Our recordings cover a variety of topics - ranging from practical housing management sessions and high-level policy discussions to webinars designed to support your professional development. All recordings are free for all CIH members, log in and listen/watch from anywhere.
Its time to talk Race - if not now, then when?
Black History Month took place throughout October and we are proud to present members with a webinar from leading race speaker Karl George. Karl’s personal story as a black man growing up and living in Birmingham throughout his life is one of real power and significance. Racial injustice has been and continues to be rife within British society.
Here at the CIH, we are determined to do more to tackle this and will do more. We want to celebrate the diversity of talent within the sector and support organisations in creating meaningful opportunities for people from all backgrounds to progress in their careers, irrespective of race, gender, sexuality or any other protected characteristic. We also want to do more to ensure that the people that live in our homes, our tenants, residents and customers also have equal opportunity.
Virtual CIH membership roadshow - October 2020
At this time of immense change, making the most of your CIH membership is invaluable. The housing profession is on the frontline of helping to support residents, colleagues and the wider community through the impact of COVID-19. We heard from special guests Aileen Evans and Catherine Hinton who shared some of their experiences about their careers and how CIH has supported them as housing professionals.
Honest conversations: Promoting equality and ensuring diversity
We heard conversations around what equality and diversity means in a Northern Ireland context. It enabled participants to gain an understanding of how the area of equality and diversity has progressed over the years in Northern Ireland, as well as opening up an honest conversation around what more can be done promote the role of women, ethnic minorities and LGBT+ within our organisations.
We want to give members the confidence to address these issues with colleagues and management within their respective organisations.
The future of diversity in the social housing sector
What is the future of diversity in the sector? Our speakers and chairs in this webinar examined and discussed:
- Social landlords and diversity - why London landlords do not reflect their diverse communities (board, executives and senior managers)
- Overcoming challenges faced by diverse groups - networking as a means of overcoming challenges
- Moving forward - how to improve diversity in the sector
In Conversation with Mark Pearson and Adele Rae
CIH Yorkshire and Humberside regional board member, Helen Smith was In Conversation with Mark Pearson, CEO of Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association, and Adele Rae, tenant board member to discuss how they have driven collaboration and tenant voice throughout the organisation and into their recent Corporate Strategy “Together 2023”.
Seize the moment: Enhancing the opportunities for new ways of working
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all had to work differently and adapt to new practices. As we start to look at what comes next, what aspects of our work do we want to take with us and what do we leave behind?
Simon Bernstein explored three key themes:
- Prioritising health and wellbeing
- Peak performance
- Being innovative by looking forward and not back
The social housing safety net: being the best we can be
It’s more important than ever that social housing providers understand the difficulties that residents have experienced in the past or likely to experience in the future. It is in our interest to work with our residents and see what part we can play to make things easier. We want to keep as many of our residents in their homes as possible and want fewer people to be struggling. We heard from Jahanara Rajkoomar, director of community investment, Metropolitan Thames Valley.
One CIH
In this virtual event for CIH volunteers and regional group members we heard from Gavin Smart, chief executive officer at CIH as he gave an update on the last year including the impact of COVID-19 and his general reflections on where CIH are at now. He shared a glimpse of future plans, as well as thanking you as volunteers for all of your commitment to the profession and membership. Debbie Larner, head of knowledge and products at CIH updated delegates on the CIH professional standards framework and discussed next steps in the project and our initial plans to start rolling this out across the sector, with the support of CIH volunteers.
Aileen Evans, CIH President, joined us to provide an update on her presidential campaign ‘Shine a Light’. She explained that the fundraising efforts have been continuing till been taking place and she raised awareness of the campaign. Aileen also introduced us to the new mental health tool kit for the sector which was recently launched.
Building better boards: Championing diversity and ensuring equality
We as a professional body are committed to supporting the sector with professional standards, but in particular championing diversity at all levels. This event explored good practice already in existence, but also importantly discussed the challenges for the sector in ensuring we have diversity across our organisations, but also are representative of our communities. In a continuation from our first Building better boards event, Mark Brown, CEO of the Dolphin Index expanded on how boards cannot live by governance alone, exploring how having diversity on boards can drive better decision making, and enable greater success.
