EDITOR’S COMMENT upfront
SUCCESS STORY
When Parking News editor Sarah Juggins was seconded to the press offi ce at the Olympic Park in June, the Games were generating nothing but bad news. But, she says, there is much to be learnt from the Olympic experience
f we go with the idea that the entire Olympic organisation – including Opening Ceremony maestro Danny Boyle, the athletes, the spectators and the workforce, paid and voluntary – were all part of the same company, and Sebastian Coe was the managing director with Boris Johnson as his communications offi cer, then we can learn some valuable lessons in managerial success. Firstly, the leaders demonstrated faith in their workforce. Coe and Johnson believed, despite the negative press, that the gamesmakers would deliver a fi rst-class service to the visitors. In turn, those visitors would good- humouredly accept queues to events, slightly over-priced food and crowded trains. The second point was the amount and quality of training involved. As a team leader, I was taken through a complete induction service,
I
so complete that, at times, it felt like I was back at college.
But once it came to my turn to deliver that training to my staff, it became obvious why the training was so thorough. The same training, and hence the same message, was being cascaded down, and I was a cog in a well-oiled machine.
Taking charge Equally important was the fact that people were encouraged to take responsibility. At one meeting, we were urged to take up any issues we had with team managers, not with the volunteers on the frontline.
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If we felt a volunteer security guard was being over-offi cious, we were not to be ‘bolshie’, just smile and get on with it, but to have a word with the manager later. And that worked. People took responsibility for their own mistakes and those of their teams. My own line manager, the managing
People took responsibility
for themselves, their mistakes and those of their teams
editor, said much the same thing. ‘If you make a mistake, just stick your hand up and we will sort it out.’ There was no culture of fear, simply a culture of wanting to portray our company – in this case the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) – in the best possible light. And fi nally, there was a reminder that sometimes just saying ‘well done’ can have an electrifying effect. One of the volunteers in my team was over the moon when a Dutch hockey player brought in a print-out of a Dutch newspaper with the match report that
volunteer reporter had written, praising this particular player.
Winning allies We work in an industry where it is hard to get public approval, but here is a great opportunity for the parking sector to reposition itself. Yes, we will annoy people who return to
fi nd a ticket on their windscreen, but we can also win allies if we help someone fi nd a parking space, carry a bag to a car or give directions to a lost tourist.
The Olympics revealed a new Britain. Let’s jump on board.
SEPTEMBER 2012 7
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