TIGA award

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, has been awarded the Investors in People Standard. It joins over 30,000 ambitious organisations in the UK, which have committed to improving business productivity and performance through their people.

Commenting on the award, Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO said: “At TIGA our aim is to be a high performance organisation – adopting best practice and exceeding standards - so that we can deliver a high quality service for our members.  For TIGA to achieve the Investors In People Standard is a major success. Just 1.3 per cent of UK businesses are Investors in People accredited. My thanks go to the TIGA team – which is second to none – and to the TIGA board for enabling our association to achieve the Investors In People Standard.  

Jason Kingsley, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion, said: “To obtain Investors In People demonstrates that TIGA has a clear strategy, is effectively managed, staff are empowered and valued, learning and development is embedded in our processes, and that we are wedded to continuous improvement.

Chris Humphries, CBE, Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, which has strategic responsibility for Investors in People, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by TIGA. Working with Investors in People inspires and enables leaders, managers and employees at all levels to build their skills, improve their performance and achieve their potential. We hope that more organisations will be encouraged to work with Investors in People to help realise their business goals and ambitions.”

Established in 2001, TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. TIGA’s membership includes independent games developers, in-house publisher owned developers, publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses, FE colleges, universities and training providers. TIGA’s vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business. TIGA focuses on three sets of activities: political representation, raising the profile of the sector and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members.

TIGA is a uniquely structured organisation: it has one full time employee and five part time highly skilled contractors. It is also a virtual organisation with team members working remotely across the UK.  TIGA has achieved significant progress over the last two and a half years: its membership has more than doubled and in 2010 it was awarded ‘Trade Association of the Year’ by the Trade Association Forum.

John Telfer, Joint Managing Director of Inspiring Business Performance Ltd (IBP), which is responsible for delivering the Investors in People Standard across London and the South East, said: “This is a superb achievement for TIGA. I would like to congratulate the organisation and its people on their achievement and commitment to continuous improvement. By gaining Investors in People recognition, TIGA has demonstrated that they understand staff development provides an excellent return on their investment. The Standard sets out principles of good practice that enable an organisation to enhance its competitiveness, boost turnover and increase staff retention. The process encourages staff to become more passionate about the business, which leads to improved motivation, personal development, public recognition and customer satisfaction.”

Ben Hayes of Inspiring Business Performance Ltd and who assessed TIGA as part of the IIP accreditation process, said: "TIGA is a exemplar of how to best utilise the skills and knowledge of experienced professionals by allowing them a great deal of autonomy and a very high level of influence at a strategic level while at the same time focusing their work through clear, measurable and stretching KPIs. TIGA is a high performance organisation delivering real value to its members and to the wider video games industry.”

Recent research, conducted by the Centre for Business Performance at Cranfield School of Management, showed that working with Investors in People increases profitability by enhancing managerial skills and increasing the performance of managers. It also inspires a high-performance management culture and an effective learning environment, both of which help to improve business performance.

Ends

Notes to editors:

About TIGA:TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. TIGA was awarded ‘Trade Association of the Year’ and the ‘Member Recruitment Award’ at the Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards 2010. TIGA has also been named as a finalist in the 2010 Chartered Management Institute (CMI) National Management and Leadership Awards in the category of ‘The Outstanding Organisation of the Year Award (SME)’.

TIGA's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business.  We focus on three sets of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members.  This means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

About Investors in People:

1.    In England, the network of Investors in People Centres.

2.    In Scotland, Scottish Enterprise (SE) or Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

3.    In Wales, the Business Skills Delivery Team at the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, Welsh Assembly Government.

4.    In Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment of Learning.

For more information on Investors in People please visit www.investorsinpeople.co.uk.

For further information, please contact Eva Field, TIGA PR Manager on: 07814 039 983, or email eva@tiga.org.