DELIVERY SCOTTISH EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE CENTRE
SECC aims to be the best events campus in Europe. Picture: Nigel Young
Striving to be the best
A new role at the SECC could result in it being judged best in Europe - and a tech breakthrough
BY WILLIAM PEAKIN C
hange can be difficult. Gayle Shepherd remem- bers from her days in the construction industry, supporting showroom
staff moving online from a paper- based system; literally, from card index to tablet. Tere was resistance among some, but she recalls the day one employee came in with a bunch of flowers: “Initially she wouldn’t
engage, but we worked together on it for three months and she was so happy; the personal spin-off for her was that she was Skyping her grandson in Australia and order- ing grocery deliveries online, it had changed her life.” Before joining the Scottish
Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in 2010, Shepherd was a project manager at Robertson Homes. Ten, first as the SECC’s financial controller and latterly as deputy director of corporate services, she was closely involved as the SSE Hydro took shape: “It’s funny; I’m not particularly a concert or event-goer! It was the construction element that attracted me to the job.” With the new arena opening
in 2013 and the Commonwealth Games a year later, it was a busy period – internally also, Peter
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Duthie took over as chief executive in 2014 and began to establish his team and strategy. “Peter wants his legacy to be about the people,” said Shepherd, “and I was very keen to get involved in that.” As financial controller, Shepherd had been tasked with increasing efficiency: “I looked at the systems and realised they could be improved.” “To fix the systems, we need
people to communicate effec- tively. So, we are beginning with the people and then the technology and this will lead us to operating more efficiently and effectively.” After Shepherd spent 18 months
researching how other companies function, the SECC’s board cre- ated a new role: director of people and technology. For the former, Shepherd wanted to eschew the traditional HR approach of simply managing recruitment, departures
and any ructions in between: “I want to get out in front of the prob- lems before they happen, so people can focus on what matters.” And by combining responsibil-
ity for people and technology, the role aims to make sure that each informs the other; that people can articulate how they see their role functioning best, what are the best technologies to support them in their job and what are the best systems to provide managers with a clear view of how the campus is performing. Shepherd aims by this time next year “to have the team where we want them to be” and ready to position the SECC as the best events campus in Europe. Tis year, the SECC launched its
‘being the best’ programme: “One key thing I learned from spend- ing time with other companies was, they said: ‘Don’t make this an
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