Chris renewed some old acquaintances when he joined Q3 earlier this year

In the fifth of a series of five-minute chats with Q3 people, we hear from Chris Finch, a front-line Operations Manager on one of our major contracts.

“Hi, I’m Chris Finch and I am the Contract Manager on Q3’s cleaning contract with the London Borough of Redbridge.

“I joined Q3 on 1st July this year to help mobilise the contract for an August 1st start, and it’s been pretty full on ever since. Redbridge is quite a diverse contract, covering a number of schools, shelters, public toilets, homes and commercial space properties, employing over 100 cleaners and it keeps me on my toes!

“I have worked in the cleaning business for over 25 years, starting with GBM in London, before spending 13 years with Mitie looking after some high-profile contracts such as the Royal Palaces, National Audit Office, OFCOM and BBC. It’s during that time I worked closely with people like Martyn, Alex and Stuart who now form the core of the Q3 management team, and it’s been great reuniting with them after all this time.

“One thing I particularly like about working in this industry is that it allows me to set and achieve my own goals – that’s over and above the contract’s specific objectives and KPIs. I like nothing better than kicking off the morning by talking to the teams at the sharp end doing all the work. Frequently, these people are often a great source of new ideas and ways of improving delivery, and they know what’s working well and what isn’t. I also enjoy the client interaction and working hard to get them on side. You have to accept that there is a fine line between creating a close business association and becoming a friend, and you can’t cross it. But building trust and a strong relationship based on understanding is fundamental to a successful contract. And the number one rule is always to be proactive not reactive, anticipating potential issues and presenting new ideas to improve efficiency or manage cost.

“Since we mobilised, recruitment has probably been the biggest challenge. Redbridge is a multi-cultural Borough and many of my team are Lithuanian. Despite us being a Real Living Wage provider and offering high rates of pay, it’s possible for them to earn similar money back home. This is not just a London problem and although the situation is improving slightly, the wage pressure does make the economics of the contract a challenge.

“We were lucky in that we were able to roll out the contract with Covid cleaning measures in place from the outset, but we will now need to redouble our efforts with the threat of the new variant and reinforcement of control measures in the workplace. This is particularly the case in the schools on this the contract where we have to work much harder because the Heads Teachers are quite rightly all over the situation.

“I live with my family in south-east London and with two young girls, have a busy home life. When time permits, I am a manic golfer and working hard to improve my handicap. Golf provides relaxation and fresh air, helps me clear my mind and recharge the batteries.”

Kerry gives us a peek into FM behind the thin blue line

Next in our series of five-minute chats with Q3 people, we hear from Kerry Williams who manages our cleaning contract with one of the largest police forces in the Midlands.

“Hi, I’m Kerry Williams, Contracts Manager, and I’ve been working on this “blue light” contract for some time but joined Q3 when they secured and mobilised the contract in April of this year.

“There are over 30 police stations on the contract spread right across the county, with cleaning staff allocated for each one. It’s a huge area to manage and it keeps me pretty busy ensuring everything is right at each station.

“I wasn’t always in the cleaning business. I started off my working life in nursing but when a family came along, a move into cleaning gave me the flexibility to work around being a full-time mum. That was over 30 years ago as a supervisor with Cleaning Services UK and I have moved and TUPE’d around numerous organisations and contracts in the Nottinghamshire area in the years since then.

“For me, this business is all about people and it’s the reason I keep working in this sector. When Q3 won the contract, the client introduced me to their team and encouraged me to stay and manage the transition. I connected immediately with the Q3 senior team, liked their approach and values, and have really enjoyed taking the contract forward. One lesson I learned very early on in the cleaning sector was that to gain respect you need to earn it and I feel that respect is the foundation of the three-way relationship between my team, the client and the Q3 central team.

“Over six months into the contract things are settling in reasonably well, although we are suffering from the short staffing problems affecting so much of the industry right now. We can’t let that problem get in the way of striving to make the service even better for our client. I’m not averse to working weekends to ensure everything runs smoothly and the Q3 management team really appreciate me going the extra mile.

