IoD Midlands Spring
Institute of Directors, business magazine, director development, business news
Institute of Directors, business magazine, director development, business news
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SPRING 2021<br />
www.iod.com<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong><br />
The official membership magazine for the Institute of Directors in the <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Back to work...<br />
Focus on mental wellbeing as<br />
we start to return to the office<br />
EVENTS DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT ADVICE AND INFORMATION NEWS
Welcome<br />
A warm welcome to the <strong>Spring</strong> issue of the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> membership magazine.<br />
The two <strong>Midlands</strong> regions of the <strong>IoD</strong> are<br />
continuing to work together to produce this<br />
publication, which we hope you will find useful.<br />
It is full of information and advice from a wide<br />
range of authoritative sources, covering<br />
everything from <strong>IoD</strong> services, events and training<br />
through to information that directors need to<br />
have in their locker on a host of issues, from<br />
cyber crime to HR, exporting advice, mental<br />
health and employment law.<br />
You will notice we have tried to focus a little on<br />
‘moving on’ from Covid-19. That is not to say<br />
that the crisis has passed: it certainly has not. But<br />
we are at a stage where we can see the virus in<br />
retreat and we need to start creating a landscape<br />
in which businesses can operate once more.<br />
Key to this new landscape is looking after our<br />
people, and we have a special feature on mental<br />
health and workplace wellbeing in this issue. We<br />
would urge you to read it and consider some of<br />
the points raised; the pandemic may have<br />
impacted very seriously on your employees’<br />
mental health, particularly if you have<br />
furloughed staff or perhaps have not seen them<br />
in person for some time. There is only so much<br />
information you can pick up from Zoom<br />
meetings. Many may be anxious about returning<br />
to work, or have personal issues that need<br />
addressing. Our special feature will give you<br />
some pointers as to what to look for and what<br />
you must do, from page 34.<br />
Despite the restrictions imposed on us all by<br />
Covid-19, the <strong>IoD</strong>’s work has never stopped. We<br />
have continued to press the government<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> News 4-13<br />
Technical briefing:<br />
Post-Brexit trade 14<br />
Big data 16<br />
Energy issues 18<br />
Nottingham Trent<br />
University 20<br />
Professional Development<br />
with the <strong>IoD</strong> 22<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Ambassadors and<br />
Committees 28<br />
Events schedule 44<br />
Brian Hall<br />
throughout, making the case for business and<br />
the support measures you need. On page 7 we<br />
highlight some of the decisions taken recently<br />
that have the <strong>IoD</strong>’s stamp on them.<br />
We have also been hosting training and<br />
professional development seminars online, and<br />
the take-up of these has been very high. From<br />
comments expressed, members have<br />
appreciated the support they’ve received. We<br />
have also seen a large number of members<br />
making use of the <strong>IoD</strong>’s business research,<br />
information, tax and legal helplines. These are all<br />
free to core members, and you can find more<br />
about them on pages 10-11.<br />
Finally, while we do not have any in-person<br />
events planned just yet, it is hoped that by<br />
summer that will have changed. When we get the<br />
chance, we look forward to meeting you again.<br />
Brian Hall<br />
Chair, <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Gary Headland<br />
Chair, <strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
36<br />
Covid-19:<br />
The workplace mental<br />
health wake-up call<br />
of a generation.<br />
Special feature on<br />
protecting workforce<br />
wellbeing, pg 34-43<br />
Gary Headland<br />
Please note...<br />
Although every effort is<br />
made to ensure the<br />
accuracy of material<br />
contained within this<br />
magazine, neither the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
nor Chamber Media<br />
Services can accept any<br />
responsibility for omissions<br />
or inaccuracies in its<br />
editorial or advertising<br />
content. The views<br />
expressed in this<br />
publication are not<br />
necessarily those of the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
The carriage of adverts in<br />
this publication does not<br />
constitute an endorsement<br />
of the products or services<br />
advertised.<br />
All articles within this<br />
publication are copyright<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong>. Editorial<br />
consent must be obtained<br />
before any are reproduced<br />
either in printed form or<br />
electronically.<br />
CONTACTS<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Nottingham Trent<br />
University, Burton St,<br />
Nottingham NG1 4BU<br />
Chair: Gary Headland<br />
e: chair.eastmids@iod.net<br />
t: 07787 484448<br />
Branch Manager –<br />
East & West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Cari Grice<br />
e: Cari.Grice@iod.com<br />
t: 0115 857 8170<br />
Student Placement –<br />
Branches Tasha<br />
MacGilbert<br />
e: Tasha.Macgilbert@<br />
iod.com<br />
t: 0115 857 8168<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
A new members’ business<br />
hub will be opening soon.<br />
Watch this space/ the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
website for details.<br />
Chair: Brian Hall<br />
e: chair.westmidlands<br />
@iod.net<br />
Senior Branch Manager –<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East & West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Sophie Breeden<br />
e: Sophie.Breeden@<br />
iod.com<br />
t: 0121 281 5530<br />
The Institute of Directors<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> membership<br />
magazine is published on<br />
behalf of the <strong>IoD</strong> by:<br />
Chamber Media Services,<br />
4 Hilton Road, Bramhall,<br />
Stockport, Cheshire SK7 3AG.<br />
Advertising sales:<br />
Colin Regan<br />
t: 01942 537959 / 07871 444922<br />
e: colinregan001@yahoo.co.uk<br />
Production enquiries:<br />
Rob Beswick,<br />
t: 0161 426 7957<br />
e: rob@chambermedia<br />
services.co.uk<br />
Cover image: As we start<br />
the big return to<br />
work, have you<br />
considered the<br />
mental wellbeing<br />
of your employees?<br />
See from pg 34<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
03
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
Welcome<br />
Covid has been wake-up call to<br />
look after the things that matter<br />
Gary Headland<br />
Chair, <strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
I hope you are all safe, and well.<br />
My introduction for this issue of our <strong>IoD</strong><br />
regional magazine focuses on two<br />
important issues which are high priorities<br />
for me in my own business, both of which<br />
relate to safety.<br />
Our People<br />
First is the safety of our people: I am<br />
really concerned about the impact the<br />
past 12-18 months has had on them.<br />
My primary role is a people business.<br />
With around 1,200 staff, we deliver<br />
education to approximately 18,000 students<br />
each year, based in three countries on three<br />
continents. Combined, that is a lot of<br />
people, all of whom have felt the impact of<br />
Covid (and to a lesser extent, Brexit) in a<br />
range of different ways. Our operating<br />
model has been turned upside down and<br />
while aspects of our culture have<br />
strengthened during the crisis, many of<br />
our customs and working practices,<br />
systems and routines have effectively<br />
become void.<br />
My concern about people relates to<br />
assumptions I hear being made across<br />
many businesses about what ‘the right<br />
thing to do is’, with very bold statements<br />
about what people want or how people<br />
have fared: “People are happier working<br />
from home”; “people are more productive<br />
working remotely”. With some fairly<br />
gentle scratching of the surface, many (but<br />
by no means all) people really mean when<br />
they ask what the right thing to do is, is<br />
‘what the business needs’ – ie, a financially<br />
driven decision – but they are rationalising<br />
their thinking as a result of a data bias,<br />
more on which below.<br />
The current financial year for my own<br />
business has been very hard but I am<br />
resisting the urge to make urgent<br />
operational decisions that involve people<br />
until we have a better understanding<br />
about the genuine impact the past 12-18<br />
months has had on the health, wellbeing<br />
and productivity of our workforce.<br />
As a young military officer in the early<br />
‘90s, the OODA loop (Source: USAF Col<br />
John Boyd; see above) formed part of my<br />
leadership training and it has stayed with<br />
me throughout my professional working<br />
life.<br />
In my experience, crisis management<br />
can sometimes cause us to take shortcuts.<br />
This can mean that we observe and then<br />
use our knowledge, experience and<br />
intuition to decide without proper<br />
orientation (analysis). Those preferring a<br />
dynamic, seat-of-their-pants approach<br />
might think we can’t afford ‘paralysis by<br />
analysis’: we need to make decisions now.<br />
To a point I agree but equally I have<br />
never felt that expediency is an excuse for<br />
poor judgement.<br />
The danger with our knowledge,<br />
experience and intuition is the risk of data<br />
biases: eg, confirmation bias, framing bias,<br />
over-confidence bias, availability bias and<br />
short-termism.<br />
Human beings are not predictable in<br />
the way that machines and systems are.<br />
In the rush to make decisions, I feel<br />
strongly that we as company directors<br />
need to make the OODA loop work as fast<br />
as possible, not to move rashly from<br />
‘observe’ to ‘decide’.<br />
Our Information and Systems<br />
My second concern is the safety of our<br />
information and systems.<br />
Unfortunately, I have first-hand<br />
experience of a major cyber attack in the<br />
past six months. The attack was made<br />
with military precision in terms of<br />
reconnaissance, intelligence and<br />
execution. The disruption was immense<br />
and cost of recovery significant, despite<br />
having excellent insurance in place.<br />
These despicable attackers are highly<br />
organised and capable and could not give<br />
a fig about our worthy purpose and civic<br />
contribution. Many other education<br />
establishments and businesses have been<br />
attacked very recently. It is on the rise!<br />
We felt that we were well prepared, we<br />
had a cyber security mindset,<br />
accreditation, as well as two recent audit<br />
inspections providing a clean bill of health<br />
– yet even so, we were a victim.<br />
Our attack took place close to midnight<br />
“The attack was made with military<br />
precision in terms of<br />
reconnaisance, intelligence and<br />
execution... the disruption was<br />
immense and costly...”<br />
04<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
on a Saturday night. Frankly, what we<br />
needed (and I believe what all of us need)<br />
was round-the-clock cyber protection<br />
through a cyber-security managed service,<br />
which we now have.<br />
During our time of crisis, a local<br />
company called KryptoKloud came<br />
immediately to our aid. I was so impressed<br />
by their attitude and professionalism that I<br />
reached out to them to become a regional<br />
sponsor of the <strong>IoD</strong> to help other businesses<br />
across our region. Without KryptoKloud,<br />
we could easily have made immediate<br />
decisions in the wake of the attack that<br />
could have made the situation very much<br />
worse. They helped us to recover very<br />
quickly and this included rebuilding all of<br />
our servers and wiping and reimaging all of<br />
our end points (PCs, laptops, etc).<br />
Cybersecurity is obviously an unwelcome<br />
overhead but I just don’t see it as optional.<br />
Rather like car seatbelts in the ’60s and the<br />
introduction of health and safety, cyber<br />
security needs to be an essential part of our<br />
operations and our corporate governance.<br />
It is, of course, surrounded by language<br />
unintelligible to many of us.<br />
Since our attack and full recovery, I have<br />
met with many directors from a range of<br />
sectors and asked the following questions:<br />
n Has your organisation been attacked<br />
by a hacker already? If you answered ‘no’<br />
to this you are probably misinformed or<br />
unaware, as it is almost certain you have!<br />
n Do you ‘honestly’ know the extent to<br />
which you are protected from cyber-attack<br />
or is this a delegated task?<br />
n Is cyber-attack managed as a strategic<br />
risk for your organisation, discussed by<br />
your Board, with a comprehensive<br />
mitigation strategy in place?<br />
n How would you know if you are being<br />
attacked?<br />
n Do you have an immediate action<br />
‘drill’ to mitigate damage? I don’t mean a<br />
business recovery plan, I mean a plan to<br />
guide you through the immediate actions<br />
you need to take.<br />
n Do you have a detection system that<br />
works during evenings, weekends and<br />
holidays (when attackers are most likely to<br />
strike) or does it rely on your technology<br />
staff actually being at work?<br />
n Have you got adequate insurance<br />
against cyber-attack? How do you know it<br />
is adequate? Have you actually read it and<br />
stress-tested it, or did someone procure it<br />
for you?<br />
n How could your business operate<br />
without access to your data and/or your<br />
operating systems for weeks, potentially<br />
months.<br />
So far, not a single person I have spoken<br />
with, or written to, can answer these<br />
questions to their own satisfaction. Can you?<br />
Andy’s the ‘right man<br />
to take <strong>IoD</strong> Greater<br />
Birmingham forward’<br />
A warm <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong> welcome to<br />
Andy Wilkinson who has been<br />
appointed chair of the newly formed<br />
Greater Birmingham branch.<br />
The new branch – created following a<br />
major restructure of the <strong>IoD</strong> West<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> network – incorporates<br />
Birmingham city and Solihull.<br />
“I’m looking forward to the challenge<br />
of leading this exciting new branch,”<br />
said Andy. “Outside London,<br />
Birmingham is the largest city economy<br />
in the UK. We have all the key<br />
ingredients for business including a<br />
large population, a well-connected and<br />
thriving city centre, excellent<br />
universities and fantastic culture.”<br />
Andy is a well-known figure in the<br />
region. The joint founder and managing<br />
director of Birmingham-based<br />
marketing communications agency<br />
Oakley Wilkinson Bryan (OWB Creative),<br />
in 2017 he was named SME Director of<br />
the Year by <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong>.<br />
He is a former non-executive director<br />
of St Giles Hospice Group and Business<br />
Link West <strong>Midlands</strong>, where he was also<br />
ambassador for creative industries.<br />
He previously held senior marketing<br />
positions with TNT United Kingdom,<br />
Blagden Industries and Burgess Group<br />
and agency roles in London, Bristol,<br />
Birmingham and South Africa.<br />
He has nothing but praise for<br />
the way <strong>IoD</strong> members have<br />
responded to the challenge of<br />
the pandemic: “They have been<br />
forced to draw upon all their skills<br />
and resilience over the past year<br />
“<strong>IoD</strong> members have<br />
been forced to draw<br />
upon all their skills and<br />
resilience, but it’s good<br />
that there is light at the<br />
end of the tunnel...”<br />
but there is light at the end of the<br />
tunnel. The <strong>IoD</strong> is on hand to provide<br />
connections, learning opportunities<br />
and influence over the coming months,<br />
with fantastic new member benefits<br />
and enhanced offering for existing<br />
members including training, new<br />
business research facility, virtual<br />
events, lobbying initiatives and<br />
critically networking to get business<br />
moving.”<br />
Andy will work alongside a branch<br />
team to ensure that the views of local<br />
directors are represented within the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong>’s influential policy voice. During<br />
the pandemic the <strong>IoD</strong> has helped to<br />
secure vital support for businesses,<br />
including financial assistance for wage<br />
bills and changes to insolvency rules.<br />
Brian Hall, <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
regional chair, said: “Our new structure<br />
has removed outdated boundaries and<br />
created a branch that gives one of the<br />
UK’s most dynamic business<br />
communities the status and influence<br />
that it deserves.<br />
“As the economy begins its recovery<br />
from the pandemic, Andy is the right<br />
person at the right time, to take this<br />
dynamic community forwards.”<br />
The restructure has also seen new<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> branches established in<br />
Worcester and the Marches<br />
and the Black Country and<br />
Staffordshire.<br />
The existing Coventry<br />
and Warwickshire branch<br />
remains unchanged.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
05
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
News<br />
I’m proud of the <strong>IoD</strong>’s role<br />
in the Covid-19 response<br />
Brian Hall<br />
Chair, <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Hello, and welcome to the <strong>Spring</strong> issue of<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> Magazine.<br />
I hope you and your teams are faring<br />
well as – fingers crossed – we near the end<br />
of restrictions and look forward to some<br />
sunnier times ahead.<br />
It goes without saying it has been an<br />
incredibly tough period for everyone, and<br />
many have suffered grievously, through<br />
human losses or financial ones created by<br />
the lockdowns. But it’s hard not to feel<br />
that the end is within our grasp and if we<br />
hold our resolve, by summer we could be<br />
viewing society as operating far closer to<br />
normal.<br />
During this past year the demands<br />
placed on the <strong>IoD</strong> have been immense,<br />
but I am very proud of all that we have<br />
achieved. We’ve had to change the way<br />
we work and how we serve our members,<br />
but I’ve been pleased with the result and<br />
what we have been able to offer. We<br />
worked collaboratively across the region,<br />
with the Mayor, the <strong>Midlands</strong> Engine and<br />
with Chambers of Commerce, to make the<br />
business case to power and ensure that<br />
necessary support mechanisms were in<br />
place. When the Government was looking<br />
to understand the needs of business at the<br />
start of the pandemic, the West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
was a leading contributor to the <strong>IoD</strong>’s<br />
response, and our suggestions helped<br />
formulate Government business recovery<br />
and employee funding packages.<br />
The West <strong>Midlands</strong> has also been<br />
instrumental in the creation of a new <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Export Group to help businesses looking<br />
to trade overseas, and led the challenge to<br />
insurers over how they were interpreting<br />
business interruption insurance policies.<br />
Throughout our engagement with<br />
members it was clear that business leaders<br />
understood the nature of the crisis and<br />
their role within it, and while shutting<br />
operations down and furloughing staff<br />
was painful, it was necessary. All they asked<br />
in return was clear information from which<br />
they could make informed decisions.<br />
Away from the bigger picture of a<br />
national response, other parts of the <strong>IoD</strong>’s<br />
membership service have also flourished.<br />
I know from my own contacts with<br />
members that many of you have used the<br />
06<br />
<strong>IoD</strong>’s legal and tax helplines during this<br />
challenging time, as you looked to<br />
understand the options available to your<br />
businesses – with one member describing<br />
the help he received as “simply brilliant”<br />
– while the <strong>IoD</strong> research team has been<br />
kept busy with inquiries.<br />
What next?<br />
However, now we are edging towards<br />
the end of the crisis, what next? It’s clear<br />
directors want to reconnect with the wider<br />
business community. We are hopeful that<br />
by summer we will have in place a full<br />
schedule of events – both virtual and in<br />
person – as well as a comprehensive diary<br />
of local professional development<br />
programmes. I’m sure I’m not the only<br />
one who is looking forward to meeting up<br />
once more.<br />
To help you reconnect, we have<br />
made some changes to the<br />
branch structure of <strong>IoD</strong> West<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> over the past 12<br />
months, to bring it closer to<br />
its members and position it<br />
to better match your<br />
regional needs. You will see<br />
details of this in this<br />
magazine. First, on pg 5 we<br />
introduce Andy Wilkinson, the<br />
new chair of our city branch, <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Greater Birmingham. In many ways<br />
Andy typifies the <strong>IoD</strong> membership in the<br />
region: ambitious, digitally savvy and<br />
youthful, brimming with ideas and driven<br />
by a desire to make his business more<br />
successful.<br />
His branch is one of four that now<br />
covers the West <strong>Midlands</strong>, alongside<br />
Coventry & Warwickshire, Worcester &<br />
“It was clear that business leaders<br />
understood the nature of the crisis<br />
and their role within it, and while<br />
shutting operations down and<br />
furloughing staff was painful,<br />
it was necessary...”<br />
More on <strong>IoD</strong><br />
membership<br />
benefits, including<br />
the information<br />
service and tax and<br />
legal helplines, see<br />
pages 10-11<br />
the Marches and the Black Country and<br />
Staffordshire.<br />
Second, our drive for <strong>IoD</strong> Ambassadors<br />
continues, with a number of high-profile<br />
appointments made. These hugely<br />
experienced men and women are our<br />
figureheads to whom you can turn for<br />
guidance and advice on a host of issues<br />
affecting your business.<br />
You will also notice a call to arms for<br />
more members to come forward and help<br />
lead the <strong>IoD</strong>. There are more ambassador<br />
roles available if you wish to contribute.<br />
See more, from pg 28.<br />
Finally, there is one more role we are<br />
looking to fill: my own. My term of office<br />
expires this summer and the search is on<br />
for my successor. Whoever takes on the<br />
role will be very fortunate; I’ve had a<br />
marvellous time, despite the shadows<br />
of first Brexit and then Covid<br />
peering over my shoulder<br />
throughout. It’s certainly<br />
made it challenging – but<br />
nevertheless, hugely<br />
enjoyable. The best part<br />
has been getting out and<br />
about, meeting members<br />
and hearing their stories<br />
about leading their<br />
businesses and how much<br />
they achieved.<br />
Hopefully, the new chair will take<br />
over with Covid retreating in the rear view<br />
mirror, with exciting opportunities on the<br />
horizon such as the Commonwealth<br />
Games and new opportunities for<br />
overseas trade and exports through an<br />
outward-looking ‘Global Britain.’<br />
I look forward to introducing that<br />
person to you in the summer issue.<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
<strong>IoD</strong> secures key policy<br />
wins from Chancellor<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> Policy team scored a number of<br />
notable wins for businesses from the<br />
Chancellor in his Budget, including the<br />
continuation of Covid-19 economic support.<br />
The Chancellor matched or even<br />
exceeded <strong>IoD</strong> calls on some points,<br />
particularly around the discretionary grant<br />
fund for local authorities and the more<br />
gradual taper of the Coronavirus Job<br />
Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed<br />
Income Support Scheme.<br />
It was also encouraging to see the<br />
introduction of a recovery loan scheme,<br />
through which firms of all sizes are eligible<br />
for loans of between £25,000 - £10 million,<br />
with the Government guaranteeing 80 per<br />
cent of the funding.<br />
Away from Covid, a number of other<br />
initiatives the <strong>IoD</strong> had been calling for were<br />
confirmed. The need for a new digital and<br />
green recovery credit incentive for SMEs<br />
was backed with the announcement of the<br />
Help to Grow: Digital scheme, and new<br />
R&D tax reliefs. There was also an incentive<br />
to invest in new plant and machinery with<br />
a ‘super-deduction’ which allows companies<br />
to cut their tax bill by up to 25p for every £1<br />
they invest in qualifying new plant.<br />
A request for increased funding for R&D<br />
and green-led regional growth also came to<br />
fruition. The <strong>IoD</strong> had also called for the<br />
extension of the VAT cut for heavily<br />
impacted sectors – which now sees the new<br />
5% VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality<br />
sectors continuing until end-September –<br />
while the extension of the apprenticeship<br />
hiring incentive until September and an<br />
increase of payment to £3,000 was another<br />
policy win for the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
As ever, you never get everything you<br />
asked for. The <strong>IoD</strong> has called for funding to<br />
boost knowledge transfer and commercial<br />
The SME Brexit Support Fund has been<br />
established to help businesses with<br />
changes to trading regulations with the<br />
EU, including new customs, rules of<br />
