Large Organisation Network Group (LONG)

How It Works

The Large Organisation Network Group (LONG) was set up to provide an opportunity for members of large organisations to discuss areas of commonality.

LONG’s members include Edinburgh City Council, Scottish Water, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Executive and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

Members of the group meet every quarter in a variety of locations – typically 30 to 40 people attend each meeting, during which everyone is encouraged to participate. The host organisation always gets an opportunity to talk about their experiences of working with the Standard.

A steering group has been set up to help plan future LONG meetings. Members are Sally Fern-Deans of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Angela Liggat of Quarriers, Brenda Nardone of North Lanarkshire Council and Gordon Ellis of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

If you would like to find out more about LONG, or become a member, please contact Fiona King (fionak@iipscotland.co.uk), Scott McKellar (scottm@iipscotland.co.uk) or telephone 0131 625 0155.



LONG meetings in 2008

After surveying the LONG membership, the meetings in 2008 will retain the established format of a specific theme to explore per session and have more opportunities for involving attendees. The provisional dates and themes are listed below:

 

Developing Leaders

Tuesday 03 June
Hosted by: Aegon UK, Edinburgh Park
 

Managing Change
Tuesday 02 September
Hosted by: tbc
 

Corporate Social Responsibility

Tuesday 02 December
Hosted by: tbc

 


Meetings


Thursday 06 December 2007: Return on Investment

The final LONG session for 2007 was hosted by the newly IIP-committed organisation NHS Lothian at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. The theme for the day was 'Return on Investment' , examining both the academic theory and the practical application of that theory for large organisations.

The event was opened by Director of Acute Services James McCafferty from NHS Lothian with a presentation by IIPS Director of Finance Peter Kerr of an Investors in People Commitment Certificate. Dave Grigor, also from NHS Lothian, then led us through "The Story So Far" with an overview of the organisation's recent engagement with IIPS.

This was followed with a stimulating look at research carried out by Dr Colin Coulson-Thomas from Cotoco Ltd, who spoke about measuring performance indicators and case studies on ROI. The presentation focused on proven theory and the impact on the bottom line for clients Cotoco have worked with. This informative session provoked a further question and answer session with Dr Coulson-Thomas.

The excellent lunch provided an opportunity for further networking for the 40 delegates who attended from a mixture of public and private organisations.

Judith Paxton from Reid Kerr College who recently went through a very successful IIPS Profile review, led the afternoon with a short explanation of the impressive changes in fortunes at the college both in terms of the bottom line improvements and the "intangibles". Director of Performance Through People, Ricky Kujawa, then followed talking through the examples of the benefits to ROI through Training and Development. This session looked at the "Intangible benefits" of evaluation and effective training methods.

A panel-style Q&A session concluded the day with a summary of IIPS activity from Bernard Cruickshanks.

Presentations by Doctor Colson-Thomas and Ricky Kujawa can be found below:

The provisional date for the first LONG session of 2008 is April 3. For more information please email Fiona King: fionak@iipscotland.co.uk.

 

 

Previous meetings:

 

Thursday 06 September 2007: Inclusion and Diversity

Septembers LONG meeting was intended to raise awareness of Inclusion and Diversity in a challenging session partly inspired by the famous "Blue eyed - brown eyed" exercise. Attendees were arbitarily assigned membership to one of two groups on arrival, with one group experiencing good food and comfortable seating and preferential treatment, and the other very basic refreshments and hard seating. Later in the morning session, the position of each of the groups was switched. The intention with the exerise was to gently take attendees out of their comfort zones and give a quick experience of discrimination, setting the tone for the afternoon session which would go into the topic in much more detail.

The meeting was hosted by West Dunbartonshire Council at their Headquarters near the banks of the river Clyde.

Councillor Iain Robertson, Leader of the Council, welcomed attendees and introduced several presentations covering Diversity, Disability Equality, Early Intervention, and West Dunbartonshire's Sports Development Programme.

Following refreshments, Linda Johnston from North Lanarkshire Council prompted discussion about the exercise with a presentation entitled "How Did You Feel About?"

After lunch, Gillian Neish from Neish Training held a very informative session concerning discrimination and related issues within and beyond the workplace. Gillian Neish is a highly regarded specialist in race and equity issues in relation to management, staffing and service provision, and managing and valuing diversity. Gillian also works with the award winning Jane Elliot who developed the ground breaking "Blue eyed - brown eyed" exercise which provided the inspiration for the exercise earlier in the day.

Further information regarding race and equity issues and related training and workshop opportunities can be found on Neish Training's website.

Many thanks to our speakers and all attendees for their participation in a very positive meeting.

Presentations from the meeting can be found below:


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Wednesday 19 June 2007: Staff Retention

The LONG meeting in June, "Staff Retention", was hosted by Perth and Kinross Council at the Quality Hotel in Perth.

Gavin Stephenson, Executive Director of Perth & Kinross Council, opened the day and had the opportunity to introduce a session covering Perth & Kinross Council's experience with Investors in People and the Standard.

