Julie Dyson is an ecologist, we chat with her about her career in ecology working with big infrastructure projects to mitigate risks to the environment and rehome wildlife.
Julie learned about the importance of the environment from a very young age, as being a farmer’s daughter gave her a unique insight into the relationship between the environment, animals and humans.
Through her work, Julie preserves ecosystems and minimises the risks to wildlife when parts of the environment have to be destroyed to make way for large-scale construction and infrastructure projects. Her career in ecology has been laser-focused on conserving as much of the ecosystem as possible and providing new habitats for wildlife to move to.
“The study of the environment and living things is important because everything which lives in this world has its own place. It feeds something, is a result of something and affects something.”
Julie completed her undergraduate degree in animal science and then specialised with a master’s in environmental consultancy. During her time at university, she picked up some work on bat surveys to get a bit of extra cash, rather than work in a bar like many of her fellow students.
“I just realized that I absolutely love bats, and then it wasn’t until I started doing the surveys that I realised the range of jobs that you could do with them.”
We were lucky enough to receive a quick lesson in bat biology with Timmy the common pipistrelle, who weighs about the same as a 10p piece and fits easily in Julie’s hand. We could see that he was shaking, but Julie assured us that bats vibrate to keep warm and it wasn’t a sign that he was scared of us. At about 4 weeks old Julie explained that he wouldn’t grow much bigger and that in the wild he would begin learning how to fly.
Following her work with bats on the habitat surveys Julie ‘realised that that was what I wanted to get more into. I wanted to help conserve wildlife. So I did the Masters’s and then started to get work in consultancy’
Speaking about the park where we held the interview Julie said
“This would be great, if I was going to release Timmy, I would choose somewhere like this. You’ve got water, so there are lots of insects, you’ve got lots of trees, for them to have a cover.”
“Bats is what I’m more specialised in, but I work with newts, great crested newts, do little bits with barn owls, badgers, water voles, door mice.”
Julie’s work takes her across the country on various projects, which allows her to get involved at a grassroots level in each local community she visits.
“So every place which I work, I always get involved with the local bat group. One of my passions is teaching children about the importance of wildlife. I visit a lot of schools, Brownie clubs and things like that, and I’ll show them a hedgehog or a bat. I’ll teach them why they’re important and what they can do to help them.”
Julie also challenges the preconceptions around bats and encourages the children to take positive steps to look after local wildlife.
“Kids grow up and a lot of the time, they associate bats with scary things like Dracula and Halloween. When, really, bats hibernate at that time of year! I think that kids are our planet’s future. If they learn the importance of ecosystems at a young age, then they’ll take steps to preserve them later. That’s going to have a positive impact on future environments.
To further her work in this area, Julie set up ‘Batmam’ education and visits schools for free, or asks that the school makes a donation to a local bat or wildlife charity.
“I use my own time to go in and show kids, what wildlife is all about and try and tell them about the different jobs, they can do. Because I didn’t know that a career in ecology existed when I was a child, even though it did. But that’s a barrier that I’ve faced. And this is what many ecologists have faced.
A lack of experience and confidence can be a stumbling block for many people who would like to be involved in conservation in their local areas.
“People don’t know the type of experience that they need to get, which is why I think we need more awareness. I want people to be able to buy the correct kit and go out and gain experience in surveys whether that’s bat surveys great crested newt surveys, barn owl surveys, whatever is in their local area.”
“I just wanted to show children what they could do with wildlife, why it’s important. Bats aren’t scary. Hedgehogs are really cute and they’re amazing and they need saving.”
It might seem strange that someone so passionate about wildlife is involved in large-scale construction projects, but Julie believes her work is essential for the future.
“I’m fearful and hopeful for the future. I’m fearful because, well look at the heat waves we’ve had. There’s already damage being done, and it is only going to get worse. But, I’m also hopeful that more companies are going into green schemes and ecology-led projects. There’ll be more protection and licensing and guidelines which can come in to help nature to survive.”