origin, and VAT arrangements.<br />
The fund will help businesses<br />
prepare for import controls which<br />
come into force from April and July.<br />
The Government is introducing these<br />
in stages, allowing traders and hauliers<br />
time to adjust to new processes.<br />
This means businesses do not have to<br />
complete new import declarations for<br />
between universities and business for some<br />
time, and it was disappointing to see no<br />
action taken on this issue in the Budget.<br />
Equally, a temporary reduction in NI<br />
contributions by employers was rejected.<br />
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was<br />
that support for businesses hit by Brexit<br />
saw some movement but perhaps not as<br />
much as the <strong>IoD</strong> would have wished. On a<br />
number of issues the <strong>IoD</strong> made it clear that<br />
more support was needed for those<br />
businesses adversely affected by Brexit, and<br />
it would continue to keep pressing on a<br />
number of fronts, including reducing the<br />
minimum threshold for UK content in<br />
contracts eligible for UKEF assistance and<br />
for significant increases in DTI resources,<br />
to help business make better use of existing<br />
and future trade agreements.<br />
Last chance to access Brexit fund<br />
up to six months, unless they are<br />
moving controlled goods.<br />
This is a £20 million programme.<br />
SMEs that trade only with the EU, and<br />
are therefore new to importing and<br />
exporting rules, can apply for grants of<br />
up to £2,000 for each trader, to support<br />
importing and exporting, including<br />
training and advice to ensure they<br />
continue trading effectively with the<br />
EU. Applications can be made HERE...<br />
but hurry, the funding programme<br />
closes on June 30.<br />
Membership<br />
inquiries<br />
Should you have any questions<br />
regarding your <strong>IoD</strong> membership or<br />
renewal then please contact your local<br />
Branch Manager in the first instance.<br />
In the East <strong>Midlands</strong>:<br />
Cari Grice<br />
e: Cari.Grice<br />
@iod.com<br />
t: 0115 857 8170<br />
In the West <strong>Midlands</strong>:<br />
Sophie Breeden<br />
e: Sophie.Breeden<br />
@iod.com<br />
t: 0121 281 5530<br />
Raise your profile<br />
with prestigious<br />
Pall Mall address<br />
Do you need a central London office<br />
address but you don’t want to pay high<br />
rent for a physical space? Do you want<br />
help on mail and call handling? Then the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Office can offer you and your<br />
business all of that and so much more!<br />
Choosing to work with <strong>IoD</strong> Virtual<br />
Office and registering your company in<br />
Pall Mall will raise the profile of your<br />
business and give it a much sought-after<br />
SW1 postcode and London phone<br />
number, positioning you right in the<br />
heart of the capital.<br />
You can tailor this address with other<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> support services, such as call<br />
handling and a hot desk facility available<br />
on a full or half-day basis.<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Office prices start from £90<br />
plus VAT a month for members, while a<br />
dedicated London telephone number(s)<br />
with professional call handling from our<br />
London based <strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Office team<br />
starts from £75 plus VAT a month<br />
(members). Click on the logo<br />
for more details, or call<br />
0207 451 3300.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
07
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
News<br />
Coming soon: The <strong>IoD</strong> Director<br />
of the Year Awards 2021<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> is delighted to announce<br />
that the 2021 Director of the Year awards<br />
will be opening for entries very soon.<br />
Last year this annual event was held<br />
online, courtesy of our partners at the DRP<br />
Group in Kidderminster.<br />
Expertly compered by <strong>IoD</strong> West and<br />
East <strong>Midlands</strong> chairs Brian Hall and Gary<br />
Headland, it offered “a truly inspiring<br />
insight into the hard work that has gone<br />
on to keep businesses moving throughout<br />
2020,” Brian said; “the perfect antidote to<br />
all the doom and gloom surrounding the<br />
pandemic.”<br />
Big winners in 2020 were Jonathan<br />
Hemus of Insignia Crisis and Reputation<br />
Management, and Peter Jarvis of<br />
Comtechs, who were named Director of<br />
the Year in the SME Business and Large<br />
Business (over £50m t/o) categories<br />
respectively, while the prestigious Chairs’<br />
Awards went to Dr Clive Hickman in the<br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong> and Pat Doody<br />
in the East <strong>Midlands</strong>.<br />
This year the event will<br />
highlight those directors<br />
who have flourished<br />
despite the constraints<br />
of Covid-19, inspiring<br />
their organisations to<br />
growth and expansion<br />
will keeping their<br />
DIRECTOR<br />
OF THE YEAR<br />
AWARDS 2021<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
LARGE BUSINESS<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
SME<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
FAMILY BUSINESS<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
START-UP<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
THIRD SECTOR<br />
Entries will be open soon!<br />
employees focused, positive and<br />
motivated.<br />
See the graphic above for<br />
this year’s awards<br />
categories, and look out<br />
for more information<br />
about how to enter<br />
and/or nominate<br />
other directors at<br />
www.iod.com.<br />
A celebration of leadership talent, success and achievement<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
INNOVATION<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
YOUNG<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
AGILITY & RESILIENCE<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
CSR<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
NON-EXECUTIVE<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
PUBLIC SECTOR<br />
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR<br />
SUSTAINABILITY<br />
“It was such an honour to be a finalist in the Family Business sector, and I am now<br />
absolutely thrilled to be the winner. I accept this award on behalf of my whole<br />
team at Wathall’s who work so hard to provide the services we offer.”<br />
Helen Wathall, Founder & Director, Wathall’s;<br />
Winner, <strong>Midlands</strong> Director of the Year Awards 2020<br />
Alternatively, if you would like to<br />
keep up-to-date with the awards<br />
process, email Cari Grice at<br />
Cari.Grice@iod.com.<br />
2020 Winners: Dr Clive<br />
Hickman (far left) and<br />
above, Pat Doody<br />
Information at your fingertips<br />
One of the most popular benefits of <strong>IoD</strong> membership is the Information<br />
Advisory Service, through which members can ask our research department<br />
for information on 25 occasions through the year. One member contacted the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong> office to record their satisfaction: “I contacted the<br />
Information Service to help research export opportunities within Asia and<br />
Africa, two sectors we had never looked at before. I was allocated a specific<br />
contact in the research team who took the time to understand the nature of my<br />
request, to ensure that the output met with my requirements. The answers were<br />
delivered within 48 hours of my initial request and far exceeded my expectations.<br />
“It will also play a key part in delivering growth for my business! ”<br />
Make your voice heard...!<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> runs Policy Voice, a way to gauge<br />
the opinions and thoughts of its members,<br />
which it then uses to formulate policies to<br />
be fed back to the Government in<br />
Westminster. To get involved and have your<br />
say, register now at<br />
iod.com/policyvoice<br />
Members’ magazine<br />
Tell us what’s happening in your world: we are always<br />
looking for interesting and relevant editorial for the<br />
magazine and online, so please speak to<br />
Cari Grice or Sophie Breeden about any content you may<br />
have. There are also opportunities to advertise in this<br />
magazine. For more details speak to Colin Regan at<br />
Chamber Media Services (details on pg 3) and see how the <strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
magazine can be part of your marketing plan.<br />
08<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong>: Membership<br />
Making the most of<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> membership<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> in numbers: Did you know as a core member^ you get...<br />
Free business advice,<br />
research and<br />
information<br />
Find out more at www.iod.com/services/information-and-advice<br />
4<br />
25<br />
25 calls to our legal<br />
enquiries to the Business<br />
Information Service<br />
sessions with our<br />
business advisers<br />
helpline and 25 calls<br />
to our tax helpline<br />
Business Information<br />
As an <strong>IoD</strong> member, you have access to top professional researchers<br />
through the <strong>IoD</strong> Business Information service.<br />
They can provide you with valuable information on topics ranging<br />
from market forecasts and industry trends to trading abroad and<br />
employee salaries.<br />
Directors’ Advice<br />
No matter how well connected you are, sometimes you need<br />
independent and confidential business advice from a specialist.<br />
The Directors’ Advisory Service provides <strong>IoD</strong> members with just<br />
that, free of charge. Our expert advice covers issues from raising<br />
finance to board appointments and shareholder disputes.<br />
Key details<br />
1. Free and exclusive service to you as an <strong>IoD</strong> member<br />
2. Accessible from all over the world by email or phone<br />
3. Up to 25 enquiries* per calendar year with 30 minutes of research<br />
time on each occasion<br />
4. Bespoke answers within 24 hours or soon thereafter during<br />
exceptionally busy periods<br />
*According to your membership package<br />
Key details<br />
1. Exclusive to <strong>IoD</strong> members<br />
2. Free, independent & confidential advice on a vast range of issues<br />
3. Advice is given by appointment either in a face-to-face<br />
consultation at 116 Pall Mall or over the telephone, depending on<br />
adviser availability<br />
4. Up to four appointments per calendar year, 30-45 minutes each.<br />
^<br />
Full Members and Associates have full access to our digital business library and guides as well as our archive of research and reports.<br />
Covid-19: Support for you<br />
and your business<br />
Government Support<br />
Information & Advice<br />
Directors & Governance<br />
Remote Wellbeing<br />
Learning & Development<br />
Community Content<br />
All available at<br />
www.iod.com<br />
The coronavirus pandemic has<br />
presented unparalleled challenges.<br />
We want to provide you with the<br />
connections, development, and<br />
influence not just to recover, but to build<br />
back better. Our Support Hub provides<br />
the resources you need to do so.<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong>’s greatest resource is its<br />
community of members – if you’d like<br />
to contribute or sign up to our member<br />
support directory, email ideas@iod.com.<br />
We are in direct contact with<br />
Government, pressing for the right<br />
measures to see UK directors and the<br />
economy through the months ahead.<br />
Make your thoughts heard: sign up to<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong>’s Policy Voice or email us at<br />
policy-unit@iod.com.<br />
10<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Membership grades<br />
and criteria<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> membership is open to anyone with<br />
senior-level responsibilities – you do not need<br />
to be a registered director or working in a<br />
commercial entity to be eligible for Associate<br />
status but only practicing directors can obtain<br />
Member and Fellow status of the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
Associate (A<strong>IoD</strong>)<br />
Associate status with the <strong>IoD</strong> is for those who<br />
are not a practising director, including those:<br />
• Working closely with directors, such as<br />
intrapreneurs<br />
• Aspiring to be a director<br />
• Studying as undergraduate students<br />
• Who have been a director and are unlikely to<br />
be a director again but wish to stay in touch with<br />
the director community<br />
Associate members receive a reduced benefits<br />
package to full members, but can use the A<strong>IoD</strong><br />
post-nominal to denote their membership.<br />
Member (M<strong>IoD</strong>)<br />
Member status with the <strong>IoD</strong> is for those who are<br />
practising directors and meet the below criteria:<br />
• Are a practising director – or have been and<br />
intend to be again in the near future<br />
• Have never been disqualified as a director<br />
Member status is for both executive and<br />
non-executive directors and also their<br />
equivalents (in terms of responsibility/<br />
authority) within the public sector, third sector,<br />
trustees and the military.<br />
Members of the <strong>IoD</strong> can use the M<strong>IoD</strong><br />
post-nominal to denote their level of<br />
membership with the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
Fellow (F<strong>IoD</strong>)<br />
Fellow status with the <strong>IoD</strong> is for those who are<br />
practising directors and meet the below criteria:<br />
•Satisfies all requirements for Member (cited<br />
above)<br />
• Invited to be a Fellow based on<br />
demonstrated commitment to be a ‘better<br />
director’, through one or more of:<br />
- Professional development – reaching<br />
Diploma or CDir level<br />
- Been a Member of the <strong>IoD</strong> for a minimum of<br />
five years demonstrating good performance and<br />
behaviour either professionally as a director, or<br />
in the Institute<br />
• Made an extraordinary contribution to the<br />
Institute at discretion of the admissions process<br />
Fellows of the <strong>IoD</strong> can use the F<strong>IoD</strong> postnominal<br />
to denote their level of membership<br />
with the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
If you would like to discuss membership<br />
grades and fees or require further<br />
information, please contact your local<br />
membership team:<br />
East <strong>Midlands</strong>:<br />
Cari.Grice@iod.com<br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong>:<br />
Sophie.Breeden@iod.com<br />
Member<br />
benefits<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> has negotiated<br />
special discounts on key<br />
services for our members. For<br />
more information, click on the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> logo by the offer<br />
Professional<br />
Indemnity Insurance<br />
Supplied by Hiscox<br />
Save five per cent on<br />
Hiscox’s standard rates<br />
(subject to criteria)<br />
Corporate Directors<br />
Liability Insurance<br />
Five per cent discount (most<br />
policies, with £1m of cover<br />
cost from just £900 per<br />
annum)<br />
Individual Directors<br />
Liability Insurance<br />
Up to 35 per cent discount<br />
(premiums start from just<br />
£33 per month for £1m of<br />
cover, protecting you and<br />
only you)<br />
Cyber and Data<br />
Risks Insurance<br />
Save five per cent on<br />
Hiscox’s standard rates<br />
(subject to criteria)<br />
Private health<br />
insurance<br />
10 per cent discount on<br />
Bupa By You health insurance<br />
52<br />
Visits to <strong>IoD</strong><br />
premises UK-wide,<br />
including Pall Mall<br />
“Membership has given me<br />
access to a network of<br />
other Directors in my local<br />
area and elsewhere, as well<br />
as some great training<br />
opportunites.”<br />
Carole O’Neil, Partner,<br />
HR & Training<br />
900<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> events up and<br />
down the country –<br />
including hundreds<br />
on your doorstep<br />
“My favourite thing is the<br />
sense of belonging to a<br />
strong community of<br />
business leaders; a<br />
community of strong<br />
leaders empowered to<br />
influence the business<br />
landscape in the UK and<br />
beyond.”<br />
Dr. Yahya Shakweh CDir,<br />
Vice President, Advanced<br />
Electronics Company<br />
1<br />
Step away from<br />
achieving your full<br />
potential<br />
“Becoming a member of<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong> is a great boost to<br />
your career. The <strong>IoD</strong> gives<br />
you a platform to interact<br />
with like-minded<br />
individuals and share<br />
ideas.”<br />
Ayesha Sultan CDir, Board<br />
Member<br />
International<br />
payments<br />
Get more for your money on<br />
currency transfers, with<br />
competitive exchange rates<br />
and an award-winning<br />
service from WorldFirst.<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> members receive:<br />
• Great foreign exchange<br />
rates on all international<br />
transfers<br />
• No fees on FX payments in<br />
or out of currency accounts<br />
• No opening charges or<br />
monthly fees on any of your<br />
currency accounts<br />
Car and van hire<br />
from Hertz<br />
Receive a 10 per cent<br />
discount on vehicles of all<br />
sizes, across the globe, plus<br />
free membership of Hertz<br />
Gold Plus Rewards Five Star.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
11
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
News<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Enterprise Challenge is creating<br />
next generation of business leaders<br />
by Tasha MacGilbert<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> Enterprise Challenge is a new<br />
version of the <strong>IoD</strong> £10 Challenge which<br />
has been running in the East <strong>Midlands</strong> for<br />
over five years, raising money for charity<br />
while helping students from Nottingham<br />
Trent University build their business<br />
experience.<br />
What is the <strong>IoD</strong> Enterprise Challenge?<br />
Students are split into small groups,<br />
with each group assigned a business<br />
mentor drawn from the <strong>IoD</strong> membership.<br />
They then bid for a seed capital of up to<br />
£50, and aim to turn this into as much<br />
profit as possible.<br />
The students are expected to use their<br />
business and entrepreneurial skills to<br />
reinvest their seed capital to raise money<br />
for the chosen charity.<br />
It is a challenge that gives the students<br />
an opportunity to gain first-hand<br />
experience in the world of business.<br />
They are helped along the way by <strong>IoD</strong><br />
mentors, who guide the students through<br />
the challenge and provide support where<br />
needed. They assist student groups in<br />
reaching the best possible outcome by<br />
sharing valuable experiences that the<br />
students can apply in their own microbusinesses.<br />
Mentors offer a friendly approach, with<br />
unbiased support and direction, providing<br />
guidance and feedback. They facilitate<br />
brainstorming, by providing personal<br />
insight to guide the students, as well as<br />
ongoing support and encouragement<br />
throughout the challenge.<br />
Throughout the challenge the<br />
important thing is for the students to gain<br />
vital skills, with perhaps the most<br />
important, the value of teamwork and<br />
leadership.<br />
For the outset, small groups of students<br />
are formed from different courses. Often<br />
the students will be meeting for the<br />
first time at the launch event and<br />
will need to get to know each<br />
other and learn how to<br />
communicate effectively to get<br />
the critical tasks done.<br />
They will also need to learn the<br />
importance of leadership. Roles<br />
will be assigned in each group with a<br />
single leader appointed. We expect the<br />
students to take ownership of all tasks and<br />
roles – not the mentor!<br />
Want to get<br />
involved as a<br />
mentor?<br />
Email tasha.<br />
macgilbert<br />
@iod.com<br />
Other key aspects of the Challenge<br />
include time management and enterprise.<br />
At the end of the Challenge each group<br />
is expected to discuss their journey and<br />
generate a reflective video to represent<br />
this, with presentations on display at<br />
the Celebration Event.<br />
Students will also have the<br />
opportunity to grow their digital<br />
literacy capability, including<br />
the ability to find, evaluate and<br />
compose clear information<br />
through writing and other<br />
mediums on various platforms.<br />
Where does the profit go?<br />
Profits generated are donated to the<br />
Students find their own winning formula<br />
Previous student winners of the<br />
£10 Enterprise Challenge explain their<br />
business plans<br />
A Drag Show and Lip Sync<br />
Extravaganza!<br />
“We bet on originality for this year’s <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Enterprise Challenge, and it paid off,<br />
managing to win the award for the ‘most<br />
money raised’.<br />
“We organised a Lip Sync Competition in<br />
Drag, in a cocktail bar in Soho with a<br />
professional DJ for free. We had three acts<br />
and a four-prize raffle, as well as donations<br />
and tickets revenue.<br />
“Our secret was knowing how to<br />
effectively use our networks and thinking<br />
outside the box. Doing it for a good cause<br />
made it even more rewarding”<br />
This group raised £1,000 for the John<br />
van Geest Research Centre.<br />
Our approach: selling glow sticks<br />
outside nightclubs!<br />
“Our group successfully completed the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong> Enterprise Challenge,<br />
raising the most money for the chosen<br />
charity.<br />
“We hit upon the simple idea of selling<br />
glow sticks outside night clubs.<br />
“For our team, winning the challenge<br />
showed that the simplest ideas, good team<br />
work and organisational skills are<br />
sometimes the most effective and key to<br />
any activity!<br />
This team raised £1,546<br />
12<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
<strong>IoD</strong> supporting university students in the West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
John Phillips MBE F<strong>IoD</strong><br />
First, I would like to thank our friends at<br />
the University of Wolverhampton who<br />
have worked tirelessly throughout the<br />
pandemic to allow <strong>IoD</strong> members to<br />
facilitate virtual student mentoring.<br />
This has been supplemented by group<br />
sessions with the students, looking at<br />
CVs, selection interviews and the current<br />
job market.<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> members have acted as mentors to<br />
undergraduates studying business<br />
subjects with an emphasis on future<br />
employability and soft skills. We will be<br />
staying close to the students this summer<br />
with the aim that they should all find<br />
employment which is commensurate<br />
with the academic qualifications they<br />
will shortly be receiving.<br />
I would like to thank Dr Jenni Jones<br />
from the University of Wolverhampton<br />
for her outstanding work and<br />
enthusiasm in supporting us through<br />
what is our 11th Year of this fantastic<br />
programme. There have been extra<br />
challenges during the pandemic and it<br />
has not been easy for many of our<br />
students. We have, however, arranged as<br />
much extra support as possible and it is<br />
our intention that all our young people<br />
will eventually find high value<br />
employment.<br />
I would also like to thank Dean<br />
Kavanagh, Chairman of <strong>IoD</strong> Coventry<br />
and Warwickshire Branch who has taken<br />
the programme with Coventry University<br />
in a slightly different but important<br />
direction by supporting postgraduate<br />
business students.<br />
Finally, a huge thank you to our<br />
marvellous <strong>IoD</strong> mentors who have given<br />
of their time so freely and with so much<br />
enthusiasm!<br />
We very much hope that the academic<br />
year for 2021/2 will see us returning to<br />
near normality.<br />
If anyone would like to help with our<br />
work please do not hesitate to contact me<br />
personally through Sophie, our Senior<br />
Branch Manager. Our mentors all say<br />
they get huge satisfaction from being<br />
part of the scheme – gaining as much<br />
from it as the students do.<br />
Giving something back: the<br />
buzz of being an <strong>IoD</strong> mentor<br />
John van Geest Research Centre. Founded<br />
by John and Lucile van Geest, the research<br />
centre seeks to “save lives and speed<br />
recovery by improving the diagnosis and<br />
treatment of cancer.”<br />
The Centre at Trent University has been<br />
made possible through the donations<br />
totalling £17 million from the John and<br />
Lucille van Geest Foundation.<br />
Upon completion of the challenge, all<br />
students participating receive free <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Student Membership, which gives them<br />
access to the <strong>IoD</strong> Regional Event schedule<br />
as well as national student events.<br />
They also gain access to an unrivalled<br />
network of business acumen through the<br />
contacts they make throughout the event.<br />
We are looking for <strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
members to get involved with our student<br />
groups on the £10 Challenge.<br />
The amount of support the students<br />
need will differ from group to group, but<br />
from experience they usually meet their<br />
mentor initially on launch night, perhaps<br />
once mid-way through the Challenge and<br />
then at the celebration event.<br />
Between those dates they keep in touch<br />
via WhatsApp or email.<br />
The student helpline is something new<br />
that we are trying with student members,<br />
where our members are encouraged to help<br />
students from time to time with queries<br />
they might have.<br />
This will be a good way to support young<br />
people and an amazing thing to participate<br />
in. It will be an opportunity to offer the<br />
