SUPPORT MAKES US ALL STRONGER LEADING AND
MANAGING CHANGE
Lancashire business leaders’ support networks have played a vital role as they grappled with the challenges thrust on them by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having people to reach out to has helped give them the reassurance and motivation needed to see things through in tough times, Lancashire Business Week 2021’s session on managing change heard.
Michael Williams, managing director of Winter Gardens Blackpool, explained how Blackpool’s BID organisation and the town’s Covid Recovery Group had come together to support each other and the community during the pandemic.
He said: “It is about sharing best practice. It was a great community that came together.
He said: “The importance of picking up the phone and speaking to someone, putting the world to rights. Having that peer to talk to is really good.”
The panel also spoke of the experience of managing change during the pandemic and the way the working environment and approaches to leadership have altered in the face of all the challenges.
Heather Aust, a partner at law firm CG Professional, said there was now more emphasis on mental health and looking after the workforce.
She said: “Change for people is difficult. Generally, some people embrace it and go with it, but a lot really struggle. The idea of working for home for someone who has sat at the same desk, in the same office every day for 20 years, it has a massive impact on them.
“People managing and leading need to be aware and switched on to support people with these changes.”
“Everyone is a little bit more flexible when it comes to timescales. People need a bit more reassurance, they are more indecisive.
“A lot of really good leaders have the ability to still hurry things along, but not let people feel hurried doing it.”
He also said it was important for leaders to make sure the changes they think are happening are really taking place. He added: “You need to communicate that change clearly enough and have time to listen, so everyone else gets it.”
Taking up that theme, Euan Aitken said the “open nature” of the way people in the business worked was also important, adding: “I don’t really consider myself to be the leader in the organisation. We are trying to empower everyone as leaders in a lot of respects.
“We will have open and frank conversations about what it is we are thinking of doing and where we are taking the company. The key thing is to be really open with people, to have that dialogue.”
Tommy McIlravey, chief executive officer at Lancashire Mind, said there had been a huge increase in demand for the organisation’s services during the pandemic.
Michael Williams Heather Aust Rob Binns
Looking at leadership and change management, he told the audience: “Self-awareness is a really powerful thing, especially when we are going through change.
“The culture of an organisation comes to the surface more when we are going through accelerated change.”
He warned that previous grievances could bubble to the surface and added: “You have to get the culture right.”
And he said that in a “value driven culture” people could pull together because they had something to gather around.
Louisa Scanlan Tommy McIlravey
“Support from the team here and my family has also been important. You can’t do anything on your own in isolation, you have to have that team around you.”
Louisa Scanlan, director at HR consultancy Collaborate Business Solutions, told the online audience: “My peer network was huge for me during Covid. I can just pick up a phone and say, ‘I’m having an absolutely horrendous day and I’ve got this challenge.’”
Rob Binns, group chief executive at Cotton Court in Preston, added: “I try to take it a day at a time. Luckily, I’ve got a good network of successful friends and mentors.
“Peer to peer, or whatever you call it, chatting about everyday things with people who have been there and done it, it is very useful.”
Euan Aitken, sales and marketing director at business automation software company Zigaflow, also highlighted the importance of peer support to him in difficult times.
Euan Aitken
She added: “Leaders have also had to trust people a lot more as they work from home. Professional services and other sectors have had to trust employees to get the job done and they have been surprised by the levels of productivity.”
Louisa Scanlan spoke about the need for strong communication in organisations going through great change. She said: “We are more connected now than we have ever been. It is about organisations really understanding fundamentally how they communicate with their teams.
“Team and Zoom calls are quite draining for some individuals. We have forgotten the art of picking up the phone and just having a conversation. It is about different ways of keeping people engaged and up to date.”
Rob Binns told the audience that business leaders were using “new found patience”. He said: “The whole emphasise on business had been get it done and move on the next thing.
Tommy also spoke of the need to acknowledge the difference in leaders and how they worked when it came to giving them support.
Michael Williams also spoke about the uncertainty sparked by the first lockdown and its impact on the Winter Gardens and its workforce.
At the time the venue was contracted for around 250 events and had sold half a million advanced tickets for the coming year. He revealed that 95 per cent of staff were furloughed.
Michael added: “We have some great people that work at the Winter Gardens and have been here for many years. Their experience comes to the fore in challenging times.
“Whatever the pandemic has thrown at them they have coped amazingly well. The lesson for me is expect the unexpected.”
VIEW ON DEMAND
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
39
LANCASHIRE BUSINESS WEEK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
