Ian Campbell - my first 100 days
Published: 13 August 2020
The University's new Executive Director of Estates reflects on starting a new job in unexpected circumstances
My first 100 days has been the complete opposite of what I expected (and what I told everyone they would be like at interview!). I said I would observe and listen and would not make any decisions or intervene during my first 100 days. Then this little nasty thing called Covid came along which has forced me to make many decisions and intervene far more than I had wanted or desired.
But on the flip side it’s been a fantastic way to integrate myself into the University. After three months I feel part of the University – I don’t know if I’d have felt as much part of the structure if it hadn’t been for the way that the University has had to come together as a whole to deal with the pandemic. It says a lot for the people who have helped me, in Estates, the Colleges and University Services. I have felt extremely welcome – people have been extremely open and patient with the ‘new boy’.
I have been particularly impressed by the pace and comprehensive nature of the communications across the University. I have heard people state that it could be better, but I can assure everyone it is far better than I have experienced in other sectors. Decisions have been made one day and communicated comprehensively the next day - this is far from the norm in other large organisations.
In terms of Covid planning, I have been extremely pleased by the collegial way in which the University has worked, by the professionalism shown by the safety, estates and College teams working together and the way we have managed to bring a suite of outcomes and guidance into reality in a relatively short space of time without a great deal of guidance from elsewhere (or at least not a lot in the early days). In recent weeks the flow of guidance has increased markedly and we have made lots of changes; it has been challenging but I do think we are well set up to ensure the safety of every staff member and student returning to campus.
The start of term is going to be an unusual environment given face coverings, physical distancing and blended learning but I am very reassured we have done everything we can to make the University a safe space.
Looking ahead to the future of the University estate, again I have been pleased by the professionalism of the people I have encountered – the knowledge and experience of many of the staff have both surprised and delighted me in terms of the quality of the team I have inherited. My predecessor Ann (Allen) has moulded the estates department into an organisation as good as many commercial teams I have seen but there is more to do.
One of my observations has been that like many more organisations I have seen in the past, there has been a lot of focus on growth and perhaps a little blind spot has been the existing core estate across all our campuses. I can see that in a lack of focus on asset management and maintenance and that will be a focus going forward – a focus upon the existing campuses as well as the new Western site.
I have also noted that we need to increase our customer focus; we need to understand the drivers and priorities of our colleagues and help them achieve their best. One of the issues holding us back is our use of available knowledge and data; this is not unusual for property units but there have been many advances in property data management in recent years – we need to catch up with the best and use our learning to be more proactive.
We also need to recognise that we are an organisation where growth is limited by the amount of space we have. We are not particularly good at efficient space utilisation so a focus on this area will be important. I should also like to see us playing an increased role as part of the wider city – we are after all a major employer, a source of future economic growth and we should be a good neighbour.
On a personal note, like everyone else, I have been struggling with the lack of human contact – but we have to recognise that we are all going to move into a world of blended working. I think we can all now see that individual work may be done remotely but we also need to get back to a position where there is ‘real’ social interaction rather than just on a computer screen – I hope we can achieve this in the next few months and I can start to meet people on campus.
First published: 13 August 2020