students practical real-world advice and<br />
help them understand more about the<br />
business world and the role of directors.<br />
We’re sure that it will also enable them to<br />
be more prepared for the world of work<br />
once they graduate.<br />
If you are interested in supporting this<br />
year’s Enterprise Challenge or know of<br />
someone who would, email<br />
tasha.macgilbert@iod.com with your<br />
details. If you have any questions then<br />
please feel free to get in touch!<br />
What do mentors involved in previous<br />
Enterprise Challenges think of the<br />
experience? We asked Clive Bridge to offer<br />
some pointers to other <strong>IoD</strong> members.<br />
“The <strong>IoD</strong> Enterprise Challenge is a great<br />
example of how business can partner with<br />
education and help build awareness of<br />
what running a company is all about.<br />
“This was my first year as a Mentor. As<br />
well it being hopefully helpful for the<br />
students, it was great fun. The Group I<br />
worked with,‘Calm Candles’, chose to<br />
manufacture and sell a variety of scented<br />
candles. This meant they had to think<br />
about a whole range of issues: design,<br />
procurement, manufacturing & packaging,<br />
marketing, finance, etc. They then had to<br />
present a credible business plan in order to<br />
be allocated their initial seed money.<br />
“While the competitive element gives<br />
students that added motivation and<br />
interest, the real benefit is that it provides<br />
invaluable learning about the various<br />
aspects of the business world. This<br />
brings to life the challenges and excitement<br />
of being in business far more than lectures<br />
and texts book can. The fact that all money<br />
raised goes to the Van Geest cancer charity<br />
makes it even more worthwhile.<br />
“Overall, a great initiative and one that I<br />
would definitely recommend to others for<br />
next year!”<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
13
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Technical Briefing: Brexit and exporting<br />
Post-Brexit trade: Short-term<br />
headache or long-term pain?<br />
Pharma boss and Chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd,<br />
Dr Nik Kotecha obe, examines whether the current challenges<br />
posed by the post-Brexit trade deal and the end of the Transition<br />
Period are temporary hiccups or a more permanent problem.<br />
When the 11th hour Brexit Trade Deal<br />
arrived at the back end of 2020, most<br />
businesses hailed it as a breakthrough,<br />
largely because the prospect of No Deal<br />
would have been so damaging to UK<br />
businesses.<br />
On the one hand, the deal has given<br />
most UK businesses certainty, which will<br />
enable companies to finally be able to<br />
make long-term plans, as well as invest for<br />
the future.<br />
I am a great admirer of how UK<br />
businesses are able to adapt and innovate<br />
as their operating environments evolve,<br />
and this skill will provide many<br />
opportunities to grow into new markets as<br />
the UK continues to sign trade deals<br />
around the world.<br />
However, on the other hand and despite<br />
the business community’s initial<br />
enthusiasm, the devil was always in the<br />
detail. Indeed, some sectors weren’t<br />
included in the deal, such as financial<br />
services.<br />
It’s also clear that the new arrangements<br />
are not without their challenges. I talk to<br />
many business leaders and every<br />
company and sector is having to adapt<br />
– and to adapt very quickly. My company,<br />
Morningside Pharmaceuticals, is no<br />
different, as we import and export our<br />
pharmaceutical products globally, as well<br />
as to the EU.<br />
So the question to really ask is whether<br />
these are short-term teething problems or<br />
a longer term fundamental challenge?<br />
Pre-Brexit, we made extensive<br />
preparations for every eventuality, such as<br />
increasing buffer stocks and off-site<br />
warehousing; agreeing post-Brexit<br />
processes with freight forwarders; and<br />
ensuring EU supplier and customer<br />
readiness.<br />
But inevitably there have been some<br />
issues since the new arrangements began,<br />
although it’s still too early to say whether<br />
these are all down to the new post-Brexit<br />
landscape, or are being amplified by the<br />
ongoing Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.<br />
Trucks parked at one of the<br />
temporary parks set up in<br />
Kent to accommodate<br />
Dover overflow traffic. Was<br />
this event at the turn of the<br />
year a sign of things to<br />
come, or a one-off?<br />
A few of the challenges we’ve faced so<br />
far include additional paperwork, which<br />
has slowed turn-around times for<br />
shipping arrangements; extra shipping<br />
costs; customs brokers refusing work<br />
because of increased demand; and a<br />
shortage of haulage firms and drivers able,<br />
or willing, to take UK deliveries.<br />
Some of the consequences of the UK/<br />
EU Trade Deal have also affected our<br />
supply chain. One example is around<br />
specific Incoterms, which specify<br />
who is responsible for paying for and<br />
managing the shipment, insurance,<br />
documentation, customs clearance, and<br />
other logistical activities. This has led to a<br />
‘‘<br />
Additional paperwork has<br />
slowed turn-around times...<br />
but we worked closely with<br />
our EU partners and freight<br />
forwarding companies to<br />
refine our processes...<br />
‘‘<br />
substantial amount of paperwork needing<br />
to be carried out by our EU suppliers, at a<br />
time when their resource time is inhibited<br />
by the pandemic.<br />
To work through these issues we have<br />
taken a number of actions, including<br />
working closely with our EU partners and<br />
freight forwarding companies to refine<br />
shipping and customs processes and<br />
continuing our export strategy to focus on<br />
the rest of the world, as well as the EU.<br />
We will also continue to work closely<br />
with the Department of Health & Social<br />
Care (DHSC), which is keen to support our<br />
sector where possible, as well as look to<br />
engage Government directly and through<br />
trade associations such as the <strong>IoD</strong> and the<br />
Chambers of Commerce, to whom I would<br />
encourage all businesses to provide<br />
feedback to.<br />
So to come back to the question, the<br />
majority of the current challenges we face<br />
should be short- to medium-term bumps<br />
in the road that get resolved in time as we<br />
learn to adapt. A longer term fundamental<br />
concern is the new trading arrangement<br />
with Northern Ireland and the issues<br />
around rules of origin, which must be<br />
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esolved quickly.<br />
As a business that has exported to more<br />
than 120 countries since our inception in<br />
the 1990s I have seen first-hand the<br />
opportunities which are out there, and the<br />
huge benefits on offer for UK Plc. It’s clear<br />
the new trade deals negotiated by the<br />
Department for International Trade (DIT)<br />
will offer UK businesses a real long-term<br />
advantage, including the potential for the<br />
UK to join trading blocks like the Comprehensive<br />
and Progressive Agreement for<br />
Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).<br />
So, despite all of the headwinds we face,<br />
there are green shoots ahead and<br />
businesses must bear in mind that Brexit is<br />
a process, rather than a complete package<br />
from day one.<br />
One very useful way to get a personalised<br />
list of actions for your business is through<br />
the Brexit Checker on www.Gov.uk<br />
website, which provides a quick ‘gap<br />
analysis’ of your business activities to help<br />
navigate through the new trading<br />
environment.<br />
In time UK businesses will adapt to the<br />
new arrangements with the EU and begin<br />
to grow into exciting international markets,<br />
which offer huge growth potential for<br />
‘Brand UK’.<br />
It may just be a bit bumpy along the way.<br />
DIT targets exports growth<br />
The Department<br />
for International<br />
Trade (DIT) has<br />
launched a new<br />
campaign to help<br />
UK agriculture and food & drink<br />
companies to take advantage of new<br />
trade deals and explore new market<br />
opportunities overseas.<br />
There is a huge demand for quality and<br />
premium British food and drink produce<br />
around the world, with growing<br />
opportunities across emerging markets<br />
for products including meat, seafood,<br />
alcohol, spirits and dairy.<br />
Overall, the UK’s agriculture, food and<br />
drink industry represents one of the UK’s<br />
vital manufacturing industries, with the<br />
agri-food sector contributing £120 billion<br />
to the UK economy in 2018 alone and<br />
supporting around four million jobs. In<br />
2019, nearly 8,000 businesses in the<br />
agricultural and food industries exported<br />
their goods, supporting the jobs of over<br />
500,000 employees up and down the UK,<br />
demonstrating the value of trade.<br />
The Government has so far negotiated<br />
trade deals covering 64 countries plus the<br />
EU – to cover £889 billion of trade - and is<br />
looking to build a network from the<br />
Atlantic to the Pacific.<br />
And with new trade deals being<br />
finalised globally, there is a huge<br />
opportunity for British agriculture, food<br />
and drink businesses – of all sizes, and<br />
from all regions of the UK – to grow.<br />
To increase the number of businesses<br />
looking to exploit this huge export<br />
opportunity, the DIT is offering bespoke<br />
exporting advice and support.<br />
Whether it is Welsh lamb to Qatar and<br />
the UAE, Cornish clotted cream to Japan<br />
or a growing demand in the USA for the<br />
drinks industry, there are opportunities<br />
everywhere.<br />
In March last year, access to the US was<br />
granted for UK beef exporters for the first<br />
time in 20 years, with the industry<br />
estimating beef exports to be worth £66<br />
million over the next five years. In the<br />
last 10 years cheese exports have more<br />
than doubled to the UAE, demonstrating<br />
the appetite for UK dairy products across<br />
the Gulf, as well as Japan and across<br />
south east Asia.<br />
For more information, visit gov.uk/<br />
grow-by-exporting to learn how you can<br />
tap into new opportunities abroad.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
15
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Technical briefing — Big data<br />
It’s the era of big data, and with claims that ‘data is the new oil’*, what is<br />
the value of data analytics to today’s directors and leaders, and how can<br />
they navigate this complex world and derive sustained competitive<br />
advantage? Graham Harrison, <strong>IoD</strong> Member and Ambassador for Digital<br />
for the Greater Lincolnshire & Rutland Branch, explores this fascinating<br />
subject and reaches some surprising conclusions about the continuing<br />
role that directors and leaders play in this brave new world.<br />
Having the data helps – but so<br />
does asking the right questions<br />
What are the benefits to firms<br />
leveraging data analytics?<br />
It’s worth beginning by asking whether<br />
firms that leverage data analytics have<br />
access to a capability that differentiates<br />
them and gives them an edge over their<br />
competitors.<br />
It turns out that there is a wide body of<br />
evidence that confirms that the answer to<br />
this question is “yes”, including a report<br />
from Wegener & Sinha showing that firms<br />
using data analytics are twice as likely to<br />
be top-quartile financial performers, while<br />
another from McKinsey & Company<br />
showed that data-analytic firms increase<br />
their earnings before tax by 20 per cent<br />
compared with those who did not.<br />
Beyond these two examples there is a<br />
wide body of research and evidence<br />
supporting the view that embracing data<br />
analytics will improve business outcomes<br />
and deliver competitive advantage.<br />
But what are the strategic benefits?<br />
There is a traditional view that firms<br />
* Intro quote courtesy of Clive Humby<br />
16<br />
with good data analytics maturity start<br />
every meeting by reviewing the corporate<br />
data dashboard, with every decision<br />
maker having immediate access to reams<br />
of spreadsheets detailing the minutiae of<br />
company performance.<br />
There may be some truth in that but at a<br />
higher level directors and leaders of firms<br />
that have a mature data analytics<br />
capability know how to ask and answer<br />
the right questions giving them unique<br />
insight and an ability to make the right<br />
decisions to drive company performance.<br />
Victor Kiam famously “liked the shaver<br />
so much, he bought the company” – in his<br />
case, shaver maker Remington – but in<br />
hindsight this decision was an example of<br />
something called “substitution”, a famous<br />
psychological effect that has ramifications<br />
for data-driven firms.<br />
There are many questions that should<br />
be asked during a corporate acquisition<br />
but in asking the question “by how much<br />
is Remington company stock undervalued?”<br />
Victor appears to have answered<br />
the question “how much do I personally<br />
like just one of its products?”.<br />
The substitution effect can be addressed<br />
in data analytics firms simply by seeking<br />
the data and information that will inform<br />
the decision. In the Remington example it<br />
is likely the main data required would have<br />
been on historical stock market<br />
performance and sales trends, not a single<br />
sample product survey, and this would<br />
have led to correctly answering the right<br />
questions relating to the acquisition<br />
decision.<br />
As well as avoiding substituting a<br />
different question to the one being asked,<br />
data analytic directors and firms are far<br />
more likely to frame the right question in<br />
the first place.<br />
During the ‘Cola Wars’ one of the two<br />
leading firms produced a new, attractive<br />
glass bottle and raced ahead of its main<br />
competitor in terms of sales. The<br />
competitor swiftly formed a task force to<br />
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design and produce its own even more<br />
attractive bottle to win customers back.<br />
Having failed in this task the team<br />
stepped back from the problem to ask,<br />
“what is the right question?” and “what<br />
data do we need?”.<br />
It turns out the right question was “how<br />
do we sell more cola?”; the right data<br />
related to customer needs and the answer<br />
was to develop the plain old two-litre<br />
plastic bottle which led to increased sales<br />
and profits.<br />
This is a classic example of framing the<br />
right question and data analytic directors<br />
and firms are much more likely to be<br />
aware of this and to frame business<br />
challenges in a way that improves their<br />
outcomes.<br />
Data vs. Intuition<br />
In ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ , Nobel Prize<br />
winner Daniel Kahneman puts forward<br />
many arguments against purely intuitive<br />
decisions and makes a strong case for<br />
using data analytics to augment, inform<br />
and support important business decisions.<br />
Roger Federer can hit a forehand in<br />
tennis intuitively; he doesn’t have to think<br />
about the stroke or process any thoughts<br />
before or during the task, it just happens<br />
automatically. However, Roger can<br />
execute 1,000s of shot-related decisions<br />
quickly and get instant, accurate feedback<br />
as to whether he has got it right or wrong.<br />
Now consider an advanced business<br />
decision like a corporate merger. It is likely<br />
that directors will make a handful of<br />
decisions of this magnitude during their<br />
careers and even then, the feedback<br />
indicating success or failure will not be<br />
known for many years.<br />
The first example is a good fit for<br />
intuition, the second example requires<br />
that intuition be combined with accurate,<br />
consistent, timely and applicable data to<br />
triangulate and verify the thoughts and<br />
views of the leadership team.<br />
Data analytics does not mean that the<br />
intuition of directors and leaders should<br />
be ignored or is unimportant, but it does<br />
provide an invaluable way to check it and,<br />
if the two views do not triangulate, to ask<br />
searching questions about which view is<br />
right.<br />
What role is left for directors<br />
and leaders?<br />
With evidence that data-savvy<br />
companies significantly outperform the<br />
data ‘have-nots’ and research<br />
demonstrating that intuitive decision<br />
making is flawed, what role is there for<br />
directors and decision makers, and could<br />
managers ultimately be completely<br />
replaced by artificial intelligence algorithms?<br />
Not only would such an approach raise<br />
serious morale and ethical concerns but<br />
the available evidence strongly suggests<br />
that not only do directors and leaders have<br />
a role to play but that their role is critically<br />
important in deriving business value from<br />
data analytics.<br />
My very favourite data science<br />
quotation is by Dr Mike Schmoker who<br />
said: “Things get done only if the data we<br />
gather can inform and inspire those in a<br />
‘‘<br />
We can have the top data<br />
but all of that comes to nought<br />
if leaders and managers do not<br />
use it to influence and inform<br />
critical business decisions<br />
‘‘<br />
position to make a difference”.<br />
My interpretation of this famous data<br />
quotation is that we can have the top data<br />
scientists, the most accurate, timely and<br />
consistent data, the most visually stunning<br />
graphs and charts, and the very best<br />
machine learning models, but all of that is<br />
for nought if leaders and managers do not<br />
use them to influence and inform critical<br />
business decisions.<br />
In data jargon there are three types of<br />
data analytics:<br />
• Descriptive Analytics looks backwards<br />
in time at things that have already<br />
happened and captures them in graphs,<br />
charts and reports.<br />
• Predictive Analytics uses historical<br />
data and statistical techniques to make<br />
predictions about what is likely to happen<br />
The ‘VRIO’ framework<br />
in the future.<br />
• Prescriptive Analytics takes the<br />
outputs and outcomes of the first two and<br />
applies them to commercial decision<br />
making to drive and optimise business<br />
outcomes.<br />
Prescriptive analytics is the most<br />
important step because without it those<br />
complex and clever descriptive and<br />
predictive models will sit on the shelf and<br />
will not have any impact on business<br />
outcomes.<br />
To achieve the benefits that have been<br />
highlighted, including top quartile<br />
financial performance and 20 per cent<br />
earning increases, directors and leaders<br />
must be fully engaged, know what<br />
questions to ask the data experts and then<br />
use the insight generated by data analytics<br />
to inform high quality decisions and this<br />
will be the subject of a future article.<br />
Conclusions<br />
We have explored what benefits can<br />
accrue to companies that acquire a<br />
mature data analytics capability, what the<br />
strategic benefits are, how data complements<br />
and augments intuitive decision making<br />
and how directors and leaders play a<br />
critical role in translating all that potential<br />
into realised business benefits.<br />
The ‘VRIO’ framework suggests that a<br />
business capability must be valuable, rare,<br />
costly for its competitors to imitate and<br />
that the firm must be organised to capture<br />
value from it, and that if these things hold<br />
true a firm will realise sustained<br />
competitive advantage.<br />
If directors can influence their firms to<br />
obtain and grow a data analytics capability<br />
that passes these four tests then there is a<br />
significant opportunity to achieve<br />
sustained competitive advantage – and<br />
then maybe data really will be the new oil.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
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Technical briefing: Energy and 5G<br />
Buyer beware: there are sharks<br />
in the energy market<br />
Is your business looking to sign<br />
off on a new energy contract?<br />
Before you do, read this<br />
cautionary tale, as told to the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> by Liam Conway, Head of<br />
Business Development at<br />
Control Energy Costs.<br />
A number of businesses have complained<br />
that they have been mis-sold energy<br />
contracts. Unfortunately, due to lack of<br />
regulation within the industry, it is very<br />
much a case of buyer beware.<br />
This example concerns a member of <strong>IoD</strong><br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong>. We are unable to name the<br />
company, but the FD was keen for the story<br />
to be shared and to ensure others did not<br />
fall foul of such blatant mis-selling and<br />
misrepresentation. The FD of the business<br />
would also be happy to talk this through on<br />
an <strong>IoD</strong> webinar session with other directors.<br />
Liam met with the finance director of the<br />
business which operates a single site heavy<br />
manufacturing facility in the Black Country<br />
and spends in the region of £500,000 pa on<br />
energy.<br />
The FD expressed concern at the recent<br />
energy invoices they had received, which<br />
were significantly different to those that<br />
had been ‘sold’ to them. Although this was<br />
arranged before the FD’s tenure, the<br />
company was keen to explore what had<br />
gone wrong as the impact to them in terms<br />
of budget was significant.<br />
Liam uncovered that this business had<br />
been mis-sold a pass-through contract by<br />
an energy broker.<br />
The business had been approached by<br />
this energy broker who proceeded to send<br />
them numerous letters of authority (LOAs)<br />
to sign. Letters of authority are legal<br />
documents that enable a third party to act<br />
on your behalf.<br />
The letter of authority, once signed, gave<br />
the broker the ability to sign contracts on<br />
their behalf and extend them multiple<br />
times.<br />
Pass-through contracts<br />
A pass-through contract is one that<br />
covers just the energy element of the bill.<br />
This typically only accounts for around 40%<br />
of charges, with the additional<br />
transportation, distribution, taxes, and<br />
levies all passed through at cost.<br />
Any proposal you are given based on a<br />
pass-through contract might represent<br />
good face value, but it is only covering a<br />
percentage of the total you will need to pay;<br />
you need to understand the consequences<br />
fully.<br />
There is nothing wrong with a passthrough<br />
contract, however, unscrupulous<br />
energy brokers use them as a way of hiding<br />
increased commissions within the unit rate.<br />
Significant increase in energy costs<br />
In this case, the business had unwittingly<br />
signed a pass-through energy-only contract<br />
and, due to hidden commission within that<br />
proposal, saw significant increases in<br />
energy costs.<br />
The broker in question refused to disclose<br />
the amount of commission that had been<br />
built into the contract. The broker also<br />
continually extended the contracts by six<br />
months as soon as the opportunity arose,<br />
and the chosen supplier allowed them to do<br />
so. This was done again to maximise their<br />
gain, not in the best interest of the client.<br />
The energy broker has a fiduciary<br />
obligation to act in the client’s interest this<br />
is a typical example where they are lining<br />
their own pockets rather than providing<br />
worthy advice to the client.<br />
Hidden commission<br />
To put some context to this, the broker<br />
had hidden circa £100,000 per annum of<br />
commission across both electricity and gas.<br />
They extended all contracts to five years, so<br />
took virtually £500,000 in hidden<br />
commissions over the contract term.<br />
As the business had been misrepresented<br />
at the point of signing the contract, they<br />
only became aware of this when the<br />
contract started. We were clearly able to<br />
demonstrate to them the likely commission<br />
built in by showing where the market was<br />
when they signed, versus the rates secured.<br />
This is broadly 20% of the business’s<br />
energy costs going straight to the broker!<br />
It would vary depending on the services<br />
provided, however, a fair and transparent<br />
broker would likely earn 2- 5% of energy<br />
costs.<br />
Conclusion<br />
While by their own admission the<br />
business should have been more aware of<br />
the ‘salesmanship’, this example is a £40m<br />
t/o business so not lacking in commercial<br />
awareness. The point being if they can be<br />
‘hoodwinked’, anyone can, as the energy<br />
brokers in question are slick in their<br />
operations.<br />
We are keen to highlight the issues and<br />
while we would love nothing more than to<br />
name and shame a number of the larger<br />
prolific offenders, it’s difficult to do so<br />
publicly, so our approach is to educate as<br />
many businesses as possible so they don’t<br />
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fall foul of the tactics.<br />
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK<br />
If you are approached by an energy<br />
broker, ask the following questions:<br />
Are their fees transparent?<br />
The vast majority of energy brokers will<br />
be earning a commission that is built into<br />
the supplier proposal they are<br />
recommending you accept. If their fees are<br />
truly transparent, you should know what<br />
that rate is. There is no such thing as a free<br />
service although there are many energy<br />
brokers who will market themselves on this<br />
basis.<br />
Do they offer good value for money?<br />
A good energy broker will have a<br />
document that explains what services they<br />
are providing. Think about these services<br />
in the context of the commission they are<br />
earning and consider whether it is<br />
appropriate to the support they provide.<br />
