About 22,000 organisations across the UK are registered with Investors In People (IIP), making it one of the most renowned quality assurance schemes in the country.
Since its founding in 1990 as a business improvement tool, IIP has grown to cover every facet of commercial life. Although there are a few notable standard bearers for the scheme in the early years sector, it has not yet enjoyed wide take-up among childcare providers. Only 43 nurseries boasted IIP recognition, according to figures released nearly a year ago, but it is thought that more nurseries have since registered.
Those who gain accreditation say that among the advantages are being part of a wellknown national and international scheme that is recognised and understood by parents.
Alex Curling of IIP says there are benefits to the bottom line in terms of greater competitiveness, improved productivity and profits, reduced waste, increased sales and reduced employee turnover and recruitment costs.
'Investors in People works to reduce day-to-day problems,' she says. 'There is a sharper focus for training and development activity, with increased effectiveness of training.'
She explains that IIP works to create new attitudes throughout an organisation. 'There is improved communication, greater acceptance of new culture, increased team working, greater sharing of knowledge, improved workforce skills and a willingness to benchmark best practices.'
For Linda Baston-Pitt, director of the Old School House Day Nursery in Stetchworth, which holds the IIP Gold Standard, undergoing the IIP accreditation process put the spotlight on the effectiveness of the nursery's induction and skills training and helped the management team develop more sophisticated evaluation to measure progress against strategic goals.
While Ms Baston-Pitt had been aware of IIP for some time before getting involved, what made it come alive for her was guidance from an inspirational IIP mentor who interpreted how the scheme could be used to enable her setting to achieve its goals.
'Our mentor, Eva, was a former policewoman and she did a marvellous job in introducing what Investors in People was all about and how the framework could work for us.'
Further Information
- Visit www.investorsinpeople.co.uk
- For general enquiries, email info@investorsinpeople.co.uk or call the Customer Services line on 020 7881 8966 (Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm).
HOW IIP WORKS
At the heart of IIP is The Standard, a framework of best practice on people management issues such as:
- Business strategy
- Learning and development
- Involvement and empowerment
- Leadership
- Recognition and reward
- Management effectiveness
- Performance measurement
- Continuous improvement.
It works through
- Plan - developing strategies to improve performance
- Do - implementing these strategies
- Review - evaluating and adjusting these strategies.
IIP's specialist advisers can help an organisation choose the parts of this framework most relevant to its business goals, and provide one-to-one advice, interactive tools and resources. The IIP team then monitors progress and gives in-depth feedback.
CASE STUDY: DERWENT STEPPING STONES
Pay and perks for motivating staff are in short supply in the early years sector, so it can take great deal of management skill to forge a team that takes pride and pleasure in its work.
But aiming high has never been a problem for the management and staff of the Derwent Stepping Stones Centre in Derby. When the team was being re-assessed for its IIP standard award in 2010, the assessor was so impressed that he suggested they stretch themselves further.
'We thought if we were going to go further, with it we might as well aim for the top and go for the gold award, which we achieved last March,' says Jo Fenton, the centre's finance and HR manager.
The centre serves an area of high deprivation in Derby and provides a neighbourhood nursery which has 300 children registered with it and which offers adult learning, employment advice and a range of community support.
'We have 55 staff with about 30 people working in the nursery. Derwent is an area of high deprivation with lots of lone parents, lots of people who leave school at 15, become parents and have never worked, people with low levels of educational attainment and high unemployment. To be honest, our customers are challenging.
'We got involved in IIP in the first place because we genuinely believe in maximising people's potential, and IIP provides the framework against which you can measure yourself.
'It is very flexible. For the standard award you need to meet 39 evidence requirements and for the gold award there are a further 126. But you can choose which evidence requirements you seek to meet, so that you can tailor your IIP award to suit your organisation.
'We are a charity and do not make a great deal of money. We therefore chose not to look at ourselves against the reward part of the standards because we do not pay big bonuses and our people do not have company cars.'
The assessor noted how highly motivated the staff are and how much pride and enjoyment they derive from their work. 'We can see that from the turnover - zero in the past two years,' says Ms Fenton. 'Statistically, that tells you people are happy, but it is lovely when people tell an external body that they are proud to work here and they enjoy their work.'
As a result of going for gold, some changes were made. 'We introduced a reverse appraisal where the staff evaluated their line mangers, but it was a bit disappointing. There weren't any issues raised. We are going to redesign it and ask a few more tricky questions to try to get something useful out of it.
'We also started looking at what motivates staff. We did a survey on motivation at a staff meeting. Unsurprisingly, money was not on the list, but things like being able to maintain a work-life balance were high. Working in childcare, we are family oriented and we try to be as flexible as we can and maintain ratios.
'Another big factor was to make a difference. We support staff with supervisions every six weeks and one question is, how have you made a difference over the last six weeks? It encourages people to reflect on their own practice and think about how they have made a difference.
'The great thing is you are working to a framework that you have not designed, and you are measuring yourself against an outside body's standards. It encourages you to improve continuously so you keep an eye on what you are doing and strive for the best all the time.
'It is a recognition for the management team that they are doing a decent job and recognition for the staff that they are part of a team that has been verified and validated to this very high standard. It is great for staff morale especially as they are not particularly well paid.'
Ms Fenton adds, 'Last year we celebrated being open for 20 years. When we were planning it my boss desperately wanted a gold themed party. So we just had to make sure we achieved the gold standard!'
