On this episode Kat is joined by Paul Evans, CEO of Carlisle Support Services, who shares his fascinating story of how he went from a working-class lad in Sheffield, starting out as a security officer opening and closing doors to leading a 5,000-person organisation. And why he’s a better CEO than he used to be.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The world is a challenging place and it’s become more challenging over the last few years. Therefore, caring for people working in many kinds of environments is the biggest thing that me and my team must make sure of, from a wellbeing perspective. As the senior team, we have to make sure we’ve set the business up correctly to look after people, both from a health and safety perspective but equally from a wellbeing and mental health perspective, which has become more important over the last few years.
- As we’ve gone from 1,600 employees – that we can our family members – to 5,000, one of the biggest things has been making sure everybody cares for everybody. From the CEO downwards I’ve wanted to get a philosophy that runs through the business around looking after people. One of the measures in place is that anyone can ring/email the CEO to create a family feel, like ringing your parents or grandparents to talk about things.
- Now we’re bigger I can’t be everywhere, I have to protect my own mental health as well. As a leader it isn’t possible for me to visit and speak personally to all of our 5,000+ family members. We’ve done a lot around organisational structures with roles and hierarchies to make sure that managers can get on and manage and the strategic element can still be strategic.
- The aspect of driving your business can cross over into your personal life. Make sure you check in with yourself and your family to make sure of what you’re doing it for, what’s the purpose of it in terms of heading in the right way, are you on track, are you taking time out.
BEST MOMENTS
“I was brought up with the philosophy of you get out of life what you put into it.”
“You learn so much more as a CEO being on the ground than you do in a boardroom.”
“We’re all getting older; you’ve got to look after yourself. You only get one mind and one body; you don’t get a second chance.”
“There are sacrifices I’ve made for being successful but, equally, they’ve had some real impact outside of work on me as a person.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Paul Evans is CEO of Carlisle Support Services, has overseen the transformation of the business. With a career spanning the last two decades in the facilities management sector, and having worked his way up from the front-line, he is passionate about making sure the business strategy remains aligned to its employee-led and customer-centric values.
In addition, Paul is also the Vice Chair of the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) and was previously Co-Chair of the Living Wage Foundation Recognised Service Provider’s Leadership Group, and an Executive Officer of the National Association of Healthcare Security (NAHS) from 2020-23.
LinkedIn
ABOUT THE HOST
Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.
She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.
LinkedIn
Instagram
