12 minute read
leadership & entrepreneurs
Staff retention – 8 tips for retaining staff and building teams
In September HRH The Princess Royal visited Electronics Contract Manufacturer Time 24 in Burgess Hill to present long service awards in recognition that 52 of their 98 UK staff have amassed over 900 years’ service between them. What’s their secret?
Advertisement
David Shore
Director, Time 24 Ltd
1 Never be afraid to employ: - In my view one of the biggest reasons small companies remain small is a reticence to employ. If you want to grow and develop your Company there comes a time when you must loosen hands on control, recruit, delegate and develop. It is a risk and there will be times you get it wrong, but you will hamper your growth if you don’t.
2 Catch people doing something right: - It is the style of many Managers to wait for someone to do something wrong and then come down hard on them. But what about catching people doing something right - the compliment, recognition, a thank you, a reward. Simple but effective.
3 Recruit with Teams in mind: - You can have the best Striker in the world but if nobody wants to pass to them then they won’t score many goals and indeed they can make things worse. Sometimes it may prove that the best qualified may not always be the best team player.
4 If you get it wrong sort it out quickly:
- Recruitment can be a lottery and it will happen to all Managers at some time in their career that they have not made the right selection. If you have recruited someone who is having a negative effect on the culture of the Company and the morale of the team is being damaged, then it is essential to sort it out quickly.
5 Listen- let people have a voice: - Over thirty years ago we created the Time 24 Consultative Group enabling representative staff to discuss anything but wages/salaries which we believed should always be done on an individual basis. Over the years we have addressed many issues important to our staff and this forum has become a highly effective vehicle for us to listen. Equally an open-door policy, although sounding a bit of a cliché, lets people know that they can come and talk about all issues.
6 There is no need to reprimand a good
employee: - because they are already doing it to themselves! If a good employee makes a mistake, then going over the top serves no purpose because a good employee is often already concerned, worried and keen to do the best job they can. An empathetic discussion on how not to make the same mistake again and recognition of all the good things they do is often far more effective.
7 Kill the ‘hand grenades’: - I have often been copied on emails where, in the emotion of the moment, someone drops a
provocative, critical or derogatory comment – ‘a hand grenade’. Newtons law of equal and opposite reactions then kicks into place and the email is returned with equal caustic vengeance and suddenly it stops becoming about sorting the issue in hand and becomes about turf protection and ‘don’t talk to me like that’. If you want to develop good teams then step in whenever you see it, coaching people handling skills and getting your teams to use fair wording and not ‘hand grenades’. I often encourage people to pick up the phone if people are engaging in e mail tennis.
8 Treat everyone with the utmost respect,
with fairness and equally: - We spend an average 90000 hours of our lives at work which means we often spend more time with our work colleagues than we do with our families. Creating an environment where staff are happy to go into work, are happy mixing with colleagues, feel valued, are respected, and treated fairly is absolutely crucial.
About Time 24 Ltd
Formed in 1987 Time 24 employ 200 staff based in the UK and the Czech Republic. Their Assemblies are used on Trains, Aircraft, Simulators. Radiotherapy Machines and Chip making Equipment. David Shore is Co-founder and joint MD of Time 24.
The Psychology of Change: Two Ideas for Post Pandemic People Preparation
Following the past 18 months, I am making a very conscious effort to change some of my less useful and unhealthy habits into something much more beneficial for me. I understand how small but consistent effort and change can lead to greater improvements in my work-life balance, which holds value and importance for me. Of course, understanding this logic is only one part of the change puzzle. Changing my mindset and behaviour is more complex.
We understand through research and experience that there are key reasons why people react negatively to change. These include, a sense of fear or loss, reduction of control, a feeling of threat or imposition, a change in expertise or status, lack of confidence and a lack of understanding of how the change will affect them. While those of us with people or change management responsibilities may recognise this list, we often get swept up into the change fog while neglecting to focus on what will remain unchanged. Often, despite change some things remain. Perhaps it is function, or process or teams. Psychologically, although we can protect ourselves and mitigate discomfort by focusing on loss, through practice, effort, and effective communication we can also help to open people up to the idea that all change has both opportunity and risk and through change somethings will remain.