“Despite the staffing challenge the turnover of staff on this contract is actually very low for our industry and we have lots of long-standing members of the team who are totally dedicated to the job. Part of this is because the working for this type of client is very different to an office type contract. It has a kind of family feel, although security is much more of a priority as you might imagine. I have an access card that gets me in pretty much everywhere, but there are secure-area locations where we are prohibited from the use of watches and phones which makes communication with staff slightly interesting. Vetting is also very important, sometimes complicating what is already a tough recruitment process.

“At one of the stations, there is a full-size human dummy which is used for training in resuscitation, and I always ensure that any rookie cleaners on induction get to enter the room on their own just to see the reaction!

“The good thing about having the Police as a client, is that they tell you straight what they want and always make a point of recognising a job well done. We have a great working relationship with our client, and they treat us an extension of their team which is very rewarding.

“Outside work, I have eight grandchildren that take up most of my time. With Christmas approaching, it’s a magical time to be with the kids and it also allows me to indulge my passion for Christmas movies. Bring it on!”

With over 20 years in FM and 30 in cleaning, Stuart has a wealth of experience to share

In the second of a series of five-minute chats with Q3 people, we hear from Stuart Bellew our COO about why, after three decades in the sector, he still loves FM and cleaning:

“Hi, I’m Stuart and I have been the Chief Operating Officer with Q3 since I joined the management team that created the business, over three years.

“My connection with the Facilities Management sector began at the turn of the millennium. I entered the corporate world of FM and worked for Sodexo and OCS before moving to Mitie in 2011, working first in sales and later in operations. So, I got to know the FM business from back to front, or perhaps that should be front to back!

“However, I had been working in the cleaning business for quite some time before that. In 1990, I had started my own cleaning business Called Hampshire Office Cleaners, and we built a lucrative niche tackling many of the jobs more established companies shied away from. No job was too difficult or too small and we always tried to satisfy a customer’s request. It was an important lesson I always remember when we are looking for new business today.

“Having worked for some of the biggest players in FM in the UK, it was refreshing to revert to working for a specialist SME, with a genuine focus on quality. The Q3 name in fact stands for Quality Service, Quality People and Quality Clients and it underpins our approach.

“Of course, just as there are pros and cons to working for big corporates, the same is true in SMEs. There are many positives to working at Q3. It is gratifying to know that my efforts are making a real difference, that we are developing individuals within the team and collectively seeing them and the whole enterprise grow and progress.

“Also, in Q3, everything is simply more personal. We know the members of our team by name, and this also applies to our clients. Communication and interaction is immediate and direct and not diluted by chains of command of helplines. Clients know they are dealing directly with a member of the senior team who has the authority and autonomy to make quick and important decisions. Being fleet footed and decisive has been particularly important during the last two years, as the pandemic has torn up the rule book for traditional ways of working.

“If there has been any positive upside to the Covid19 disruption, it is that it has highlighted the critical importance of cleaning and put it right back in the spotlight. As a result, we have been able to move the emphasis away from margin and price and focus attention on the importance of cleanliness in the working environment.

“I suppose the most valuable aspect of working at Q3, is the fun, positive culture. Ensuring people have some fun in the working day is so important for ensuring personal wellbeing and keeping everyone motivated. Over the last two years, fun has been the essential ingredient to combat the disruption and uncertainty people have felt during lockdown.

“Outside work, I believe in the philosophy of a healthy body leading to a healthy mind, so I indulge in martial arts to maintain fitness. It also comes in handy when the board meetings get heated!”

Julie Taylor, tells us about her role as Business Development Manager in the Channel Islands

This is the first in a series of five-minute chats with some of the people who work for Q3 and make it tick. Getting the ball rolling, is Julie Taylor from Q3 in the Channel Islands:

“Hi, I’m Julie Taylor and I’m the Business Development Manager for Q3 in the Channel Islands. I was born in the Channel Islands and have had the privilege of living here in Guernsey all my life.

“I have worked in the Facilities Management Industry for 18 years, originally in operations as an assistant to the contracts manager working my way up to Channel Island Operations Manager as part of OCS. I had just moved into sales in 2017 when Q3 acquired the business and since then, I haven’t looked back.

“I honestly feel I’ve got the best job in the world. Don’t get me wrong, not every day is a dream! Problems and challenges pop up because that’s the nature of our business, but it’s the people I work with who are superb and I include both the clients and the Q3 team in that.

