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 James Bradley,
Director at Churchill.
Name: James Bradley
Current role:
Director at Churchill
Lives: Greater London
What first attracted you to
working in FM, did you have much
awareness of the profession?
I wasn’t particularly familiar with
FM until University when I started
researching graduate leadership
schemes, and I heard about a scheme
with a major FM company. Over the
course of phone interviews, online
assessments and in-person interviews,
I got to learn about the diversity of
brands that require FM and the variety
of work involved. That piqued my
interest and I haven’t looked back since.
How did you progress through
the profession to your current role?
I had five placements during my
grad scheme – procurement, sales,
operations, corporate development
and a client secondment – which
a orded me a broad exposure to PLC
life. Following the end of the scheme,
I secured a full time leadership role to
deliver to an internal customer base,
which in hindsight I am particularly
grateful for, as it allowed me to develop
my skills with the safety net of it being
internal, rather than client-facing. When
I did switch to client facing work, I was
Head of Operations for our London
FM business. This leadership role was
responsible for delivering a diverse
range of FM services into major brands
such as Warner Brothers, Allianz and
Estee Lauder. I joined Churchill in early
2017 as I wanted to experience working
in a founder-led, privately-owned
organisation. I initially joined to head
up an acquisition integration and now
have a broader leadership role on the
Group board.
What have you found the most
challenging experiences working in
FM?
The nature of the industry means that
very few projects have a start, a middle
and an end. Continuous work like this
can make it feel like you are never
completing a mission. It also raises a
challenge in how you recognise success
on an ongoing basis, for everyone
involved. We’re a people-led sector with
employees from a range of backgrounds
and I’m always considering how to keep
everyone happy, healthy and motivated.
What have you found most
satisfying about working in the
sector?
Without doubt, it’s the variety of
things I get to do. Right from the grad
scheme and my multiple placements
and throughout my career I’ve been
incredibly fortunate to develop wellrounded
experiences and skills across
numerous sectors and disciplines.
Are you a member of any FM
association or body and if so what
benefits do you think they provide?
I’m currently the Co-Chair of Emerging
Workplace Leaders, a group of FM and
workplace professionals. Our goal is
to create a community and platform
that enables emerging workplace
leaders to connect and accelerate their
personal & professional growth. It’s
fantastic to be part of a network outside
of my immediate work network and a
pleasure to support people at the early
stages of their careers. It’s also a great
way to promote FM as an industry. One
of the ways we do this is through the
PFM Young Leader of the Year award, of
which I’m the lead judge.
What qualities do you think are
most needed for a successful career
in FM?
Being open-minded and peoplefocused
is a must. Tied into this is
strong emotional intelligence to help
understand everyone’s point of view.
And a good eye for problem solving can
be invaluable.
What has changed about your
job role since the COVID-19 crisis?
E.g. home working, furloughed,
redeployed?
I’ve been working from home a lot,
and as for my day-to-day work, we’ve
been spending a lot of time developing
useful tools in Mo:dus, the Churchill
digital platform. These include a COVID
symptom tracker and communications
tools that make it easier for displaced
teams to keep in touch. As a company,
we’ve inevitably dealt with a lot of
change and I believe both Churchill
and the sector have handled it well. I’m
proud we’ve collectively been able to
support our clients through these very
challenging times.
What is your organisation
doing to ensure the wellbeing of
sta – whether working at home or
returning to the workplace?
We created a wellness centre in Mo:dus
with guides and videos for yoga
and meditation. We of course share
company-wide leadership updates, but
also recognise the importance of local
teams staying connected. I have an
espresso morning with my direct team
each week and have found the time
hugely beneficial. O en we would only
touch briefly on work and spend the
majority of the time having a chat. A er
the first lockdown we supported sta in
having a physical meeting outside once
per week in a local park, for example.
As we head towards the spring we’ll be
considering how else we can support
each other once it becomes possible to
see each other in person again.
Do you believe the pandemic has
highlighted the important role of the
FM sector and what areas do you see
as most key?
Undoubtably so. Cleaning is an obvious
example, and security o icers have
been the unsung heroes – theirs has
statistically been one of the most
dangerous roles and they have done
amazing work to keep people and
premises safe. Engineering teams have
faced a challenge in keeping buildings
compliant and energy e icient. Water
management in particular has been
tough as many systems are designed
with regular, daily usage expected.
It’s vital at the best of times to keep
building occupants safe, and even more
so when the NHS is under such strain –
a major Legionnaires outbreak would
be catastrophic.
What advice would you give to
someone coming into the profession
now?
If you’re entering FM for the first time,
try to get operational experience
working with a client early on, ideally on
an integrated account. It’s the best way
to get a feel for how everything works. If
you choose to specialise too early you
may not have the chance to develop
this broad understanding.
Which of your achievements
are you most proud of during your
career?
I actually won the aforementioned PFM
Young Leader of the Year award in 2015.
It was very humbling, and I had been
nominated by my managing director at
the time, which was great recognition.
What do you predict could be the
main changes to the FM sector post
pandemic?
I foresee two major changes. The first
is how we will deliver our services to
people. I can see a hub and spoke
model developing. For example, big
shopping centres may address retail
struggles by integrating o ice space
and areas for corporate collaboration
(and good co ee), almost becoming
a micro-city. These local-economies
could spring up across the country
and enable a regional rebalance of
where money is earned and spent.
The second change is how the sector
address inequality. The pandemic has
shone a light on social inequalities
and the sector is in a great position to
address this thanks to the diversity of
our work, roles and people. We can
use our connections across numerous
industries to influence and enact
change at businesses of all sizes. We
can also have a direct impact by o ering
routes into FM. There may be people
with 20+ years of experience in a sector
who have lost their jobs because of the
pandemic and may not realise that FM
is a viable option.
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
54 MARCH 2021
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