• Commitment: Commitment to invest in people to achieve business goals
• Planning: Planning how skills, individuals and teams are to be developed to achieve these goals
• Action Taking: Action to develop and use necessary skills in a well defined and continuing programme directly tied to business objectives
• Evaluating: Evaluating outcomes of training and development for individuals' progress towards goals, the value achieved and future needs.

• Investor in People is about continuous improvement and development of organisations and the people who work in them. 
• It provides a benchmark of good practice in the way people are managed and developed to deliver organisational goals, together with a framework for ongoing evaluation and improvement. 
• The result is that what people can do, and what they are motivated to do, match what the organisation needs them to do. 
• In today's global market, people - and the knowledge, skills and attitudes they bring to their jobs - are the real source of competitive advantage. 

The Standard was developed by industry, employee and training organisations and national government in the UK in 1990.  It drew on the experience and best practice in the most successful organisations, large and small, in all sectors of the economy.  The Investors in People Standard has since proved its value through rigorous evaluation and effective use in over 30,000 UK organisations.  Take-up in the UK means that a third of the UK workforce is employed in organisations which meet, or are working to meet, the Standard.  Its users come from every sector of the economy in a wide range of organisations, from those with fewer than 10 employees up to those with over 50,000.

The Investor in People Standard is managed by Investors in People UK, a non-profit business-led company established in 1993.  The company has a board of 14 directors drawn from international companies, unions and Government.  It maintains and enhances the reputation of the Standard wherever it operates through quality assurance, development work and management of the intellectual property of the Standard.  A process of ongoing feedback from customers ensures that the Standard is kept up-to-date and relevant to the needs of organisations operating it, both internationally and nationally.

More information on Investors in People UK and the Standard may be found at www.iipuk.co.uk.