Business News six-year tenure
…building sale and progress of FF among highlights
We work with Birmingham City
Council and all the councils in our region and the Combined Authority. It’s about making it a two-way relationship, listening and discovering how we can help the Chamber and our businesses. We have taken a really constructive, positive and collaborative approach. It’s important to work well with
people and accentuate the positives. And there are lots of positives. But there are things that need to be better and you can flag those up behind the scenes with people who want to make it better. We have done this in a positive way rather than use our voice to just slam people. Where’s the real value in that? That’s not going to make our city and region better.
JL: The Chamber lives and falls by its membership. I think members have been more engaged in these Covid days and have probably felt there is safety in numbers in this crisis. Did you find that because membership numbers have not dipped? PF: In times of crisis you want to find support – it’s even more important. We have recognised that and we have tried to create the channels and the forums so that people do feel close. We have worked really hard on the communications – you and the team have been putting lots of information out there in trying to make sure that businesses knew that the Chamber is here.
JL: We have found that subscriptions levels for ChamberlinkDaily and the magazine have gone up. Have you found that is the case across the business? PF: It has been confusing for business with all the different rules and regulations around Covid. We have tried to translate and communicate in a language that people can understand in helping lots of business and I think we have done that really well.
JL: Under your stewardship, the younger element of the Chamber has really been working well. Future Faces has gone from strength to strength following the merger with BPS Birmingham.
You must be pleased with that for the future of the Chamber? PF: Future Faces has gone from about 100 members to over 500 in five or six years. It is heartening to see but we are the youngest city in Europe so maybe it’s fitting. We have been really organic in letting Future Faces grow in a way members wanted it to grow. It’s not about someone trying to change it and saying this is what it needs to be. We asked ‘what do you want it to be?’ And that’s been key to its success.
‘In a quiet moment I would sit and reflect that when you are involved in an organisation like this, which has been around for over 200 years, you are just a custodian’
People have got used in the early
stages of their careers in being involved with a Chamber of Commerce, understanding the importance of building relationships and how an organisation like this plays a part in the region. And as they progress they stay involved and before long they are controlling budgets and making decisions about want they want to be involved in with. And they want to be involved with the Chamber because they have already seen the values. I have loved the development of Future Faces and it’s been really great to see.
JL: There seems to have been an awakening to what a great group of young people we have in this city and entrepreneurship has gone from strength to strength. PF: It’s really exciting and that’s the hope around the city’s future and I like to think we’re doing that internally as well as an organisation. We have promoted talent in our ranks and I think that’s part of how the Chamber has shifted and changed. We have given our people the opportunity to take on responsibility and all of our colleagues have flourished in that. It shows the amount of talent
Paul Faulkner
we have here. You have just got to give them the chance. It’s nice when we don’t just talk about it – we do it ourselves as well.
JL: The Chamber board is now very diverse and the average age is probably as young as it has ever been. PF:We talked about the importance of that and in my mind you have got to walk the walk as well. It can’t just be about talking the talk. We try to embrace that in everything we do – even if it’s talking about things like Lateral Flow Testing. I decided to do it at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham and it’s only by doing these things that you go “I get it now”. In that way we can communicate with people and encourage them.
JL: Your lasting legacy, ironically, will be the sale of the building. A bit obtuse but at the end of the day it has really secured the future of the Chamber. You must be pleased with that? PF: I am really proud about that and, again, it may be a bit hidden but the Chamber is a business, just like our members. We had inherited an issue around the legacy pension fund which put quite significant financial constraints on the Chamber. You had to work very hard to stand still. Being able to sell the building has got the organisation out from underneath and really set it up for a bright future.
So the top two risks on our risk
register around the building have both gone. In a quiet moment I would sit and reflect that when you are involved in an organisation like this, which has been around for over 200 years, you are just a custodian. And it’s nice to feel that in my time here that you have been able to do something that hopefully really will benefit those who follow, not just in years but decades to come.
JL: In your time here you have probably built up one of the highest profiles in the region – probably bigger than that at Aston Villa. Will that continue when you join the Richardson family? PF: I don’t know, John. I think the profile goes hand in glove with what the Chamber does, commenting on whatever is happening. I guess that will shift and change. But I live here and will always care about the region. We do a lot of social media and I will always like to have some fun with that and be appropriate. I will probably still mess around with that. And I won’t be very far away because the Richardson family business is a member of the Chamber. I would like to thank the
wonderful team at the Chamber for all their hard work and support and our members for their engagement and help over six years.
March 2021 CHAMBERLINK9
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