Research who works for them and what<br />
relevant experience their key people can<br />
offer. Lots have energy experience, but<br />
relatively few have the expertise to deliver<br />
specialist tasks your business may require.<br />
If they are earning a reasonable<br />
commission, at the very least you should<br />
have a dedicated point of contact and<br />
access to a variety of reporting functions.<br />
How much commission have they<br />
earnt from me in the past 12 months?<br />
If you are working with an energy broker<br />
who is completely transparent about their<br />
fees, ask them and they should be happy to<br />
tell you. Alternatively, ask them to confirm<br />
the annual consumption (in kWh) across<br />
your portfolio and their commission rate so<br />
that you can work it out for yourself.<br />
The figure may surprise you.<br />
Do they do anything other than<br />
contract renewals?<br />
A good energy broker should be<br />
providing a holistic service looking at all<br />
aspects of your energy and water<br />
expenditure and any energy-related matter<br />
and leave you feeling confident that you<br />
are in safe hands. If that is not the case,<br />
something is wrong.<br />
When did you last benchmark your<br />
arrangements?<br />
In running a business, you will have lots<br />
of priorities and it is often easier just to<br />
leave things as they are. Not looking at<br />
alternatives could be costing you more<br />
than you think.<br />
You can talk to Liam about this and<br />
other energy matters on 01737 556631<br />
or see cec.uk.com.<br />
5PRING and Ferrovial<br />
challenge innovators to<br />
help lead 5G revolution<br />
5PRING – the consortium delivering the<br />
UK’s first 5G commercial application<br />
accelerators – has partnered with leading<br />
global infrastructure operator Ferrovial<br />
to launch a new challenge for innovative<br />
start-ups and small businesses to shape<br />
the future of the construction sector.<br />
With construction output in the UK<br />
valued at more than £110 billion,<br />
accounting for 7% of GDP and employing<br />
around 10 million people, the sector is<br />
well positioned to benefit from the<br />
impact of deploying 5G solutions to<br />
increase efficiency and optimise<br />
processes such as asset monitoring, as<br />
well as reducing costs and emissions.<br />
The Future of Construction challenge<br />
will provide start-ups and other small<br />
businesses with support in developing<br />
and scaling innovations targeted at the<br />
construction sector which harness the<br />
power of 5G to create a safe, dynamic<br />
and efficient construction industry, with<br />
a specific focus on:<br />
• Health & Safety and security<br />
• Logistics and site operations<br />
Applicants with 5G-enabled solutions<br />
which leverage augmented reality,<br />
computer vision, IoT, artificial<br />
intelligence and machine learning, and<br />
robotics, and are still relevant to the<br />
construction sector, are also encouraged<br />
to apply.<br />
The Future of Construction challenge<br />
offers successful companies access to<br />
cutting-edge technology via a private 5G<br />
network, a tailored acceleration<br />
programme, as well as coaching,<br />
mentoring and expertise provided by<br />
experts from Ferrovial and the 5pring<br />
consortium partners Telefonica UK (O2),<br />
Deloitte, Wayra and Digital Catapult.<br />
Javier Vaca de Osma, technology and<br />
processes director at Ferrovial<br />
Construction, said: “5prinG will give<br />
Ferrovial the opportunity to explore 5G<br />
potential to leverage innovation for our<br />
businesses by accessing a new ecosystem<br />
of startups and disruptive solutions.<br />
“With this partnership we are looking<br />
to foster the digitisation of our<br />
construction sites integrating, through<br />
5G, technologies such as augmented<br />
reality, edge computing or IoT systems to<br />
boost efficiencies while ensuring the<br />
safety of our working environments.<br />
5prinG will allow us to identify and test<br />
cutting-edge solutions on a real test-bed<br />
of innovation.”<br />
Last year, West <strong>Midlands</strong> 5G (WM5G)<br />
and partners O2, Deloitte, Digital<br />
Catapult and Wayra announced the<br />
launch of the UK’s first commercial<br />
accelerators – 5PRING – to develop the<br />
first region-wide 5G testbed.<br />
Robert Franks, Managing Director at<br />
WM5G, said: “It is through partnerships<br />
such as those that 5PRING is developing<br />
that we will truly be able to understand<br />
the real potential that 5G has to<br />
revolutionise the UK’s major industries.<br />
The guidance and expert advice that our<br />
5PRING teams can provide both virtually<br />
and through our dedicated Accelerator<br />
hubs in Coventry, Wolverhampton and<br />
Birmingham are leading the way.<br />
“Ferrovial’s decades of experience will<br />
be vital in helping to shape and guide the<br />
innovative solutions that we are hoping<br />
to see delivered through this programme,<br />
transforming their ambitions into<br />
reality.”<br />
Applications for the accelerator are<br />
now open and should be submitted by<br />
midnight on the May 14, 2021.<br />
Successful applicants will start working<br />
with 5PRING from July 5, 2021.<br />
For participation in the Incubator,<br />
registration should be submitted by the<br />
May 7, ready to start on the May 10.<br />
A series of engagement events will<br />
run throughout the 5PRING<br />
programme known as Engage,<br />
Explore and Exploit.<br />
For more information, visit:<br />
https://5pring.org/<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
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Technical briefing – Productivity<br />
Improving productivity –<br />
how partnering with a<br />
University can unlock<br />
funding and innovation<br />
Businesses are facing more challenges<br />
than ever because of the impacts of<br />
Covid-19 and Brexit, with a need to<br />
regularly assess their performance, be<br />
dynamic and remain competitive. All are<br />
key to promoting business growth,<br />
profitability and sustainability.<br />
Productivity is one of the key drivers of<br />
economic growth and prosperity. As a<br />
region, the East <strong>Midlands</strong> is<br />
underperforming in this metric when<br />
compared to the national average.<br />
To tackle low productivity in the local<br />
area and to drive business growth,<br />
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is<br />
working in partnership with the University<br />
of Nottingham and the University of<br />
Derby to deliver the Productivity through<br />
Innovation (PtI) programme, which is<br />
part-funded by the European Regional<br />
Development Fund (ERDF).<br />
The programme gives SMEs in<br />
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire access<br />
to a free business ‘health check’.<br />
Conducted by experts at NTU, this service<br />
evaluates business performance, enabling<br />
business leaders to make informed strategic<br />
decisions on how to move forward.<br />
Participating businesses receive a tailored<br />
package of funded support, including<br />
access to a grant to fund a graduate’s salary.<br />
They also benefit from resources, academic<br />
and technical expertise and facilities that<br />
they would not ordinarily have access to.<br />
The University then provides tailored,<br />
innovative and sustainable productivity<br />
solutions, the simplest of which often have<br />
the biggest impact.<br />
The programme is open to SMEs in<br />
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. To date,<br />
NTU has successfully supported<br />
businesses in industries such as<br />
manufacturing, architecture, life sciences,<br />
engineering, pharmaceutical, IT and food<br />
and drink.<br />
One recent example of the programme<br />
in action saw NTU partner with local<br />
businesses needing to develop their<br />
supply chains in the wake of the effects of<br />
Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.<br />
In response, industry experts from the<br />
world-renowned Nottingham Business<br />
School (NBS) – part of NTU – successfully<br />
delivered a series of online supply chain<br />
workshops, empowering businesses to<br />
critically assess their existing supply chains,<br />
identify areas to review and develop, and<br />
decide on new measures to introduce.<br />
FSG Tableware Ltd, importers and<br />
innovators of food service products with a<br />
focus on reusable and healthcare adapted<br />
dinnerware, was just one of the<br />
companies that attended our workshops.<br />
Managing Director Lynn Johnson told<br />
us: “We found the supply chain strategy<br />
support provided by NTU academic Jayne<br />
Adams (pictured right) to be invaluable.<br />
We worked together to develop a<br />
toolkit giving an in-depth analysis<br />
of supplier relationships, costs,<br />
quality, and risk mitigation, which<br />
I will continue to use and update<br />
on a quarterly basis.<br />
“This process has given me more<br />
confidence to engage with suppliers to<br />
discuss pricing and ensure sustainable<br />
practices are adhered to, both of which<br />
are important to my vision and values as a<br />
business.”<br />
Rob Johnson, lead NBS lecturer on<br />
supply chains (and former Global<br />
Purchasing Director at Jaguar Land<br />
Rover) (pictured right), said: “When<br />
businesses are looking at their<br />
strategies and priorities for the<br />
post-pandemic world, no matter<br />
what size they are, or whether they<br />
sell goods or services, it’s well worth<br />
thinking about the supply chain.”<br />
We are facing an uncertain future, and<br />
supply chains around the world are under<br />
pressure. How are you managing in these<br />
turbulent times? What is involved in<br />
adopting a more strategic approach with<br />
your suppliers, and how will this benefit<br />
your company?<br />
NTU plans to run a supply chain<br />
workshop again in June 2021.<br />
Other consultancy support the University<br />
has provided includes marketing strategy<br />
and brand development; the introduction of<br />
production planning and control systems;<br />
software development and strategy; value<br />
stream mapping; product research,<br />
development and testing; process mapping,<br />
and more.<br />
Director Ben Thompson from sports PR<br />
agency and sector specialist Macesport is<br />
impressed by the consultancy support<br />
he received from NTU. “Complex<br />
problem solving requires expertise<br />
from a wide variety of specialist<br />
areas,” he said. “To be able to call<br />
on the help of Nigel King [NTU’s<br />
Senior Lecturer in Computing and<br />
IT, with 25 years’ experience as a<br />
Tech Executive in Silicon Valley] and the<br />
wider PtI support has been invaluable to<br />
keep driving the business forward and<br />
future-proofing ourselves.<br />
“It’s vital to be able to surround yourself<br />
with experts who are able to dissect the<br />
challenge quicky and not only<br />
understand the technical challenge,<br />
but also the business goal, and the<br />
team have been incredible from<br />
taking a concept to delivery.”<br />
Want to know more?<br />
If you have a business challenge<br />
you want to address, we’d love to hear<br />
from you. Email PTIadmin@ntu.ac.uk<br />
or visit www.ntu.ac.uk/pti if you’d like to<br />
apply or find out more.<br />
20<br />
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<strong>IoD</strong> Mastermind Groups<br />
The perfect environment to develop<br />
and challenge: <strong>IoD</strong> Masterminds<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong>’s Mastermind groups are unique<br />
sessions that give directors and senior<br />
business leaders the chance to discuss the<br />
key issues and challenges they face in an<br />
open, constructive and confidential<br />
environment.<br />
Mastermind groups originated in the<br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong> and are a combination of<br />
brainstorming, education, peer<br />
accountability and support, a unique<br />
advisory panel of trusted, experienced<br />
businesspeople you can bounce ideas off.<br />
For many members, these meetings can<br />
act as a surrogate board meeting,<br />
particularly for those who run their own<br />
business or who are part of an SME<br />
without non-executives sitting with them<br />
on their boards.<br />
Each group is made up of directors from<br />
non-competing industries, combining<br />
SMEs and larger businesses.<br />
They meet once a month for dinner to<br />
discuss any topic that a member brings<br />
forth. Topics have varied from employee<br />
relations, directors’ duties, hot topics in<br />
business, whether to expand the<br />
company, and work-life balance. Topics<br />
for meetings are often tied to <strong>IoD</strong> CPD<br />
topics that are being run at the time.<br />
East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
In the East <strong>Midlands</strong> region, we<br />
currently have four Mastermind groups –<br />
Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln and<br />
Derby. At present all are run via Zoom but<br />
we hope to return to face-to-face sessions<br />
at some point later this year.<br />
The Leicester Mastermind group is<br />
facilitated by John Tucker. It is held on the<br />
third Tuesday of every month.<br />
The Nottingham group is facilitated<br />
by Carole Harvey.<br />
The Derby group is<br />
facilitated by Andy Leask.<br />
The Lincoln Mastermind<br />
group is facilitated by John<br />
Hebblethwaite.<br />
It is hoped that venues<br />
will be confirmed as soon as<br />
possible once face-to-face<br />
meetings are allowed.<br />
If you wish to be a part of an East<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> Mastermind group, please send<br />
a short biograpy to cari.grice@iod.com.<br />
These groups<br />
are strictly member<br />
only and before joining<br />
every member must<br />
submit a short biography,<br />
to ensure there are no<br />
competing<br />
organisations.<br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
The West <strong>Midlands</strong> is currently running<br />
three Mastermind Groups, in<br />
Birmingham, the Black Country and<br />
Worcester & the Marches. Each one is led<br />
by an experienced and respected <strong>IoD</strong><br />
member, who facilitates the session.<br />
Ian Priest is the facilitator of the Black<br />
Country Mastermind; Michael Donaldson<br />
is the facilitator of the Worcester & the<br />
Marches group; and Glenn Cameron is<br />
the facilitator of the Greater<br />
Birmingham Mastermind. The<br />
first two groups meet monthly;<br />
Birmingham meets fortnightly.<br />
Michael Donaldson said the<br />
groups, “have an ethos of<br />
sharing collective knowledge,<br />
experience and expertise to<br />
address the issues, challenges<br />
and opportunities members bring<br />
to the table... no rapid-fire questions<br />
and solutions from people I don’t know,<br />
who don’t know me. It’s a relaxed, friendly<br />
atmosphere that helps build respect and<br />
trust.”<br />
In addition to these groups, a number<br />
of dormant groups plan to resume their<br />
activities in 2021. For a listing of the active<br />
groups, <strong>IoD</strong> members can submit an<br />
application of interest via the <strong>IoD</strong> website,<br />
or for further information please contact<br />
Sophie.Breeden@iod.com<br />
What members say about<br />
Mastermind Groups<br />
‘‘<br />
I have been attending <strong>IoD</strong> Mastermind events for<br />
a couple of years now. I find them really excellent<br />
in a couple of ways. For those participants that<br />
have a problem that they want advice on, it is a<br />
confidential forum, with uninvolved but intelligent,<br />
experienced people from different backgrounds<br />
and with different skillsets who can often<br />
provide a helpful new perspective on the<br />
problem. For others, it is an excellent way to<br />
develop meaningful business relationships as<br />
it provides scope to hear a new contact’s<br />
views on a range of topics, which is a<br />
great way to get to know people ...<br />
Alexander May, Mastermind group<br />
member, West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
‘‘<br />
22<br />
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Director development<br />
<strong>IoD</strong>: Helping you improve as a director<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> Professional Director<br />
Series is now available online<br />
free of charge to members<br />
To help you understand your role as a<br />
director, and future-proof your board and<br />
organisation, the <strong>IoD</strong> has developed the<br />
Professional Director Series to be<br />
delivered virtually – bringing accessible<br />
and digestible CPD straight to you.<br />
The whole series is mapped to the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Director Competency Framework, keeping<br />
your learning relevant, up-to-date and in<br />
line with your professional development<br />
ambitions. Whether you’re embarking on<br />
the Certificate in Company Direction or<br />
are a qualified Chartered Director, this<br />
CPD series is the perfect accompaniment<br />
– or refresher – to your existing knowledge.<br />
You’ll be part of a group of leaders from<br />
organisations of all shapes and sizes from<br />
across our regions and nations, allowing<br />
you to connect, learn from each other,<br />
share your setbacks and successes, and<br />
encourage each other at the most senior<br />
level during these difficult times.<br />
Our Professional Director Series is now<br />
available complimentary to all full <strong>IoD</strong><br />
members including CDir and F<strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
Find out more at https://www.iod.<br />
com/training/professional-directorseries<br />
Forthcoming sessions<br />
Leading from<br />
the Chair<br />
Course Dates: April 28, June 23,<br />
September 15 and November 10<br />
Times: 10am-12 noon<br />
Location: <strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Development,<br />
Virtual Classroom<br />
Cost: Members, CDir, F<strong>IoD</strong>, Free<br />
Non-members: £100 + VAT<br />
The role of the Chair in an organisation is<br />
often misunderstood and regularly<br />
becomes confused with the role of the CEO.<br />
It is far more than managing the process<br />
of board meeting execution. Analysis of<br />
successful organisations shows that the<br />
leadership role of the Chair is vital in order<br />
to ensure that the board as a team makes<br />
decisions and discharges its duties<br />
effectively. This session will clarify the<br />
Chair’s leadership role in order to unleash<br />
the value creating potential of the board.<br />
Delegates will be able to:<br />
• Outline the purpose of the Chair<br />
• Describe the skills, attributes and<br />
characteristics of an effective Chair<br />
• Identify how the Chair can add value<br />
both in and out of the boardroom<br />
With special thanks to our Leading from<br />
the Chair sponsor for 2021 - OnBoard by<br />
Passageways. OnBoard is a comprehensive<br />
and secure board management software<br />
that helps you govern more effectively.<br />
More details, contact the<br />
Event manager:<br />
t: 0208 142 9066<br />
e: professional dev@iod.com<br />
24<br />
Strategic Decision Making<br />
Date: May 27<br />
Time: 9am-11am<br />
Location: <strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Development,<br />
Virtual Classroom<br />
Cost: Members, CDir, F<strong>IoD</strong>: Free<br />
Non-members: £100 + VAT<br />
This workshop will equip delegates with<br />
ways of strengthening their strategic<br />
decision-making ability, with insights into<br />
the ingredients of effective strategic<br />
decision-making and practical solutions to<br />
the main challenges.<br />
Having completed this session, delegates<br />
should be able to:<br />
• Identify the ingredients of and challenges<br />
around effective strategic decision-making<br />
• Apply techniques to strengthen the<br />
quality of strategic decisions<br />
Event manager:<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Professional Development<br />
t: 020 7766 2601<br />
e: professional dev@iod.com<br />
Company purpose and ESG<br />
– driving long-term value<br />
Date: August 5<br />
Time: 9am-11am<br />
Location: <strong>IoD</strong> Virtual Development,<br />
Virtual Classroom<br />
Cost: Members, CDir, F<strong>IoD</strong>: Free<br />
Non-members: £100 + VAT<br />
This workshop explores how meaningful<br />
purpose statements at the heart of an<br />
organisation’s business model bring<br />
benefits and drive long-term value creation.<br />
It also examines what influences<br />
stakeholder demand and introduces<br />
different reporting and disclosure<br />
frameworks that will help organisations<br />
report and communicate their ESG<br />
credentials effectively to their stakeholders.<br />
Event manager:<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Professional Development<br />
t: 020 7766 2601<br />
e: professional dev@iod.com<br />
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Want to know more about<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> training and director<br />
development<br />
programmes ?<br />
Our training team are here to<br />
answer your questions.<br />
Call us:<br />
020 7766 2601<br />
or email<br />
developing@iod.com<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Certificate in Company Direction<br />
Whether you’re a newly appointed director,<br />
aspiring to a seat on the board, or want to<br />
improve performance with fresh insight,<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong> Certificate in Company Direction,<br />
Level 9 (SCQF) qualification will equip you<br />
with the core knowledge and awareness<br />
needed to function effectively as a director.<br />
The programme covers the key areas of<br />
governance, finance, strategy and<br />
leadership providing you with a foundation<br />
in effective directorship:<br />
n An in-depth view of the role,<br />
responsibilities and legal duties of a director<br />
n An understanding of the characteristics<br />
of an effective board<br />
n Sound knowledge of financial terms<br />
and concepts<br />
n The issues and processes associated<br />
with formulating strategic business plans<br />
and achieving strategic leadership<br />
n Enriched peer learning with directors<br />
across the globe<br />
n A qualification that is respected<br />
world-wide and sits as an equivalent to<br />
degree level<br />
Take advantage of a range of flexible<br />
routes to qualification available across the<br />
UK, featuring a blend of digital and<br />
interactive virtual learning tailored to your<br />
level of experience, prior qualifications,<br />
career aspirations and learning style.<br />
Find out more at https://www.iod.com/<br />
training/qualifications/certificate<br />
Award in Role of<br />
the Director and<br />
the Board<br />
Understand your duties and<br />
legal responsibilities as a<br />
director and examine the<br />
board’s role in corporate<br />
governance.<br />
Two-day course<br />
Next dates:<br />
April 26-27<br />
April 28-29<br />
May 6-7<br />
May 20-21<br />
June 7-8<br />
June 24-25<br />
Cost: Member: £2,475 + VAT<br />
Non-Member: £2,975 + VAT<br />
For more details and to<br />
book, click on the logo<br />
Award in Finance<br />
for Non-Finance<br />
Directors<br />
Get the skills required to<br />
evaluate the director’s role and<br />
responsibilities in relation to<br />
finance, and the relationship<br />
between financial and<br />
corporate strategies.<br />
Three-day course<br />
Next dates:<br />
April 21-23<br />
April 28-30<br />
May 5-7<br />
May 24-26<br />
June 7-9<br />
June 21-23<br />
Member: £2,745 + VAT<br />
Non-Member: £3,300 + VAT<br />
For more details and to<br />
book, click on the logo<br />
Award in Strategy<br />
for Directors<br />
Get the knowledge and skills<br />
required to create, implement<br />
and evaluate your<br />
organisation’s strategy and<br />
lead the strategic process.<br />
Three-day course<br />
Next dates:<br />
April 22-24<br />
April 26-28<br />
May 12-14<br />
June 7-9<br />
June 23-25<br />
Member: £2,745 + VAT<br />
Non-Member: £3,300 + VAT<br />
For more details and to<br />
book, click on the logo<br />
Award in<br />
Leadership for<br />
Directors<br />
Brush up on the latest<br />
leadership techniques from<br />
real world leaders and learn<br />
how to create influence,<br />
engagement and impact.<br />
Two-day course<br />
Next dates:<br />
April 22-23<br />
April 17-18<br />
June 3-4<br />
June 14-15<br />
Member: £2,475 + VAT<br />
Non-Member: £2,975 + VAT<br />
For more details and to<br />
book, click on the logo<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
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Director development<br />
Accelerated Certificate in Company Direction:<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> pathway to business success<br />
Business pressures can make it difficult to<br />
take time out to focus on personal and<br />
professional development. But the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
has a course that lets you take control of<br />
your professional development and<br />
become a Certified Director with this<br />
intensive fast track residential designed<br />
specifically for the time-poor leader.<br />
Using a blend of online and face-to-face<br />
learning, the <strong>IoD</strong> Accelerated Certificate in<br />
Company Direction offers directors the<br />
same expert training and knowledge<br />
available through our traditional<br />
approach, but requiring only five<br />
consecutive days away from the demands<br />
of your business.<br />
This fast-track residential programme<br />
provides you with fresh insights into the<br />
key areas of strategy, leadership,<br />
governance and finance, thus covering the<br />
subjects of the Certificate in Company<br />
Direction modules:<br />
n Role of the Director and the Board<br />
n Finance for Non-Finance Directors<br />
n Strategy for Directors<br />
n Leadership for Directors<br />
Why attend?<br />
n Achieve the <strong>IoD</strong> Certificate in<br />
Company Direction in a flexible way<br />
n Share experiences with your peers in<br />
an environment conducive to intensive<br />
learning<br />
n Minimise the amount of time spent<br />
away from the office<br />
