Archives for April 2010

During recent months I have made a number of remarks, (for example, see Building Magazine, 12 March), about the difficulty of getting the best out of the construction and property industry. I was heartened to see that other people agree with me and that there are some who take issue - so let the debate commence!

As a starter for ten let me refer to a January 2010 article in CoreNet Global's The Leader. In a compelling commentary, Rex Miller recounts an exercise undertaken in the USA designed to get participants in our market to challenge current thinking.

For me the following quotations resonate:

"Creating great spaces is rarely easy - it's characteristically painful." - There's got to be a better way (Dick Haworth).

"The industry is broken and needs transformation."

If this type of debate is underway on the other side of the pond shouldn't we in the UK be joining in?

A lot has happened in our Out of London Portfolio over the last 12 months. Take a look at the artwork below which now features in posters across Workplace.

Yesterday was a special day for one of our frontline team members - Zina Craker, Receptionist at White City - who celebrated 40 years service with the BBC!

Working as a front of house person welcoming many of the one million visitors we get at the BBC throughout the year is no easy task, but one Zina has carried out above and beyond the call of duty. I wanted to personally recognise the contribution she has made over the years and thank her for her hard work and dedication.

Last Tuesday Paul Deighton the CEO of LOCOG (the organising committee for the 2012 Olympics) visited the BBC and shared with us his experience of leading the effort to deliver the greatest show on earth.

His speech provided a thought provoking discourse on how to approach the delivery of 26 world championships involving 11,000 athletes and millions of spectators.

For me, Paul provided a number of insightful observations as to how to effectively lead and manage complex projects. There were many similarities between his challenges and that of the BBC's transformation agenda - a key characteristic being the huge degree of complexity involved.I was struck by his assertion that one should always try and reduce issues to their simplest form.

We do have a tendency to over complicate things in a project environment and in most cases we would be better served to break things down into bitesize chunks.

Another not unrelated remark which resonated with me was 'focus on the stuff that's really important, everything else is secondary'.It reminded me of the Pareto principle - main focus on the 20% of the job that delivers 80% of the benefits.

There were many other interesting points in what was a succinct and energising discourse but I'll draw the line here.

All in all lots of food for thought.

I was chatting to Ian Coull Chief Executive of SEGRO today about the need for the property industry to shift a gear or two. The conversation covered lots of topics but a key insight for me was his remark that some of today's leasing practices are 600 years old!

Ian was referring to the ancient practice of charging rents in advance on quarter days. For those not familiar with UK leasing practices these dates are:

25 March - otherwise known as Lady Day
24 June - Midsummer Day
29 September - Michaelmas
25 December - Christmas Day

I have always wondered why this practice came into being and there is a lot of history available on the web that provides the background. Why the strange dates and why pay in advance for three months?

As a consumer of real estate I see many areas of opportunity for the industry to up its game but if we continue to hold on to archaic practices such as this there is little prospect of truly moving into the 21st Century!

Helen Latham, Head of Strategic Planning for BBC Workplace, went 'back to the floor' as a runner in March. To share her experiences with us Helen has written the following guest blog. I'm sure you'll agree this is a great example of how we can find out more about the needs of our customers. Thanks to Helen for her efforts.

I recently spent a weekend working as a runner for Aled Jones on 'Songs of Praise' covering the BBC's School Choir of the Year Competition 2010. The two days of production and recording took place at London's Queen Elizabeth Halls and featured six school choirs, three judges, two guest performers and three guest choirs.

My aim was to get to know our customers better and the experience was hugely enjoyable.

Call time for the runners was 8am on Saturday morning. A tightly co-ordinated team was then pulled together in extraordinarily quick time.

Clear processes, the right kit and detailed forward planning were essential, but the defining feature was a shared desire to make the show a success.

While the runners were getting organised, the set design, sound and lighting were being rigged, and the foyer and auditorium were being prepared for the arrival of around 300 participating school children, celebrities and the audience members. People and kit were everywhere.

Then the vital importance of the 'talk back' headsets became apparent. They enabled constant communication in the production team, keeping each other informed, quickly sorting out questions, checking timings and whereabouts, fixing problems and setting up workarounds there and then - no two-day SLAs here! This all made the recording as slick as possible.

My thanks go to Sue Pitt and Susan Keirby who took me on - the energy, pace and ingenuity of the production team was inspiring. And, of course, Aled Jones, who worked incredibly hard over the two days and was a pleasure to run for.

Other opportunities to shadow roles are coming up and I thoroughly recommend it.

The three shows will be broadcast in April. Visit the Songs of Praise website.

Pictured: Helen with presenter Aled Jones (Aled was of course a choirboy and covered 'Walking in the Air' from 'The Snowman' in 1982!)