If being more mindful of the psychological impact of change on people post pandemic is of interest to you, these two ideas may help:
Communication is key
The very nature of change quite often leaves us in a predicament that we may not have all the answers in relation to key aspects of change. Yet, as organisational leaders it is important to understand two fundamental psychological concepts. First, in times of change people look up. How leaders ‘walk the walk’ comes under intense scrutiny. How their actions match their words sends clear messages to all in the organisation about key aspects of the change. Second, gaps need to be closed. These could be gaps in understanding, which if not addressed can be closed with (mis)assumption and inaccurate storytelling.
Regardless of whether change is sudden, gradual, or planned having a comprehensive and cohesive communication plan will help ease the transition. It can also keep people informed of new information, mistakes or changes in direction. Honesty in communication goes a long way. Trust in the change process can erode quickly if leaders are found to be insincere. In creating space for those affected by change to ask questions, even the tough questions or those you might not have an answer to right now, helps create momentum, build relationships and even identify change advocates that can offer their support.
Use change to learn and educate
Change is a constant. Change is complex. Change has risk and reward. It is easy for us to be caught up in the navigation of the newness that change brings. Again, this speaks to our psychology. We need to pay closer attention to skills, behaviours and emotions as we are developing. Yet, behaviours will deepen and sustain if we celebrate the wins. For many, the last 18 months has felt like constant change. Yet, as we head into post pandemic work practice, I hear people comment on a fear that things will go back to the way they used to be. In this instance then, hasn’t change brought some success? Taking time to recognise success as an organisation but also for teams playing their roles in sustaining the organisation will reap benefits. First, for those advocates, it gives encouragement. Second, for those resistant, it shows momentum. Third, for leaders it helps check strategic direction.
When the celebration is over, we typically ask “what’s next?” Having milestones identified, marked and publicised, psychologically this helps people to understand where they are in the change process and how their organisation is responding. By breaking parts of a change process into chunks, people are better able to cope psychologically and it becomes easier to identify where extra support or education may be required to equip people for the next phase of change.
One final thought is the question “are we there yet?” which is synonymous with long journeys… When we think about the psychology of change, this is one of those questions that people ask too. Be sure to close change off for people, or at least phases of change. This can help the journey feel less like a boring, tiresome trek and more like a purposeful adventure.
Dr Arlene Egan
Director of Learning and Thought Leadership, Roffey Park Institute Ltd
www.roffeypark.ac.uk
Real Patisserie lays new foundations for growth
Alastair Gourlay, Managing Director of French modelled bakery Real Patisserie, explains how – ahead of its 25-year anniversary next spring - the business is investing in its biggest project to date.
Alastair Gourlay
Managing Director, Real Patisserie
“We’re creaking at the seams of our current premises in central Brighton, so we’ve spent the last year developing and investing in new production facility in Southwick,” explains Alastair. Formerly a printworks, the new 1000m2 facility will give the business the space it needs to streamline operations and accelerate product development.
With Covid, labour shortages, transport issues and the soaring cost of raw materials, the build hasn’t been without its challenges. “There’ve been delays and some of the costs have been higher than budgeted” admits Alastair, “but we`ve had great support from our bank and have been fortunate enough to have secured a significant ERDF grant.’’ This has helped us to invest not only in superb new machinery but also in green technology, something close to our hearts. For example, we'll be using waste heat from our oven flues to heat our hot water.
Paris-trained pâtissier Alastair opened the first Real Patisserie shop in Brighton’s Trafalgar Street in 1997, waking at 2:30am each morning to bake the day’s first batch of loaves. Steadily growing wholesale demand and two new stores have followed. The business now employs 80 people across its production and retail operations. Once the new site is fully operational, the plan is to open additional retail outlets.
