16 minute read
Thought Leaders
Leading by example, one opinion, one idea, one lesson at a time, our thought leaders are significant in the Leicester and Leicestershire business scene.
With authority in their field of expertise, passion for sharing ideas, and commitment to helping others, they’ve been asked to write down their most current brain waves.
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Selected organisations and individuals share how and why they go about their business, reveal their ambitions, provide clarity on matters within their industry, educate on complex or novel subjects, inspire with their forwardthinking and progressive perspectives, or look backwards to evaluate what’s been learnt.
Got something you’d like to see our varying thought leaders cover? Send your topics of interest to kerry@crossproductions.co.uk.
Rik Pancholi
Managing Director at Pattersons Commercial Law
How to perform at your best under pressure
I’m a corporate lawyer and if there is one thing I can tell you about corporate lawyers, it’s that they need to be able to work well under pressure and be able to spin multiple plates. Pressure comes as part of the territory and as long as it can be managed properly, it shouldn’t become a problem.
If you have the time to think things through without any added pressure then you may well perform differently than when you are under pressure. However, the way the cookie of life crumbles, you may not always have this choice and you may well need to act with speed, make decisions you need to live with and keep people (like our clients) happy. Here are a few tips to performing at your best whilst under pressure:
1. Stay calm.
If you can remain calm and collected, you’ll be able to make safer and possibly better decisions rather than decisions made ‘in the heat of the moment’. A clear mind will also help you remain focused on the end goal rather than being caught up in ‘noise’ which could end up serving as a distraction.
2. Stick to the plan.
Some people find lists are helpful. Lists make sure you can tick off the 101 things which need to be completed and helps keep your mind clear – see point number one above! If you have the ‘noise’ on your list then it won’t clog up your mind and it will help you focus and complete each task individually and properly.
3. Keep talking.
If you keep people involved with what’s going on, you may be able to delegate and they may be able to help alleviate that pressure. You never know, you may actually receive gratitude for including others and keeping them up to date.
Bhavin Gandhi
Director at Paradigm Wills and Legal Services
Don’t get complacent
The challenge for the care sector continues
As we are free to return to ‘normal’ life we should still consider that there is an element of risk amongst us with regards to Covid-19.
We have serviced many people over the last 18 months who wanted to either make a will or review their existing their one as they knew and understood that it did not match what they would now want to
Changes in legislation means that by November 11, all people working in care homes in England will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19, subject to limited exemptions.
November 11 may seem a long way off, but it will go in the blink of an eye as we all know, you start the year happen with their estate as they did when they created it years ago.
However, there are still many people who have not come forward to do either – maybe because they feel it’s not important or it’s a difficult conversation that can cause arguments between couples or families due to their different wishes. This is where an expert advisor should be able to
off thinking that you have loads of time before the end of it and in a flash, Easter arrives and then before you know it, Christmas is upon us once more.
Employers of care staff need to be looking now at consulting with their employees and encouraging them to take up the vaccination, allaying any help you break everything down and help and guide you with options. So, as a minimum, I would encourage to have a free no obligation meeting with someone to understand your options.
As well as many businesses having to unfortunately closed down or cease trading, some companies have increased turnover, grown and expanded which is great news, or some have exited their business and sold their shares. Again, it’s worth reviewing what you have in place should the worst happen. Nobody wants to leave loved ones to deal
fears individuals may have and helping and supporting staff wherever they can.
If employees are members of a recognised trade union, it is always a good idea to involve them at an early stage. I have always found that good relationships with local and regional trade unions help employers significantly in these types of matters.
Staff with exemptions will need to have it verified and a note placed on each individual member of staff’s records. The Care Quality with a mess – which is something we are seeing as probate cases increase.
Now with everyone used to technology supporting meetings, we can meet with people face to face (with social distancing of course) as well as virtually to help and discuss any concerns people may have.
Don’t become complacent with your current situation promising yourself you’ll deal with your will another time. The world and society move at a fast pace, anything could happen, anything could change to affect you, your family, and your will.
Commission (CQC) will need to be able to see this in the event of an inspection.
If staff do not have an exemption and refuse to have a vaccination, employers will need to have a plan in place should they ultimately have to part company with an employee. Given that many will have long service, employers will need to give notice to terminate the contract based on ‘some other substantial reason’.
Always take legal advice before deciding to dismiss any employees.
Jay Webb
Managing Director at Jay Webb Consultancy Services employers will need to have a plan in place should they ultimately have to part company with an employee
James Coningsby
Partner and expert commercial property solicitor at Nelsons
Why now is the time to invest in Leicester
Leicester’s economy shrunk by 12.2% in 2020 leaving people questioning whether the city can ever truly recover in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 pandemic brought the country to a standstill, cities need to see people returning to live, work and spend time in them, which will, in turn, seed new businesses and encourage investment by existing ones.
