FACILITIES MANAGEMENT JOURNAL JOBS
FM CAREERS - CAREER LADDER
FM is known to be a career that people fall into
from other sectors. In this regular column, FMJ
chats to a facilities professional about how they
got into the sector and takes a look at their
career path. This month we talk to Geoff Grateley,
Operations Director, Intu Retail Services Ltd.
Name: Geoff Grateley
Current role:
Operations Director
Intu Retail Services Ltd
Born: Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Lives: Nantwich, Cheshire
How did you progress through
the profession to your current role?
I have always had a fascination with
buildings, their architecture and
how they work. I moved into FM and
operations on leaving Manchester
University with a town & country
planning degree, initially with the Inland
Revenue. I progressed through various
management positions following a move
to Electronic Data Systems. My focus
on IT services and integrated FM gave
further experience in the management
of large corporate o ices and critical
environments. With the outsourcing of
FM services to Stiell Facilities (acquired
by Alfred McAlpine), I progressed through
a series of multi-site operational roles,
culminating in the position of National
Operations Manager for a key account.
In 2008 I was asked to join Europa
Facility Services as Account Director for
their retail business, A priority of the role
was to lead the re-tender programme
for the Capital Shopping Centres (CSC)
contract in 2010, a er which Europa
became sole so service provider for the
CSC UK portfolio.
The strength of the Europa and CSC
relationship led to the creation of a joint
venture known as intu Retail Services.
CSC rebranded as intu Properties in
2013, the JV formed simultaneously,
I took the role of Operations Director,
representing Europa interests on the
Board, and responsible for the delivery
of operations to all 15 intu shopping
centres in the UK.
Do you have any qualifications or
training in FM and related areas such
as health and safety? And how have
you benefited from them?
Through the years I have trained
in a range of subjects from project
management to coaching and
mentoring. I was fortunate to receive
a wealth of skills training while at the
Inland Revenue, where investment in the
development of people was an ethos of
the team. At Stiell and Alfred McAlpine
this continued with health & safety,
commercial, people management and
business development training, all of
which prepared me for the opportunities
with the vibrant, growing business at
Europa.
Most recently, with the support of Dale
Carnegie Training, I have focused on
the development of current and future
leaders to enable their resilience and
agility, and have worked closely with
Investors in People to check and balance
progress against targets.
What is your greatest
contribution to the FM sector, or your
current role?
Being at the heart of the creation of
a joint venture with a new brand,
employing an operational team of more
than 2,000 people (across the UK), with
a combined budget in excess of £80
million, the last six years have provided
an outstanding opportunity, enabling
me to lead and develop talented people
wholly focused on transforming retail
customer experience.
Of greatest satisfaction for me
personally, and perhaps my most
significant contribution to the business,
was leading the Investors in People
accreditation for intu Retail Services,
which was secured in 2015 and then
built up to the Gold standard for all 15
shopping centres by 2017.
What do you enjoy most about
working in FM?
I’m a planner, I have an eye for detail, I
enjoy developing ideas and strategies
to support others, but for me, the thing
I enjoy most about my work in FM is the
people. I believe FM success is all about
the customers, the clients, the team and
the leaders: interlocking all interests
most e ectively to enable a business to
succeed and prosper.
Do you have future projects or
career goals in mind?
My career goal is to continue to lead
successful teams, to help others to
grow, sharing my experience, building
long-term value for business. The need
for exceptional customer experience
transcends sectors, and the beauty of FM
is that it connects and influences across
all. That’s where I want to be.
What personal qualities do
you think are most needed for a
successful career in FM?
To build a relationship with a customer
or a colleague, we’re not looking at
something in isolation. Just as we
would develop lasting relationships
with friends, we build the same with
customers and colleagues, based
on integrity and trust. These are the
essential qualities we need in life, and
if we can add adaptability, resilience
and creativity, we are more likely to be
successful in our chosen career.
What do you think would make
the biggest di erence to catering the
FM sector?
Sometimes it feels as though we pigeonhole
aspects of FM: client-side; service
provider; in-house; outsourced; hard
or so services. Categorisation can be
helpful, however, it can also encourage
barriers or limits. I believe there is more
to be gained from taking a simple
approach to understand common
goals and unite everyone behind them.
Individual purpose, output, language,
communication all become more
straight-forward if we have a few clear
goals for everyone that draw people
together.
What advice would you give to
someone coming into the profession
now?
Home in on your customers from
the outset, introduce yourself and
start to get to know them and their
requirements. Seek the thoughts and
observations of people within and
outside the profession. Listen, listen and
listen again. Start to build your network
and seek advice on how to do this. Allow
your ideas to grow and be courageous in
sharing these with your colleagues and
customers. As you get to know people
in the profession, seek an independent
mentor to support and coach you.
What are the greatest challenges
of working in FM?
Making sure we deliver a significant
challenge is influence and impact on
decision making. E ective FM can
have a dynamic impact on e iciency,
productivity and risk management. If
the FM message is heard and valued
at Board level, there is opportunity for
business transformation. However, if
that influence doesn’t make it through
to impact on decision making, then the
long-term success of the business is
compromised.
What do you predict could be the
main changes to the FM sector over
the next few years?
Aside from top line political,
environmental and macro-economic
impacts on the built environment,
workplace strategy will become
increasingly impacted by the
deployment of technology which
enables tasks to be carried out in
di erent ways, across diverse venues,
and increasingly with little or no human
input.
The aspirations of employees will
develop. Flexible working, short-term
contracts, gig worker expectations,
will result in need for organisational
design agility. Technology, for example
artificial intelligence, will enable the
development of tools and processes to
support these elements, while leaders,
colleagues and clients should aim to
develop their social intelligence, to
enable stronger collaboration leading
to more e ectively managed change.
Interestingly, people trained in “so ”
skills (stronger communicators) are
significantly more likely to be advocates
for change.
Would you, or someone you know, like to be featured in our career ladder column? If you’re an operational
FM with more than 10 years’ experience in the sector, then email sara.bean@kpmmedia.co.uk
62 FEBRUARY 2020
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