FOCUS: A new era of leadership

Wednesday 27 July 2022

With the appointment of its youngest Chair and Vice-Chair to date, a wind of change is blowing at the Institute of Directors.

Previously Vice-Chair and co-founder of Women in Leadership Jersey, Natasha Egré, brings with her experience in journalism, PR and digital marketing. Meanwhile, Simon Soar is a hospitality stalwart, having started his career in catering, he was CEO of the Jersey Hospitality Association for four years, before becoming Head of Hospitality with Jersey Business.

Ms Egré and Mr Soar's appointments come at a time the island faces several challenges – staff shortages, increasing costs, recovery from the pandemic – and they will certainly have their work cut out for them.

Yet, when asked why they wanted to take on these senior roles, the pair only spoke about the positives...

“We have both volunteered our time to our community over the years, whether that be through charity work, associations, clubs or institutes and these roles are an extension of that. We also want to be a part of seeing positive change in Jersey and IoD offers an exceptional platform to get the voices of our membership heard when important legislative and regulatory decisions are made.

We may be the youngest incumbents of the roles to date, but we are dedicated, driven and fastidious. Between us we have worked with a broad spectrum of industries and we hope to encourage a more diverse pool of directors to come forward and join us in developing a supportive environment for business in Jersey and a thriving economy."

Can you set out what you see as the main challenges for local businesses over your term of office? 

"There’s going to be a lot of challenges ahead as we steer out of the pandemic. A new government leadership team will be tackling important issues such as our population policy, supply chain and inflation issues, housing and recruitment challenges, and Net Zero aspirations. The IoD Jersey Branch intends to be at the forefront of these conversations to ensure our membership is represented and that change is for the good of our businesses and our lives.

Pictured: Natasha Egré and Simon Soar are the youngest Chair and Vice-Chair to date.

There are understandably different challenges for each of the industries we support and we are currently taking the time to meet with industry leaders to understand their concerns and also the opportunities on the horizon. What we’re hearing is that everyone wants to see a long term strategic vision set down by the Government, simplified regulation, enhanced travel connections and support for recruitment and skills, and that this will help businesses to remain confident in the island."

What role does the IoD play in helping with those?

"At a time when great directors have never been more important, the IoD offers professional development, valuable connections and influence. 

The IoD is its members’ voice to government and that is an important way we can assist. We intend to lobby on behalf of our members and represent their industries and we can influence key policy in this way. For the construction industry for example, we’ll be supporting the drive to ensure government looks at the pipeline of capital projects to ensure a more streamlined approach that sustains the industry and seriously looks at smart construction and sustainable building. For the finance industry, we will be concentrating on how the regulatory burden can be simplified and how FinTech solutions can enhance businesses processes. For the care and hospitality industries, we need to focus on cost of living, recruitment and on island qualifications.

 Additionally, we’ll be hosting our series of events throughout the year to ensure business leaders can learn from each other. We intend to bring over more speakers from outside of the island, so that we can benefit from insight from other jurisdictions too. We both have an events background, so watch this space for changes to the networking agenda as well."

What are the three main changes you think the IoD can advocate for? 

"More qualified directors on Jersey Boards: we will look at funding options to support businesses in achieving this and we will see if there is appetite to offer IoD director’s qualifications on island again rather than virtually. Qualifications for new and young directors are also important to ensure they understand their roles and liabilities. Part of our strategy is to grow our membership in the 30 to 40-year-old bracket to ensure that those becoming directors for the first time are supported and have access to the resources and professional development opportunities they require.

Tackling the skills gap and recruitment challenges: we will lobby and campaign for a robust skills and recruitment strategy. The cycle of change needs to incorporate so many aspects including better and more affordable child care provision, schemes to encourage return to work after sickness or injury, bursaries from the private sector to encourage the retention of our students, flexible working and job share solutions and a plan to authentically embrace workplace wellbeing, to name a few.

Diversity and Inclusion: IoD central have been leading the way on this and one of their recent actions has been to call on the Government to replace the outdated word ‘Chairman’ with Chair’. Business leadership should be open to everyone and we encourage that through everything, including inclusive language. Changing these terms in Companies House will help in this endeavour. We also hope more businesses sign up to our IoD Jersey D&I Charter, so we can assist them in their D&I journey."

What must stay exactly as it is now?

"We must be cautious about remaining still and risking becoming dated with our approach.

Brexit, the pandemic and the Ukrainian war have all shown us that agility is key, and the need to look for opportunities when we face challenges."

Making the headlines is easy, making a real change is more difficult… How will you solve that?  

"The IoD has always spoken out, without fear or favour, on behalf of its members. We advance the case for business in government, the media and other influential forums. It’s important that we listen to our members to ensure that our advocacy work is driven by what matters to them.

To ensure real change, we will stay focused on current issues in corporate governance, company stewardship and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) for the benefit of the business community and wider society. ESG is particularly important to our members right now and companies need to define a social purpose.

Pictured: They have invited Dr Roger Baker to come to the island in October to speak to their members on ESG and priorities.

This doesn’t mean that businesses are no longer run as commercial organisations! Sense of purpose is now very powerful when looking at the people agenda and businesses need to retain staff. We will be focusing on helping companies achieve authentic change in ESG and we have invited the excellent Dr Roger Barker, Director of Policy and Governance at the Institute of Directors, to come to the island in October to speak to our members on ESG policy and priorities."

There’s a fine balance between robust challenge and continual opposition and between support and sycophancy... How do you see the IoD handling that during your tenure? 

"We propose to maintain our collaborative dialogue with Government, whilst also continuing to challenge them on vital issues and ensure they are held to account.

We are both collaborative by nature and believe in effective communication above all. But we are also problem solvers and we’re not afraid of making difficult decisions. We are lucky to have the backing of an experienced committee and our sub-committees now consist of almost 60 volunteers who we lean on for expertise and insight.

We think our membership is ready for a new era of leadership that balances the traditional values of governance, integrity and strength with modern values of transparency, authenticity and ethics."

Are there too many representative groups in Jersey, for what is a small business community?

"We don’t believe so, although there can be some cross over in activity, so a synchronised approach is key.

We have very good relationships with other business groups, ALOs and associations including the Chamber of Commerce, JOIC, Jersey Business, JCRA, Leadership Jersey, The Bankers Association, Jersey Finance, Visit Jersey, The Construction Council, The Jersey Hospitality Association, LeanIn Jersey, The Association of Jersey Charities, The Diversity Network and Digital Jersey. We have become much more collaborative over the past few years for the good of our community and the island economy and we would like to stay that way. Working together, we can achieve a lot more."

You’ve just finished your term of office… How do you want it to be remembered? 

"IoD Jersey has come a long way in the last three years under the strong leadership of Lisa Springate and the hard work of the local committee.

Over the next period, we would like to see more diversification in our membership, paths for development and success demonstrated and available for anyone in any industry, and a consistent level of support provided for our members and their businesses.

We would like to leave a legacy that has social value and circular economy impact. We feel this is an important way that we can give back to our island by ensuring the prosperity of our businesses and economy and ensuring their voice is heard when important legislative and regulatory decisions are made.

If we can advocate for the highest standards of professional competence on the part of directors and leaders on Jersey boards, encompassing everything from strategic thinking to stakeholder relations, ethics, and decision-making, and ensuring the training and support is available to achieve this, then we will have succeeded during our tenure."

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This article first appeared in Connect Magazine, which you can read in full below... And click here to browse the full selection of previous Connect editions...