At Morson Projects’ annual conference, we sat two budding engineers from the University of Salford, both of whom are part of the Morson Gerry Mason Scholarship Programme, with two of our qualified engineers to discuss career aspirations, industry challenges, hopes, dreams and how to encourage the next generation of women into engineering.
Ayisha Ismail completed her degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Salford through the Morson Gerry Mason Scholarship in 2021, and in September 2022 will embark on a graduate scheme at Rolls-Royce.
Anna Davanzo has worked as an aeronautical engineer at Morson Projects since February 2020 following a 10-year spell working with Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group.
Anna: What excites you about your future in engineering and what are your aspirations?
Ayisha: I think it’s an endless possibility. And because there are so many companies looking to diversify their workforce at the moment and it opens up a lot of opportunities, especially for women in engineering. And I think there’s loads of support out there for us now, which probably wasn’t there as much when you were going into the industry. My aspirations I think are just to do whatever is challenging. I love a challenge right from the beginning. I think that it will be really interesting going into the industry because it’s all about challenges now.
Anna: Why do you think girls should get into engineering?
Ayisha: Because there are not a lot of girls in engineering. And I think that we need representation, and a lot of girls are interested in STEM careers. It’s just that because we don’t see a lot of girls we don’t want to go into it. And looking from the outside, it’s a bit like trying to get into a boy’s club. It’s so hard to imagine yourself there but once you’re in, I think you realize that there’s a lot of opportunity for us. It’s important for us to get into it.
Anna: Have there been any highlights of your degree so far?
Ayisha: Yeah, I’d have to say my final year project. I did it by analysing the Delta Wing on the XB-1 supersonic flight, the Baby Boom. And I think the support I got from my supervisor and just being able to learn new software all on my own and everything like that. It was like an insight into the industry and what I’m going to be able to do when I do go into an engineering career
Anna: I really enjoyed my final year project too. Mine was in torsional stiffness testing of a Sopwith Tabloid wing, where it did like wing warping. What is the one thing that parents can do to open their children’s eyes to the possibility of STEM or engineering careers?
Ayisha: That’s a hard question. I guess if they express it interest, then to help them pursue it and support them throughout it, maybe give them the opportunity to explore from a younger age. And I didn’t know I wanted to go into engineering until I did my degree.
I realized really late, but I know a lot of people express interest at a young age and it kind of gets like overshadowed by with other things like telling them to go into something else. So maybe just support them right from the beginning. I think one thing my mum and dad were really supportive and then I that really helped me to get into engineering and I think if they had been less supportive, I probably would have pursued a different career.
Ayisha: Who’s helped you achieve your potential? Tell us about your heroes.
Anna: I’d say my heroes really are my mum and dad and they had such a good work ethic as I was growing up. And I think it really helped me to kind of understand that I needed to work hard to achieve my goals. My dad really pushed me towards engineering, we did a lot of making things at home, dismantling things, put them back together. And I think he really encouraged me that engineering would be a great future for me and I haven’t looked back since.
Ayisha: I can totally agree with you on supportive parents because for me it’s like I’m an Asian girl going to study I’m the first in my family to do university. It’s a massive deal. And my parents have been really supportive, something that’s really helped. And what’s the greatest challenge you had to overcome in your career today?
Anna: One thing I think gets coming into the industry quite a few years ago now, I didn’t really have the support that there is now. There seems to be a lot more support for women coming into the industry than there was in a decade and a half ago. So I’d say it’s really important for female leaders in the industry to stand up for young women coming into engineering and to help them and to guide them and to really smooth the path for them. And I think that’s something that I didn’t necessarily have. I didn’t have any inspirational women that I could look to and think I want to be in high positions. And so that’s something that’s quite important for female leaders.
Ayisha: What advice would you give to a schoolgirl you?
