One of our regional Champions Yorkshire Coast Homes was there and Debbie Gordon, Assistant Director of Corporate Services at YCH tells us more about it.

 “The 2013 Investors in People Conference in London was a great success and the unusual building really set the scene for an inspirational morning.

The theme of the conference was ‘Great People, Good Business’ and there were numerous speakers who shared their experiences of unlocking the people power. 

In particular, Peter Cheese (CEO, CIPD) stimulated the large audience with his point of “think globally, act locally and panic internally”. This really resonated with me, as well as his message about the need to incorporate “generational diversity” into every business.

During his presentation, he also proposed that engaging staff is key to business success and suggested 4 key areas:

• Understanding the diversity of the workforce
• Autonomy and Mastery
• Trust
• The Role of the Manager

How many of us have all four running effectively? That really got me – and I imagine many others in the room – thinking.

The conference was also really interactive with impressive ‘live screens’ dotted around the hall that enabled all attendees to feel really part of the conference.

The new Investors in People App and a peak at the new Investors in People Academy were also built into the conference and they offer great new resources for organisations exploring people and organisational development.

A live poll also took place on the day and we could see the results instantaneously. All of the interactivity and use of technology definitely highlighted how technology has a place in the world of people development and HR moving forward.

‘Great People, Good Business’ certainly was a great opportunity to find out more about Investors in People developments and the latest thinking around people development. It gave us lots of food for thought and ideas to take back up to Yorkshire!”

To see clips from the Conference and interviews with Peter Cheese and other speakers from ‘Great People, Good Business’, why not visit the Investors in People Youtube Channel here.

You can also have a look at more pictures from the day on the Investors in People storify page.

The post Great People, Good Business! IiP Champion Yorkshire Coast Homes Tells Us More About the IiP National Conference appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

One of our regional Champions Burnley Council, were recently invited to share their Investors in People story at a conference in Girona, Spain. Gina Cole, Organisational Development Officer at the Council tells us more about how they brought a bit of Burnley to Girona.

We were really proud to have achieved Gold and Champion status last year and so when we were invited to the conference in Spain to showcase and share what we’ve learnt as an organisation, we couldn’t miss the opportunity. Investors in People is growing in Spain and so the conference was aimed at showing Spanish organisations the benefits of achieving Investors in People and what a positive difference it can make.

All the other speakers were leading professors in their field or directors so we were sharing the stage with some highly regarded people. The Burnley team presented a case study on how working with Investors in People had boosted the Council by improving staff development and performance, planning for the future, delivering value for money and improved customer service, as well as managing change.

Although being ‘simultaneously translated’ was a totally new experience for me and took me a few sentences to get into the swing of it, I’m sure the delegates understood the usefulness of benchmarking and working with the framework as a way to drive change and development – we even received some detailed questions at the end of our presentation which meant we could further help people who may be considering Investors in People in their own organisations.

And although we brought a little bit of Burnley to Girona, there was already a bit of Burnley there! Our translator on the day was the son of famous Burnley film maker Sam Hanna. It was pure coincidence – what a small world!

Overall the conference was a fantastic opportunity for us to share the experiences of Burnley Council with such a wide ranging audience. David Dale from Investors in People International and Albert, the conference organiser looked after us well making us feel at ease with the unexpected and valuing our contributions – thank you for the great hosting and again for the opportunity!

If you would like to find out more about Investors in People Champions and how they can support you to explore the framework, please click here.

The post Bringing a Bit of Burnley to Girona appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Through my work with Investors in People (IiP), I’ve seen many businesses become more competitive  by making simple changes to how they manage their employees. But how have they done it and can it really be that easy?

The hardest thing is often knowing where to start. For managers who juggle many competing priorities, it can be hard to find the time to focus on people processes. The solution is usually to keep it simple. In my experience, the most effective people development processes are easy to follow and clearly based on delivering results for your business. It’s all about getting the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills and attitudes to power your business forward.