n Learn from leading industry<br />
professionals whose talent and ability has<br />
been proven in the marketplace<br />
n Available for individual directors as<br />
well as groups of directors from the same<br />
organisation<br />
Who will benefit?<br />
n Busy directors who cannot take too<br />
much time away from the demands of<br />
their business and who are looking for a<br />
fast track method of achieving the<br />
certificate in company direction<br />
n Overseas directors who are looking to<br />
complete the full programme.<br />
n Leaders who want to bring specific<br />
competences and credibility to their<br />
businesses<br />
Those who wish to gain further<br />
qualifications will be able to progress to<br />
the Diploma in Company Direction and to<br />
Chartered Director status.<br />
To find out more about the Accelerated<br />
Certificate in Company Direction and to<br />
book your place(s), speak to the<br />
Professional Development team on<br />
020 7766 2601 or via email to<br />
developing@iod.com<br />
FUTURE COURSE DATES<br />
Woodlands Park Hotel,<br />
Surrey, <strong>IoD</strong> South<br />
May 23 - 28<br />
June 13 - 18<br />
July 04 - 09<br />
September 19 - 24<br />
November 07 - 12<br />
Fawsley Hall Hotel & Spa,<br />
Northamptonshire,<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
August 22 - 27<br />
October 17 - 22<br />
November 28 - December 03<br />
Ettington Park Hotel,<br />
Warwickshire, <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
December 05 - 10<br />
The Mere Golf Resort & Spa,<br />
Knutsford, <strong>IoD</strong> North West<br />
July 18 - 23<br />
Prices: Member: £9,775 + VAT;<br />
Non-member: £11,875 + VAT<br />
Prices are inclusive of course<br />
materials, five nights<br />
accommodation including<br />
breakfast and group meals.<br />
FIND OUT MORE:<br />
https://www.iod.com/training/<br />
qualifications/acceleratedcertificate-in-company-direction<br />
The Role of the Non-Executive Director course<br />
Phil Webster, Pragmatiks Consulting Limited<br />
I had been thinking about developing a portfolio career for a while when I came across the <strong>IoD</strong>’s<br />
‘Role of the Non-Executive Director’ one-day course. The course aims were to provide insight<br />
into the roles and attributes of a NED, to help understand how to find suitable NED roles and<br />
to provide delegates with the knowledge and skills needed to prepare for being a NED.<br />
For obvious reasons, the course was run ‘virtually’ and the course started with<br />
introductions and a run through of the agenda. What then followed was a combination<br />
of case studies which we discussed in smaller break-out groups and then as a group;<br />
sharing of real-life experiences and examples and Q&A sessions in breakout rooms<br />
with an experienced portfolio NED and a head-hunter. A hamper of cheese and<br />
biscuits was provided to enjoy during the networking session at the end of the course.<br />
If you are unsure about the legal implications of being a NED and how to best<br />
position yourself for success, I would strongly recommend attending the course.<br />
E: phil@pragmatiksconsulting.co.uk T: 07816 906039<br />
Find out more at https://www.iod.com/training/open-courses/role-of-thenon-executive-director<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Your Brexit contract checklist<br />
Christopher Buck, Associate Partner & Corporate Solicitor at Franklins<br />
Solicitors LLP, considers how Brexit might affect your commercial<br />
contracts and what measures you can take to protect your position<br />
On December 30, 2020, the UK Government<br />
and the European Commission signed the<br />
EU–UK Trade and Co-operation<br />
Agreement (TCA) which now governs<br />
the trade relationship between the UK and<br />
the EU following the end of the transition<br />
period on 1 January 2021.<br />
The following checklist sets out some of<br />
the key provisions of a commercial<br />
contract that will need to be considered.<br />
Definitions<br />
The UK is no longer an EU country and<br />
so references to the EU or the European<br />
Economic Area (EEA) will not include the<br />
UK. To define a territory, references to the<br />
EU or EEA will need to expressly state that<br />
this includes or excludes the UK. Another<br />
option would be to list each individual<br />
jurisdiction separately.<br />
References to EU Law<br />
The TCA is an international treaty.<br />
Retained EU law is EU legislation up to 31<br />
December 2020 and which will continue<br />
to apply in the UK. References to EU law<br />
should to be amended to ‘Retained EU<br />
law’ or EU law which forms part of UK<br />
domestic legislation.<br />
Tariffs and Quotas<br />
There will be no import tariffs or other<br />
customs duties or quotas on imports of<br />
UK-origin goods into the EU or EU-origin<br />
goods into the UK. The TCA contains<br />
rules of origin which outline the criteria to<br />
determine a product’s origin. Potential<br />
issues may arise in relation to products<br />
made in the UK or the EU, but which use<br />
materials from outside the UK or the EU.<br />
GDPR and Data Protection<br />
EU GDPR has been incorporated into<br />
UK data protection law. Data transfers<br />
from the UK to the EEA are not restricted.<br />
The EU has agreed to delay transfer<br />
restrictions from the EEA to the UK for a<br />
period of time. Therefore, businesses can<br />
continue to transfer personal data from<br />
the EEA to the UK during this period.<br />
Termination / Suspension Events<br />
The end of the transition period may<br />
create financial hardship and uncertainty<br />
for a business, making performance of a<br />
contract difficult or impossible. The<br />
possible Brexit impacts include: increased<br />
risk of insolvency for some businesses; a<br />
contract is no longer needed due to Brexit;<br />
and unpredictable market conditions. It is<br />
unlikely that these situations will be<br />
covered by a general force majeure clause.<br />
Consider including express clauses into a<br />
contract to include:<br />
• termination on shorter notice;<br />
• a right to terminate for convenience;<br />
or<br />
• link termination rights to performance<br />
factors, for example service levels/KPIs.<br />
Change Control<br />
Change control or variation procedures<br />
refer to clauses which govern how and in<br />
what circumstances a contract may be<br />
varied or amended. The possible<br />
consequences of Brexit are that current<br />
contractual obligations become<br />
unenforceable or that there are increased<br />
costs to ensure compliance with<br />
contractual obligations due to changes in<br />
the law. Incorporate clauses into contracts<br />
to allow changes to be made to the<br />
contract to ensure compliance with<br />
changes to the law and include provisions<br />
to regulate how the cost of any changes<br />
will be met, for example, pricing adjustments.<br />
Consents and Permissions<br />
New consents, permissions or licences<br />
may be needed to supply goods or provide<br />
services under a contract. For example,<br />
there will be a need for export and import<br />
declarations and other administration for<br />
cross-border trade. It will need to be made<br />
clear in the contract which party is<br />
responsible for obtaining and filing any<br />
additional documentation. There may<br />
also be a requirement for product<br />
conformity assessments to ascertain<br />
whether a product can be sold in both the<br />
EU and UK.<br />
TUPE<br />
The Transfer of Undertakings<br />
(Protection of Employment) Regulations<br />
2006 (SI 2006/246) (TUPE 2006)<br />
implements EU law. However, the impact<br />
of Brexit on TUPE is likely to be limited<br />
given that TUPE is a widely used<br />
mechanism in the UK.<br />
Governing Law and Jurisdiction<br />
UK contract law is largely unaffected by<br />
Brexit. Nevertheless, it is still important to<br />
incorporate a clause that states the<br />
contract is governed by the exclusive<br />
jurisdiction of the courts of England and<br />
Wales.<br />
For advice on your commercial<br />
contracts, contact Christopher<br />
Buck, Associate Partner & Corporate<br />
Solicitor on 01908 660966 or<br />
email him at christopher.buck@<br />
franklins-sols.co.uk.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
27
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> Structure, Ambassadors and Committees<br />
Your <strong>IoD</strong> in the <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> across the <strong>Midlands</strong> has reorganised its structure<br />
to better reflect regional priorities and improve members’<br />
identification with their local branch.<br />
The move towards a more localised structure mirrors<br />
central government experience with the creation of Local<br />
Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).<br />
In the West <strong>Midlands</strong>, the four branches are:<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Greater Birmingham<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Coventry & Warwickshire<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Worcester & the Marches<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Black Country & Staffordshire<br />
In the East <strong>Midlands</strong>, the three branches are:<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Leicestershire & South<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Greater Lincolnshire & Rutland<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire<br />
Each branch is run by a volunteer committee, headed by<br />
an experienced Chair.<br />
In addition, we have created Ambassador roles to act as a<br />
focal point for key issues, under the headings:<br />
Comms/Events/Membership Ambassador – a PR, media<br />
and marketing expert who will help us better CONNECT<br />
with members<br />
Chartered Director Ambassador – a Chartered Director<br />
who will support members to DEVELOP their skills as<br />
directors<br />
Governance and Policy Ambassador – a well-connected<br />
member who will manage branch governance, connect<br />
members and enable them to INFLUENCE the national<br />
agenda<br />
Over the next five pages we will introduce you to some of<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong> members in these roles, and signpost<br />
opportunities for you to get involved with the <strong>IoD</strong> team<br />
and make more out of your membership.<br />
Each issue of <strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> will include a focus on selected regional ambasadors/committee members<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Regional Chair: Gary Headland<br />
Regional Ambassadors<br />
Dr Craig Marsh<br />
Skills & Education<br />
Carole Harvey<br />
Diversity and Inclusion<br />
Andy Leask CDir Chartered Director &<br />
Professional Development<br />
James Pinchbeck Policy and Governance<br />
Peter Watson<br />
PR & Communications<br />
Clive Bridge CDir Manufacturing and Engineering<br />
We are actively recruiting for these<br />
Ambassador roles in the East <strong>Midlands</strong>.<br />
Greater Lincolnshire & Rutland<br />
Chartered Director and Professional<br />
Development Branch Ambassador<br />
Leicestershire & South East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Chartered Director and Professional<br />
Development Branch Ambassador<br />
Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire<br />
Policy and Governance Branch Ambassador<br />
If you are interested to know more, contact<br />
Cari Grice at cari.grice@iod.com<br />
Andy Leask<br />
Andy’s professional life is shared between the<br />
engineering consultancy he co-founded in 1984 and<br />
a ground improvement business, both based in<br />
Derby. He achieved Chartered Director in 2007 and<br />
sees the qualification as the Gold Standard to which<br />
all directors should aspire.<br />
He is passionate about improving the competence of directors,<br />
particularly in the construction sector, where the reputation of the<br />
industry has been damaged by several high profile failures and<br />
poorly considered director rewards.<br />
James Pinchbeck<br />
James Pinchbeck is Marketing Partner with mid-tier,<br />
top 40 UK accountancy and tax practice Streets<br />
Chartered Accountants, and is principally<br />
concerned with the company’s marketing, growth<br />
and development.<br />
A Fellow of the <strong>IoD</strong>, James has a broad interest in education and<br />
enterprise and is a non-executive director of the regional enterprise<br />
agency NBV Enterprise Solutions Ltd. He is Chair of Lincoln<br />
College of Further Education, Board of Corporation and is also<br />
Chair of the University of Lincoln International Business School<br />
Advisory Board.<br />
Craig Marsh<br />
Craig has 32 years’ experience in the field of<br />
management learning and development, as a<br />
teacher, consultant, researcher, and senior manager.<br />
After graduating from Oxford University in 1987,<br />
Craig joined the RAF as a pilot; he then spent the early<br />
part of his career in Organisation Development, working on HR<br />
transformation projects in BP and Marconi, where he acquired a<br />
particular interest in the performance and development of<br />
operational leaders. This expertise he then developed into his own<br />
consulting business, designing and delivering leadership<br />
development, change management, culture change and strategic<br />
change projects to public and private sector clients across the UK.<br />
28<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire<br />
Paul Eele<br />
Vice Chair and Interim Chair,<br />
Branch Ambassador,<br />
Skills and Education<br />
Stacey Green Diversity and Inclusion<br />
Julie Pomeroy Chartered Director and<br />
Professional Development<br />
Greg Simpson Marketing and Communications<br />
John Jennings Employee and Business Engagement<br />
Lindsey Newman-Wood<br />
Innovation & Creativity<br />
Phil Webster Business Improvement<br />
Peter Wingrove Mental Health & Wellbeing<br />
Sam Kirk<br />
Young<br />
Paul Eeles<br />
Paul has over 33 years’ experience in the post-16<br />
skills sector, including seven years as a lecturer and<br />
13 years leading work-based learning within colleges<br />
and independent providers. During that time, he has<br />
set up and led an independent apprenticeship training<br />
provider business. For the past nearly two decades, he has been on<br />
the senior teams of all the key membership bodies across the<br />
further education and skills sector, representing apprenticeship<br />
providers and colleges to government and their agencies.<br />
Peter Wingrove<br />
Peter started his career as an executive recruitment<br />
consultant before returning to South Africa in the<br />
early 2000s to set up Southacre Consulting, a<br />
boutique marketing services firm consulting to<br />
several large clients for several years. He then joined<br />
Walmart subsidiary Massmart where he gained<br />
extensive retail management experience.<br />
Having experienced mental health issues within his family, Peter<br />
has a deep understanding of how debilitating this can be and is a<br />
staunch advocate for early intervention. In 2019 he was head-hunted<br />
to lead Shawmind, a young charity on a mission to ensure that<br />
everyone has access to mental health & wellbeing support when<br />
they need it.<br />
Julie Pomeroy<br />
Julie is an experienced finance director of quoted<br />
and private companies. She was director of<br />
corporate finance at East <strong>Midlands</strong> Electricity plc<br />
and had a key role in two main list flotations and also<br />
led a reverse onto AIM. For the the last 10 years Julie<br />
has been Group Finance Director of Dillistone Group Plc, an<br />
Aim listed company specialising in recruitment related software.<br />
Julie also spent eight years as a non-executive director of<br />
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. She holds the<br />
Chartered Director qualification.<br />
Stacey Green<br />
Stacey is the co-founder of Freedom Foundation<br />
CIC and the TIRED Movement (Trying to Improve<br />
Racial Equality in the Dance industry). She is also<br />
the Principal of Freedom Dance & Performance in<br />
Nottingham. With over 25 years of experience working<br />
within the performing arts industry teaching children and young<br />
people, Stacey has a passion and drive to improve equality and<br />
inclusion within businesses and organisations and works<br />
extensively in schools across the East <strong>Midlands</strong> to improve mental<br />
health and wellbeing.<br />
LEICESTERSHIRE & SOUTH-EAST MIDLANDS AND WEST MIDLANDS - SEE PAGE 30<br />
Greater Lincolnshire & Rutland<br />
Michelle Allison Vice Chair<br />
Louise Malcolmson Skills and Education<br />
Emma Olivier-Townrow Diversity and Inclusion<br />
Richard Wills<br />
Policy and Governance<br />
Kate Strawson<br />
Marketing/Communications*<br />
* Currently on maternity leave;<br />
Emma Van Nieuwenhuijzen covering<br />
John Hebblethwaite Financial Planning and<br />
Wealth Management<br />
David Thompson Professional Services and Finance<br />
Tom Marsden<br />
Defence and Vice Chair<br />
Mike Simpson<br />
Health<br />
Graham Harrison Digital<br />
Craig Topley<br />
Construction and Engineering<br />
Kerrin Wilson QPM Co-opted Branch Ambassador<br />
Policing and Criminal Justice<br />
Tom Marsden<br />
Tom is an experienced senior leader with 25<br />
years’ experience in leading high performing<br />
teams, delivering tasks in the most challenging<br />
environments, including national and local<br />
government.<br />
Roles as strategic planner with both international coalition<br />
and cross-Whitehall experience required deft communication<br />
skills, complex stakeholder management and policy<br />
compliant decision making, skills which readily translate to a<br />
fast-paced business environment.<br />
Louise Malcomson<br />
Louise is an experienced education<br />
professional with a passion for developing the<br />
skills of young people and adults.<br />
She is an ambitious and committed senior leader<br />
accountable for providing clear and consistent leadership<br />
within education and skills to ensure a high level of quality in<br />
the delivery of educational programmes across all phases of<br />
learning. She has extensive experience in Quality Assurance,<br />
Teaching, Learning and Assessment and a strong knowledge<br />
and understanding of the educational landscape.<br />
Mike Simpson<br />
Michael Simpson is the Ambassador for Health<br />
for the Lincolnshire & Rutland Branch and<br />
over the past 19 months has been the<br />
Associate Director for Strategic Development<br />
and the lead Director for the Urgent and<br />
Emergency Care Capital Reconfiguration Programme at<br />
Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust.<br />
Kate Strawson<br />
As one of the co-founders of Shooting Star,<br />
Kate has worked on many of the agency’s key<br />
accounts over the past 13 years including<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong> Enterprise Universities and the<br />
Greater Lincolnshire LEP. A qualified journalist<br />
who has worked in print and broadcast as well as in public<br />
and private sector PR, Kate completed her degree in<br />
Journalism at the University of Lincoln in 2001 and worked in<br />
PR for bespoke kitchen manufacturer Scottwood of<br />
Nottingham and as a journalist at Lincs FM Group before<br />
returning to the University of Lincoln as press officer in 2005.<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
29
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> Structure, Ambassadors and Committees<br />
Your <strong>IoD</strong> in the <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
<strong>IoD</strong> East <strong>Midlands</strong> continued<br />
Leicestershire and South East <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Sarah Canning<br />
Shamir Ghumra<br />
Gareth Thomas<br />
Rhiannon Stafford<br />
Craig Bentley<br />
Nicola Moss<br />
Mark Eydman<br />
Kyra Williams<br />
Branch Chair<br />
Vice Chair<br />
Skills and Education<br />
Diversity and Inclusion<br />
Policy and Governance<br />
PR & Comms<br />
Employee Engagement<br />
Digital & Creative Ambassador<br />
Sarah Canning<br />
Sarah is an award-winning solicitor and<br />
dual accredited mediator. With over 25<br />
years’ experience in dispute resolution,<br />
Sarah works with corporates and<br />
individuals to achieve their best solution to<br />
a problem.<br />
In addition to her role as Branch Chair,<br />
she is also an External Associate at the<br />
University of Northampton’s Centre of<br />
Sustainable Business Practices.<br />
Shamir Ghumra<br />
As Head of Building<br />
Performance Services at BRE,<br />
Shamir is well connected to<br />
both industry and academia<br />
and his is a hugely respected<br />
voice within industry associations.<br />
Shamir is a former board member and<br />
co-founder of the Supply Chain<br />
Sustainability School and also former<br />
co-chair of the Construction industry<br />
coalition on Modern Slavery.<br />
He plays an active role in standards and<br />
is involved with both European and<br />
International work.<br />
Craig Bentley<br />
Craig is director of Bentley<br />
Management & Consulting, a<br />
small consultancy helping<br />
organisations improve<br />
performance through<br />
building capability and<br />
supporting design and implementation of<br />
improvement programmes.<br />
Craig’s career includes leadership roles in<br />
operations, marketing, and commercial<br />
development, and consulting experience<br />
across numerous sectors including<br />
construction, logistics, education and<br />
financial services.<br />
He is also a mentor and an Enterprise<br />
Advisor.<br />
Nicola Moss<br />
Nicola has many years of<br />
experience in operations<br />
events marketing comms<br />
and PR. Having most recently<br />
supported small businesses<br />
while working for the FSB, she<br />
understands the challenges businesses face<br />
and the role of the membership<br />
organisation in supporting its members by<br />
providing signposting, familiarisation with<br />
new business regulations, compliance,<br />
learning and networking opportunities.<br />
Nicola is proud to be the ambassador for<br />
PR and Comms in the Leicestershire -<br />
Northamptonshire area. Contact her<br />
on 07432 766001 or via nicola@mosssocial.<br />
co.uk if you have stories you feel your fellow<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> members would be interested to hear.<br />
Rhiannon Stafford<br />
Rhiannon is a leadership development<br />
and talent management consultant. Her<br />
career spans over 20 years working in HR,<br />
resourcing and leadership development<br />
roles for large corporate companies.<br />
Now Rhiannon works independently<br />
with organisations who want to grow or<br />
transform, providing bespoke leadership<br />
development programmes, coaching,<br />
personal development and team<br />
effectiveness solutions.<br />
At the heart of her work is a belief that a<br />
diverse and inclusive organisation is<br />
innovative, creative and high performing.<br />
She can be contacted via rhiannon@<br />
bluegrape talent.co.uk<br />
Kyra Williams<br />
Kyra has worked in media<br />
production in various guises<br />
for 25 years, with experience<br />
editing videos for broadcast<br />
TV, music videos and<br />
documentaries. She runs a small<br />
production company and provides a varied<br />
range of media services for a mixture of<br />
SMEs and Corporate businesses.<br />
Kyra frequently works in an advisory<br />
role to support communication goals, often<br />
using multimedia to achieve objectives, and<br />
has taught and run workshops on media<br />
and communication.<br />
She is keen to use her ambassador role to<br />
improve communication with current <strong>IoD</strong><br />
members, particularly in the creative<br />
industries, and find out how ‘leadership’<br />
differs in the creative industries.<br />
Mark Eydman<br />
An <strong>IoD</strong> Member since 2015,<br />
Mark is a passionate<br />
advocate of quality, customer<br />
loyalty and employee<br />
engagement as drivers of<br />
business success. Originally trained as an<br />
engineer, Mark has held operational,<br />
management and leadership posts in<br />
complex international settings and is<br />
especially experienced in commercial<br />
construction. In addition to current<br />
consulting and NED positions, Mark now<br />
lectures at two universities and supports a<br />
quality related apprenticeship scheme.<br />
Gareth Thomas<br />
Following 15+ years working<br />
in public sector roles<br />
managing skills policy<br />
implementation for the<br />
Government, Gareth set up his<br />
own consultancy in 2014. Supported by a<br />
couple of trusted freelance associates, we<br />
advise businesses, training providers and<br />
public sector bodies on skills programme<br />
development and implementation such as<br />
Apprenticeship programmes.<br />
His aim with the <strong>IoD</strong> is to ensure<br />
members are aware of local opportunities<br />
to influence public sector business and<br />
skills investment decisions (such as through<br />
LEPs) and raise awareness of different skills<br />
and employment support opportunities<br />
that are available, as well as raise the profile<br />
of the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
30<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
<strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
Coventry & Warwickshire<br />
Dean Kavanagh Branch Chair<br />
Zeynep Turudi Connect: Trade/Export<br />
Paul Fairburn Develop: Education & Skills<br />
Jenny Bettany Diversity & Inclusion<br />
Denise Taylor Connect<br />
TBC<br />
Develop (CDir)<br />
We are actively recruiting for these<br />
Ambassador roles in the West <strong>Midlands</strong>.<br />
Coventry & Warwickshire<br />
Chartered Director Ambassador<br />
Worcester & the Marches<br />
Comms/Events/Membership Ambassador<br />
Chartered Director Ambassador<br />
Greater Birmingham<br />
Policy and Governance Branch Ambassador<br />
Chartered Director Ambassador<br />
If you are interested to know more, contact<br />
Sophie Breeden at sophie.breeden@iod.com<br />
Zeynep Turudi<br />
Zeynep has been an active<br />
member of the <strong>IoD</strong> since<br />
2016, and a committee<br />
member since 2019. She is the<br />
founder & MD of Truede Ltd, a<br />
