Robert Macleod discusses the importance of change
When you read this, I hope
you've had chance to enjoy some of the fine weather we've had of
late. At last we've had a summer and our thoughts are distracted
away from the news headlines on the changes our new Government is
making to try and manage our national debt. Over the last few
weeks, I've been lucky enough to have had some time away from the
office visiting customers and to hear about some of the successes
they are having using Investors in People. This was a great tonic
for me and makes me feel very proud of the work we do, and the
difference it makes to people's businesses and their lives. One
gentleman described how his review had been a pleasure and gave the
feedback he wanted to help move his business forward through the
tough times he was facing.
Inevitably, it is tough times that we will all face in the
coming months, possibly the next year as we adjust to our
customers' needs, and no more so than here at Assessment North
East. Over the last month and in the next few, we are conducting a
range of activities to ask you for your views on certain aspects of
our service. If you have participated already, thank you, as your
feedback helps us to ensure that we are providing you with
something that is of benefit. If you haven't had the opportunity
yet then there will be more opportunities coming up. Thank you in
advance as it really helps us to develop.
One of the major certainties for all of us is change in our
business and personal lives. But key to this is how we deal with
it. Some of us will freeze, believing that we want to 'wait and
see' and inertia and complacency sets in, particularly in decision
making. Look around you and you will start to see this happen
externally but also maybe internally. This is where we as leaders
need to step in and share a new vision and get people concentrating
on a task or activity that is certain. Life still goes on and our
world as we know it isn't collapsing around us. We should also be
reminded that a bit of change is a good thing, as often the new is
better than the old.
One of the changes we are looking at is the use of social media
in communicating with you, using sites such as Twitter. Personally,
I'm not sure that they are quite right for what we do but we're
going to be looking at this in the coming months and if you've any
feedback or experiences you'd like to share on this then please
email us.
Another new development worthy of a mention is our work with
equality and diversity, which we feature in this edition of
ANECDOTE. Whilst there has been always been a strong link with
equality and diversity within Investors in People, it is now much
more explicit in the New Framework. In addition to this, the new
Equality Act 2010 places more obligations on us as employers but
also on public bodies to ensure that their suppliers are compliant
with their obligations before contracting for services with them.
So as an Investors in People organisation, you will be well on your
way to meeting these obligations, and to assist you to demonstrate
your practices, we have
launched a new service called Committed2Equality (c2e)
'Diversity Assured' to accredit your practices against a national
framework for equality and diversity. This overlaps with Investors
in People and can be conducted as a joint or stand alone activity.
There is more information about this on our website or alternatively
please call
us to find out more about how we can support you on this
new development.
Finally, I'd like to thank you again for your feedback. Please
do keep it coming as I'm a firm believer in the phrase that 'feedback is the food of
champions'. If you do have some feedback you'd like to give us
then please don't wait for a survey to come to you and contact us.