The Benefits of becoming an Investor in People
Significant commercial benefits may be gained by organisations who
achieve the Standard. These benefits begin to appear while working
towards becoming an Investor in People.
The practical benefits may include:
- Improved earnings, productivity and profitability
Skilled and motivated people work harder and better. Productivity
will improve. Extra effort will be made to close sales and a positive
impact will be seen on the bottom line.
- Reduced costs and wastage
Skilled and motivated people constantly examine their work to
contribute to reducing costs and wastage.
- Enhanced quality
Investing in people significantly improves the results of quality
programmes. Investors in People adds considerable value to the
Baldrige Award Criteria, ISO 9000 and other quality initiatives
and improvement frameworks.
- Improved motivation
Through greater involvement, personal development and recognition
of achievement, motivation is improved. This leads to higher morale,
improved employee retention rates, reduced absenteeism, readier
acceptance of change and identification with the organisation
beyond the confines of the job.
-Customer Satisfaction
Investing in people is central to helping employees become customer
focused. Thus enabling the organisation to effectively meet customer
needs at a profit.
-Public Recognition
Investor in People status brings public recognition for real achievements
measured against a rigorous International Standard. Being an Investor
in People helps to attract the best quality job applicants. It
also provides a reason for customers to choose specific goods
and services.
-Competitive Advantage
Through improved performance, Investor in People organisations
develop a competitive edge Additional organisational benefits
that often accrue from implementing the Standard include:
- The opportunity to review current policies and practices against
a recognised international benchmark with ever increasing data
and validity
- A framework for planning future strategy and action in a clear
and effective manner
-A structured way to improve the effectiveness of learning and
development activities and to ensure that the organisation receives
maximum return on the resources deployed.
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Key organisational issues to consider
Managing change
Investors in People ensures that the way things work in an organisation
is robust enough to withstand and facilitate change. It does this
by aligning staff development and performance measurement with the
desired direction or goals of the organisation. Thus if the direction
or goals of the organisation incorporate change Investors in People
will align staff to that change. Investors in People will focus
on how this change should be planned, actioned, communicated and
evaluated to ensure that the desired change is achieved in the most
effective way.
Staff retention / boredom / complacency / Employer of Choice
Investors in People ensures that all staff have the equal opportunity
to develop, and that staff have the skills they need to deliver
the levels of performance demanded of them. If you combine this
with challenge, effective management, clear organisational direction
and good communication research shows that they are more likely
to be motivated to stay, to be innovative and to improve their contribution.
If people experience this equality of opportunity to develop and
realise that their contribution is recognised then they are more
likely to improve their own and other peoples performance.
Any organisation that can operate with such a culture will not only
enjoy a more stable workforce but will also attract high calibre
and motivated staff thus becoming an Employer of Choice. The ‘Laurel
Leaf Logo’ of Investors in People serves as a demonstrator
of this culture and as a mark of quality.
Performance management
Within an Investors in People organisation people must believe
that their contribution is recognised and that they are encouraged
to improve their own, and other peoples, performance. Moreover managers
must be effective in supporting the development of their staff.
These are the outcomes that the Standard demands and so any performance
management system must be effective and not just exist. The Standard
does not prescribe any particular style of system, what is demanded
is that it delivers the appropriate results.
Communicating the Strategic Plan into operational requirements
The Investors in People Standard demands that an organisation
has a plan with clear goals and objectives and that all staff understand
those goals at a level appropriate to their role. Staff at any level
will be able to relate their role to the needs of the organisation
and thus plan what they need to do on a daily/monthly/yearly basis
to deliver their own and/or their teams contribution to the overall
plan.
Productivity/efficiency
The Investors in People Standard ensures that what staff are able
and motivated to do matches what the organisation needs them to
do – that they are basically, ‘ready, willing and able’.
There is no wastage of effort; time or money carrying out a function
that is not geared to the overall focus of achieving organisational
targets. When you combine this clear focus on what needs to be done
and why, with well managed and developed staff who are encouraged
to improve performance, you then achieve greater efficiency by working
smarter and continually improving how you do things.