confectionery company that has been in<br />
business since 2003 and now exports its<br />
products to 20 countries.<br />
A DIT Export Champion, an awardwnning<br />
entrepreneur and an alumni of<br />
Barak Obama’s New Innovation &<br />
Entrepreneurship Program, she sits on the<br />
Advisory Board of Coventry Business<br />
School.<br />
Paul Fairburn<br />
Paul is an experienced<br />
Director of Innovation, with<br />
a background in the<br />
pharmaceutical industry,<br />
healthcare, utilities, and higher<br />
education.<br />
With significant experience of leadership,<br />
organisational change and strategy<br />
implementation, Paul has a deep<br />
understanding of supplier/client<br />
management, building value propositions,<br />
collaborative partnerships, innovation<br />
management, and the development of<br />
large-scale projects.<br />
A member of the Coventry &<br />
Warwickshire Branch Committee since<br />
September 2015, as an <strong>IoD</strong> Ambassador<br />
Paul is looking forward to building on<br />
previous activities in what is a challenging<br />
economic environment, but an exciting<br />
time of change for the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
Jenny Bettany<br />
A Chartered Occupational<br />
(Business) Psychologist,<br />
Jenny has worked extensively<br />
with organisations all over<br />
the world to help them bring<br />
out the best in their people and<br />
create positive high performance<br />
environments.<br />
She strongly values diversity and<br />
inclusion and is keen to support the <strong>IoD</strong> to<br />
create an organisation that works for and<br />
embraces all of its members.<br />
Denise Taylor<br />
Denise is a sustainability<br />
practitioner, strategic<br />
marketing specialist, and<br />
educator. Her business, Wylde<br />
Connections Limited, brings<br />
these three professional areas together in a<br />
unique blended approach of consultancy,<br />
learning and communications aimed at<br />
helping clients achieve their business goals.<br />
Denise has been a proactive member of<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong> for the past four years and has<br />
regularly delivered workshops on the<br />
business case for sustainability and writing<br />
compelling winning awards applications.<br />
As the Coventry & Warwickshire branch<br />
communications ambassador, Denise will<br />
be putting her many years’ experience in<br />
marketing communications to good use for<br />
branch members.<br />
Worcester & the Marches<br />
Jo Hodgetts<br />
John Painter<br />
Michael Doolin<br />
Vacancy<br />
Vacancy<br />
Branch Chair<br />
Influence<br />
Diversity & Inclusion<br />
Connect<br />
Develop<br />
John Painter<br />
John Painter has been a Chartered Accountant for<br />
over 40 years. For almost 30 of those years he has<br />
been an equity partner, and was Managing Partner<br />
for 13 years, until he merged the practice with<br />
Haines Watts in 2018. He also developed a business<br />
advisory business with the aid of Mindshop, an Australian<br />
company.<br />
John joined the <strong>IoD</strong> in 2017. He regularly contributes to the<br />
Mastermind groups for both the Black Country and Worcestershire<br />
and the Marches. As Ambassador for Governance and Policy, John<br />
says he hopes to influence the policy of local and national<br />
governments, and is looking forward to rekindling some old<br />
contacts as well as making new ones.<br />
Michael Doolin<br />
Having led global HR Teams within a number of<br />
blue chip companies, across a number of sectors,<br />
Michael’s experience has given him the<br />
opportunity to provide SMEs with flexible access to their own HR<br />
teams.<br />
He has been involved with the <strong>IoD</strong> for a few years and has<br />
thoroughly enjoyed the experience of leveraging from the<br />
experiences of colleagues as well as developing my own<br />
Professional Network.<br />
As the Ambassador for Inclusion and Diversity, Michael says he<br />
is “excited to bring new ways of thinking to the table to help raise<br />
awareness and understanding of key issues and challenges that<br />
employers and their businesses face today.<br />
“I am keen to meet as many of you as possible. ”<br />
See overleaf for Greater Birmingham<br />
and Black Country & Staffordshire<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
31
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> Structure, Ambassadors and Committees<br />
Your <strong>IoD</strong> in the <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
<strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong> continued<br />
Black Country & Staffordshire<br />
Ian Priest Branch Chair:<br />
Paul Wood Connect<br />
April Pearson-Myatt Influence<br />
Jackie Casey Diversity & Inclusion<br />
John Phillips Develop:<br />
Education & Skills<br />
Peter Suddock Influence: Tourism<br />
& Visitor Attraction<br />
Richard Bisiker Develop<br />
Roger Fairhead Connect: Staffs & Stoke<br />
Paul Wood<br />
Paul has achieved success as<br />
a business owner, director,<br />
commercial, project and<br />
sales manager, and enjoys<br />
using his experience and skills to<br />
help other business owners achieve their<br />
dreams. He feels that the <strong>IoD</strong> is a perfect<br />
area through which to engage with<br />
directors to pass on his experiences.<br />
April Pearson-Myatt<br />
April is Financial Director<br />
with a difference, combining<br />
financial management skills<br />
with a strong business<br />
acumen. Her career portfolio has<br />
seen her work within the manufacturing,<br />
distribution, aviation, IT, and internal<br />
communications industries. Her particular<br />
passion is for transforming finance<br />
functions through business process<br />
re-engineering.<br />
April sees immense value in the wealth of<br />
knowledge, professional development,<br />
networking and policy influence that the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> has to offer.<br />
Jackie Casey<br />
An <strong>IoD</strong> member since 2012,<br />
Jackie was the founding<br />
facilitator and Vice Chair of the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Women as Leaders<br />
committee. She has over 30 years’<br />
experience of running small businesses,<br />
with a focus on helping business owners<br />
develop, change or realign direction. Jackie<br />
is passionate about equality, diversity and<br />
inclusion.<br />
Richard Bisiker<br />
Richard is a Chartered<br />
Director and Branch<br />
Ambassador of the <strong>IoD</strong>. He<br />
provides guidance and support<br />
on governance and his own director<br />
development programmes, that involve<br />
both board assessment reviews and director<br />
coaching.<br />
Roger Fairhead<br />
After a career spent managing<br />
engineering projects, Roger<br />
switched tracks to speak, train<br />
and coach on leadership. He<br />
published his first book PRIZE<br />
Winning Leadership to describe the<br />
methodology that he uses with clients. He<br />
joined the <strong>IoD</strong> to improve his skills as a<br />
director and to network with other directors<br />
in a similar position.<br />
Dr John Phillips MBE F<strong>IoD</strong><br />
John served as Regional<br />
Director for <strong>IoD</strong> West <strong>Midlands</strong><br />
until retiring in 2016. He<br />
continues to lead the student<br />
mentoring scheme he started 11<br />
years ago at the University of Wolverhampton<br />
and maintains a keen interesting in helping<br />
young people seeking business careers.<br />
Peter Suddock<br />
A varied career path has<br />
enabled Peter to transform<br />
organisations ranging from a<br />
manufacturing business to an<br />
NHS Trust and even a zoo! The <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Regional Director of the Year 2013, Peter’s<br />
role as an ambassador will be to share his<br />
vast experience with others.<br />
Greater Birmingham<br />
Andy Wilkinson<br />
Gary Simpson<br />
Trudi Beswick<br />
Branch Chair<br />
Connect<br />
Diversity &<br />
Inclusion<br />
Paul Hooper-Keeley Develop<br />
Vacancy<br />
Influence<br />
Trudi Beswick<br />
A successful textiles<br />
entrepreneur and projects<br />
director in the private<br />
sector, since 2000 Trudi has<br />
been the driving force at UK charity<br />
Caudwell Children, which has grown<br />
under her leadership from a small local<br />
charity to a national organisation helping<br />
over 50,000 children. She has also become<br />
an influential voice in the voluntary sector.<br />
As a champion for the rights of<br />
disabled children and families and an<br />
ambassador for inclusivity, Trudi sits on<br />
the Board of the Design In Mental Health<br />
Network, the Children’s Activities<br />
Association and the steering committee<br />
for building guidelines at the British<br />
Standards Institute.<br />
Paul Hooper-Keeley<br />
Paul has over 37 years of<br />
experience in the SME<br />
sector, the last 25 at board<br />
level as CFO/Finance<br />
Director, in both plc and<br />
private company environments in<br />
businesses up to £400m turnover.<br />
A member of the <strong>IoD</strong> since 1997, he<br />
qualified as the <strong>IoD</strong>’s 25th Chartered<br />
Director in 2000, is a Chartered Manager<br />
with the CMI and is currently undertaking<br />
the Financial Times Non-Executive<br />
Directors Diploma. He is also a Fellow of<br />
the Chartered Institute of Management<br />
Accountants and was Chairman of CIMA<br />
West <strong>Midlands</strong> from 2014-2018.<br />
Gary Simpson<br />
Gary has been working as a<br />
recruiter across the UK and<br />
EMEA for nearly 30 years,<br />
sourcing candidates for<br />
technical or sales roles at a<br />
mid to senior level. He is also a<br />
qualified coach with the International<br />
Coaching Federation and works with a<br />
number of clients specifically on<br />
performance.<br />
He is a keen networker, a long time <strong>IoD</strong><br />
member and has served on the regional<br />
committee for the past three years, as well<br />
as ran two successful Mastermind groups.<br />
32<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Employment law update: host of<br />
changes to rules around payments<br />
April 2021 will see a number of changes to<br />
current UK employment law which will<br />
impact you, your team and your business.<br />
The following areas will see an increase,<br />
effective April 2021:<br />
n National Minimum Wage<br />
n Statutory Redundancy Calculations<br />
n Family Related Pay<br />
n Unfair dismissal compensation<br />
n Statutory Sick Pay<br />
n National Minimum Wage:<br />
Minimum & Living Wage<br />
In November 2020 Chancellor Rishi<br />
Sunak announced that the National Living<br />
Wage would increase to from £8.72 to £8.91<br />
– a 2.2% increase, from April.<br />
The National Living Wage is the highest<br />
band of the National Minimum Wage. The<br />
age threshold for National Living Wage has<br />
been changed. Prior to 1st April 2021 this<br />
level of minimum wage was only for those<br />
aged 25 and over. This changes to apply to<br />
23- and 24-year-old workers.<br />
There are also changes to the National<br />
Minimum Wage, in line with Low Pay<br />
Commission recommendations. Workers<br />
aged 21 to 22 see their national minimum<br />
wage increase from £8.20 to £8.36; those<br />
aged 18 to 20 see it rise from £6.45 to £6.56;<br />
and those aged 16 and 17 see it increase<br />
from £4.55 to £4.62. The rate for<br />
apprentices under 19 or in their first year<br />
of apprenticeship rises to £4.30.<br />
Statutory Redundancy Calculations<br />
New limits of statutory redundancy pay<br />
will come into force from 6th April 2021.<br />
Employers who dismiss employees with<br />
over two years’ service for redundancy<br />
must pay an amount based on the<br />
employee’s weekly pay, length of service<br />
and age.<br />
Half a week’s pay for each full year they<br />
were aged under 22.<br />
One week’s pay for each full year they<br />
were aged 22 or older, but under 41.<br />
One and half week’s pay for each full<br />
year they were aged 41 or older.<br />
Length of service is capped at 20 years.<br />
The weekly pay is the average earned per<br />
week over the 12 weeks before the day they<br />
received the redundancy notice, to a new<br />
maximum of £544 a week.<br />
Family Related Pay<br />
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption,<br />
shared parental leave and parental<br />
bereavement leave pay have all increased,<br />
to £151.97.<br />
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid<br />
for up to 39 weeks. Claimants receive 90%<br />
of average weekly earnings (before tax) for<br />
the first six weeks, followed by the<br />
statutory rate or 90% of your average<br />
weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for<br />
the next 33 weeks. The statutory rate will is<br />
now £151.97.<br />
On Paternity Leave Pay, claimants can<br />
choose to take either one or two weeks, at<br />
£151.97.<br />
Statutory Adoption Pay is paid for up to<br />
39 weeks at the same rate as maternity pay.<br />
Where a child dies before they turn 18,<br />
or if you have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of<br />
pregnancy, employees can claim Parental<br />
Bereavement and take two weeks’ leave<br />
from the first day of your employment for<br />
each child who has died or was stillborn.<br />
This week rate increased to £151.97.<br />
Unfair Dismissal Compensation<br />
The new maximum Compensatory<br />
award for Unfair Dismissal is £89,493.<br />
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)<br />
The new rate of SSP is £96.35. SSP<br />
payable for up to 28 weeks from the 4th<br />
day of absence. If are in self-isolation<br />
related to the Coronavirus, you will receive<br />
SSP from day one of absence.<br />
IR35<br />
Reforms to the IR35 rules on off-payroll<br />
working in the private sector come into<br />
force on 6th April 2021. This has been<br />
delayed by a year due to the coronavirus<br />
pandemic.<br />
The purpose of the IR35 rules is to aid<br />
the reduction of tax avoidance for<br />
contractors employed via personal service<br />
companies. Under the new rules, the<br />
organisation engaging with a contractor is<br />
responsible for determining their<br />
employment status and assessing whether<br />
IR35 applies. If IR35 does apply the<br />
organisation that pays that individuals fees<br />
are deemed to be their employer for tax<br />
and National Insurance purposes.<br />
Once the organisation has determined<br />
an individual’s classification, it must<br />
provide a status determination statement<br />
to the individual and to the party with<br />
which the organisation has contracted.<br />
For the statement to be valid, the client<br />
must also provide reasons why they have<br />
reached that determination. Employers<br />
should review contracts and put in place<br />
necessary procedures to ensure compliance.<br />
As an employer, you should be ensuring<br />
that your business has updated policies<br />
and pro-formas with the new statutory<br />
amounts and ensure that pay increases for<br />
minimum wage employees have been<br />
processes.<br />
Check whether IR35 applies to you and<br />
your business.<br />
• Clover HR can provide support and<br />
guidance in relation to both the changes<br />
to UK Employment Law and new IR35<br />
rules and ensure you are fully compliant.<br />
See www.cloverhr.co.uk<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
33
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Covid-19: The business response<br />
COVID-19: Returning to work safely<br />
Staying<br />
Covid secure:<br />
HSE advice<br />
– and watch<br />
out for<br />
spot checks<br />
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has<br />
issued updated reminders of the rules<br />
around operating in a Covid-secure<br />
fashion – and warned that it is preparing<br />
its inspection teams to carry out spot<br />
checks on business premises to ensure<br />
everyone is following the rules.<br />
The HSE said: As lockdown restrictions<br />
are eased, we will see a host of sectors<br />
re-open over the coming months, but it is<br />
important that we all remain vigilant of<br />
the risks.<br />
April and May will see the return of<br />
non-essential retail, personal care services<br />
and the re-opening of hospitality venues,<br />
most outdoor attractions and settings, and<br />
indoor leisure facilities. This reopening of<br />
the economy creates many challenges<br />
across the UK requiring businesses and<br />
workers to continue to follow new ways of<br />
working.<br />
The Health and Safety Executive has<br />
worked throughout the pandemic to<br />
provide advice and guidance to help<br />
businesses put Covid-secure measures in<br />
place, and reassure their workers,<br />
customers, partners, and community, that<br />
they are managing the risks appropriately.<br />
Being Covid-secure means being<br />
adaptable to current government<br />
guidance, putting measures in place to<br />
control the risk of coronavirus to protect<br />
workers and others. There are a number of<br />
key actions to take to help make your<br />
workplace Covid-secure.<br />
Risk assessment<br />
Every business should have a risk<br />
assessment in place which includes<br />
managing the risks from Covid-19. This<br />
will help you to understand what you<br />
should do to work safely and protect<br />
people.<br />
Social distancing<br />
Where possible workers and visitors<br />
should stay two metres apart, or one<br />
metre if other measures are in place to<br />
reduce the risk.<br />
Cleaning, hygiene and<br />
handwashing<br />
Ask workers and visitors to wash their<br />
hands frequently, and provide hand<br />
sanitising stations for when that isn’t<br />
possible or practical – especially in places<br />
where people will touch the same items<br />
frequently. Increase how often you clean<br />
surfaces, equipment and facilities.<br />
Ventilation<br />
Take simple steps to improve airflow in<br />
enclosed spaces as good ventilation helps<br />
reduce how much virus is in the air.<br />
Talk to workers and provide<br />
information<br />
Consult and involve your staff in the<br />
steps you’re taking to become Covidsecure.<br />
Working from home<br />
If staff can work from home, they<br />
should.<br />
34<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Vulnerable workers<br />
Make sure you consider the risk to<br />
workers who are clinically extremely<br />
vulnerable to Covid-19 and put controls in<br />
place to reduce that risk.<br />
These measures will help businesses to<br />
manage the risk of Covid-19, but they will<br />
only work if everyone observes them.<br />
Employers should make sure their workers<br />
know they should always follow these<br />
measures while at work, whether they’re at<br />
their workstation, on a break, or anywhere<br />
else carrying out work activities.<br />
HSE Covid spot checks and<br />
inspections<br />
To minimise the risk of infection in the<br />
workplace, HSE is carrying out spot checks<br />
and inspections to check businesses have<br />
Covid-secure measures in place. This is<br />
done by calling, visiting and inspecting<br />
businesses across all sectors, in all areas, to<br />
check the measures in place are in line with<br />
the current guidance.<br />
During the checks and inspections, HSE<br />
provides advice and guidance to manage<br />
risk and protect workers, customers and<br />
visitors. Where businesses aren’t managing<br />
the risks from coronavirus, HSE will take<br />
action.<br />
Please ensure your workplace is safe<br />
by following the HSE guidance on<br />
being Covid-secure. There are also<br />
guides available on gov.uk for making<br />
workplaces Covid-secure.<br />
Assessing the risk: HSE<br />
offers new insights<br />
Managing Risk: From Assessment<br />
to Control. Bringing your Risk<br />
Assessment to Life<br />
Date: May 25,<br />
Time: 10:30am<br />
Location: Online<br />
The Health & Safety Executive is hosting a<br />
series of free risk management webinars.<br />
Supported by Western Business Media<br />
(WBM), the webinars will help<br />
organisations understand and control<br />
different types of risks in their workplaces.<br />
Effective risk management systems<br />
allow an organisation, large or small, to<br />
meet its legal requirements in protecting<br />
workers by not only identifying risk but<br />
putting in place measures to ensure<br />
adequate risk controls. Too often, risk<br />
assessment becomes a tick-box exercise<br />
but it’s vitally important that the<br />
organisation is mindful of the risks that<br />
are identified and takes ongoing action to<br />
monitor and manage them.<br />
This strong focus on worker health and<br />
safety, in turn, benefits organisational<br />
performance.<br />
This webinar will feature a panel of<br />
experts from HSE including HM Health<br />
and Safety Inspectors, and NEBOSH who<br />
will discuss current guidance and<br />
principles in tackling risk.<br />
We’ll be taking questions during the<br />
webinar and highlighting resources,<br />
products and services that can help you<br />
build a successful risk management<br />
programme that protects employees from<br />
harm.<br />
Read more information and register at<br />
solutions.hse.gov.uk<br />
For further information on spot<br />
checks and inspections visit the HSE<br />
website.<br />
RETURN TO WORK:<br />
What impact has Covid has on<br />
mental health and wellbeing, and<br />
what steps do you need to take to<br />
help your employees?<br />
See our special feature, from pg 36<br />
Covid-19: Support for you and your business<br />
Government Support<br />
Information & Advice<br />
Directors &<br />
Governance<br />
Remote Wellbeing<br />
Learning &<br />
Development<br />
Community Content<br />
All available at<br />
www.iod.com<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
35
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
Covid-19: Employee mental wellbeing<br />
The workplace mental<br />
health wake-up call<br />
of a generation<br />
Rob Beswick talks to Tracey<br />
Paxton, managing director of<br />
The Employee Resilience<br />
Company Ltd and winner of<br />
the Start-up category in 2020’s<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong> Director of the Year<br />
Awards, about the impact of<br />
Covid-19 on employee mental<br />
wellbeing and its likely legacy<br />
If there is one thing the Covid-19<br />
pandemic has reminded us, it’s the<br />
importance of resilience, because never<br />
before has our ability to take setbacks<br />
been challenged as it has since March 2020.<br />
Indeed, when you consider how many<br />
blows we’ve all taken, from losing family<br />
and friends to long-term ill health, job<br />
losses, furloughs and disruption to many<br />
of the positive aspects in life, it’s a miracle<br />
that the whole of society isn’t on its knees.<br />
It’s a point I put to Tracey Paxton,<br />
Managing Director of The Employee<br />
Resilience Company Ltd (TERC) and an<br />
expert on, among other things, mental<br />
wellbeing in the workplace. “Covid left<br />
no-one untouched. Whether it’s your<br />
health, that of your loved ones, your job,<br />
your children’s education or just your<br />
personal wellbeing and mental health,<br />
we’ve all had something to challenge us.”<br />
What was also striking was the speed<br />
with which the pandemic arrived. “All of a<br />
sudden, it was upon us and we had to<br />
respond at a moment’s notice. It’s no<br />
wonder people’s mental health struggled.”<br />
The Employee Resilience Company Ltd<br />
– perhaps unsurprisingly, given its name –<br />
offers a 360 degree package of mental<br />
health; physical; financial; legal and carer<br />
support that builds resilience and<br />
mindfulness in employees. Its services<br />
include counselling and psychological<br />
support on everything from trauma, stress,<br />
work-life balance, anxiety or any of the<br />
conditions that can affect mental health.<br />
Another unsurprising fact: its workload<br />
has risen sharply over the past 12 months,<br />
36<br />
Tracey Paxton<br />
with her<br />
Director of the<br />
Year award<br />
during which time TERC has dealt with<br />
the full gamut of concerns from its clients.<br />
“Our focus is employee wellbeing,” says<br />
Tracey, “but that definition covers a huge<br />
amount of ground. We offer employees<br />
fast track, targeted support, counselling<br />
and psychological interventions when<br />
they are struggling.”<br />
TERC’s services are accessed through<br />
two of the UK’s best known companies<br />
running workforce health and wellbeing<br />
benefits programmes: BHSF and Vivup.<br />
Both have broad and diverse client bases,<br />
all of whom are united in wanting to offer<br />
their employees a package of benefits that<br />
improve their physical, financial and<br />
mental wellbeing.<br />
Tracey explains how the relationship<br />
works. “Businesses who sign-up to BHSF<br />
or Vivup’s employee benefit packages<br />
have access to TERC’s services. Employees<br />
are signposted to contact us direct when<br />
they have problems with mental wellbeing,<br />
or we take referrals when people are<br />
identified as being in need of support. It’s<br />
a private, confidential counselling service<br />
that offers ‘in the moment support’ to<br />
people going through personal crisis.”<br />
Under Tracey’s leadership TERC has<br />
grown to a core staff of 60 with 587 full<br />
trained counsellors around the country<br />
ready to offer specialist help. “Our<br />
psychological team is a mix of counsellors,<br />
psychotherapists, psychologists,<br />
psychiatrists and mental health educators,<br />
with experts on trauma, stress, mediation<br />
and resilience. Our USP is our ability to<br />
respond promptly: TERC offers a genuine<br />
24-7 service, with fully trained mental<br />
health personnel ready to help as soon as<br />
your employees get in touch.”<br />
This immediacy is crucial, Tracey says.<br />
“If someone is in crisis, being told they can<br />
access mental health support in a few<br />
weeks is no good; they need help there<br />
and then. If one of your employees has a<br />
mental health issue, we can assist and get<br />
them the support they need straight away.<br />
Ours is a comprehensive secondary<br />
mental health support package that<br />
conforms with stringent NHS standards of<br />
