Who we are? (Who are Investors in People?)

All staff received an invitation in September 2022 from IiP to complete an anonymous independent questionnaire. We used the information from the questionnaire to get a deeper understanding of any issues raised in our staff survey that went out in June 2022 to help us make sure we take the right actions. We received 966 responses.

Following on from the questionnaire, in October 2022, focus group discussions and one-to-one interviews were held with staff from across the council. The people that were interviewed were selected to be representative of our whole workforce. We carried out over 130 interviews.

The interviews were carried out by Jenny Trickett, who has been our External Advisor for several years as well as our own IiP Champions, internal staff that have been developed to use the IiP Framework to ask the right questions and capture your feedback.

We have been developing staff to become IiP Champions for over 10 years. This has given staff the opportunity to be actively involved in supporting our IiP assessments. One of our newest IiP Champions is Lyndsay McNicholl who works in the Communities Department as a Service Development Lead.

 Lyndsay explains below why she wanted to become an IiP Champion and what she got out of the experience.

“… I became an IiP Champion because I wanted to know more about the IiP framework, learn more about the different departments across the Council and to meet new people ….”

 “… the opportunity gave me a better understanding of the different roles across the Council, listening to how staff felt proud to work with their teams to support our customers and communities as well as listening on challenges staff face and where we need to improve…”

 “…becoming an IiP Champion has supported me with my own professional development, I learned new skills around listening and interviewing which has also helped me in my day-to-day work. I’ve enjoyed being part of the IiP Champion team, meeting new people, making connections across the Council, and seeing how our core values are embedded into everything we do each day …”

The good news was that we achieved gold accreditation. This means that ‘people and leaders actively drive positive outcomes, taking ownership of the principles and practices [of IiP]’

Jenny Trickett, who has been our External Advisor for several years, told us she had found …

‘… a quantifiably different organisation – as a result of focus on trust, empowerment, caring and support, continuous investment in best practice, improving management and use of data.’

We found mutual respect at all levels with an openness to feedback and a desire to improve by investing in people and their wellbeing. What was clear was that there are talented people at all levels of our organisation.

When we are at our best, we are working collaboratively, making improvements using internal and external sources and making decisions.

This was great news, but gold does not mean perfect, and we are always looking to improve. The review found that the areas that we need to work on are how we recognise and reward people as well as developing the skills of our leaders. We need to keep thinking about how we communicate to make sure everyone gets the messages they need.

Our Internal reviewers have presented information to your departments with some more details evidence about what is going on in your department. We have been working closely with the staff survey and the outcomes of the review have fed into the published actions.

The IiP review has given us an excellent opportunity to find the stories behind the statistics, which has given us a full view of how staff and feeling and what we need to work on.

IiP is an on-going process. We will have a ‘strategic review’ at the end of this year when Jenny Trickett will come in to check everything is still on track.

Our next full review will be towards the end of 2024. If you would like more information or want to get involved, then please let us know via the Learning & Development Mailbox.