Plymouth Music Zone has been awarded GOLD accreditation in an international leadership framework that has recognised the charity’s significant investment in its people. PMZ was assessed against the international Investors in People standard seen as the height of excellence in people management. It means the community music charity has joined the ranks of only 17% of accredited organisations worldwide who achieve Gold across 75 countries.
Investors in People is the international standard for people management. It defines what it takes to lead, support and manage people effectively to achieve sustainable results. The Investors in People framework reflects the latest workplace trends, essential skills and effective structures required to outperform in any industry. Investors in People enables organisations to benchmark against the best in the business on an international scale.
The Investors in People assessor, Julie-Ann Hayes, surveyed Plymouth Music Zone’s 25 strong team and interviewed selected staff members face to face as well as examining all of the charity’s processes and policies.
The assessor says she was impressed by how Plymouth Music Zone operates and the fact it scored the maximum possible across the board:
“It has been a privilege to conduct Plymouth Music Zone’s assessment who continue to strive for Excellence. They have achieved Gold accreditation for the second time with no hint of complacency. Indeed, this time they have achieved the maximum evidence criteria for every indicator. This is a fantastic result. Despite being totally focused on its core goals, it is prepared to look to the outside world to bring in new ideas and challenge existing practices. “
PMZ’s Chair of Trustees, Christine Redding, says it’s a very welcome acknowledgement of how strongly committed PMZ is to being driven by its values:
”The Trustees are proud of the way we develop and support our team as it’s a reflection of how we truly value and believe in our people. We remain committed to leading the way in advocating for embedded approaches to wellbeing for all our staff. Only then can we fully support the positive change and desired impact for our participants. Congratulations to PMZ’s Chief Executive, Debbie Geraghty, and her wonderful team for always going the extra mile with such compassion and dedication. They’re certainly all worth their weight in gold!”
Plymouth Music Zone owes its ability to invest in its staff thanks to support from key funders including Youth Music, Arts Council England and the National Lottery Community Fund. They recognise how necessary it is for any organisation to have a strong core to achieve meaningful engagement with the most diverse range of participants across the city.
PMZ’s Chief Executive, Debbie Geraghty, says:
“It’s a real joy to be able to work in a place that has such a strong culture of caring for its staff and everyone it works with. It’s a rare haven full of hope and passion. How wonderful to know the assessment shows everyone genuinely believes PMZ is ’a great place to work’. We’ll certainly take all the important learning from the assessment to ensure we achieve even greater impact. I firmly believe HOW we operate is as important as WHAT we do. You really can’t achieve real inclusion in a workplace without being underpinned by the necessary open and robust leadership practice that’s required to support it.”
Further details can be found here: Media Release IIP Gold