Grant Crow from Executrack Solutions talked about about Talent Management and prompted discussion around the issues with attendees.

Following lunch and the opportunity for networking, Norrie Gilliland from Peoplematters led a lively session on Human Capital Management.

Attendees were then invited to partake in a discussion surroundingthe revision ofthe Investors in People models: Leadership and Management, Recruitment and Selection, and Work-Life Balance.

 

Presentations from the meeting can be found below:


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Tuesday 06 March 2007 : Thinking - It's impact on Performing

The first LONG meeting of 2007, "Thinking - It's Impact on Performing", was held at the 2nd Army Division Headquarters in Craigieburn near Edinburgh and was hosted by the Territorial Army.

Col. Jim Wilson spoke about the TA's own people management policies. This was followed by Nicola Russian from the Association for Coaching who led an interactive session that had members splitting into groups to discuss coaching issues in their own organisations, then feeding back into a larger discussion with all attendees.

Clyde Marwick (William Grant & Sons) talked about how his own organisation uses coaching. Many attendees felt this was particularly useful and inspiring.

Finally, Lesley Meechan (Glasgow Opportunities) talked about her own experience as an assessor and provided an opportunity for questions from members about coaching issues.

Feedback from attendees on the day was very positive. If any members would like to contact one of the speakers, please contact Scott McKellar at smckellar@iipscotland.co.uk.


Presentations from the meeting can be found below:


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Wednesday 06 December 2006: Lean Management

Decembers meeting was hosted by the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. The theme was Lean Management and attendees were led through the Scottish Executives own Investors in People journey in presentations from Colin Mills, Clive Martlew, Hilary Morrison and Simon Thomas. Stuart Ross from Ross International Ltd talked about Lean Management and Kaizen Blitz; what they mean and how organisations can benefit from them. John Smith from Quality Scotland talked about performance measures. Tony Salt from IIPUK presented some proposals for a new way of working with Investors in People. Finally Peter Russian, CEO of Investors in People Scotland, talked about evidence based management in "The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread?"

A complete list of presentations from the meeting can be found below:


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Tuesday 12 September 2006: Organisational Changes

This meeting was hosted by Lothian & Borders Police at their HQ in Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh. The theme was culture change and Sally Fern-Deans from Jacobs Babtie talked us through how a large organisation deals with organisational changes.

Norrie Gilliland from people matters gave an interactive session on coaching - is it touchy-feely HR or good business sense? Finally in the afternoon, Clodagh Memery from the Improvement Service talked about Best Value and highlighted some relevant findings in new Best Value audits by Audit Scotland. To find out more about this event, please call Bernard Cruickanks, Development Manager on 0131 625 0155.

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Tuesday 27 June 2006: Evaluation

Junes LONG meeting took place at the Scottish Prison Service College. Evaluation was the theme - please view the agenda and Barry Mackay's introduction presentation. Terry Rogers from Development Partners also presented on this.

John Telfer introduced our new e-survey tool - easy-to-use software that provides a fast and reliable method of obtaining valuable feedback from employees and customers anywhere in the world. Please view his presentation. You can find out more by calling Bernard Cruickshanks on: 0131 625 0155.

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Friday 31 March 2006: The Business Case for Behaviourial Change

March's LONG meeting was held on at the Scottish Natural Heritage near Perth - please view the agenda.

The meeting included an interactive session on “the business case for behavioural change”, presented by Mike Ward from The Brand Inside - please view Mike's presentation and his business case scenarios. You can also view his "bar stool" test.

The afternoon slot featured a presentation by Carolyn Inger, Investors in People Quality Centre Manager, on the Profile tool. This was followed by Q&A session between Carolyn and Morag Mathieson, Training and Development Manager at The Glenmorangie Company. You can also read a case study on Glenmorangie's experience with Profile.

Peter Russian closed proceedings with a presentation on measuring the contribution of training. You can also read a copy of the research that was discussed at the meeting.

We are also welcoming applications from members of large organisations to join our Advocates Programme. Please read more information on the programme and complete the reply form included if you would like to become a member.

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Friday 25 November 2005

November's meeting was introduced by Kathleen Johnson, GTG General Manager.GTG's Chief Executive David Scott spoke to the meeting about how to performance-manage employees accross a large organisation - and the successes and pitfalls involved.

Peter Russian introduced the latest plans for the development of Investors in People in Scotand, and how this will provide a more cohesive and supportive approach for all clients.You can also read a copy of the research Peter referred to on Measuring the Contribution of Skills to Business Performance.

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Wednesday 31 August 2005

August's LONG meeting focused on the "Doing" part of the Standard - Gordon Ellis from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service shared his thoughts.

John Hutchison, one of Investors in People Scotland’s Associate Assessors, presented his experiences of using the Balanced Scorecard and other models to implement and evaluate the impact of strategic actions.

The meeting also featured a pilot of a LONG version of Speed Dating – each attendee got to spend five minutes with four others to exchange ideas.

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