Trinity Conferences is a great example of how sharpening your people processes can improve performance.  As a small, busy company, they recognised that it’s easy to spend every minute of the day fire-fighting. With help from IiP, Trinity Conferences  set out to ensure that all 23 of their staff could operate at the same level and respond quickly to new business opportunities.  They created new systems and processes for client communication, customer service and performance measurement.  Simple ideas made a big impact, such as having each employee visit 100 venues every year and report back on them.  In spite of the recession, turnover has increased by 27% year on year, and pre-bookings for the next two years are up by more than 30%.

A larger business, the construction company Beard, told how IiP helped them to engage  their employees positively with a clear impact on results.  Their new approach involved staff taking part in company strategy meetings, better internal communication and training in management and customer care . This contributed to sales growth, improved  customer skills and increased customer retention.  Since 2001, Beard’s turnover has grown from £18m to £46m* per annum, while maintaining a 20% return on shareholders’ capital.  The business has achieved this growth with the same core management team and only a small increase in staff.

What are the first steps you could take?

As a start, why not focus on helping your employees to understand where your organisation is heading, what you promise to your customers, and what they can do to make it happen? No manager has all the answers, so involve your employees in finding solutions to the business issues you are facing.  Talk to employees about what it’s like to work here and create some simple processes to address their painpoints.

There’s plenty of help and guidance out there to point you in the right direction. IiP has a free interactive support tool here, that will give you a clearer understanding of your organisation’s current strengths, and areas for development.

If you prefer to get face-to-face support, your nearest IiP centre will provide advice. A list of centres is available at www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/contact.

The most important thing is to make a start, remembering that whether you have effective people management processes in place or not, your most successful competitors probably do already.

The post Simple steps to unleash the people power in your business appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

There are skills mismatches today and many businesses saying they cant find the skills they need despite historically high unemployment rates. According to a recent McKinsey report, we may be facing as many as 40m skilled people around the world short by 2020. Young people’s expectations and aspirations of work also are making it harder to close the gap. But we can also make much better use of the diverse pools of talent and skills that do exist.

The workplace itself is changing as more people opt for flexible working, working virtually, and we need to understand better how to create sustainable and agile business models and organisations that can respond to a fast changing and less certain future.

Businesses must therefore think strategically and face up more to how they attract, develop, and retain the skills they will need, and build the sustainable organisations for the future. We all need to be confident that we are building the right people management and development practices and capabilities to respond, and we must do more to build the right measures and analytical insights to help HR work better with business leaders in understanding and driving value.

As the CIPD, we are doing much to help build better HR skills and competencies, and to research the trends and leading practices which we can all learn from. We are also working with others, particularly with the finance and accounting profession, to better understand the value and risk drivers associated with people, and common frameworks through which we can assess organisations.

One critical area of interest is understanding investments in people, particularly through training spend. According to the UKCES, businesses in the UK spend as much £40bn on the development of their people, including the opportunity costs associated with time away from work. Yet, most will say they don’t or cant measure the value or outcomes of this investment, and many cant accurately tell you their input costs. This must change. Much as with marketing spend in the past, when CEOs were fond of saying that they knew that only half their marketing expenditure really added value, they just didn’t know which half.

So now is the time when more than ever we need to have good assessment and benchmarking of the actual HR and L&D practices to help every business understand where it can and needs to improve.  Investors in People has long been at the forefront of this and is now focusing again on how it stays relevant and brings value. The IiP conference will help us all understand where this is going.

The post Thinking differently about engagement – where do we go next? appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

In these times of double dip and possibly treble dip recession it’s refreshing to come across an example of an organisation which is bucking the trend by increasing its market share (up 35% over the last three years), employing more staff  (up 60% over the last two years), has reduced labour turnover (down by 50%) and absenteeism down (by a similar figure).

Many organisations try to drive up profits by cutting costs and walking away from external benchmarking in the belief that they cannot afford to pay the fees, without realising that as external benchmarking is based on “best practice” feedback can provide inexpensive internal solutions to the financial challenges facing many business today.

A major retail business I have been working with has just achieved a successful second gold accreditation with Investors in People.  They feel they have benefited from the rigorous external process which was matched against their internal values.

