ReThink Productivity Podcast
In this exciting podcast, Simon Hedaux from ReThink Productivity shares his insights and strategies for improving productivity and efficiency in the retail and hospitality industries. With the help of clients, partners, and the ReThink team, Simon covers everything from measuring and tracking productivity to developing and implementing effective strategies.
Whether you're a business owner, manager, or employee, this podcast is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn how to get more done and improve their bottom line.
Here's what you can expect to learn:
- How to measure and track productivity
- Proven strategies for improving efficiency and reducing waste
- How to create a culture of productivity and innovation
- Tips for motivating and engaging your team
- Real-world examples of how other businesses have used ReThink Productivity to achieve success
Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from the experts and get ahead of the curve with your own business.
ReThink Productivity Podcast
ReThink Revealed - Ep3. Planning the Ultimate Work Study - Gail
Gail, Rethink's Project Coordination Manager, reveals the secrets behind planning and delivering successful productivity projects across diverse industries and time zones.
• Communication, proven planning processes, and a professional team of work-study engineers are Gail's "secret weapons" for keeping projects on track
• Project setup involves three key steps: initial planning with clients, detailed scheduling, and ongoing support throughout the project
• ReThink adapts its core project planning principles across industries from retail and hospitality to pharmacies and cruise ships
• Matching analysts to projects considers previous experience, industry knowledge and geographical location
• Client collaboration is crucial - quality setup conversations, clear communication channels and briefing on-site teams ensures smooth project delivery
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Welcome to Rethink Revealed a brand new podcast series from Rethink Productivity that will delve into the minds of our productivity specialists to ask the deepest of productivity questions.
Speaker 2:And I'm your host.
Speaker 1:James Bradbury-Willis, head of Business Development at Rethink. I'm a marketing and sales professional and I'm keen to get the inside story from the people powering productivity. And I'm keen to get the inside story from the people powering productivity Episode three. Can you believe it? They let me loose on yet another podcast. Today, we're joined by someone who keeps the Rethink engine running like clockwork our project coordination manager, gail. With a career spanning back to the 80s and management roles at some of the UK's biggest brands, gail knows a thing or two about keeping things on track, on time and on point. In this episode, we're lifting the lid on what it takes to plan and deliver a productivity project, from juggling locations and timelines to matching the right analysts to the right jobs. Gail shares how Rethink sets projects up for success and what clients can do to help make it all run smoothly. Let's dive in, gail. Welcome to Rethink Revealed.
Speaker 2:Thank you, James. It's great to be here with you.
Speaker 1:Good, and I believe this is the first time you've ever been on a podcast.
Speaker 2:It's my first ever time on a podcast, so thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure you're going to be absolutely wonderful. So, gail, can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to start at Rethink?
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. So I qualified as a pharmacist originally and I've worked in various retail and healthcare leadership roles across the years. I have more than 35 years experience, firstly with Lloyd's Chemist and then with Boots for 25 years in a variety of store leadership roles area manager, regional pharmacy manager, care home services, business development manager and an airport retail area manager so lots of experience across the sector. More recently, I've had experience working in the charity sector as a retail area manager with the National Trust.
Speaker 2:I joined Rethink about 18 months ago now as project coordination manager and it's been great to able to use my retail, healthcare and operational experience to support the delivery of projects and business insights for our customers the delivery of projects and business insights for our customers. I find it's really helpful to have been involved in delivering numerous change projects over the years both operational and people change and it's given me a real experience of leading teams through the changes and given me a good insight into what our customers need to make a project successful. And then, more recently, I have completed my training with the Rethink Academy to become a qualified work study engineer, again giving me a little bit more insight into what our teams on the ground need to make everything successful.
Speaker 1:So what would you say was the most rewarding part of your role?
Speaker 2:Lots of rewards in this role, for sure, but I think the most rewarding is working as part of the Rethink team to deliver really great projects for all our customers, I think right through from the initial proposal, through delivering quality data and insights that really make a difference to the customers' businesses, and to see those put into action after all, the work we've done together is really rewarding.
Speaker 1:Fabulous answers and I want to start off with you. Really Gail on some quickfire questions just to get your brain going. On some quickfire questions, just to get your brain going. Quickfire questions. What's your secret weapon for keeping a project on track?