clinical excellence.”<br />
It’s support and fast-track access that’s<br />
needed now more than ever; as Tracey<br />
points out: “In 2019-2020, over 828,000<br />
employees are believed to have a workrelated<br />
mental health issue causing stress,<br />
depression or anxiety. Those conditions<br />
led to 17.9 million lost working days every<br />
year – and that was before the pandemic.”<br />
The onset of Covid-19 has created a<br />
huge increase in demand for TERC’s<br />
services. “People were anxious about the<br />
outbreak, were facing feelings of<br />
loneliness caused by self-isolation and<br />
social distancing and struggling to adjust<br />
to new routines.<br />
“A big part of this was coping with the<br />
technology – remote workers told us they<br />
were feeling inadequate at not being able<br />
to use essential IT to communicate, while<br />
at the same time they were juggling caring<br />
responsibilities and worrying about the<br />
financial impacts,” Tracey recalls. “A lot of<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
‘‘<br />
Our USP is our ability to<br />
respond promptly: TERC<br />
offers a genuine 24-7 service,<br />
with fully trained mental<br />
health personnel ready to<br />
help as soon as your<br />
employees get in touch...<br />
‘‘<br />
the consultations my team handled were a<br />
need to talk through those worries. Calls at<br />
the beginning of the pandemic were<br />
one-offs, and of a short duration.”<br />
The pandemic forced many businesses<br />
to work online with digital contacts, but<br />
for Tracey, that’s business as usual. “We<br />
have always been geared up to provide<br />
services remotely. We have a strong IT<br />
infrastructure in place and excellent<br />
digital outreach. Our counsellors and<br />
therapists are based around the UK, as are<br />
our clients, so it’s always made sense to be<br />
able to reach out to people through secure<br />
online systems. We offer confidential<br />
GDPR compliant single session-use<br />
platforms that people are comfortable<br />
talking to our counsellors through.”<br />
As the pandemic evolved, so did the<br />
nature of TERC’s work. “Once we got over<br />
the initial shock of lockdowns, people’s<br />
needs changed. They became more<br />
nuanced and required more structured<br />
interventions. People were still concerned<br />
about their immediate health but to that<br />
was added worries about mixing with<br />
others again. We also saw calls around<br />
employee perceptions of bullying to get<br />
workloads completed. People reported<br />
feeling ‘burnt out’, stating they couldn’t<br />
achieve any kind of work/life balance.<br />
“There were people worrying about job<br />
security, and asking questions on legal<br />
and financial issues. Others were struggling<br />
to cope with caring responsibilities. It was<br />
incredibly stressful for many.”<br />
Sadly, TERC also handled calls around<br />
domestic abuse, relationship breakdowns<br />
and, tragically, suicidal ideas and self harm.<br />
By the time the second lockdown was in<br />
place in late autumn, cries for help had<br />
shifted again. “By that stage we were<br />
taking calls around grief and bereavement,<br />
particularly where people hadn’t been<br />
able to say goodbye to their loved ones.”<br />
Worryingly for the future, TERC<br />
counsellors were also reporting a huge<br />
increase in clients who had developed<br />
poor coping mechanisms such as OCD,<br />
and there was an increase in clients<br />
reporting alcohol and substance misuse.<br />
Indeed, the areas TERC was asked to<br />
cover became so broad as to appear<br />
all-encompassing. “Parents were calling<br />
for advice on special educational needs<br />
issues for their children. It just gives you<br />
some idea of the weight the world was<br />
carrying. Everything was pressing down<br />
on our clients’ employees; some were<br />
desperate for help.”<br />
She had high praise for the team at<br />
TERC who delivered support “at a level I’d<br />
never anticipated,” admits Tracey. “So<br />
many people worried, anxious, stressed…<br />
but at the same time it was great to be able<br />
to help and support people at a time they<br />
needed it most.”<br />
Other challenges came from clients who<br />
had been furloughed. “Their mental<br />
health was affected by changes in their<br />
financial status and the uncertainty<br />
around their economic future, and that is<br />
completely understandable.”<br />
Her fear is that we’re not out of the<br />
woods yet, either. Yes, the direct threat of<br />
Covid may be receding, but “a lot of<br />
companies are sat on a time bomb,” says<br />
Tracey. “We’ve helped the mental<br />
wellbeing of so many people in the past<br />
year – but there are many more in your<br />
workforces who have carried all that stress<br />
and anxiety without reaching out for help.<br />
Some people are storing up stress and it<br />
will come to a point where they will not be<br />
able to function. They’re in ‘survival<br />
mode’. My hunch is we’re sat on a huge<br />
amount of pressure that will reveal itself in<br />
increased absenteeism and presenteeism<br />
over the next year or so.”<br />
Broadening the conversation, what the<br />
pandemic has shone a light on workplace<br />
culture and mental health, and it’s about<br />
time, Tracey believes. “Businesses need to<br />
take employee mental health seriously.”<br />
“Traditionally, UK businesses haven’t<br />
been good at early interventions when<br />
people struggle. Too often our counsellors<br />
and therapists get involved when<br />
someone has reached a crisis point; what’s<br />
needed is a culture whereby people can<br />
flag up issues, particularly around stress<br />
and anxiety, early; be open and say ‘look,<br />
X is struggling, can we get them some help’.”<br />
She’s concerned about an increase in<br />
‘presenteeism’ – employees coming into<br />
work when they are ill. Increased<br />
presenteeism is associated with rises in<br />
reported common mental health<br />
conditions as well as stress-related<br />
absence, which are the top causes of<br />
long-term sickness absence.<br />
Tracey also stated that ‘leavism’ is an<br />
increasing problem, whereby people are<br />
using annual leave to work as they feel the<br />
need to be visible in the workplace at all<br />
times and to be perceived as constantly<br />
working hard. Continued on page 38<br />
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Covid-19: Employee mental wellbeing<br />
‘The workplace mental health<br />
wake-up call of a generation’<br />
Continued from page 31<br />
Yet while businesses may think offering<br />
support to their teams such as that<br />
available through TERC and BHSF / Vivup<br />
may be a costly extra, Tracey points out<br />
the huge financial benefits it brings. “Put<br />
simply, better mental wellbeing equals<br />
better productivity. Businesses that aren’t<br />
looking after all aspects of their<br />
workforce’s wellbeing are missing a trick.”<br />
This might not be the only mistake the<br />
pandemic has exposed, either. “I have a<br />
lot of worries around how we’re going to<br />
reintegrate people back into the office.<br />
“Employers will have to devote time to<br />
reintegration; it will be a big project. We<br />
have received calls from employees who<br />
feel aggrieved at the money and time they<br />
have spent on commuting to their<br />
workplace when their co-workers have<br />
remained at home.”<br />
“Will people who have been working<br />
from home settle in the office again? Will<br />
there be clashes between those who have<br />
been furloughed, those who worked from<br />
home and those who stayed in the office?<br />
“Bringing your teams back together<br />
might not be easy; even the most united<br />
group may not gel after a year apart. TERC<br />
offers a mediation service to smooth out<br />
differences in your team.”<br />
In such situations, good communication<br />
is vital. “It’s long been recognised as a key<br />
skill of leadership, but communicating well<br />
to your people has never been more<br />
important than it is today,” she says.<br />
“We know people will be worried about<br />
the future landscape of the office and their<br />
confidence will be fragile. The traditional<br />
model of how we work has been blown<br />
away, and it will leave some people very<br />
anxious. They’ll need careful handling; it’s<br />
another area where TERC can help.”<br />
But there are other worries to consider.<br />
“How are your HR people?” Tracey asks.<br />
“One of the things we’ve noticed is just<br />
how hard HR teams have been working<br />
throughout. In many cases they are at the<br />
coalface, dealing with initial staff<br />
problems, relocations, IT resources and<br />
keeping people settled. They have been<br />
under a huge amount of pressure. Are you<br />
looking after them?”<br />
And there is another group that Tracey<br />
feels has been left exposed, too – directors.<br />
“We must support our leaders. Most<br />
directors and senior managers have been<br />
spinning plates like never before; who’s<br />
got their back? They have been at the<br />
forefront of the crisis, carrying an<br />
38<br />
unprecedented workload. No leave, long<br />
hours, always on hand to help their teams,<br />
they are building up a lot of stress. They<br />
need help, too.”<br />
One of TERC’s key offers is help in<br />
building resilience and managing stress<br />
within leadership. “It’s important we start<br />
to do this better,” says Tracey. “Every<br />
business should have stress management<br />
policies. You need to create a culture of<br />
attendance where people go into work<br />
feeling well but know that there is support<br />
when needed. Companies must go above<br />
and beyond what’s expected and invest in<br />
their employees’ mental health.”<br />
‘‘<br />
Better mental wellbeing<br />
equals better productivity...<br />
businesses that aren’t<br />
looking after all aspects of<br />
their workforce’s health are<br />
missing a trick<br />
‘‘<br />
Tracey sees the Covid-19 pandemic as<br />
the “wake-up call for our time”. “Covid<br />
has highlighted how vulnerable many<br />
people are; confidence is at a low ebb and<br />
we’ve never needed to support each other<br />
more than at present.”<br />
So how does Tracey view the recent<br />
media furoré around Goldman Sachs’<br />
alleged 95-hour week, after employees<br />
complained about the company’s<br />
punishing schedules? A weary shake of the<br />
head says everything. “You hear stories<br />
like that and just sigh. It’s so wrong. It’s<br />
unsustainable. You will burn staff out and<br />
lose them. No-one can work at that level<br />
and keep going indefinitely; in the end,<br />
people will crash.<br />
“They’ll either be ill, their performance<br />
will drop off or they will walk away. Either<br />
way, you’ve lost them. And once people<br />
start hearing about that kind of culture,<br />
you’ll struggle to recruit good people to fill<br />
their shoes, too.”<br />
It all goes back to that old-fashioned<br />
phrase of ‘work-life balance’. “In my<br />
training I studied Maslow’s hierarchy of<br />
needs. It’s a theory in psychology<br />
comprising a five-tier model of human<br />
needs, depicted as a pyramid.<br />
“From the bottom up, the needs are:<br />
physiological (food and clothing); safety<br />
(job security); love and belonging needs<br />
(friendship); esteem, and self-actualisation.<br />
The stuff at the bottom – the base – must<br />
be in a place in order for you to become a<br />
more rounded, fulfilled person. Working a<br />
95-hour week cannot give anyone the base<br />
needs – rest, security, safety – that are<br />
required if we’re going to go on and reach<br />
our full potential. Cultures like the one at<br />
Goldman Sachs can’t win.”<br />
If we agree the pandemic taught us<br />
something, it was perhaps the time has<br />
come to take our foot off the accelerator.<br />
“Step back and smell the flowers. Perhaps<br />
literally; during lockdowns we had time to<br />
go for walks, to reconnect with our<br />
families and with nature, and improved<br />
our mindfulness. It’s important we keep<br />
that spirit as we emerge from Covid-19.”<br />
And that philosophy of looking after<br />
mental wellbeing has to start at the top.<br />
“One of the things I always stress to<br />
business leaders is that if they want their<br />
employees to acknowledge when things are<br />
not going well and they need support,<br />
nothing makes that happen more than<br />
when those at the top do it themselves. It’s<br />
all very well thinking you must stay strong<br />
and that weakness isn’t allowed, but that<br />
sends a message to your team that that is<br />
how they have to behave, too. It’s<br />
counterproductive. If directors are seen<br />
looking after themselves and their mental<br />
wellbeing, it sends a powerful message that<br />
everyone should do the same.<br />
“Best analogy for this? Think back to the<br />
last time you were on an airplane, and the<br />
steward demonstrated what happens if<br />
the cabin depressurises.<br />
“The oxygen masks fall from the panel<br />
above. Put yours on; don’t try to help<br />
others around you first, including your<br />
children. You have to look after yourself<br />
first, and only if you are okay, can you look<br />
after those around you.<br />
“It’s the same with mental wellbeing;<br />
look after yours, and it will help you look<br />
after your team’s.”<br />
WANT TO KNOW MORE?<br />
To speak to Tracey about your<br />
employees’ mental wellbeing,<br />
email her at<br />
tracey.paxton@tercltd.co.uk<br />
For more on BHSF see<br />
www.bhsf.co.uk<br />
For more on Vivup see<br />
www.vivupbenefits.co.uk<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
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Covid-19: Employee mental wellbeing<br />
Covid’s last laugh:<br />
destroying the team<br />
As the threat of Covid-19<br />
recedes, so businesses are<br />
thinking of how they will<br />
return to normal operating.<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Member Phil Simmons<br />
thinks it could be as<br />
challenging as the initial<br />
response to the pandemic<br />
Covid-19 has changed everything, from<br />
the way we interact, to the way we shop<br />
and socialise, the way the Government<br />
supports the wider economy – and the way<br />
directors run their businesses. Who would<br />
have thought hand sanitiser would be<br />
such a key product?<br />
Every day seems to bring with it a new<br />
challenge, often ones that directors will<br />
not only never have faced before, but will<br />
possibly not even have contemplated.<br />
But now, as we near what we all pray is<br />
the end – or at least, to mangle a famous<br />
Churchillian saying, perhaps the<br />
beginning of the end – directors are being<br />
forced to look again at their operating<br />
practices and the way they lead their<br />
teams, to see what lessons can be learned<br />
from the pandemic and more crucially,<br />
how they can continue to trade successfully<br />
in a post-pandemic landscape.<br />
Top of directors’ priority lists will be<br />
getting their people back to the workplace,<br />
feeling reassured, secure and ready to<br />
work. For some, the return to the office<br />
will be a huge culture shock after 12<br />
months on furlough or working from<br />
home, and a lot of media attention has<br />
been focused on how they will react.<br />
But what of the unsung heroes of the<br />
pandemic – those employees who stayed<br />
in the office throughout and kept the<br />
lights on, but for whom the media<br />
spotlight tends to have missed?<br />
We’re not talking frontline workers here,<br />
rather those people working diligently in<br />
the background in a host of sectors for<br />
whom work from home was never an<br />
option. How will they feel when the work<br />
from homers/furloughed staff arrive back<br />
in the office?<br />
It’s a situation that’s been taxing Phil<br />
Simmons of Simmonsigns, Staffordshire,<br />
recently. His business was in a curious<br />
position from the outset of the pandemic,<br />
as he explains. “My board and I grasped<br />
early that the pandemic was going to have<br />
a huge impact on the UK, as soon we saw<br />
the news coming out of China,” he<br />
explains. “I made sure we understood all<br />
of the Government advice and regulations<br />
from the outset, to see whether our<br />
business had to close.”<br />
His decision was to stay open, with good<br />
reason. “Our manufacturing facility makes<br />
safety equipment for roads. Road<br />
maintenance crews kept going through<br />
‘‘<br />
It will be a huge challenge for<br />
those returning to the office...<br />
they will recognise their<br />
surroundings and the people<br />
in it, but in many ways<br />
everything will have changed<br />
‘‘<br />
the lockdowns to take advantage of the<br />
quiet conditions. As a board we decided<br />
we had a moral imperative to continue<br />
supplying our products to those essential<br />
workers.”<br />
It was a decision backed in April when<br />
the company became aware of open<br />
letters from the Business Secretary and<br />
Minister for Transport, thanking<br />
businesses for ensuring the economy and<br />
essential works continued.<br />
As a result, the majority of Phil’s staff<br />
stayed in post. “We furloughed a few<br />
people, and had some others working<br />
from home, particularly our sales team.<br />
But we kept them focused on the job<br />
throughout, looking at our marketing and<br />
sales strategies.”<br />
So for Phil, the task of reintegrating his<br />
workforce as a united body is one of<br />
getting the handful of outliers back into<br />
the team. “But it will be a huge challenge<br />
for them. They will recognise the office,<br />
and the people in it, but in many ways<br />
everything has changed. The lay out will<br />
be different, where people sit and how<br />
40<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Even the<br />
most united<br />
teams<br />
could find it<br />
a challenge<br />
to get back<br />
to normal<br />
once all the<br />
restrictions<br />
are lifted<br />
and we are<br />
back in the<br />
office<br />
together<br />
they interact will have changed. The<br />
‘office rules’ are different. Perhaps more<br />
importantly, roles will have changed.<br />
Those who have continued to work in the<br />
office may have taken on new duties and<br />
there needs to be a sensitive handling of<br />
that situation once the whole team is back<br />
together.”<br />
But Phil thinks that while these are<br />
serious issues to be handled sensitively,<br />
many businesses may be missing an even<br />
bigger problem: how will those who stayed<br />
in post throughout feel as the returnees<br />
arrive?<br />
“The focus in the pandemic has been on<br />
frontline workers – quite rightly – but also,<br />
there’s been huge amount of sympathy for<br />
those forced to stay home. We’re<br />
inundated with comment on how working<br />
from home has been challenging, how<br />
well people have coped.<br />
“But few have asked how those who<br />
kept going to the office feel. They are the<br />
people who ‘kept the lights on’, but there<br />
has been no or little recognition of their<br />
contribution.”<br />
“I worry that those who kept working<br />
through feel over-looked and undervalued.<br />
They will have heard stories of<br />
furloughed staff taking long walks in the<br />
spring, of reconnecting with their families,<br />
of getting on top of household chores or<br />
learning new hobbies and skills. There’s<br />
been nothing like that for the staff who<br />
stayed in post. Will they resent the<br />
returnees? I think there is a good chance<br />
they will.”<br />
Phil thinks some companies could find<br />
themselves with a split workforce: those<br />
returning, for whom the landscape, while<br />
familiar, is very different; and those who<br />
never left, who may resent those returning<br />
and their struggles to get used to the new<br />
ways of operating. “Returnees, for<br />
example, will have to learn a whole new<br />
‘‘<br />
I worry that those who kept<br />
working through feel undervalued<br />
and over-looked.... will<br />
they resent returnees? there is a<br />
good chance some will<br />
‘‘<br />
office culture. Where to sit, how to operate<br />
in the office environment to stay safe and<br />
Covid-free. It’s been hard for everyone to<br />
get used to but now returnees will have to<br />
get up to speed in no time flat, otherwise<br />
those who have stayed-put may become<br />
very dissatisfied or even anxious that<br />
colleagues don’t know the new rules.”<br />
There could be issues too if returnees<br />
haven’t kept ‘match fit’ during their<br />
absence from the office. “Companies may<br />
find some employees returning to be very<br />
different to the people they were prepandemic.<br />
Perhaps they have battled grief,<br />
or the virus, or the isolation of lockdown<br />
was a real bind for them. They could<br />
return without the focus they once had.<br />
How do you get them refocused?”<br />
You may also find workers from both<br />
sides of the divide with less loyalty to your<br />
organisation. “Good people are always in<br />
demand and the essential ties that bind<br />
your team to you could have been<br />
weakened by the lockdown.<br />
“Those who weren’t in the office could<br />
feel their attachment to the company has<br />
been weakened, while those who stayed<br />
may feel their contribution overlooked.<br />
Either way, we could see a lot of people<br />
switching jobs in the next few months and<br />
headhunters could have a field day.”<br />
In short, Phil sees the dynamic as<br />
similar to the one that occurs when<br />
businesses amalgamate or are acquired.<br />
“The period of assimilating businesses, or<br />
integrating working practices across two<br />
companies, can take a long time. It’s said<br />
that a change of culture can take as long as<br />
three years,” Phil points out. “Some firms<br />
could be about to undergo a similar<br />
situation, where it will take them some<br />
time to re-integrate everyone back into<br />
the office smoothly.<br />
“We have come through a very bumpy<br />
time but it’s not over; for many<br />
businesses, very choppy waters could still<br />
be ahead of us.”<br />
The solution, Phil says, is to recognise<br />
that everyone’s contribution has been<br />
significant. “There are too many people<br />
trying to compare contributions; that is<br />
the wrong approach. Everyone is<br />
significant and we should celebrate<br />
everyone’s contribution.<br />
“There will be opportunities to learn<br />
from each other; in looking after all their<br />
people, businesses are more likely to<br />
recover quicker and emerge from the<br />
crisis stronger.“<br />
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Covid-19: Employee mental wellbeing<br />
Navigating the new normal to<br />
help your business thrive<br />
Simon Garcia of Freedom<br />
Wellbeing Inc offers some<br />
timely advice on the steps<br />
businesses need to take to<br />
improve the home-working<br />
experience for their employees<br />
So, it looks like homeworking is here to stay,<br />
but even after a year in this situation,<br />
organisations and workers are still<br />
struggling with the adjustment. It’s a<br />
situation that isn’t likely to settle down for a<br />
while either, as a reintroduction to officelife<br />
will be thrown into the mix in the<br />
coming months.<br />
With the imposed homeworking<br />
situation, organisations, whether pro<br />
agile-working or very much against, were<br />
left to “suck it and see”. Generally, there has<br />
not been much of an argument against how<br />
well it’s worked overall. To ensure that it<br />
remains a positive development, however,<br />
there needs to be a proactive approach to<br />
workplace wellbeing from both employers<br />
and employees, with equal focus given to<br />
mental and physical health.<br />
Freedom Wellbeing Inc has completed<br />
around a thousand homeworking<br />
assessments during the pandemic. Over the<br />
first six months, the emphasis of discomfort<br />
was on the physical side. A majority of those<br />
assessed had worked from home a day or so<br />
a week pre-pandemic and for that, a dining<br />
table and chair, though not ideal, was<br />
sufficient as a workstation. When suddenly<br />
using it for five days straight,<br />
musculoskeletal disorders kicked in.<br />
But for the six months that followed, the<br />
pendulum swung toward mental health.<br />
The novelty of being home and not forking<br />
out for your annual train ticket had worn<br />
off, the psycho-social impact of no physical<br />
interaction with colleagues, staring at the<br />
same four walls, plus the added stress of<br />
increased restrictions, home-schooling and<br />
Home-working<br />
can induce<br />
stress, which<br />
manifests itself<br />
physically into<br />
muscle tension<br />
through<br />
hunched<br />
shoulders and<br />
stiff neck<br />
where we<br />
resort to our<br />
fight or flight<br />
instinct.<br />
winter weather all piled pressure on our<br />
mental state. Anyone that has experienced<br />
stress will know it manifests into muscle<br />
tension (hunched shoulders, stiff neck),<br />
where we resort to our fight or flight instinct.<br />
Here are five steps for employers to adopt<br />
to help ensure everyone stays physically<br />
healthy, mentally strong and at their most<br />
productive.<br />
• Homeworking assessments are essential<br />
to ensure your staff have everything they<br />
need to perform their role as safely as<br />
possible and remaining productive.<br />
• If you have any form of EAP (Employee<br />
Assist Programme), promote it constantly.<br />
If you do not have an EAP, look into ad-hoc<br />
stress and anxiety counselling.<br />
• Train managers in mental health first<br />
aid, so they can recognise warning signs<br />
within their team.<br />
• Send out a wellbeing survey every six<br />
months to gauge how people are coping<br />
with the new ways of working. This will be<br />
incredibly beneficial for forward planning.<br />
• Initiate shorter video meetings. If you<br />
book 60-minute meetings as standard,<br />
make it mandatory that they are 50<br />
minutes. This will allow for breaks in<br />
between back-to-back sessions.<br />
For support with homeworking<br />
assessments, counselling, MHFA training or<br />