“I suppose the one thing that UK people might not appreciate, is just how different the cleaning business in general is in the Channel Islands. It’s another world! Jersey has a population of around 108,000 and Guernsey 63,000, so both are tight-knit communities where personal relationships underpin virtually all aspects of business. We’re all on first name terms and hardly a day goes by when I don’t meet a client walking down the street or in the shop. I actually held one impromptu meeting with a customer in the sauna at the leisure centre!

“People might not also appreciate that Jersey and Guernsey are also two separate jurisdictions, so although they are only 25 miles apart, they are fiercely independent. They have very different ways of working and there is a healthy, competitive rivalry, camaraderie, and banter between the two Q3 teams.

“The last two years have seen both Brexit and the Pandemic challenge us like never before, I am so proud of our wonderful staff who went above and beyond during these difficult times making sure we were there for our community, our existing clients and being able to assist some new friends we have made along the way, some of whom have now become Q3 clients.

“Outside work, I have the beautiful island of Guernsey in which to enjoy my leisure time. Ironically, despite living on an island with over 30 great beaches, I always suffered from a phobia of open water. So, in my 50th year, I decided to confront the fear and started having swimming lessons, and it worked! I am now a member of the Guernsey Masters Swimming Club and have reached a level where I regularly swim 2 – 2.5k a session and have competed in open water swimming events. The most exotic of these took me to Lake Bled in Slovenia.

“It’s great to be working for such a fantastic team in a great place and I am looking forward to many more years with Q3…the only place to be.”

The Q3 team in the Channel Islands enjoys some quality time after a particularly busy summer

Each October there is a food festival in the Channel Islands called “Tennerfest”. Restaurants put on special menus and welcome locals as the traditional tourist season draws to a close.

Q3 took the opportunity to treat its staff to a meal at a popular seafront location after a particularly busy summer. With busy shift patterns and the team operating across multiple sites across the Island it was a great way for the staff to catch up with their colleagues.

The food was fantastic, the service excellent and all the staff enjoyed themselves.

Craig Pleasant, at the Alhambra Centre receives a well-deserved promotion to Security Manager

Craig Pleasant, the Team Leader of the Q3 Security operation at the Alhambra Centre in Barnsley, has recently been promoted to Security Manager.

Craig has worked at the Alhambra Centre for four years and knows it inside out. During that time, he has introduced many innovative ideas incorporating the latest technology to improve the service at the Centre.

The promotion recognises his contribution, his dedication and hard work.

David Probyn, The Alhambra Centre Manager commented, “I am really pleased that Craig has been promoted to Security Manager. His dedication to the Centre and our customers is exceptional, and I look forward to working with him to deliver both the centre’s and Q3’s objectives”

 

Q3 Grounds help Elvetham Heath secure GOLD in the Parish in Bloom Awards

Elvetham Heath Parish Council has triumphed with a Gold Award in the annual South and Southeast in Bloom, Parishes in Bloom, competition. Q3’s Lotus Landscapes team has maintained the public spaces at Elvetham Heath for a number of years, and we are delighted that everyone’s hard work and dedication is reflected in this accolade.

The examiners visited Elvetham Heath in July of this year and were impressed by what they saw, scoring Elvetham Heath Parish Council an impressive 87 out of 100 and making it one of only two parishes to achieve gold status this year.

Community engagement played an important part, and the judges noted the clear pride that residents took in their front gardens which were well maintained with pretty features such as hanging baskets. They also remarked on the improvements undertaken to the Turner’s Way Recreation Area, the beautiful floral displays around The Key, and the expansion of the community orchard.

The Parish Council acknowledged the contribution of the grounds-maintenance team from Q3s, who have worked so hard on the vast amount of greenery around Elvetham Heath.

Zoe Miles, Operations Director, said, “It’s great working with Elvetham Heath Parish Council. We share a passion for creating a welcoming, outdoor environment which the community can enjoy, and this has been recognised with this award.”