Leicester is no exception. Yes, it’ll be different to how it was ten years ago, but there’s also the opportunity to make it more vibrant, exciting and diverse.
As well as supporting local businesses, it’ll bring
Krupa Joshi-Bhatt
Future Focus
The last 18 months has been a roller coaster ride for most sectors; the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) included.
As the sector looks forward to resuming services in the new norm, Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL) is planning a variety of opportunities for the communities to come together and ‘Reconnect for a Sustainable Future’.
This is the theme for our much awaited annual conference, Future Focus, which takes place in September this year. The event will be spread over two days enabling organisations to reconnect, both, face to face and virtually. Our aim is to offer advice, guidance and support to as many charitable organisations as inspiration and passion to the city and also boost visitation – bringing in more tourists and, ultimately, making Leicester the go-to place in the East Midlands.
For some time, we’ve needed quality living space in the city that people of all ages – but perhaps, particularly the young – will want to be in. With this in mind, it’s great to see some really exciting ‘build to rent’ schemes, some of which have been led by clients of Nelsons, coming through to completion.
Many are keen to return to their everyday lives, with those in the city wanting to take full advantage of the area. From plug-in and work spaces to innovative bar and experience ventures, I’m delighted to say we are also advising several really visionary organisations that can see the potential demand for high-quality hospitality and ‘experience’ offerings in our city.
With a multitude of innovative businesses coming to the fore, it’s also critically important for our inner-city transport to be on top form, making it easier for people to come into Leicester and take advantage of these opportunities.
I genuinely believe this is a great time to invest in Leicester’s city centre, as long as the ideas and execution are right. Our city has a great foundation and lots to be proud of – and we have a wonderful opportunity to be part of its next chapter.
possible in the Leicester/ shire area.
As a vital VCS resource, we have noted the significant changes in the landscape across the sector and are conscious that it needs opportunities to come together, influence, and shape priorities. Our local authority partners, public health colleagues, and university representatives will be present at the panel to answer questions from VCSE organisations and discuss the importance of making connections, collaborative working and developing partnerships. We are hosting this second day face to face followed by a networking opportunity to allow groups to come together. In addition, we will also be launching the VCSE Manifesto over the coming weeks.
We began work on the VCSE manifesto many months ago with a consortia of local charity sector CEOs. Since then, the needs of local community groups has significantly changed due to the pandemic; with reduced resources, changes in service delivery, lack of opportunities to fundraise and trade, etc, so we are keen to revisit that discussion and encourage more charity leaders to get involved to shape the VCSE sector going forward.
Darren Willoughby
Managing Director at 2XL Commercial Finance
Well, 18 months into the pandemic and with the end hopefully in sight, why are businesses and individuals still using the title of this piece to mask a multitude of inefficiencies?
In the first lockdown, many of us had sympathy for businesses as they struggled to pivot in the face of the strange world we found ourselves in. Supply chains were also affected – especially in the shadow of Brexit as well as a rather large ship blocking the Suez Canal (you can’t make it up), but is “due to covid” now becoming a metaphor for poor service or laziness… I think so.
Certainly, in my industry we have seen timescales slip, applications take longer and more often than not, people actually calling back with Covid-related excuses. Yet, in reality, nothing had changed. One example was a call with a bank which started off with the manager telling me about his worklife balance being better, how he had been out on his bike daily, and that his day was much shorter. In the last part of the call, he told me how it would be about a week longer before they could submit the application “because of Covid”. As far as I knew, Covid hadn’t affected his ability to type, call or email, or his ability to work shorter hours and cycle his bike.
As an Ardent Liverpool fan, my club has recently employed NFC technology to allow you to enter the match using your phone as opposed to a physical ticket affecting 55,000 people, only to close the ticket office at Liverpool and removing a number to call if you had any problems. Yes, you’ve guessed it. because of Covid. But 55,000 people can sit in a stadium watching 22 men kick a ball about, and hug, sit, and cough to their hearts’ content.
Under the advice of my accountant, it’s time to look at an electric vehicle as my company car so, off I toddle to Mercedes for a test drive. Test drive one was cancelled because they couldn’t get the car to the dealership “because of covid”. Test drive two was cancelled due to the car not being prepared “because of covid”, yet they managed to send me a personalised video of said car looking spotless.
I’m pretty sure there are many more similar cases, but while this “new way of life” might be good for some, it’s vital that standards don’t slip. With some tough times ahead, it’s time to get our heads back in the game for the good of the economy and my sanity!