implementing a suitable wellbeing<br />
programme for your organisation, contact<br />
Freedom Wellbeing Inc today.<br />
The psycho-social impact of no physical interaction with<br />
colleagues, staring at the same four walls, plus the added<br />
stress of increased restrictions, home-schooling and<br />
winter weather, all piled pressure on our mental state.<br />
42<br />
‘‘‘‘<br />
Want to know more?<br />
Contact Simon on<br />
0203 560 7287<br />
info@free-well.co.uk<br />
www.free-well.<br />
co.uk/contact<br />
or see the advert<br />
opposite<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
Working from home comes with enough challenges.<br />
Make your physical and mental health one less thing to<br />
worry about.<br />
Freedom Wellbeing Inc can guide you on achieving the best<br />
possible set-up to suit your needs, space and budget.<br />
With extensive knowledge & experience in all aspects of<br />
Workplace Wellbeing, we are your ‘Work From Home’<br />
experts.<br />
• Back Pain<br />
• Neck Pain<br />
• Joint Pain<br />
• RSI Symptoms<br />
• Headaches<br />
• Eye Strain<br />
• Fatigue<br />
Get 2021 on a<br />
positive track<br />
Book your Virtual<br />
Homeworking Assessment<br />
with Freedom Wellbeing Inc<br />
www.free-well.co.uk<br />
0203 560 7287<br />
assessments@free-well.co.uk<br />
Quote ‘<strong>IoD</strong>2021’ for a 20%<br />
discount on all assessments<br />
free-well.co.uk
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Events<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong>’s events calendar remains restricted by the ongoing Covid-19 regulations. We are still offering<br />
members free online events, however, including professional development sessions, interviews with highprofile<br />
business leaders and networking opportunities. Details of some of the forthcoming ones can be<br />
found on these pages, with more at www.iod.com. We are hoping to be able to return to face-to-face<br />
events by summer/autumn, and we will have full details of the schedule in the summer issue of <strong>IoD</strong> <strong>Midlands</strong>.<br />
Women as Leaders Convention<br />
‘Inclusivity isn’t just a nice to have,<br />
it’s a must-have’<br />
Date: April 23<br />
Time: 1pm-4pm<br />
Venue: Online<br />
Cost: Free of charge<br />
This event is a continuation of <strong>IoD</strong> East<br />
<strong>Midlands</strong>’ Annual Women as Leaders<br />
Convention. It is a showcase of female<br />
leadership, highlighting the importance of<br />
women being in leadership roles and the<br />
need for increasing women’s presence in<br />
top roles within businesses and on boards.<br />
This year we go beyond gender diversity<br />
and look at diversity as a whole; the<br />
progress made within the workplace and<br />
the gaps that still need to be filled.<br />
Diversity on boards lead to more creative<br />
and varied ideas. As a result organisations<br />
with more diversity in decision making<br />
roles are more likely to build successful<br />
organisations. This convention focuses on<br />
the importance of diversity for encouraging<br />
innovation and growth, bringing speakers<br />
from across the nation with varied<br />
backgrounds and inspirational stories.<br />
We all sit within an organisational<br />
culture whether it is one we create ourselves<br />
in our own businesses or one that we work<br />
in that’s evolved over time. But do we make<br />
proactive decisions to recruit for diversity<br />
and inclusion, understanding that there is<br />
strength in varied viewpoints?<br />
You may be yet to employ someone in<br />
your business or you may already have a<br />
significant workforce so what do you look<br />
for in your team? Do you tend to look for<br />
someone just like you or do you appreciate<br />
that bringing complementary skills and<br />
thought processes builds a stronger<br />
business?<br />
At this convention we want to address the<br />
opportunities a diverse and creative<br />
workforce can bring you and how you can<br />
cultivate that as a leader.<br />
You will hear from speakers with<br />
inspirational stories who have faced<br />
adversity but have also broken through the<br />
diversity glass ceiling and fought for<br />
inclusion.<br />
44<br />
Keynote Speakers<br />
Ruchi Aggarwal, Director of Business<br />
Development at Lincoln International<br />
Business School<br />
Sophie Turner, Founder of #YesSheCan<br />
Sophie is a qualified D&I professional<br />
and coach who founded #YesSheCan, an<br />
organisation that helps women to break<br />
their career glass ceiling and works<br />
alongside progressive businesses to<br />
positively impact diversity & inclusion.<br />
Panel speakers<br />
We will also be joined for our panel<br />
session by:<br />
Mark Esho, Director of Easy Internet<br />
Services; Easy Internet; Dreme.<br />
Mark has overcome disability brought on<br />
by contracting polio as a child to forge a<br />
dazzling business career. His positive,<br />
can-do mindset seen him start a number of<br />
successful businesses, including Easy<br />
Internet Services,Easy Internet Solutions, a<br />
web hosting company, Dreme, a property<br />
investment company and Access Rating, a<br />
Community Interest Company (C.I.C).<br />
Kerrin Wilson QPM, Assistant Chief<br />
Constable Lincolnshire Police<br />
Kerrin has been Assistant Chief Constable<br />
with Lincolnshire Police for more than two<br />
years. Prior to this, she headed Cleveland &<br />
Durham (Police) Special Operations Unit.<br />
She has also worked overseas in a policing<br />
capacity in Iraq, Australia and USA.<br />
Her background includes operational<br />
uniform, CID and specialist roles. Kerrin<br />
has also worked in hostage negotiating<br />
across the world and is a strong advocate<br />
for BAME and women’s aspirations.<br />
Debra Charles, CEO & Founder of<br />
Novacroft<br />
Debra is an expert in integrating people,<br />
processes and technology to help transform<br />
organisations to be fit today to thrive<br />
tomorrow, Debra is passionate about<br />
harnessing technology to make a<br />
meaningful impact on society.<br />
Joe Fitzsimons, Head of Education and<br />
Skills Policy at the <strong>IoD</strong><br />
Joe is passionate about supporting<br />
organisations and their leaders to improve<br />
on these policy areas. In his role he also<br />
seeks to promote higher standards in<br />
education, as well as a skill system that<br />
genuinely prepares people to meet the<br />
needs of the business community.<br />
Event manager:<br />
Ms Cari Grice<br />
T: 0115 857 8170<br />
E: cari.grice@iod.com<br />
Or click here<br />
for details<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
National <strong>IoD</strong><br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Director General offers national<br />
view at virtual event<br />
Virtual Members Event<br />
Venue: Online<br />
Date: May 7<br />
Time: 12.30-2pm<br />
Cost: Free of charge<br />
• Join us for an exclusive briefing from<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Director General Jon Geldart (right)<br />
• Join your local chair and ambassadors<br />
to hear about the latest <strong>IoD</strong> benefits<br />
• Build connections with fellow directors.<br />
The <strong>IoD</strong> puts its members first and we<br />
want to make sure that your issues,<br />
challenges and observations are shared as<br />
widely as possible.<br />
With this in mind, we’re delighted to<br />
invite you to our Virtual Members Event<br />
on May 7, which will feature a live address<br />
from the Director General.<br />
Jon will highlight the <strong>IoD</strong>’s new strategy<br />
and outline how the Institute is<br />
fighting for greater support for<br />
you, our members.<br />
After Jon’s update, guests will<br />
join their local <strong>IoD</strong> chairs and<br />
ambassadors in breakout rooms<br />
to discuss the business agenda,<br />
hear about the latest <strong>IoD</strong> member<br />
benefits and expand their network of<br />
connections in a relaxed, virtual<br />
environment.<br />
This is a great opportunity to meet your<br />
regional team and discover what they have<br />
planned in your area. You can also learn<br />
how to get more closely involved by<br />
becoming an <strong>IoD</strong> ambassador.<br />
We welcome your views on <strong>IoD</strong><br />
membership and top priorities for<br />
local directors. Guests can also<br />
learn more about professional<br />
development and how we make<br />
your voice heard through Policy<br />
Voice.<br />
Following this, all delegates<br />
will return to the main room for a<br />
panel discussion.<br />
Event manager: Ms Polly Buckley<br />
T: 0208 398 9643<br />
E: polly.buckley@iod.com<br />
Take a bite out of the <strong>IoD</strong> Chartered<br />
Director qualification<br />
Dates: April 29<br />
September 9<br />
December 2<br />
Time: 9am-10.30am<br />
Price: Free of charge<br />
Join us for this bite-sized, informative<br />
session on how to kick-start your<br />
professional development journey with the<br />
<strong>IoD</strong>, facilitated by a course leader and<br />
Chartered Director.<br />
Have you been considering how you can<br />
enhance your impact and performance as<br />
a director? Do you want to gain the latest<br />
tools from expert practitioners who have a<br />
wealth of experience in board rooms<br />
across the globe?<br />
If you answered “yes” then this may be<br />
the most useful session you take this year,<br />
in which you can find out more about our<br />
professional development programmes<br />
and how they are being delivered in<br />
today’s virtual environment.<br />
Whether you’re a new director, aspiring<br />
to a seat on the board, or want fresh<br />
insight, the <strong>IoD</strong> Certificate in Company<br />
Direction, Level 9 (SCQF) qualification will<br />
equip you with the core knowledge and<br />
awareness needed to function effectively<br />
as a director.<br />
Influential figures from business and<br />
beyond continue to recommend <strong>IoD</strong><br />
professional development programmes for<br />
executive and non-executive directors.<br />
The session will be interactive featuring<br />
a Q&A with the course leader and<br />
Chartered Director and will also include a<br />
teaser activity from one of the Certificate<br />
in Company Direction modules.<br />
It will include details of the following<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> director development courses:<br />
• The Role of the Director and the Board<br />
• Finance for non - Finance Directors<br />
• Leadership for Directors<br />
• Strategy for Directors<br />
Programmes can be taken individually<br />
or as part of the full Certificate, forming the<br />
first step towards the Chartered Director<br />
journey. You will discover also what it<br />
means to be a Chartered Director, and we<br />
will be joined by an Alumni Chartered<br />
Director who will offer their thoughts and<br />
experience of the programme.<br />
Event manager: Natasha Ure<br />
t: 0131 460 7681<br />
e: natasha.ure@iod.com<br />
For more details, click the <strong>IoD</strong> logo<br />
next to the appropriate event date<br />
April 29<br />
September 9<br />
December 2<br />
Greed is dead<br />
In Conversation with<br />
economist John Kay<br />
Venue: Online<br />
Date: April 27<br />
Time: 12.30-2pm<br />
Cost: Free of charge<br />
Join in with an <strong>IoD</strong> conversation with<br />
renowned economist John Kay as we ask,<br />
Is Greed Dead?<br />
John will look at ‘individualism’ and ask<br />
whether we need a new approach based<br />
around morality and mutuality. Covid-19<br />
has shown that the people felt the need to<br />
pull together in a national crisis. But can<br />
this goodwill continue?<br />
John will look at the political and<br />
business worlds and analyse the rise of<br />
individualism and its impacts. He will<br />
also study ‘extreme individualism’<br />
embraced by many successful people in<br />
recent decades, who sought justification<br />
in terms of merit or celebrity, but John<br />
believes this is no longer tenable.<br />
John believes that markets can function<br />
effectively only when embedded in a<br />
network of social relations, and will show<br />
us how a reaffirmation of the values of<br />
morality could refresh and restore<br />
politics, business and the environments<br />
in which people live.<br />
Event manager: Julie Jones<br />
t: 0208 078 4009<br />
e: julie.jones@iod.com<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
45
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Events<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> Online Global Conference<br />
Connecting the World:<br />
Tackling our global<br />
challenges together<br />
September 2-3<br />
Time: TBA<br />
Venue: Online<br />
Cost: TBA<br />
The Institute of Directors is holding its<br />
online Global Conference 2 & 3<br />
September 2021, with the theme<br />
Connecting the World: Tackling our<br />
global challenges together.<br />
Building on the success of its 2020 online<br />
conference, <strong>IoD</strong> Scotland is excited to<br />
announce that this year it will be hosting an<br />
online conference on behalf of the whole of<br />
the <strong>IoD</strong>.<br />
This Global Conference is taking place on<br />
2 & 3 September 2021, ahead of COP26 in<br />
Glasgow, and will explore how<br />
organisations can step up their<br />
responsibilities to tackle climate change<br />
and build sustainable businesses for a fairer,<br />
greener world.<br />
Our fragile planet is under threat: how<br />
can business be part of the solution?<br />
The conference will offer a platform to<br />
world-renowned figures drawn from the<br />
spheres of politics, civic action and<br />
business, whose thoughts will illuminate<br />
our own discussions on the event’s theme.<br />
And while our delegates will be drawn from<br />
across the business sectors – young<br />
entrepreneurs, owners of family businesses,<br />
CEOs of charities and NGOs, directors of<br />
SMEs and large corporates – what will bind<br />
them is a desire to move from rhetoric to<br />
collaborative action and to actively engage<br />
in the need to find solutions today for our<br />
world of tomorrow.<br />
The two days will be an outstanding CPD<br />
opportunity in a forum that will stimulate<br />
debate, discussion and offer practical<br />
policies for the future. The conference is<br />
open to <strong>IoD</strong> members and other business<br />
individuals who value being challenged and<br />
who value the opportunity to make<br />
connections so that new ideas can flourish.<br />
To register your interest or if you have a<br />
question, please email<br />
conference@firstcityevents.co.uk<br />
Event manager: Patricia Huth<br />
t: 0131 557 5488<br />
e: patricia.huth@iod.com<br />
Don’t waste time<br />
on that cloud!<br />
April 27<br />
Time: 10am-11am<br />
Venue: Online<br />
Cost: TBA<br />
Join us to hear more aboutwhy you<br />
should not waste YOUR time<br />
thinking about the Cloud.<br />
Cloud transition has been further<br />
accelerated by recent events and this<br />
trend is likely to persist.<br />
As remote working demands the<br />
urgency for scalable, secure, reliable,<br />
cost-effective off-premises technology<br />
services.<br />
Cloud, in its many shapes and sizes,<br />
is here to stay but we do not believe<br />
that the Cloud is THE answer to every<br />
business issue.<br />
It is an answer, or possibly part of an<br />
answer but we believe in putting<br />
business needs first.<br />
Join us at this webinar to hear Terry<br />
Moore, CEO, Outsource Solutions<br />
and Brian McCrory, COO, OSG<br />
Cloud, explain how to make sure the<br />
cloud works best for you, your<br />
organisation and your team.<br />
Event manager: Chelsea Brennan<br />
t: 0289 068 3224<br />
e: chelsea.brennan@iod.com<br />
An interview with... leading figures under the spotlight<br />
Alderman Alastair King, Chair of <strong>IoD</strong> City<br />
of London, is conducting interviews with<br />
prominent business leaders and<br />
politicians in a new series of online events<br />
held in conjunction with Rathbones. All<br />
events run from 6-7pm<br />
Date: April 26<br />
General Sir Richard Barrons<br />
KCB CBE – recently retired<br />
military commander (right)<br />
Date: May 10<br />
Jess Phillips MP, Shadow Cabinet<br />
Member (far right)<br />
Date: May 24<br />
HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar<br />
Al Saud – Saudi Arabian<br />
Ambassador to the UK<br />
46<br />
Date: June 21<br />
Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Foreign<br />
Secretary (right)<br />
Date: June 7<br />
Alderman Sir Roger Gifford and<br />
Dr. Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE<br />
– Chair and CEO, Green Finance<br />
Institute<br />
October 12<br />
Lord Grimstone, (right)<br />
Minister for Investment.<br />
Alastair will ask Lord<br />
Grimstone on his views on<br />
the end of the EU Transition<br />
Period, his role as HM Government<br />
Minister for Investment, how he<br />
will seek to attract inward<br />
investment in to the UK, what<br />
measures HM Government is taking to<br />
improve the UK’s traditionally<br />
sluggish productivity growth rates,<br />
the “levelling up” agenda for the UK<br />
regions and what now for UK<br />
financial services companies dealing<br />
with the EU.<br />
Event manager: Ms Polly Buckley<br />
t: 020 8142 8835<br />
e: london@iod.com<br />
To book on any of these<br />
events, contact the event<br />
manager or click the logo<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents
<strong>IoD</strong> Events<br />
Strategic Leadership: A<br />
practitioner’s perspective<br />
Charity spotlight<br />
Linking society in<br />
Lincolnshire<br />
<strong>IoD</strong> members were treated to a fascinating<br />
insight into how the RAF operates when Air<br />
Marshall Andy Turner joined an online<br />
event looking at Strategic Leadership: A<br />
Practitioner’s Perspective.<br />
Air Marshall Turner has been tasked with<br />
guiding the RAF through a period of<br />
significant change at a time when the force<br />
faced a disaggregating enemy that did not<br />
play by the norms of warfare, and in an era<br />
of technological revolution that threatened<br />
to make every design thought up now<br />
obsolete by the time it is introduced.<br />
He described himself as ‘clearly<br />
institutionalised’ by the RAF. The son of an<br />
RAF base commander, he had spent his<br />
entire career in the service. He described<br />
the RAF as rather like an airline – though<br />
one where you were actively encouraged to<br />
take weapons on the flight, and where a<br />
surprisingly large number of your<br />
passengers jumped out before you got to<br />
your airfield!<br />
Joking aside, the changes that were<br />
coming to the RAF were profound, and<br />
required real leadership to push through,<br />
he said.<br />
He considered the two disciplines of<br />
‘leadership’ and ‘management’, breaking<br />
them down to the military world’s<br />
‘command and control’ philosophy.<br />
Leadership was command; generating<br />
inspiration and getting people to do<br />
remarkable things. It was the part of his job<br />
that involved vision and strategy, of ‘ends<br />
- ways - means’. Management was<br />
ensuring adherence to that vision; it was a<br />
focus on KPIs and data, and holding people<br />
to account.<br />
To Andy, leadership is a combination of<br />
biology and chemistry; management, of<br />
maths and physics.<br />
There is a bridge between the two and it<br />
Event host and<br />
former RAF man,<br />
Gary Headland<br />
Air Marshall<br />
Andy Turner<br />
required careful negotiation, which was<br />
something Andy was very aware of at the<br />
moment as he tried to steer arguably the<br />
RAF’s most exciting strategic<br />
transformation since its outset: the Astra<br />
programme.<br />
Aimed at making the RAF a service fit for<br />
the future, it was tasked with scanning the<br />
horizon to see what threats to the UK<br />
would emerge in the decades to come, and<br />
from where.<br />
As with any business, Andy’s task was<br />
made harder by conservatism and<br />
resistance to change from within the<br />
service’s own ranks – and paymasters<br />
within Whitehall that were always looking<br />
for budget savings. However, with foresight<br />
and backed by a team determined to see<br />
the programme through to completion, Air<br />
Marshall Turner saw nothing but positives<br />
from Astra, which would create an air force<br />
capable of responding to the threats of<br />
tomorrow.<br />
Other challenges that would be familiar<br />
to directors in business came from his new<br />
recruits: Generation Z were, he said, more<br />
demanding of its employer and expected<br />
more than recruits when he had joined the<br />
service.<br />
Lincolnshire Community Foundation<br />
was founded in 2002 and is part of a<br />
network of 46 Community Foundations<br />
across the UK delivering<br />
environmental/societal<br />
change and, most<br />
importantly, positive<br />
outcomes for people and<br />
places.<br />
Our work is grounded<br />
in the value of #ChangeNotCharity, and<br />
to date we’ve distributed over £16M to<br />
community groups, charities and<br />
organisations across Greater<br />
Lincolnshire, reaching people from<br />
Grimsby to Sutton Bridge and<br />
Mablethorpe to Grantham, with<br />
emphasis on small grants delivering a<br />
big difference.<br />
Our team offers support and advice<br />
and delivers grant funding providing<br />
local people with access to food,<br />
warmth, good work and resources,<br />
whilst improving their physical and<br />
mental health and reducing social and<br />
economic inequalities.<br />
As well as delivering grant funding,<br />
we have adapted and flexed alongside<br />
the emerging needs of our<br />
communities, convening a range of<br />
resources (both financial and<br />
developmental) to support small, but<br />
vital, organisations that have the<br />
greatest positive local impact.<br />
Since lockdown, the Foundation has<br />
awarded 250+ grants worth over £1.5M<br />
to a variety of orgnisations ensuring<br />
vulnerable residents are kept safe, well<br />
and connected.<br />
Our ambition in 2021 is simple and<br />
links back to our values. We want to<br />
continue to focus on and support local<br />
communities in a fair and equitable way<br />
to rebuild now and in the future.<br />
We want to achieve this through<br />
working together with local people,<br />
communities, organisations, and<br />
investors to grow bigger and create long<br />
lasting change for the communities we<br />
work for and with.<br />
For more details, see<br />
www.lincolnshirecf.co.uk<br />
www.iod.com/westmids/events<br />
47
Keep up to date at www.iod.com/westmids and at www.iod.com/east-midlands<br />
Charity appeal<br />
Businesses urged to help<br />
Vulcan experience fly<br />
Executive Alliance lifts<br />
off in bid to rehome<br />
iconic Vulcan bomber<br />
and inspire a new<br />
generation of engineers<br />
The charity behind the iconic Avro Vulcan<br />
XH558 is urging <strong>IoD</strong> members to support<br />
its new fundraising initiative for the<br />
business community.<br />
The Vulcan to the Sky Trust has created<br />
the ‘Vulcan 558 Executive Alliance’ – a<br />
membership group open to businesses<br />
from across the UK. Supported by CBE+,<br />
specialist process and precision<br />
manufacturer, the Executive Alliance will<br />
help fund the build of the new Vulcan<br />
Experience at Doncaster Sheffield Airport,<br />
where XH558 will be housed.<br />
The Vulcan Experience will focus on<br />
educating and inspiring the next<br />
generation of engineers and will also<br />
house a Green Technology Hub which will<br />
seek to find solutions to climate change<br />
through innovation and aerospace<br />
technology.<br />
The project was the brainchild of Dr<br />
Robert Pleming, CEO of VTST, who sadly<br />
passed away in early February this year,<br />
having dedicated more than two decades<br />
of his life to preserving the memory of<br />
XH558.<br />
John Sharman, chair of VTST, said: “We<br />
were proud to recently launch the new<br />
Executive Alliance group and invite<br />
businesses to join us in our mission to<br />
create a truly immersive and educational<br />
experience for the next generation of<br />
engineers, here in South Yorkshire – a<br />
place that will without doubt inspire<br />
young people to consider careers in STEM<br />
in the future and preserve the legacy of<br />
XH558 for years to come.<br />
“Robert, who passed away unexpectedly<br />
last month, was so passionate about this<br />
project and it is heartbreaking that he will<br />
not get to see his vision come to life.<br />
“We’re hoping the business community<br />
will get behind the project and help us<br />
fulfill Robert’s ideas, engaging with young<br />
people across the region and capturing<br />
the imaginations of tomorrow’s engineers<br />
through the power and legacy of XH558.”<br />
The innovative Green Technology Hub<br />
will inform and educate the public, in an<br />
easily-understandable way, about the<br />
causes of climate change, especially those<br />
arising from aviation, and what engineers<br />
are doing to devise new solutions to<br />
reduce and eliminate these causes.<br />
Youngsters will leave the Green<br />
Technology Hub understanding that;<br />
• Scientists, engineers and technicians<br />
can help to solve climate change<br />
problems.<br />
• Energy comes from a variety of sources<br />
of differing characteristics.<br />
• Aviation has a future, but it may well<br />
look different from today.<br />
Businesses that join the Executive<br />
Alliance will, in return for sponsorship,<br />
receive a package of benefits including<br />
having their name displayed on a<br />
dedicated members’ wall in the new<br />
hangar.<br />
John, added: “This is a great chance for<br />
businesses to play a part in history, as we<br />
set out to create a new home for XH558,<br />
preserving her legacy and allowing new<br />
generations to be inspired by her presence<br />
and story.”<br />
A variety of sponsorship opportunities<br />
are available. For further information,<br />
visit www.vulcantothesky.org/<br />
executive-alliance<br />
Alternatively, call Michael Trotter on<br />
07803 141483 or e-mail him at<br />
mtrotter@vulcantothesky.org<br />
48<br />
www.iod.com/emidlandsevents