This business has five key values which are used in appraisal reviews, as agenda headings for all meetings and in many other ways so all employees are aware of them and can see how what they personally do links with one or more of these values. True, one of these is “finance” but the underlying belief by the management is that improvements in the financial performance of the business will come naturally by concentrating on the drivers that will bring this about.

The two main drivers are “people” and “co-operation”. These are divided into areas such as ”providing opportunities for all”, “communicating effectively” and “promoting co-operation”. In its drive to improve at all levels against its values the business uses external standards such as Investors in People, The Times Best Employer survey and employee engagement scores.

As well as achieving gold Investors in People accreditation twice, this employer has been in the top 25 Employer standard for the past two years and the staff engagement score moved up two points in 2012 to an index of 79 mainly as a result of the development suggestions made in the last Investor in People review.  79 is an exceptional score to achieve especially as the retail trading group employs 60% of the staff and there are many part time staff and students who work in that sector.

To quote some unsolicited feedback from this client; “Investors in People provides a practical yet challenging measure to our People Development and Engagement strategies and almost seamlessly dovetail and is aligned with our Values and core business philosophy of continual improvement.“ 

Oh and in case you wondered about profits – these are up by over 40% over the last five years.

The post Bucking the trend appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Is work about getting results no matter what?  Or is it the quality of working relationships that really leads to success?  We each have deep motivational preferences that drive our behaviour and focus our attention.  If they are neglected or ignored they can lead to problems that undermine understanding and success.

I was recently listening to a misunderstanding between two Directors.  One of them, let’s call her Linda, was frustrated by a particular member of staff not achieving the required results.  Linda is not his line manager but she was talking about him to the other Director, let’s call her Maria, who is his line manager.

The conversation went something like this:

Linda: “The Office Manager is not producing the results we need.”

Maria: “Tom is doing the best he can, he looks overwhelmed and I don’t feel I can put more pressure on him.”

Linda: “The business will suffer if staff don’t pull their weight”

Maria: “I’m concerned that we are giving him too much and need to be careful that we don’t stress him out and lose him.”

Linda: “This business can’t afford passengers, line managers need to performance manage their staff more to ensure objectives are set and met.  We have a disciplinary process for dealing with poor performance”

Maria: “What are you trying to say?  That I’m a bad manager?”

Linda: “Don’t be so emotional, that’s not what I meant!”

This polarised conversation was beginning to upset both directors and I could see how Linda was getting frustrated and Maria was getting defensive and angry – it was going to get personal.   The increasing intensity was preventing either of them from using their emotional intelligence to see what was happening.

Rude reminders

A few years ago (more than a few actually – more like 18!) when I was still in my first year as a Training and Development Manager at the Waldorf Hotel in London I was called into the General Managers office.  He told me that he couldn’t see any results from the work I was doing to implement Investors in People.  I was very shocked because I was building good relationships with all the managers and persuading them to do the basic HR stuff like clarify job descriptions, give regular feedback to staff, set them some objectives and check if any development to improve their performance was needed.  It was a hard slog but they were all very busy and the stuff I was asking them to do still seemed a bit abstract.   Since I had been on the front line as a chef in very busy kitchens back in the 80’s I was able to empathise with them very easily (maybe too easily!).

However, I was rudely reminded by the GM that unless he saw some results, it was either me that was not doing my job properly or it was the managers . . . and he made the consequences pretty clear!

Relationships and Results

I quickly realised that I was more concerned with how the managers were feeling than the results I was producing.  At that time the quality of the relationships I had was the ‘result’ I was focusing on.  I wanted people to be happy at work and I was focusing on making them feel better.

The meeting with the GM dramatically shifted my perspective.  My job was to produce not only happy staff, but tangible results, and if the GM didn’t see them I was in trouble.  I realised that he was under immense pressure to turn the figures of the Hotel around and that I was being far too ‘touchy – feely’ for him.

Fortunately, I was able to adapt my language and behaviour to what was required for the GM.  I set up systems to measure processes and objectives so I could report facts and figures to him on a regular basis.  I was able to manage his expectations and any under-performing managers had to explain themselves to him.  They would then come to me for coaching and help, and many of them suddenly became a lot more motivated to learn about HR!

