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Connect is all about urgency this month. It’s about action. It’s about recognising that the only time we have is now. You can see it, running like a refrain through the main interviews with Ben Harvey, Karen Rankine and Andrew Mitchell. As you’ll read in these pages, each one of them has accepted a problem exists, and then moved the solution on quickly from planning to actual delivery. There is a sense of energy, a sense of confidence, and perhaps ultimately, a sense of responsibility.
None of those are words which you might typically find in the August edition of a magazine. This month is supposed to be about holidays, about taking the rewards for hard work; about winding down. We think about it a different way. Actually, what better time to step back, see what needs to be done, and then make sure you are ready to deliver it?
That’s precisely what the main characters on the Connect stage this month have done. For Karen Rankine, the issue was to work through a change in corporate ownership at a time when her professional discipline was undergoing a paradigm shift, in this case from broadcasting the news at a set time on TV each day, to instant stories delivered all the time, online.
Ben Harvey had to manage a team which was used to years of success; and then starting losing. The step up to rugby’s Championship was a tough one – how do you motivate a team to accept that challenge, and also manage the expectations of a customer base (both corporate sponsors, and the Island as a whole), which is used only to year-on-year promotion?
As the Island’s only consultant cardiologist Andrew Mitchell could see the opportunities to use technology to drive change – but how do you deliver it within an environment of budgetary and cultural constraints? You’ll find the answers on Page 58.
We picked those interviewees as the challenges faced by each of them are common in the commercial world. The fact that one is the head coach of the Island’s rugby team, and another is a doctor, matters not at all; ultimately, there are lessons to learn about motivation, about thinking differently, about refusing to believe that solving a problem is someone else’s job.
Each one of them has put themselves forward and acted. Facebook apparently has a motto: ‘Done is better than perfect’. For me, it’s a neat way to capture the spirit of our interviewees this month, as it forces recognition of that perennial barrier to achievement – over-thinking. It’s something to consider on your sun lounger.
I hope you enjoy reading their stories.
