What motivated you to join FSC?
I admired the work of the organisation, not just for the sustainability efforts but also for the role FSC has taken and strives to take in mediation between disagreeing parties affected by and dependant on Forests. I was also impressed by the 3 chambers of governance and very interested to understand more on the conversations and ideas that are had about FSC from these perspectives to reach a common ground. For me personally I wanted to put my career into a new direction, still working within organisations looking to fix or help a cause but something different to my background where I would hope to develop and continue my skills in management and leadership.
Can you tell us a little more about your background?
My background is mostly senior operational healthcare management, I started out by doing the NHS graduate management training scheme and loved the diversity and experience you are exposed to when working in hospital settings. After working my way up to more senior positions in the NHS, I moved into the non-profit sector and have up until most recently been working with Médecins Sans Frontières. My most recent placement with them was as a hospital Director in Bentiu in an Internally Displaced Persons Camp in South Sudan, running a 200 bed hospital with around 560 members of staff. My Passion in work is working with teams, the dynamics that play out in service delivery and importance of communication. In particular working across cultures for the variety of perspectives, contributions and insights into each project, and the relative impact of work done. In healthcare I often found myself working a bit like a translator, helping each individual within a service understand the role they play and the contribution they make while supporting and challenging those with ambitions in developing their skills.
How has your background prepared you for this role?
I hope because my background has always involved working with a multitude of nationalities and diversities across different organisational levels and parts of the world that there are some similarities in organisational culture, challenges, and ways I may be able to support. I have been fortunate enough to work in crisis situations and so appreciate the different responses a team can have in such situations, as well as, building strategy within emergent organisations and facilitating teams to develop their own style and confidence in service delivery. I am also lucky that by in large I have had the privilege of working with very passionate individuals – I have seen, in the short time I have been with FSC that here it is a similar environment – equally seen so by our self-criticism and determination or hope to do better and keep improving, for which so far, I am thoroughly enjoying being part of.
Appreciating that it is still very early for you to comment, what do you see as the key priorities for Europe in the next 1-3 years?
I am very much still working these out, the FSC global strategy offers the strategic direction internationally and I am learning more about how this translates to local contexts across Europe though our teams. The priorities I see for Europe in the coming years currently reflect more my own opinion and are ideas structured around supporting the overall strategic delivery.
I believe we are in a period of very fast development and high scrutiny; we see this in the European policy sphere and in our research detailing the attention consumers pay to the sustainability of brands and criticisms that can go with this. Integrity and credibility must continue to be fundamental to the work that we do as the effects of these developments play out in the economic, environmental, and social spheres of the work FSC does. Europe is a hub in how the affects of work in one country knock on to those in the region and here, there is opportunity to strengthen our knowledge and response.
Operationally within the European team there is something about building up the unity between the different offices working within FSC and utilising the expertise that we have in the region, be that in the countries we build our representation on the ground in, or in how projects evolve from one country to the next.
I have been making visits across Europe to get to know the teams and different contexts that we work within to see what and where the commonalities are. The above is very much a rough draft that will evolve as I settle in.
What role do you see the UK playing in terms of delivering on these priorities?
The UK has a wealth of experience within its FSC team with longstanding and committed members of staff it is well placed to advise on the trials and tribulations of setting up and getting all processes in place. It is hugely experienced in the timber market and in the contributions to the policies and standards of the organisation.
The team have also thoroughly supported one another in the office and across the European team during the times of lockdown over the last couple of years, this has not gone unnoticed and the appreciation for which can't truly be conveyed. This quiet and ever present support the UK team offers within FSC is exceptionally valuable, and much like that of an older sibling the region can look to the UK to learn from. When it comes to implementing priorities, I hope to depend on the UK team for support, feedback and insights into how regionally and globally FSC progresses.