Investors in people...
Helena Partnerships 'took gold' and achieved Investors in People (IiP) Gold Award - and became the only company in the North West to meet all 196 criteria. You can find out more about this by clicking on the case study here.
Helena’s goal when it was first formed was to create a strong foundation for learning and development, to create a true learning organisation and become an employer of choice. The investor in people framework was used to guide this plan and helped to tailor processes to suit the organisation. With the input and support of colleagues from across the organisation a range of people-centred support mechanisms were introduced including:
- a calendar of internal development programmes including some accredited to the ILM
- regular communication/development events for key managers
- further education support
- group and one to one accredited IT programmes
- a suite of health and safety programmes
- competency-based appraisals and one to ones
- staff conferences
By April 2005 Helena received full IIP accreditation and was commended by the assessors. Following extensive investment in coaching skills development at ILM level 3, 5 and 7 Helena was recognised at the 2006 National Training Awards for its unique approach to the introduction of coaching into an organisation. This was followed by receiving accreditation for the IIP Leadership and Management award in 2006 and in IIP Work-life Balance award in 2007. Helena piloted a new IIP Health and Wellbeing award and demonstrated excellent standards against this.
Helena was extremely proud to receive an unequivocal re-accreditation in 2008 for its high standards against the IIP framework and also to achieve level 4 within the Profile standard for three indicators (defining leadership skills required, empowerment and performance improvement) and level 3 for one indicator (leadership skills delivered). The assessors advised that very few organisations in the country have achieved these standards since it was introduced in 2005.
Anyone within Helena knows that the achievement is the culmination of everyone embracing change and development which has led to high performance across the business. It is a reflection of the genuine people culture which you can feel about the place and makes people proud to be part of the team.