Gera Patel, senior consultant at Campbell Tickell brings close to 20 years’ experience of working in and with a wide range of organisations. Now sitting on the consultancy side, Gera provided her insights on how a board’s recruitment and succession planning can be improved, opening themselves up to the wealth of talent available from across the diversity spectrum.
Mushtaq Khan, currently interim CEO at Housing Diversity Network also brought his lived experience of rising to senior roles within the housing sector. Housing Diversity Network are one of the leading organisations that help organisations to be better. We heard his take on where the sector is right now, and what are the practical measures that boards can take to change things for the better, encouraging more diversity at all levels.
Progress Housing Group were one of the first organisations to try and create a board development programme for candidates who perhaps didn’t have direct experience sitting on a board, but aspired to do so. We heard about their programme, the successes it had, but also where there is learning to be had in how programmes like this can be rolled out more widely and ensure that the talent being generated does then result it greater diversity actually being on the boards at the end.
Owning your future; Developong your career in the new world
'Owning Your Future 2020’ is a new series of informal ‘how to’ style sessions designed to provide you with a range of professional development skills, tools, knowledge and advice to turn your career aspirations into reality and set you on the right path to success. Our third session focussed on developing your career in the new world. In this session Daniel Short and Barry Forsythe from Greenacre recruitment discussed the current job market scene and provided delegates with practical tips and advice to help preparation and progression.
Topics included;
• CV Tips
• Building your online profile
• Video Applications
• Virtual Interviews
Building better boards Cymru
We heard from a fantastic line-up of expert speakers at this inaugural Building better boards Cymru virtual event. We discussed the roles of boards and listened to best practice and how CIH is committed to supporting board members and governance professionals in Wales to overcome the challenges they face. Our speakers debated what the immediate impact of the COVID-19 crisis has had on providers, and considered how we can all inspire positive change to develop good governance within organisations long into the future.
No drains, no cranes: water infrastructure and housing development
Having clean running water is vital for good health and something that many of us take for granted every day.
We heard from Dr Stephen Blockwell as he provided data and an update on:
- Northern Ireland’s wastewater capacity
- What capacity constraints mean for private and social housing development
- The investment needs of our vital water infrastructure
Leadership in housing - a looming capability gap?
The Chartered Institute of Housing and the Institute of Leadership and Management launched their report ‘Leadership in Housing – a looming capability gap?’ The research for this report was presented along with recommendations on how we can ensure the future strength and success of the UK housing sector. We as the professional body recognise that there has been a leadership gap widening in the sector for some time and our report will help to lay the foundations of the steps we want to take with you to fix the problem.
in 2020 we have seen the broad range of skills that leaders need to have in order to be successful and keep the organisation running. It is fundamental that we as a sector do more to support aspiring leaders, in a meaningful and sustained way.
Drawing on the expertise of the Institute of Leadership and Management, this isn’t just about how we can be good leaders now and develop future talent, but more so, how we can do that in housing context. We are excited to also announce that our partnership will be going further in bringing you a joint membership offer.
Leadership in Housing – a looming capability gap? - Read the report
Joint membership offer with The Institute of Leadership and Management
Scottish Housing Day: The value of social housing
We were joined on this webinar by Kevin Stewart MSP, the minister for local government, housing and planning, Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland and Leonora Montgomery, chair of Aberdeen Citywide Multi-storey Group as they shared their thoughts on the value of social housing.
Affordable housing needs in Scotland post-2020 report
This report presents the findings from research conducted in 2019 which sought to estimate the need for affordable housing in Scotland between 2021 and 2026. The research was commissioned by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Shelter Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland. The study updates a previous, similar exercise conducted in 2015 by the research team.
View the report here.
Owning your future - building your rapport to nurture relationships
Building rapport with staff and getting to know your team is an effective way of building relationships and achieving results quickly. However, a leader’s role isn’t to be everyone’s best friend, but to lead in a way that inspires trust and confidence. Natalie Keating, chief executive officer from The Better Health Generation UK looked at how we can build rapport whilst in a leadership position, both internally and externally.
Building rapport with your colleagues and partners is part of your ongoing leadership journey, and we addressed key themes to support you to further flourish within your current role and prepare you for leadership challenges in the future.