Trafalgar street shop, where it all started!
The recipe for success? “There are so many ingredients! The first that come to mind are delicious fresh products, fantastic people, efficiency, communication, honesty, timing and financial awareness.’’
https://www.realpatisserie.co.uk/
From Landfill to the United Nations
As the Director for Alternative Fuels at Loesche Energy Systems Ltd, I could easily reel off some dry statistics regarding the damage that excess waste is causing to the planet. Such statistics, though shocking, are short lived in the mind of the reader, therefore I will share a more personal story.
1970s, Kampung Chekkadi, Buntong, Malaysia: an illegal village settlement on the edge of a landfill. Or as I knew it: home. Every day, a new convoy of dust carts dropped off the unwanted waste of the local populace. My route to school involved navigating a clear path between mountainous landfills. Electricity was a luxury not available to my family; neither was clean water, as myself and my brother made the weekly ‘water run’. The pungent smell of waste was ever-present.
Every tropical storm brought an adventure (a truly dreaded one). Water would run down the hills of refuse, washing rubbish into my home. As soon as the flooding subsided, everyone in the family had to take part in the clean-up process, work that would typically require PPE for an adult.
At 24, I headed to the UK with borrowed winter clothes and a scholarship for a BEng(Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Nottingham Trent University, followed by an MBA. After several short careers around the UK, I finally settled back into what I knew well: waste.
Now I work with people around the world looking for solutions to the municipal solid waste generated by humans; converting the waste to re-usable RDF/SRF in cement industry and making SRF pellets from waste to feed into gasification units which is processed into renewable fuels downstream.
Human-generated waste is a known global problem. We often read statistics on the news but without living and experiencing the damage it causes to the environment directly, it is easy to become complacent. My story is not unique, right now there are people living this reality.
Working in this field brings me great joy and satisfaction. Having received an invitation to the COP26 United Nations climate change conference as a delegate, I feel I have come a long way. From Landfill to the United Nations. Perhaps through conferences like this we may be able to prevent the next
Daniel Devid
Director of Alternative Fuels, Loesche Energy Systems Ltd
generation from having to endure the hardships that I faced.
PwC UK sponsor the delivery of “Dare to Dream” for three Crawley Schools
For the fifth consecutive year in Crawley, the Love Local Jobs Foundation will be delivering inspirational programmes that equip students with the essential tools and confidence to help them fulfil their potential.
Christina Fishlock
Head of Community Programmes, Love Local Jobs Foundation
The Dare to Dream programme, supported by Crawley Borough Council, challenges young people to change the way they think. Programme Lead, Jack the Lad Hayes, well-known for hosting Heart FM’s Breakfast Show, and who’s now on air with More Radio, will be presenting his personal journey and delivering inspirational sessions centred around core themes of self-awareness, mindset, gratitude, resilience, teamwork, and employability.
Significantly increasing their level of support this, PwC UK will help the Foundation deliver a much-needed boost of positivity and self-belief for Crawley’s young people for a third consecutive year.
Their support will help raise aspirations for entire year groups at three separate schools across Crawley, including year 9 students from Oriel High School and Ifield Community College and year 11 students from The Gatwick School. In total, PwC UK will be supporting around 500 local young people.
Additionally, volunteers from PwC UK will mentor 45 students who are currently disengaged, through sharing their own experiences and reinforcing themes that are central to wellbeing, employability and a positive future, helping them to begin exploring their potential.
Simon Bailey, partner and Regional Market Leader for Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, said: “We’re delighted to support Dare to Dream again this year, demonstrating our continued commitment to the local market by increasing our investment in the programme by 50%. For us, it’s about giving back to the communities in which we live and work by sharing our skills, time, and talent. Collectively, we aim to ensure that our support means that people from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds can make the most of their potential, whether that’s at PwC or elsewhere.”