Speaker 2:So secret weapon I say I have quite a few, an arsenal of secret weapons. First and foremost no surprise is communication. It's definitely top of the list and I think, following on from that, we have a real proven planning process that supports customers at every stage of the study, ensuring that we really stay on track of milestone dates, which is key. And then the other weapon that we have, which is no secret, is our great team of Rethink productivity consultants. They're all qualified work-study engineers. They're really professional, reliable, flexible and I think they really are at the heart of all we do.
Speaker 1:Fabulous, and now you're allowed to choose one. If every project had a mascot, what would be yours? An owl, because you're wise. A a sheepdog because you heard everyone together. Or a duck because you're calm above water but paddling like mad underneath all of the above, but just the one.
Speaker 2:I would have to be a sheep dog. I think it's a really good analogy of how it feels sometimes trying to gather together a multitude of wondering parts to get them all to the same place at the same time. But I think actually I'm probably more like the farmer with quite a few sheepdogs in the field all taking their sheep to different pens, as we have lots of projects going on at the same time.
Speaker 1:OK, so you have to choose Kick-off meetings or project wrap-ups the same time.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you have to choose kick-off meetings or project wrap-ups. Kick-off I love the excitement of the start of a project and making sure we have everything we need as we move on through Excel or to-do lists. I'm a to-do list girl.
Speaker 1:I think that feeling of ticking something off, you can't beat it.
Speaker 2:Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, google Meet I think that's what we used to, so it's my old favourite.
Speaker 1:Very well answered, gail. And moving on to the general Q&A session, let's start at the very beginning. What are the steps that Rethink takes to set up a new project and make sure it gets off to a strong start?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there really are key stages of planning. At every project We've adapted tools, templates, internal processes that will really help take a study from the initial proposal right the way through to the delivery of results. These stages have been created and adapted over many projects to really ensure success. I think a little bit my role is like an air traffic controller. We've likened it to that a few times to make sure every project has a really smooth takeoff and an on time landing. So I've got three main steps that I just summarise for you. I suppose the first one is the project planning. So that's really working closely with the clients to create a plan that delivers their needs, and taking time and having really good conversations to understand what they want right at the start of the project. It's very important Then that allows us to match the right rethink expert to be available on site when needed, including arranging scope meetings before the study starts and agreeing key milestone dates for the customers and our team and communicating that. So that's very much the first stage and if you're getting that right, that really is the key to success.
Speaker 2:The next stage is over to me for detailed planning. The plan needs to really surface the best insights, and this does require a real detailed plan making sure we have the right mix of days, shifts and roles. Also, we need to work around any client days off, holidays or, of course, any unexpected changes. And these detailed plans we can share with everybody to make sure that the locations, the shift times, the study types are visible to everybody and that everybody has the most current and up-to-date version. And we adapt those as we go along. So it's really keeping my eye on the ball throughout the project to make sure those detailed plans stay on track.
Speaker 2:And then the other key aspect of any study is ongoing support. That's both with our customers but also with our team. So once the project is in flight as such, I'll coordinate all the activity behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. We have weekly updates with our own team to make sure everything's on track and provide our customers with valuable weekly updates as to where everything is to reassure them everything's going well. I also then, of course, plan the data handovers between our analysts and the insights team. And last but not not least, is booking in those all-important presentation of results meetings with customers at the end of the project.
Speaker 1:Very busy by the sounds of it. So, thinking about being busy, rethink works across different industries, locations and time zones. How do you plan effectively when every project comes with its own unique shape and complexity?
Speaker 2:Yes, we certainly do have a variety of different types of projects for our customers.
Speaker 2:We've covered retail, hospitality, pharmacy, opticians, warehouses, delivery and distribution and, more recently, even cruise ships.
Speaker 2:As you say, we work across a multitude of time zones and I think the key is, as I've said before, it's about having a basic toolkit of how to plan a great project and then just adapting it to suit the needs of each one. So the customers we work with range from small businesses with a few employees to large multinational companies. So a plan has to be adaptable, which we can do, and the experience of working overseas has allowed us to adapt even further the working processes, quite often with the help of AI, into translation. So we make sure that our analysts have everything they need to be working overseas in terms of translated tasks lists to really help them work smoothly with the customers over there. We use the same project planning principles for all of the projects and, as I say, we just adapt them for each one, and I think it's this framework for project coordination that really allows us to make sure every customer feels unique and we can hold their hand right the way through the study.
Speaker 1:So how would you go about matching the right analysts to the right projects? You know if you're having to juggle availability. You know, obviously, when diaries are already really busy.
