20th December 2005, 03:14 PM
Thanks for your comments, vulpes.
I admit that I was (almost) as cynical as you at the beginning of the process. I too felt that it was simply a box-ticking exercise that would be of no use to us or to our staff. I thought everyone was happy and filling in a few forms wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to anyone.
But the IIP assessment showed that this wasn't the case, and gave us a detailed report with information about where we were going wrong and what we needed work on. Both I and my staff were very happy to read this and learn from it. Yes some organisations will only pay lip service, but as far as we were concerned we took it seriously and changes were made in the way we did things as a result. The same will apply to the RAO scheme.
If you think this is bullsh*t then put your money where your mouth is - ring us up and talk to my staff about it, our contact details are easy to get hold of.
Thanks Rachel for the positive comments, much appreciated, and thanks to 1man as well. I know a lot of local authorities are IIPs but as you say this applies to the whole organisation. With the Ironbridge Gorge Museum the IIP assessors agreed to a 'building block' approach dealing with individual departments one at a time. As well as archaeology, our museum colleagues in the library and archives, the marketing department, HR and at Blists Hill Victorian Town have also been awarded IIP. Others await re-appraisal next year.
I admit that I was (almost) as cynical as you at the beginning of the process. I too felt that it was simply a box-ticking exercise that would be of no use to us or to our staff. I thought everyone was happy and filling in a few forms wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to anyone.
But the IIP assessment showed that this wasn't the case, and gave us a detailed report with information about where we were going wrong and what we needed work on. Both I and my staff were very happy to read this and learn from it. Yes some organisations will only pay lip service, but as far as we were concerned we took it seriously and changes were made in the way we did things as a result. The same will apply to the RAO scheme.
If you think this is bullsh*t then put your money where your mouth is - ring us up and talk to my staff about it, our contact details are easy to get hold of.
Thanks Rachel for the positive comments, much appreciated, and thanks to 1man as well. I know a lot of local authorities are IIPs but as you say this applies to the whole organisation. With the Ironbridge Gorge Museum the IIP assessors agreed to a 'building block' approach dealing with individual departments one at a time. As well as archaeology, our museum colleagues in the library and archives, the marketing department, HR and at Blists Hill Victorian Town have also been awarded IIP. Others await re-appraisal next year.