Person Vs Thing

It was all about balancing the GM’s strong task orientation and my people orientation.  In Language and Behavioural Profile (LAB Profile) terms this is the balance between ‘Person’ and ‘Thing’.

In 1997 the Hotel won ‘Best London Hotel’ from the English Tourist Board and we upgraded from 4 stars to 5 stars with the AA and RAC (we also achieved IiP Recognition).  Looking back it’s clear that I was initially focussing on ‘People’ – they were my results, where the GM was focussing on ‘Tasks’ or ‘Things’ i.e. achieving his targets.

In certain jobs like Customer Service and Reception you want to employ people with a high ‘person’ orientation.  However, sales people with this pattern sometimes find it hard to ‘close the deal’ – they love building the relationship and lose sight of the task; making the sale.  Likewise meetings that go off on tangents are often chaired by people who become interested in the ‘experience of the story’ and don’t want to create a bad feeling by getting things back on track.

On the other hand some people, like Linda, focus purely on the task.  They don’t consider people’s feelings at all and may hurt or embarrass others through relentlessly making everything – including the people they are speaking with – into an object.  Linda refers to Job Roles rather than people, she always refers to the Processes and Procedures; this can make some people feel dehumanised and alienated.  It’s worth noting that almost half the population like and want some degree of relationship at work to feel motivated.

Like anything in life, it’s about being aware of your preferences and adapting to what is required.  Some people will respond better if you acknowledge their feelings and then move on to the task in hand.  Others will feel awkward and embarrassed if you focus too much on how they feel.

The key is to listen to how they are speaking.  Notice the difference in the words Linda and Maria were using.  The lack of acknowledgement that the other person is seeing things from a different perspective leads to judgements and personalised accusations. E.g. “You are so Cold Hearted” or “Soft and Fluffy” depending on your preference!  This only leads to more upset and defensiveness.

Did you notice how you felt when you read the above interaction?  Read it again now and notice which position you relate to or who you empathise with.  This may give you a clue to your current orientation!

In her book ‘Words that Change Minds’ Shelle Rose Charvet refers to the research done by Roger Bailey which states that in the pattern of “Emphasis on Person vs. Thing” in a work context the following were identified:

•  15% of the population are ‘Person’ oriented:  They focus on thoughts, feelings and people.  They will pay attention to what they are feeling and the feelings of others.  They will tend to use people’s names and use personal pronouns i.e. he, she.

• 55% are ‘Thing’ oriented:  They focus on products, ideas, tasks and systems.  They will talk about processes, tasks, goals, results (Things).  They will not mention people often and perhaps only as impersonal pronouns i.e. they, you or one.
• 30% are oriented towards both and need a combination of them to feel motivated.

What’s your orientation? 

What is the orientation of your Managers, Staff or your Clients?  Do you have the flexibility to adapt your language and behaviour?  Are you alienating some of them with your preference?

In order to influence ‘Person’ oriented people, use names and talk about feelings and experiences.  Use personal pronouns and discuss likes and dislikes, what feels good or bad. . .

For ‘Thing’ people discuss the systems, goals, processes and tasks.  Use impersonal pronouns and talk about the ‘things’ that need to be done and ‘results’ that need to be achieved.

Are you selling your products or services to help your clients get results or to feel better?  Which are you emphasising?  Is it the right match for their orientation and preference?

In the end when Linda and Maria began to realise that they were simply speaking from different patterns and motivated by different preferences they were able to stop judging each other and work together by playing to each others strengths.   While Linda was good at driving the business to achieve it’s challenging targets, Maria used her ‘Person’ preference to make sure people were engaged with the business, felt part of a team and that they were valued for their contribution.

By becoming more aware of your patterns and the patterns of your colleagues it becomes possible to understand them, predict their behaviour in a given context and to influence them by matching your language with their patterns.

 Remember  . . . stay curious!

The post Relationships or Results – What’s your Focus? appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Let me introduce a word which I imagine is not something you use on a daily basis, but one which has the potential to enter the vernacular – Antifragile.  I became aware of it through listening to an interview with the author of a book by this very name about how institutions can survive in the face of chaos and adversity – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.    If Taleb is right, his hypothesis has major implications for how businesses and economies should be structured and run in future.