Speaker 2:Yes, it can be a challenge sometimes, as you can imagine, because multitude of projects, all of which may change at any time, but I think with any successful plan it goes back to the old right person, right place, right time. All of the Rethink productivity consultants are qualified to a high standard and they all have a broad experience across a wide range of studies and industry. So I have a great team, very flexible team, to work with to allow us to plan the right person whenever we need. I do consider their previous experience and previous studies they may have worked on. It really helps them gain the best possible data and observational insights if they're working in a type of business that they've worked in before.
Speaker 2:So, wherever possible, we try to match relevant experience with every study and we'll also consider geography, obviously. We cover all areas of the UK and overseas and our analysts live across the UK. So, wherever possible, my starting point is always to try and minimise travel distances for our team, both to reduce costs for our customers but also doing our little bit to help support the environment wherever we can. So, as I say, what allows me to do that is the incredible flexibility of our team. They're able to move quickly from one project to another. Sometimes they may be doing one project at the start of a week and then flipping over to do another project at the end of the week, so we can really make sure everybody is where they need to be at the best time. We also have to plan the detail of the study type to make sure we get the right times and days of the week and again, that flexibility of our team really enables me to do this, so we can make sure that we have people where they need to be when they should be there.
Speaker 1:Very, very good and I suppose from your perspective, what can clients do then to help keep things on track and ensure their projects run smoothly from start to finish?
Speaker 2:Yes, it really is about teamwork us working hand in hand with the customers. It's their project and we would want it to feel like that all the way through. So it's a really close relationship that we build for every project and that always starts off with time given for a real quality setup. We will always have at least one, if not more, setup calls with all of the relevant team. It's really good to include all of the key stakeholders to ensure we understand the customer need right from the start. So that's a really helpful thing if we can get that great conversation at the start. If we can get that great conversation at the start. It's also very helpful to have a key contact for myself and our team, both as we set up and also as we move through the plan, so we can really stay on track of key milestones and we're able to adapt quickly to any changes. Every plan the best plans in the world, as I always say is a changeable plan, and it's our ability to have the right person we can contact quickly to make sure that those changes are seamless and we still can deliver everything we need to. The other thing that's very helpful for our customers to do is for them to have great set of conversations with their teams on site. We are able to provide an outline briefing document that the customers can top and tail with their own messages for their teams, and we can also join any conference calls.
Speaker 2:Sometimes the teams on site can feel quite apprehensive. Obviously they're being studied, they're being measured and they can feel quite nervous about this and we found the more communication and conversations beforehand just reassure people on site that there's nothing to worry about and they've got all the answers to any questions they may have ahead of the study. It's important that we really observe life as normal when our analysts are on site, so we like people almost to forget we're there. Our team are great at just working in the background. They're very approachable, they're very friendly, but they won't interrupt or get in the way of anyone's day and I think the more information that the customers teams have about this before they start it's really, really valuable.
Speaker 1:Thank you ever so much for that. We're going to move on to the top three tips, and you've seen a lot of projects delivered over the years. Can you give us three top tips, from three to one, on what and what are some of the habits or practices that constantly make the difference between a good project and a great project?
Speaker 2:In three, we've got a detailed plan. As I've said, we need a wide range of really high quality data, so it's important that we deliver the right person, right place, right time we deliver the right person, right place, right time In number two I would say great conversations with our customers, with our teams, to ensure we really understand what our customers need and to ensure we've got a great plan to deliver it.
Speaker 1:And number one tip.
Speaker 2:And then finally, in at number one no surprise is communication At every step of the way. We need everybody to understand the plan, understand the part they play in the plan and to ensure that it stays on track and delivers great results well, yeah, I must say, are you sure that was your first podcast today? It was james. It might well be my last no, you smashed it up.
Speaker 1:You were fabulous today. So, gail, thank you ever so much for your time. I I found that really interesting, so I'm sure the listeners out there found it interesting too. But thank you ever so much for coming on to Rethink Revealed, and I'll catch up with you very soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. Goodbye.
Speaker 1:See you now, bye-bye. That's it for Rethink Revealed. I hope you found it insightful and, like me, you learned something new. You can find great podcasts from Rethink Productivity on our website, which I'll link in the show description, along with the music we used today. I'll hopefully catch you again soon for the next episode of Rethink Revealed. Until then, bye-bye.
