Investors in People is a national framework, which provides a process and model of good practice for focusing training and development on the achievement of an organisation's purpose. It is about developing potential and skill to enable your people to fully contribute to organisational success.

The process of working towards becoming a recognised Investor in People benefits organisations by helping them to question the status quo; it is often the catalyst for exploring policies and working practices, areas for improvement are uncovered.

An independent study by the Cranfield School of Management¹ amongst 232 private sector organisations presents evidence of the link between IIP recognition and improved bottom line performance:

"Companies who have achieved the IIP Standard have higher levels of perceived non financial performance compared to competitors, in areas such as quality of products and services, attraction and retention of people, customer satisfaction and innovation."

"High levels of perceived non financial performance is a driver of perceived financial performance e.g. turnover, profitability, growth in share etc and perceived financial performance is a key driver of real financial performance in terms of turnover and ROA."

Further research² found "compelling evidence of the business benefits of investing in the IIP framework and achieving the Standard. The bottom line benefits that IIP can deliver during times of change in terms of effective change management, reducing costs, creating more focus, improving skills, increasing productivity and competitive edge can be considerable. Maintaining the Standard helps organisations to continue to embrace new challenges to secure stronger competitive advantage and reap substantial bottom line rewards during a downturn."

¹ Impact of IIP and HR Policies on Business Performance. Bourne, Franco-Santos, Pavlov & Lucianetti .Cranfield School of Management 2008

² Investors in People, Realising Business Ambitions through People in Times of Change. Lucinda Martin and Ros Elwes COI Consultancy April 2008

CMS' Investors in People Advice Service provides your organisation with an IiP Specialist who is also an experienced facilitator of organisational learning. This particular combination of skills and experience enables them to understand your organisation and recommend solutions that meet organisational needs as well as the requirements of the Standard.

The process begins with a free orientation session enabling the consultant and the organisation to jointly establish the parameters of the project. An organisational project plan is then drawn up and costed to form the basis of further discussions.

During the advisory process the consultant will work with the organisation to:

• Develop organisational understanding and commitment to the Investors in People Standard
• Compare the organisation's current position to the Standard
• Develop a strategic plan in support of achieving recognised Investors in People status
• Draw up an implementation plan
• Source, deliver and manage the implementation activity