Benefits of IiP
Improve efficiency
Investors in People can help you to improve your efficiency through the use of the Investors in People Framework.
A Starting Point
You can begin the improvement process by having a clear sense of what you want to achieve:
- A clear picture of where you want to go and how you are going to get there
- Realistic goals and timeframes
- A clear strategic plan that focuses on your key business priorities
- A structure to evaluate and review the effectiveness of your approach
Investors in People provides you with the guidance to know what you need to be doing, and the feedback as to whether it’s working for you. This is reflected within the Plan, Do, Review principles of the framework.
The Challenge of Efficiency
The demand for increasing efficiency is driven by a desire to reduce costs, speed up processes, and cut waste from organisations.
In most organisations, people are the most expensive part of the operation. To improve efficiency you need to make sure that you get the highest return on this investment.
A key part of improving efficiency is therefore to consider whether you are really making the most of the skills of your people.
- Why does performance drop or not meet expectations?
- What more do you need to do to get the extra effort that makes the difference between OK and excellent?
Leadership and Management
You need to be clear about the role that your managers will play in getting the best from your people. You need to emphasise and ensure that your managers understand their responsibilities for getting the best performance from their teams.
Managers are agents for your objectives who will either support your aspirations or consciously or sub-consciously act as a barrier to what you need to do. Your leaders and managers should understand what their roles are in terms of leading, managing and developing people.
Focus on Your People
Increasing the efficiency of your people is even more powerful when you consider that most of the practices and behaviours that are required to get the best from people don’t require lots of expenditure. Feedback, involvement, engagement, and good communication don’t come with a bill to be paid – it comes down to whether your managers have the skills and the behaviours your need to use these principles in their day to day work.
There are also people-centered activities which do require expenditure – learning and development, reward and recognition and other benefits. The key to increasing efficiency in these areas is to look at how each activity contributes to what your key objectives are, to consider whether there are alternative approaches to achieving the same outcome, and most importantly whether your chosen approaches actually work.
For more information on how Investors in People can help your organisation, please contact us.