Jennifer Thomas
Development Manager for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland at Federation of Small Businesses
Small is beautiful – let’s keep it that way
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) represents 2,000 small businesses in Leicestershire, while all SMEs are different, together they make up 99% of private sector firms in England and in every sense, we couldn’t do without them.
Over Covid I feel that the public has become more aware of the importance of supporting small businesses, shopping local, and getting the biggest bang for their buck in their community. This is something I really hope will continue, as we become more socially and environmentally aware of the opportunities to make a difference that we have.
We know that for every £1 spent with a small or medium-sized business, 63p is re-spent in the local area, compared to only 40p in every £1 spent with a chain or larger business. Small firms make a big difference to their community, with many going above and beyond to help their small business neighbours and local start-ups.
As we hopefully start to move away from Covid and into recovery, now is the time for all of us to go out and celebrate our local businesses. FSB has run a campaign over the ‘summer of staycations’, asking people to share and recommend small businesses to visit – you can support #MyHiddenGems by sharing your own and giving a local small business a boost.
If you are looking for ways to make a difference, as well as choosing local small businesses for your own goods and services, there are other things you can do. Please encourage and challenge larger businesses to value and invest in their supply chain, encourage them to buy small, buy local, and pay on time. Support campaigns that FSB and other business groups run, as well as those run by your local high street trader groups – government are more likely to act with public support.
Finally, and crucially, please give great feedback, publicly if possible! Small businesses and their staff are exhausted; give them reviews that make them feel great and more competitive and encourage others to support them too. Whether TripAdvisor, Google, Trustpilot, LinkedIn, social media or just an actual personal message directly to them, don’t be shy, spread the love!
Jenny Cross
CEO at Cross Productions
What are your customers searching for?
As we are free to return to ‘normal’ life we should still consider that there is an element of risk amongst us with regards to Covid-19.
We have serviced many people over the last 18 months who wanted to either make a will or review their existing their one as they knew and understood that it did not match what
Communicating Change is a 1994 book setting out a theory so logical and yet so terrifying that I shoehorned it into pretty much every business school assignment I wrote. Its authors launch their related Harvard Business Review article with: ‘Most advice given to executives about communicating change is they would now want to happen with their estate as they did when they created it years ago.
However, there are still many people who have not come forward to do either – maybe because they feel it’s not important or it’s a difficult conversation that can cause arguments between couples or families due to their different wishes.
wrong’.
TJ and Sandar Larkin’s alternative is simple. What if leaders of large organisations told all staff everything during major change? And what if they did it not through a lot of corporate visioning but in a single-page memo, issued to line managers, listing SMART bulletpoints of what was to be done? As they put This is where an expert advisor should be able to help you break everything down and help and guide you with options. So, as a minimum, I would encourage to have a free no obligation meeting with someone to understand your options.
As well as many businesses having to unfortunately closed down or cease trading, some companies have increased turnover, grown and expanded which is great news, or some have exited their business and sold their shares. Again, it’s worth reviewing what you have in place should the worst happen. Nobody wants to
it: ‘Communicate only facts; stop communicating values’.
The Larkins certainly had a point. Indeed, it’s a recognised organisational approach to communicate change through line managers, whom employees know and trust. But the urge to wrap change in values, as the Larkins argued 27 years ago, remains irresistible to some organisational executives. Indeed, with the current business management focus on visioning, storytelling and ‘the journey’, comms often remain steeped in values.
The Larkins argue that objective measures demonstrate values far more clearly than words ever can. They write that almost 70% of companies consider mission and values their number one communication priorities. Yet the Larkins argue that this immediately makes staff suspicious –particularly in times of strategic change. Actions, leave loved ones to deal with a mess – which is something we are seeing as probate cases increase.
Now with everyone used to technology supporting meetings, we can meet with people face to face (with social distancing of course) as well as virtually to help and discuss any concerns people may have.
Don’t become complacent with your current situation promising yourself you’ll deal with your will another time. The world and society move at a fast pace, anything could happen, anything could change to affect you, your family, and your will.
rather than words, should inform values.
There’s little doubt that over-communication is preferable to undercommunication during times of change. But would employees in 2021 really want their internal comms served up quite so bluntly? Meanwhile, would you, as leader of a large organisation, feel confident in presenting a list of organisational needs (in the fewest words possible) to your line managers to then explain and discuss with their reports?
Most contemporary leaders would play it safe – particularly when delivering bad news. They would soften the message. Plus, it’s not 1994 anymore. But search out TJ’s ‘Pillars of Excellence’ on YouTube. If the purpose of communication is to create understanding, then the Larkins’ approach is a pretty logical one.
George Oliver
Director at 1284