Taleb’s starting point is that we do not have a word for the opposite of fragile.  The word robust is often used in this context, but things that are robust are resistant or resilient to shocks, they don’t benefit from them.  He offers the concept of Antifragile as the real opposite and argues that is what we should be aiming for in life, business, politics and the economy.  Taleb uses Greek mythology to make his point, but I have a more mundane and perhaps accessible example in my back garden.

My garden is infested with the most antifragile  weed ever, known in Scotland as Mares Tail.  The more you try to break it up and pull it out, the stronger it gets, as every little fragment breaks off, it starts up a new root system and on it goes.  So the more shocks and disruption it experiences, the stronger it gets.  Imagine if we were able to build that antifragility into our organisations.

We live in a fast changing world and Taleb argues that instead of seeking certainty, that in reality is not there, we should embrace randomness, uncertainty and chaos and make them work for us.  He says “Wind extinguishes a candle and energises a fire…….You want to be the fire and wish for the wind”. In short anything that has more upsides than downsides to random events (or certain shocks) is antfragile, the reverse is fragile.

In modern organisations we all spend a great deal of time trying to see into the future and manage the uncertainty that brings.  Having listened to Taleb and began reading his book I am beginning to wonder whether we have been focusing on the wrong things.  He argues mistakes are good because other people see them and learn from them. We should not stand in the way of failure.   Also that everyone should have skin in the game as without it people make decisions that are good for them but not the system as a whole.  That centralised decision making increases risk while decentralisation spreads the risk of wrong decision.

So next quarter when you are filling out your risk log, maybe it might be worth considering whether you might be better spending some time considering how antifragile your operation is?

The post What doesn’t break you can make you stronger – why we should all become “antifragile” appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Investors in People – a framework for culture change

The current economic climate presents a challenge for us all regardless of sector.  Many organisations are failing to survive whilst others are thriving, despite the recession.  Why is this so and what lessons might be learnt from the organisations that are successful?

I have a privileged position as an IiP Specialist and have the opportunity to work in partnership with, and learn from, the experiences of many great leaders from a variety of sectors on a daily basis.  One of the lessons I have learned from working with some exceptional leaders that have ensured their organisations are not just surviving, but actually thriving in the current challenging economic climate is:

They unleash the potential of their people and watch their organisations flourish!

Whilst this might appear to be a ‘business no brainer’, many organisations fail to maximize the potential of their people.  Let me explain.  Over the past ten years or so, I haven’t met a single Director, CEO or business owner who hasn’t cited the mantra: ‘our business is our people’ or ‘our people are our number one asset’… they might even try to impress with management speak such as ‘human capital is the key asset in our business’.

Great concepts no doubt, but when you scratch beneath the surface, the real picture emerges… many of these so called business leaders do not have a clear PEOPLE STRATEGY!

So what is a People Strategy?  Let’s not get hung up on jargon or bureaucracy here.  A People Strategy is pretty simple if you think of it in these terms:

1.      What are your organisation’s priorities?

2.      How are you supporting your people to achieve them?

A useful ‘starter for ten’ for exploring how you might clarify and communicate your priorities is provided by way of the FREE IiP Interactive Tool:

This will help you to consider a wide range of topics and resources relating to, for example:

• Creating a vision for your organisation’s future
• Developing clear and measureable objectives to achieve your vision
• A good practice guide to developing a Business Plan
• How to involve your people in the process
• What you need to do to review progress

It will also help you to consider how to develop your PEOPLE STRATEGY, including for example:

• How to define your people’s needs
• Key considerations for developing your PEOPLE STRATEGY (People Development Plan)
• Supporting your people from induction and throughout their time with your organisation
• Maximizing the involvement and engagement of your people
• Reviewing progress and refining your approach

Bottom line: IiP provides you with a tried and tested framework to transform performance within your organisation.

Learn from the experiences of great leaders, unleash the potential of your people and watch your organisation flourish!

Martin Rice is an Investors in People Specialist, and  if you’d like to read more of his blogs, then please click here

The post Taking Your Organisation to the Next Level of Growth and Development… appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Well not sure about you but the snow disrupted my travel plans this week, I had been planning to head up to Glasgow from London yesterday and then head down to Preston today for some meetings but instead I had to cancel.

