The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London goes from strength to strength. Following its recent successful Ofsted inspection, it has now been awarded Investors in People (IiP) accreditation, further endorsing the outstanding leadership and management found by Ofsted.
Investors in People, as the name suggests, encourages high performance through effective people management.
IiP sets out a clear framework and benchmarks for improvement, to help every team within an organisation to be the very best. To meet these exacting Standards, the College had to demonstrate good practice across 39 indicators of high performance and show just how leadership, people and performance are joined together in a drive for continuous improvement.
As part of the formal assessment process, IiP interviewed 28 staff in all sorts of roles at both the College’s Enfield and Tottenham centres. At the end of the assessment, the College achieved the ‘green light’ in every area at the heart of Investors in People.
The IiP report highlights that “The vast majority of staff across the organisation are extremely dedicated to their work, passionate about the impact they can make on learners and about the pride they have in their course/s and outcomes. The experience of talking to staff was inspiring and uplifting as a consequence”.
In response to receiving the exceptionally positive Investors in People report,
Jane O’Neill, Interim Principal and Chief Executive of the College said:
“Unerring determination and dedication from all staff have gone into making sure this is a truly great College. We have developed, supported and strengthened our staff to ensure they are able to give our learners the skills and education they need for successful futures.”
The report also notes that “The College is quite an impressive example of an organisation with an effective culture of improvement in place……The steady improvement from merger through the many intervening challenges, to the point where it recently topped the performance tables for London, is testament to what could be a case study of driving improvement through investment in people”
The financial pressures that many organisations across the country face are drawn attention to in the report which notes that “the College has remained committed to its own vision and culture that can best...deliver for its students.” The report goes on to highlight that the success of the management teams and their style of leadership is “…directly delivering improved outcomes for students.”
The report also mentions the success of communication processes within the College, the consistency and clarity of the vision and message and the investment in the development of staff at all levels.
Overall the report highlights not only the current success of the College, but also its desire and potential to continue to develop and improve going forward saying: “…whatever the future holds this demonstrates the potential of the organisation to achieve the best for its students and the communities it serves.”
Key points in the Investors in People report:
“Undoubtedly the College is very willing to invest in the development of staff at all levels, and across the piece, people were very positive about the training and other learning available.”
“The College seems to have strong, effective processes and practices now in place that ensure that people are connected with the work of their team, involved and able to influence it, and kept abreast of the College-wide changes taking place”.
“The excellence in leadership, management, structure, strategy and devotion to what has been at times a fraught journey, is testament to staff and leaders at every level.”
“Seldom has the assessor encountered as unified and focussed a senior team, nor such positive and consistent feedback about directors and their willingness to trust and support.”
“A great deal of investment is made in efforts to engage managers and to make them feel empowered to influence decisions and be truly part of a College team moving forward”.
“Managers at levels and from across the College were also very positive about the trust and autonomy placed in them…things are still closely monitored, but senior managers seem to be very good at stepping back and affording people the space to perform.”
“… It was particularly striking and noteworthy that Curriculum Managers seem positive, very well supported and enabled to deliver.”
“Managers described the HR team as supportive, clear and helpful.”