Many large FM organisations are driven to reinvent themselves over time but not all succeed

A bit like David Bowie, many large FM organisations seem driven to reinvent themselves over time, but few have been as adept as the rock icon. Change and evolution worked for Bowie over a career of some 50 years because he was able to control it and enjoyed the freedom and flexibility to change direction if something experimental fell flat.

In FM, the drivers behind change are quite different and the ability to rectify mistakes are more costly and time consuming. For the big players, that drive comes from shareholder pressure, often forcing businesses to embark on high-risk strategies to deliver ever-improving results, enhanced margins and profit, and higher dividends. Unfortunately, that same pressure has also resulted in some truly catastrophic strategic mistakes. More than once, I have seen organisations pursue new opportunities with ambitious plans that looked great on paper but were ill-judged, poorly thought through and frequently, badly executed.

I’ve been there, I understand these pressures, and have witnessed first-hand these car-crash situations unfolding. It’s difficult to resist the pressure because there is always a dilemma for leaders. Should the company “stick to the knitting” play safe, do what they know, and do it really well, or pursue riskier strategies under the banner of progress, innovation and market leadership?

Too often, FM companies have opted for the latter. Occasionally they have flourished, but more often they have not. I don’t need to mention names here, because most of us involved in the FM industry are more than familiar with recent stories of diversification and ill-conceived acquisitions that have brought companies to their knees, and worse. One, relatively small, failing business venture can have a disproportional impact on the profitability and/or the reputational status of the main business. Also, the resultant crisis sucks the life out of the management team through the sheer number of time required to sort out the mess and stop it taking the whole ship down.
For this reason, I have always erred on the side of caution and the principle of a business sticking to its core activity and values. You’ve got to know what you do and do what you know.

If a company does venture into uncharted waters through an acquisition, its leaders really need to have a clear vision of how they are going to operate and manage a business in which they have little or no expertise. And yet, some make the leap when they are not even able to fully understand the value proposition and business model. That’s before you mention the differing management styles, work ethos, perception of levels of risk, attitudes to health and safety etc, all of which can easily confound the best laid plans.

There are so many challenges that need to be resolved in situations like this and companies often feel safer retaining the original senior management team to exploit a high level of retained knowledge and ensure continuity. The downside to this is that the new parent company may well lose the benefits of integration and having direct control of the business and its future direction.

So, what’s the alternative? There is, of course, also a danger in being too conservative and avoiding high risk strategies and this could result in a business stagnating and being overtaken. The responsibility for every company director is to keep the business evolving, developing and moving forward. In the same way as entertainment evolved from theatre to TV, to video, to picture disc and streaming on demand, you must anticipate change and be ahead of the wave, or perish like the Betamax.

For me, the decision regarding change, and evolution versus revolution boils down to adjacencies. Adjacencies are defined as “A company’s continual moves into related segments or businesses that utilise and, usually, reinforce the strength of the profitable core.” Accepting that the inclusion of the small word “usually” is very important in that definition of adjacencies, I really like the definition because it not only explains what adjacencies are, but also the benefits. And it reinforces my conviction of the importance of understanding adjacencies when assessing the risks and embarking on change in any business.

To illustrate the point, I’d ask you to reflect on the contrasting approaches of two billionaire entrepreneurs who have both recently sponsored successful projects to take people to the boundaries of space. Richard Branson has treated his venture as an extension of the business philosophy he applies to his airline business which is all about the customer experience. He positioned the Virgin Galactica project as a commercial-spaceflight company targeting an out-of-this-world experience for rich, space tourists. Consequently, he has built a vehicle more like a plane than a rocket. There is a realism about his thinking, and he has combined Virgin’s core technology, expertise and values to extend the customer experience from one eight miles high, to another, 55 miles above the earth. It’s a natural extension of the Virgin model.
Elon Musk on the other hand, has talked about the need for humans to become a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species, to escape the inevitable apocalypse on earth and he dreams of building cities on Mars. He has created SpaceX as an aerospace manufacturer and commercial space transportation services and communications company – an altogether bolder and riskier ambition and miles away from his original core business as an electric car pioneer.

Here are two leaders realising their dreams but with very different motivations, strategies and execution. It will be interesting to see which will succeed and whether my theory around adjacencies will be proven right or wrong. Perhaps they both will!

