Anna adds: “It’s a culture where people are not afraid to put their hand up and say, ‘I got that wrong’. It is about embracing that and having open and honest conversations.
“We want to be a great employer and be a great workplace and that takes engagement from everybody. They need to feel they can make a difference and that they have a responsibility to themselves, their colleagues and the business.
“The feedback culture we have adopted is very important as is changing the mindset to one of collaboration. It’s that importance of having the right people in the room and being really open and honest and transparent.”
She also runs focus groups to check in with colleagues across the business and to hear their thoughts.
Overall, it is a successful approach. Anna points to the fact that one in five of Beaverbrooks’ colleagues have been working for the business for more than a decade.
She also adds that by the end of the current financial year the business will have given £17.5m to good causes since 2000 and supports more than 250 charities.
However, she adds: “It’s not just charitable side. Our whole ethos and purpose as a business is about enriching lives.
“The more successful we are as a business, the more profitable we are, the more we can give to the wider community, and that is a massive driver for me personally.”
That commitment to giving continues for her after leaving the office. Anna is involved in charity work, and cooks for the Streetlife homeless charity based in Blackpool.
She’s also undertaken long distance walks to raise cash for good causes and is currently looking at a ‘tower to tower’ virtual trek, walking the equivalent of Blackpool to Paris in miles.
Walking proved therapeutic during the pandemic as a chance to restore and work on her own personal mindfulness.
Anna says: “I was exhausted by the end of the year. I’d been continually reassuring people, keeping things on track. I learned an awful lot about myself in terms of resilience.”
And her advice to those at the very start of their careers? “Find something you are passionate and care about. If you’re doing something you love and you’re good at it, you’ll be successful.”
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
23
THE BIG INTERVIEW
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