The value of meeting face to face

I know that we are all supposed to be able to work in isolation, communicating via email, telephone or video-conferencing.  But sometimes you need to meet in person to help establish or reaffirm relationships, and perhaps sub-consciously say to your colleagues or customers that they are important to you and that you are willing to make the effort to go to them.

The handshake, the smile, the offering or acceptance of a cup of coffee are all small but remarkably important in developing a successful relationship – you can’t gauge the warmth of handshake via video-link, or receive the reassurance of a smile by email.

Don’t hide behind technology when it comes building relationships

I’m in danger of sounding seriously old fashioned, but yes, electronic communication is essential…. even the occasional blog can be useful   But we need to remember not to hide behind the ease of electronic communication and to make the effort.

A demonstrable act to engage and spend time with our colleagues, customers and stakeholders.  Building those relationships, sharing those stories, understanding the working environments and cultures they operate within, and picking up on the more subtle signs and indicators and adjusting our engagement strategies or sales propositions accordingly.

As we continue to move from mass marketing and standardisation to individual targeting and personalisation of services, we have to understand the value of investing the time and effort to create relationships and build that all essential ‘trust’.

I continue to be amazed by the amount of goodwill the simple act of myself or my team members can elicit by simply leaving the comfort of London office, (when the weather permits of course!)

The post Is there value in face to face relationships in an increasingly electronic world? appeared first on Investors in People Blog.

Usually I’m inspired by someone who has very similar interests or a similar outlook to me, but the other day was different. I bumped into an ex-colleague from a previous life, someone who is very different than me in almost every respect, and I came away buzzing with – well there’s only one word for it really – inspiration!

This person, and I won’t mention their name for reasons that will become apparent, was someone who wasn’t very happy in the job they were doing. They were in their late forties and I remember them as being someone who was hanging on at work, struggling to keep motivated and doing their best to adapt in a constantly changing work environment. This was a few years ago, but I’m sure it’s a common scenario in the current austerity climate.

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills published a study on Older People and Skills in a Changing Economy  in 2011 and one of things they discovered was that whilst employers are willing to retain experienced older people, they are much more reluctant to recruit them. As a result the labour market becomes increasingly inflexible after 50 with people locked into the same job for many years or unable to find employment.

Anyway to return to my story. My ex-colleague and I reconnected at one of those post-Christmas parties that you go to, where everyone is studiously trying to avoid drinking any alcohol or nibbling any nibbles. And at first I didn’t recognise them at all. They looked about 10 years younger, seemed to be wearing completely different clothes and welcomed me with a dazzling smile.

I’ll be honest with you, I did a bit of a double-take. Could this really be the same person?! I’m bad enough as it is recognising people in different situations, but there was no mistaking them. It was definitely the same person – they just seemed a lot happier. Their whole demeanour seemed to have changed.

It turned out that they’d managed to persuade their employer to allow them to develop some new skills and over a period of about two years had completely re-trained, moving from working in finance to becoming a social worker. Yes finance – sorry I know this sounds a bit like Monty Python and the accountant who wanted to become a lion tamer. In this case it had involved quite a lot of study and getting new qualifications, but had obviously been worth the graft because they were enjoying their work with young people hugely.

Upskilling whatever your age!

I found the conversation inspirational because this was someone who was now in their early fifties and they’d managed to change direction and move into a completely different world of work just by going on the right courses and learning some new skills. It really is never too late to learn new skills.

So back to New Year’s resolutions, for the last time this year I promise! My Road to Damascus conversation with an ex-colleague has made me think that I need to make an extra effort this year to learn new things and gain some new skills.

And if you think your organisation needs to refresh its approach to learning and development, Investors in People is an obvious place to start. A lot of what we do is about helping employers to ensure that their development work springs from their business needs, but we can also help you use learning and development to improve the motivation and engagement of your people. And that can help you retain talent but also improve productivity across the board.

The post How often do you meet someone who’s really inspirational? appeared first on Investors in People Blog.