Martyn Freeman looks at the parallels between teamwork in sport and business and the lessons they can learn from each other

 

With the Euro 2020 tournament reaching a climax, the British Lions tour underway, and the Olympics looming, my thoughts turned to the importance of teamwork. Teamwork is the magic ingredient for success in both sport and business and there are not only parallels between the two, but also quite a few lessons that one can learn from the other.

When we started to form Q3 from scratch over three years ago, I knew that success depended on creating the right team quickly. Yet, building a team is much, much more than rounding up a group of highly skilled individuals with outstanding talents and hoping they will perform miracles together.

They need to be individually great at what they do and they must be able to get on together and work collaboratively as a unit. But just because you pick the right people doesn’t mean you instantly create a team.

Too meld a group of individuals into a team you really need to understand their strengths and weaknesses, their skillsets and motivation. You need individuals who complement each other and cover each other’s weaknesses. Can you turn them into a team if you don’t have the right mix? Can you make it work with loads of training? I’m not so sure. There needs to be an intangible “something else”.

A team must complement the business you are building. They need to buy in to your goals and your objectives and share your vision. The team needs to understand what the business is about, believe in the ethos and the strategy …not just quoting the company values and ethics, but living them day-to-day. In his development of the current England team, it is interesting to see how Gareth Southgate has achieved just that, in a very short space.

Yet, he has ploughed his own furrow with team selection, choosing to ignore media questions of why he played a right-back at left back, or why he is leaving Grealish out of the starting line-up. The single-minded approach has left the pundits foaming at the mouth, but he understands his team and what they have to deliver, and the results have answered all the questions.

In rugby, Conor Murray has been selected as the Lions’ replacement captain, despite being a fairly quiet, reserved individual and having no experience of captaining either Ireland or his provincial side. I think the shrewd Mr Gatland knows the inner qualities of the man and the respect he has earned from the other players. Murray displays obvious leadership abilities and it’s on-field leadership the team needs, not necessarily a big personality.

Achieving a balance between individual flair and team contribution is a fine call in both sport and business. People need the freedom to be creative and imaginative and show a dare-to-be-different approach, unconstrained by the corporate culture or the “We’ve always done it this way!” mentality. At the same time, you can’t afford to have any loose cannons.

Fear of failure is one of the great bogeys of all sportsmen and women and likewise in business. When it manifests itself, people become anxious or tense and seize up because they are afraid and worried that they will mess everything up. It’s a downward spiral and a self-fulfilling prophecy, because the end result is almost guaranteed failure. So, having the ability to remove the fear and quietly instil confidence, is an important part of any leader’s armoury. We have seen that in the England football team, where one small, initial success can build on another, to make the team feel unstoppable.

The interesting comparison between FM and sport, is that both are in a way, in the service industry. Footballers and the like don’t make a product, but apart from the event and the job they do, they generate an excitement, a feel-good euphoria and pride for millions of people. A bit like FM then!

And for teams like this, success isn’t all the responsibility of the front-line people. In sport, there is usually an extended team of back-room staff – physios, dieticians, specialist coaches, sports analysts and scientists, – even ground-staff, security and admin, without whom the whole performance wouldn’t get off the ground. And in FM likewise.

The one great lesson that sport can teach FM is, never to rest on your laurels. In the modern world, standing still is not an option. We need be prepared to interchange and rotate to keep teams fresh. Working in the same role for several years is not a good recipe for improving creativity, productivity, or innovation, in any situation. For this reason, I personally believe that when people have been in a post too long and become aware they are not adding value any more, then they have a duty to themselves and the team, to move on. We must accept that a short-term change, or injection of fresh blood to mix things up, is actually a very good thing, as is internal competition. Three quality players chasing the same position will usually raise the game in all of them.

There is no worse feeling in sport or business than being caught up little by little, and then overtaken by an outsider who has taken you unawares. You’re on the back foot when someone steals your ground like this, and it makes the challenge of retrieving the lead doubly difficult. Complacency is fatal and change is the only way to avoid it.

As I finish writing this blog, there are just a few hours to go until another landmark game for the England football team. I hope the outcome is good for Gareth and his team and that he has had time to read my blog and take some advice from one who also missed a fair share of penalties in his time.