Breathe Out – Series 2, Volume 2
Tell us a little about who you are and the job you do?
I’m head of property at Wickes and have been there for five years actually next week, wow that’s gone really quick! In my role I have a couple of main responsibilities. I look after all the goods not for resale procurement. So, basically all the buying of products and services for the stores that we use that we don’t resell. I do all the facilities for all the estate and I do all the utilities as well, so that’s everything from the procuring of utilities to looking at things like solar electric vehicle charging to working in sustainability projects like energy consumption reduction such as Led lighting all the good stuff to improve our climate. I love that the afternoon can often be very different to the morning.
How long have you been in your industry for?
I’ve been in retail now for… I’m showing my age now – for the best part of 25 years. Back in my hometown in Wales I started working for the Arcadia group in a place in west Wales called Carmarthen. I left college with my HND and when figuring out what to do, in the end I decided to join my local Burtons Menswear store to do an apprenticeship. I got the job and sacked off the apprenticeship and starting working through the competency workbooks we had in place. I worked really hard for a year in my home town and then I transferred to the big city, well the big city to us which was Swansea situated around 30 mins away. A year or so after, maybe due to a lack of opportunities myself and a good friend of mine decided to apply for some internal jobs we’d seen in Topshop Topman in Oxford Circus London, which at the time was the largest fashion shop in the world. My friend and I speculatively put an application in and we both got the job! So, 6 weeks later we packed all our things up and off we moved to London. I spent a great 9 years there in various roles running some of their biggest stores in London and opened a store in New York. I then spent 4 years working for the Brand Urban Outfitters, travelling lots of Europe opening stores in Barcelona, Milan and Paris. In the end it was just too tough due to all the travelling. It was all a great experience but I needed to work at home. I then briefly worked for Camden Market, working really long hours – 6 in the morning until 10 at night. I did that for a little while and then some consultancy before seeing the opportunity for Wickes. I saw the opportunity and the rest they say is history.
What makes the company you represent unique in relation to mental health support?
As a business I’ve never worked anywhere that’s as supportive as Wickes. Some of my colleagues have done a brilliant job of promoting positive wellbeing at Wickes. We’ve just done an engagement survey and a lot of the questions are all around seeing if we’re giving our colleagues the right tools to do the job, do you feel over worked, are you able to delegate some of your work, as a business we genuinely want to understand if we are putting too much stress or pressure on our workforce. We encourage our workforce to be open about how they feel. Our culture is to take away the hierarchy of it to encourage people to feel comfortable about opening up.
Tell us something most people won’t know about you, either something fun or from a past life.
So back in the day I used to work for a brand called Hawkshead, which was basically outdoor country living. The target audience was the rambling scene. We used to sell walking shoes, chino’s so all quite mature. I was in my early twenties so hardly the target audience. They were brought into the Arcadia group as part of a merger not long after I started. They did a campaign called something like, ‘real people’ and they wanted to find colleagues working in the stores who didn’t mind being part of the imagery campaign for the windows. Myself and a couple of my team who I was managing decided to put a couple of our head shots forward and out of the blue I got selected. I was invited to a photo shoot in Cumbria. A couple of months later a poster gets delivered to the store to be placed in the window and there I am in my wet weather gear in the window! My mug was all over the windows and some other items. I kept it and took it to my parents. I bet you didn’t know I was the star of a brand campaign that got seen by about 50 people!
As part of the Breathe out initiative which highlights the positive impact of talking to some (especially if you are struggling) and also being active. How important are there two factors to combating mental ill health to you?
For me the physical activity is really important to me. I can immediately see the benefit of it. I always feel lots better after some form of physical activity. Yesterday morning for instance at 6am now that it’s getting a bit lighter I went out for a run for 30 mins. This morning I’ve been the gym and I always feel a lot better for it. It clears my head, gives me some time to myself and sharpen the sword for the day ahead. It really helps me shake out any lethargic energy in the morning. It’s sometimes hard, especially if the weathers not great but I always feel so much better for it. I know when I’ve not done anything for a little while you forget how good it makes you feel. It’s also something I encourage my little one to do, for his health and well being. One thing I’ve been notoriously bad at is open up and talking about how I feel. I’m better than I was, I used to just bottle everything up then I’d go out for a few drinks and then some things would come out. I am better at talking now and opening up, I’m still not great and I could improve but I have improved this. I still could do it more, I find it hard sometimes to verbalise how I feel but I’m working on this. I know I always feel so much better for opening up. My little one is actually really good at opening up and telling me and my wife how he feels. We’ve asked him to tell us if he’s angry or upset or sad so we can do something about it. It’s so simple when you look at it like this.
Have you ever personally struggled with your own mental health. If so how did you or do you deal with it?
I think if I’m being honest I’ve probably struggled with my mental health for a long time and still continue to do so. I’ve not always dealt with it in the best way, sometimes I’ll bottle things up. I’ve spoken to people about this and tried to put steps in place to manage it. My biggest struggle is practicing it everyday. I go through cycles of good wellbeing, I remember training for 2 big bike rides London to Brighton and the London Night ride. All of these things require lots of training and focus for but outside of those periods I never maintain it and that can have a negative impact on me and my mental health. Even the last few months that have been really busy and frantic and I need to ensure I’m looking after myself to have a good work life balance. I know when I take time for myself I’ll reap the benefits. I’m now making the most of my commutes to work and sometimes doing one to ones which give me great time with my team but also protect my time later in the day.
In business there is a stigma attached to people with mental health issues. Why do you think that is?
That’s a really good question, I suppose historically in business it’s has been perceived as weakness. There is an expectation around the type of leaders we should be. It’s great to see how business, certainly at Wickes has evolved and culturally how an image of a leader has changed. I love now how you’re allowed to be vulnerable and show a different side to you. You don’t have to have all the answers or be the smartest person in the room. It’s now about how you lead, how you make people feel to get the best out of them. We’ve now got people being more open about how they feel, taking breaks and it’s now more accepted in society and now not taboo anymore.
What tips or guidance could you give someone who is maybe struggling themselves.
It’s about being true to yourself and be the best version of yourself. You won’t always have good days but don’t beat yourself up on the bad days and remember good days are coming. Look after yourself, be kind to yourself, break things down especially if you feel overwhelmed. Like that saying, how do you eat an elephant. Break things down, bit by bit and you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve.
