Friday 4 December 2009

It's getting very close to Christmas now so I thought I'd better take Monday off with Tracy and do some shopping. We managed to get most of it done in Bath which was completely empty versus its normal heaving self. In the pub by 1pm was a result from my perspective!

The Corporate Leadership Team met with Andrew Kerr, our new Chief Executive on Wednesday evening for dinner. It was a good opportunity to get to know him informally out side of the work environment. He starts with us in the second week of February. On Thursday I met him again for our first one-to-one where we discussed the major issues facing Resources at present; harmonisation of pay and conditions, the budget and efficiency, service performance and how we will develop quickly the community and customer agenda. It was a good discussion. My overarching impression of him so far was the need for pace - faster delivery of our vision and what we want to improve, as well as a shift in focus from internal improvement to external delivery. These both fit well with where I think we need to be moving.

Moving on from the strategic to the tactical, here is some news that I've been asked to include relating to our new contract for office stationery. We have a new supplier "Lyreco" for all stationery orders now live. The Lyreco stationery catalogue is now accessible via Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) on SAP. There will be a number of road shows on this week moving around hubs, to explain the new setup and explain how to order. The road shows are aimed at requisitioners but others are most welcome - book via Employee Self Service on SAP. The key driver for this change is improved value for money, quality and service.

Have a great weekend and talk again next week.

Carlton