New markets/new products
If you are developing all your staff, managing them effectively
and consulting with them, they are more likely to be innovative
and want to contribute to provide the ‘stretch’ for
the organisation. They will be more willing to come forward with
ideas for expansion into new markets and products. They will also
be confident to put forward their views on organisational performance,
direction, resourcing etc. Such first hand knowledge from the ‘sharp
end’ often provides benefits in production costs, efficiency
gains, customer satisfaction and more. So it will not only unlock
new areas of opportunity it will also ensure that they become a
reality.
Change in culture
The Investors in People Standard does change culture because it
examines the way an organisation and its people behave and communicate,
moreover it promotes changes in a form that will work best for each
particular organisation and ensures an ethos of continuous improvement.
Staff understand the direction of the organisation and what they
need to do and why. They believe and experience that they are well
managed, supported and listened to, and they feel that their contribution
is recognised. All of this results in a culture of motivated and
capable staff employed by an organisation that is a good place to
work.
Multi-skilling
In an environment where many organisations can no longer afford
the luxury of having specialists in every field there is a need
to ensure that individual staff at all levels are capable of undertaking
more than one role. The framework provided by the Investors in People
Standard ensures that appropriate opportunities to develop new skills
and competencies are provided for all employees in such a way that
any such skill enhancement will have a positive effect on operational
objectives. Investors in People is not about training for the sake
of training or spending $x on staff development, it’s all
about providing the necessary support and developing people in a
structured way to allow them to fully contribute to organisational
success.
Aligning learning and development to organisational objectives
As mentioned above any training, development, shadowing, mentoring
etc that is undertaken by any employee within an organisation should
return a favourable result to the team/department or organisation
in terms of contributing to the achievement of goals and targets.
The Investors in People Standard ensures this by completing the
development cycle with evaluation that illustrates return on investment
and facilitates continual improvement of the training needs identification
and follow-through processes. If any activity is not helping to
meet specific targets then it should not take place.
The evaluation of outcomes
One area that the Investors in People Standard delivers benefit
to almost any organisation is in the evaluation of actions undertaken
to identify return on investment and areas for further improvement.
By moving beyond evaluation that often typically reviews superficial
aspects of learning and development such as venue, food etc into
areas that demand to know what the individual, their team and the
organisation have gained and applied from the learning or development
many organisations find their training dollar is much more wisely
spent. In turn this new focus on providing value added learning
where results are transparent and identified at different levels
aids with resource allocation, planning and in avoiding individuals
feeling that their managers do not truly understand what their development
needs are.
Cost Effective
The adoption of a tried and tested framework aligning employee
development to the achievement of organisational goals and objectives
helps an organisation focus and prioritise its efforts and resources
on many levels. With much of the implementation work being able
to be undertaken by their own staff the use of external support
is kept to a minimum and any solutions developed this way remain
with the organisation and increase its own intellectual capital
value. Promoting an environment that clearly indicates what the
organisation and everyone in it is expected to achieve and supporting
this increased individual accountability with effective management
and necessary development activities is indeed a cost effective
method of delivering organisational success.
Short term v Long-term thinking
If you plan for the short term or do not plan at all you may not
be prepared for the changes that may need to be made to ensure the
continuous improvement or even existence of your organisation. Investors
in People ensures that staff understand the goals and objectives
of the organisation, and because they will be well motivated due
to good management and communication they are more likely to be
able to assist with the required strategic direction. If an organisation
thinks in the short term its staff will only deliver to that level
of requirement. If you introduce ‘stretch’ through long
term strategic planning, by adopting the principles of the Standard
your staff will be developed and prepared to deliver any future
performance requirements.
With many thousands of organisations having utilised the Investors
in People Standard in the last 10 years it is encouraging to see
the long-term commitment to employee development and business improvement
demonstrated by many small and large organisations alike. Experience
and research shows that the organisations and senior managers who
see initiatives such as Investors in People as a long-term strategic
requirement are those that gain the most. In comparison organisations
that expect an easy ride or a single assessment to answer their
concerns are often mistaken. Purely aiming for the ‘badge
on the wall’ without understanding what is required to achieve
it will result in failure in your efforts to become an Investor
in People and, quite possibly, in achieving the levels of performance
that your stakeholders expect and demand.
Instead of talking about the importance and value of your employees
to your organisation do something about it, a good first step is
to talk to someone in more detail about what you need to do to become
an Investor in People.
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