We are delighted to welcome Lorna Willis, CEO of Archant, as Ian Fitch returns for series two of Business Insights Chat.
As we move out of lockdown, and start to navigate back to some semblance of normality, the theme of this series steps away from a focus on 2020 and its challenges, as we try to understand what makes successful business leaders in the region tick. We go behind the scenes, and ask what they have learnt from the last year that will take them, and their businesses, forward.
Ian chats to Lorna about the role Archant plays locally in the ever-changing technology landscape, and how they are adapting, including their new mantra of ‘counting every customer’; how the relationships with their sales teams changed over lockdown; and how even their key performance indicators have changed to include things like ‘customer happiness’!
People are now time-poor, and Lorna lets us in on how the press is changing and adapting to how people now consume their news, and how they’re approaching the new value exchange in delivering local news.
Lorna also talks in detail about the unprecedented ‘talent war’ that now exists post COVID, particularly within digital-based businesses; competitor poaching and how this has impacted recruitment; and how this will impact wage inflation. Whilst new to her CEO role, Lorna has years of experience within Archant, and is keen on promoting learning and development within her teams; having “skill and will”; changing a stale Board mentality; promoting the significance of mentors; and maintaining healthy staff engagement. Lorna also reflects on how she still has work to do in creating a fully diverse workforce, and how to get women to overcome ‘imposter syndrome’.
Lorna believes that a person’s career is now better off for having Archant on their CV. Customer feedback is at an all-time positive high, which is something that Lorna is proud to have achieved, rebuilding and pushing past a formerly aggressive reputation.
Lorna also discusses the future of office working, including ‘bringing your dog to work day’, and how Norwich City or Ipswich Town winning is great for business… fingers crossed! Going forwards, the feel-good factor is key all round.
You can contact Lorna directly by emailing [email protected]
You can check out Archant here.
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