SOCIAL - BLOG
Deborah Rowland linkedin.com/in/deborahrowland
08697a - Director Public Sector Affairs
at Sodexo - Why behaviours are key to our
success in FM? I am really interested in hearing
from the FM community on this subject and
in particular from the FM professional bodies
RICS IFMA IFMA FOUNDATION Institute of
Workplace and Facilities Management #facman
#behaviours
@IOSH_tweets IOSH’s vision is a safe and
healthy world of work. Understanding the scale
of the challenges is vital in bringing about the
change needed to ensure everyone has the
right to work safely without fear of injury or
death. Support the vision: http://orlo.uk/r17pc
#IWMD2021
Simone Fenton-Jarvis https://www.linkedin.
com/in/simone-fenton-jarvis/ - Workplace
Consultant - So many organisations have now
publicly disclosed their future intentions.
https://bit.ly/3t3ZAdk
Savills @Savills Q1 2021 City take-up the
highest since first lockdown in March last year.
Grade A space continues to be the preference
within the City, as 95% of take-up in Q1 was of
Grade A quality. Read more in our City Office
Market Watch: http://savi.li/6019ViXll
Mark Catchlove https://www.linkedin.com/in/
markcatchlove/ Sharing Herman Miller Insights
- Helping occupiers and designers create great
places OH HOW I MISS YOU! A new blog https://
markcatchlove.wordpress.com/2021/04/08/
oh-how-i-miss-you/
CIOB @theCIOB Last year we announced a
new initiative called the CIOB 2030 Visionary
Project. It’s aim is to set up a global vision for
the CIOB based on industry best practice and
where the built environment may develop over
the next decade. Read the latest update http://
orlo.uk/xByDE
John Amaechi OBE @JohnAmaechi Regulars
will know of my distaste for the unfulfilling
term “New Normal”; a dislike only heightened
by the emergent emotional tension between the
freedoms of WFH and the nurturing benefits of
workplace collegiality. It’s time for a workplace
cultural clean slate.
18 MAY 2021
BLOG FROM CATHY HAYWARD, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF MAGENTA ASSOCIATES
MARKING TEN YEARS SINCE THE COMMUNICATIONS
EXPERTS FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT WAS BORN
In February 2011, I was seven years into my
role heading up FM World, now Facilitate,
the magazine which I had launched for
the Institute of Workplace and Facilities
Management (then BIFM) back in 2004 but had
a serious case of the seven-year itch. I needed
a fresh challenge.
I’d spotted a gap in the market for a
PR agency which specialised in the built
environment – specifically facilities
management, which knew their clients really
well but also had a wider range of skills and
more capacity than a freelance PR. The name
comes from the old CMYK colour model, which
I’d used in my publishing background. Magenta
is also a bold, bright and fun colour and seemed
the perfect match for the new venture.
A er a life-time of working for someone
else, going it alone is scary, but also exciting.
Securing our first long-term client SitexOrbis,
a vacant property management firm based in
Uxbridge, just as the business was launching
was my first highlight. But they weren’t just
any first client. Having had several PR agencies
in the past, Marketing Manager Debansu Das
gently guided me into what I should be doing
and how I should be doing it and this advice
was instrumental in how we run our client
relationships even today.
Winning clients is great, but it was when
we’d won enough new business to warrant
hiring someone that it really hit home that I was
running a business. Five months a er I set up
Magenta, our first M person walked through the
door. It was the start of creating the Magenta
culture that sets us apart today. Creating the
sort of company that I wanted to work for was
really important to me. But with people comes
responsibility – you realise that you’re not just
running the business to pay your mortgage and
bills, but there are other people relying on you
to make it a success.
Over the first five years, we grew quite
quickly and, because we were niche, clients
took us with them into new markets. We started
supporting clients in Australia in 2012, Canada
in 2013 and the US in 2017. We now have an
o ice in Toronto, headed up by Simon Iatrou
to support the North America market and we
have associates all over the world. Being able
to deliver global projects never ceases to excite
me.
But not all relationships work out and it’s
important to know when to walk away. We’ve
only had to do that very occasionally in our
decade in business but the first time we did
Cathy Hayward, Founder and Chairman of Magenta Associates
that was a very powerful moment. The client
was treating our people badly, kept changing
the goal posts and wasn’t investing in the
partnership. We tried to make it work but when
we gave notice it was the most amazing feeling
– and showed our people that we will never
put profit above them. Working relationships
will only be a true success if they’re built on
a foundation of mutual respect and shared
values.
While the pandemic was tough financially
for Magenta, there were definitely upsides. As
a team we became much closer – we shared
our feelings and experiences in a way that we
would never have done before – and we really
upped our game in terms of wellbeing activities
to keep us motivated. We all experienced tough
times over the pandemic (fortunately not all
at the same time!) and we helped each other
through it. We also became much closer to our
clients – like our colleagues we helped each
other through a challenging year.
The person who set up the business is not
always the right person to take it to its next
stage. In October 2019, a er 8.5 years as
MD, I stepped back to a Chairman role and
Jo Sutherland, who has been with Magenta
since 2015, became our MD. Jo was a fantastic
account lead injecting energy and passion into
all her relationships, and over the years, her
leadership skills have really come to the fore.
In the 18 months since, she’s taken Magenta
to the next level spearheading the move
towards being an integrated communications
consultancy. She’s now a new mum on
maternity leave, which has given me a chance
to step back more into the business and
to recognise how much the business and
specifically the built environment has changed.
ADVICE & OPINION