Keeping the focus
Managing two units, Customer Operations Manager (COM) Steve Fletcher bases most of his time in Wareham and also manages Swanage, a smaller unit, some 11 miles away.
Having successfully achieved their local targets in the peak incentive scheme, Steve puts it down to the early planning that started in September and the commitment from his team to hit their targets every day.
He says: ‘With 11% vacancies in the units, we brought in agency staff early and trained them as we would Royal Mail colleagues. The team were delighted to see our national promoter score comments displayed on our unit Christmas tree each week.’
Steve relies heavily on support from his team. Sam Jolly and Carolyn Irish help day-to-day in Wareham and John Taylor supports with the daily conversations in Swanage.
Sam says: ‘It takes careful planning day-to-day and having a back-up plan to cover duties. The peak incentive scheme really engaged our team and displaying the targets every day, colleagues were rushing to look at the result and no one wanted to let the team down.’
Keeping the momentum going after peak, their focus is about supporting people to ensure they are scanning correctly and providing training and support to eliminate any risks of failure. Carolyn says: ‘Having daily check-ins and reminders with the staff helps to keep the focus on our excellent Tracked performance. It’s clear they are all proud of their unit’s performance.’
Steve certainly is proud of his teams’ performance both in Wareham and Swanage where, although he is not there every day, they have continued to maintain their excellent performance.
He says: ‘It’s all about keeping the focus and we have made good progress over the last couple of years.’
Both units had seen several previous COMs in quick concession before Steve started and he summed up by saying: ‘Bringing stability and continuity to the team has been key but the most important thing was getting people’s trust back. It’s relentless and needs continual focus – it’s about when you say you’re going do something, then you do it.’
