On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

I tend to focus on the people aspect of success that I ’ ve experienced . Many years ago , I led an outsourcing project which impacted 180 people . Bearing in mind , in this situation the people impacted were facing a new role that we were moving them into , or redundancy . The success , however , came in an employee satisfaction survey we completed afterwards , where we received only one passive and one detractor result . The other 178 people fed back that they felt engaged and empowered at the end of the process . This was because we did it in the right way and we were empathetic and respectful throughout the duration .

What first made you think of a career in technology ? before . This is what got me into technology – taking what seemingly couldn ’ t be done and doing it using technology . From the website through to the logistics , it absolutely fascinated me .

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?

There are a few moments in my career that have made me change the way I operate . One of these was during a training course on the art of delegation . The lecturer said that most people delegate tasks but do not delegate accountability , where you fully give an activity to a team member and the accountability of that task – the checking in and approvals ( which are for the benefit of the manager , not the person doing the task ) – is on the helper , not the delegator .

I love doing things that people say cannot be done and using technology to do it . That ’ s not to say I always can , but whatever it is , if people tell me I can ’ t , you can bet I will gravitate towards it . And it is that drive to solve problems that led me to IT .

After this , I changed the way I operated . For example , I no longer approve anyone ’ s holiday , I automatically approve it . I put the accountability on my team to make sure they have the right people in place to cover them while they ’ re away . I trust my people and I delegate that accountability .

Early in my career , I was lucky enough to be in the beginning stages of Argos ’ home delivery business . At the time the company delivered mobile phones and big items , like furniture , but we wanted to expand and deliver smaller items . No one thought it could be done – it appeared too costly and no one believed customers would pay for delivery for such small items . But we made it happen and it quickly evolved . This was 20 years ago , pre-Amazon – it had never been done

If you don ’ t trust your employees and give them the freedom to grow and try out their ideas , you will never get the most out of them .

What do you think has emerged as the technology trend of 2023 and why ?

A buzzing trend right now is ChatGPT , but I think potentially for the wrong reasons . It is a marketing trend ,

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