. We also speak with Sir Clive Woodward, Lord Chris Holmes, Martine Wright MBE & many more.
Click below to have a little look:
Also in May the wonderful Theresa Onley, our advertising director got married. Congratulations Theresa & Mike!
June
Never mind Brexit... We had our own campaign going on. We entered Willis Towers Watson's HR publication of the year 2016, and here is our campaign video, please enjoy....
BREXIT - up and down the country there was unrest when the news broke that as a country we were 'Brexiting' Europe. Jim Carrick-Birtwell wrote a reflective and reassuring piece on the subject.
Readiness for reunion - making sense of Brexit - Jim Carrick-Birtwell, CEO, Changeboard
July
So, the video worked a treat... July marked one of Changeboard's biggest achievements to date, we were crowned HR publication of the year 2016! an incredible team effort all round!
Safe to say, we had a GREAT night...
August
Changeboard launched it's first EVER news function, with the appointment of our new editorial assistant - Tom Ritchie bringing podcast recording expertise to the team as well as a keen enthusiasm for pub quizzes, and some top cooking tips!
Our favourite news stories from 2016:
- Trump: keeping it in the family - the pros and cons of hiring family members
- Life after Trump - a survival guide
- How employers can break down the mental health stigma when hiring
- Positive action: does the boardroom need it?
September
Changeboard August-October 2016 issue had Arianna Huffington as the cover star - and it included an exclusive interview by Mary Appleton, Changeboard's editor-in-chief.
The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington consistently appears in Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. In 2007, she fainted from exhaustion, a “painful wake-up call” that transformed her approach to work and wellbeing. Arianna explains just why we need to give sleep the respect it deserves - and is a huge advocate of wellbeing which is one of the many reasons she is hailed a role model worldwide.
We also had a lovely new starter a Miss Bronte Horncastle hailing from Essex, who has introduced the office to a whole new vocabulary, it's been an education.
Here she is in our favourite watering hole, The Avalon.
October
Our most read article in October was a piece called 'Seeing autism as a strength - not an illness' written by Nils Kendall, who is the joint interim CEO of Business Disability Forum (BDF). As a business we feel very strongly about diversity and inclusion for all, therefore it felt right to reflect upon some of the work we have done and supported in the past year.
These are some of our very favourites:
Championing true inclusion for people with a learning disability - Jan Tregelles, CEO, Mencap in conversation with Mary Appleton, editor in cheif, Changeboard
How to introduce people with a learning disability into your organisation - Angela Buxton, HRD, Mencap interviewed by Sarah Clark.
Success story: the rise of an employee with a learning disability - an emotive piece written by Ciara Lawrence, Mencap employee
As Seeing autism as a strength - not an illness' was our most read article in October we know that leaders want to know more about this topic and how to positively introduce people with a learning disabilty into organisations. Mencap is a charity passionate and committed to changing the world for everyone with a learning disability.
This is such a positive and meaningful movement, we need to help pick up the momentum and spread the word!
Also in October, the beautiful Sarah Yusuf, became Sarah Yusuf-Watson and got married, big Congratulations Sarah & Dave!
November
In the November issue, Changeboard Middle East met....
In the piece 'What Facebook's 'no rules' structure means for HR' Karam Filfilan speaks with head of HR EMEA Fiona Mullan, Facebook about how open and creative cultures continue to thrive.
Meanwhile... back in the UK Changeboard watched Alain de Botton (Philosopher, owner of The School of Life & Future Talent Conference speaker) in conversation with Katie Price.
In an evening of both intellectual and unpredictable conversation, it's safe to say both individuals kept us incredibly amused with topics such as infidelity, entrepreneurialism, sex, leadership and family - quite an array!
Here is our round up of the evenings proceedings...
November was a very busy month, Changeboard was a strategic media partner at the HR Summit in Dubai where Mary Appleton facilitated a session on nationalisation:
AND... our November - January 2017 issue landed with Ruth Hunt, CEO, Stonewall as our cover star. In this issue we explored LGBT in the workplace with Ruth at the helm of role modelling this shift in attititues and inclusion for all.
Click below to read the magazine:
December
It's been a colourful and wonderful year! Here is a big cheers from everyone here at Changeboard HQ
We'd also be delighted if you could join us at our next Changeboard Future Talent Conference with an incredible line up of intriguing speakers including Olympian Katherine Grainger, Tom Watson MP and deputy leader of the Labour party, Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO, easyjet and many many more, be sure not to miss it!
From all here at Changeboard we want to wish EVERYONE the merriest Christmas and the very happiest New Year!
Until next year...