Anna: Go for any challenge that comes along, just go for it. I think I was quite shy at school feeling like I didn’t really belong in engineering. I looked around at my class at A-Level physics, and I was the only girl. I went to start my degree in engineering and I was the only girl. I started in the engineering office at the company I worked for when I graduated and again, I was the only female there as well. I think my advice would be just to go for it. Any challenge you’ve got, you can overcome with good hard work.
Ikram El Haddadi is a first-year aeronautical engineering student enrolled at the University of Salford through Morson’s Gerry Mason Scholarship. Sally Entwistle is an aeronautical engineer with 14 years of experience working for Morson Projects.Ikram and Sally sat down for a chat about how they found their engineering passion, diversity in the industry and more:
Ikram: Who or what has been your has inspired you to become an engineer?
Sally: For me, I have to say it was my dad. My dad actually worked at Morson Projects for basically his whole career, and he was in the aerospace division too. And I think just as a child where we were surrounded by that kind of atmosphere and he used to have all the drawing boards set up at home, so we would like play on them and sketch on them. And it just gave me that bit of interest, being exposed to the world of engineering. It’s been part of my life since a young age.
Ikram: What advice would you give me when I graduate?
Sally: I would probably say, go for whatever you want to go for. Don’t be held back by anybody of what you feel other people perceive you as. Whatever you want to do, just go for it and do the best for yourself.
Ikram: 2022 figures state that just 16.5% of engineers are women, why do you think women are still hugely underrepresented in this profession?
Sally: Again, I think it comes back to sort of exposure. I think many perceive engineering as the ‘grey beard’ industry and it’s just not widely recognized out there. We need to get our opinions out there. We need to get into schools and showcase what engineering is really about, get into the depth, get people in businesses for work experience and just expose everyone to it.
Sally: What has been the highlight of your engineering degree so far?
Ikram: I think the struggles that I face with every single assignment and overcoming those struggles with the modules that I take. I just freeze when I have an assignment on and as I progress and learn from that and work towards bettering myself with them, I find satisfaction in that. So thus, that would be my highlight.
Sally: What do you feel your purpose is as an engineer?
Ikram: That’s a very hard question. I’m not sure if it’s whether to satisfy people or satisfy myself, but in the bigger scheme, I think it’s for me to understand complex matters and try to find a shortcut for them.
Sally: Well, that’s what engineering is all about! How are you hoping to change the industry for the better?
Ikram: Everybody can dream, no? I think by small victories I would try to change the industry. Like, small gadgets and the small improvements I can make to other machines, which I try to make nowadays but don’t really work! I’m just trying to find that pathway. But I’m just trying to go little by little to try to improve the industry.
In this edition, Morson meets Dr Penny Trayner, a neuropsychologist, app developer and professional DJ. Alongside building a successful practice in paediatric brain injury rehabilitation throughout her studies, in 2020, Dr Penny Trayner found herself becoming a tech entrepreneur with the development and release of her app Goal Manager, a patient journey mapping software for healthcare rehabilitation.
In this interview we find out about her career journey, the best piece of advice she has ever been given, and her thoughts on neurodiversity in the workplace.
How were you encouraged into working in neuropsychology?
We spent quite a lot of time in childhood visiting power plants and going off to see bridges and things like that. I think what it gave me was a natural curiosity about the world, how the world is constructed, how it works. I come from a family of great adventurers. They were all off wanting to go and change the world and construct the world and be part of that. I think it really gave me that grounding in my childhood and an interest in science and an interest in maths and no fear of those things.
Did you encounter any barriers along the way?
I think partly because I came from such a supportive background, for me, there was never any question that I would be able to pursue whatever career I wanted to pursue. But I think I am fortunate that I come from a family where that’s our ethos. All of us believe there are no kind of barriers that you should put in front of yourself or limitations in front of yourself. But I do recognise that for other girls, young girls, that might not be the option.
I think historically that some of the working environments that you might find yourself subsequently working in are not environments where women traditionally inhabit. And I think that makes it really difficult to think, “am I can I go into that space and what’s the working life going to be like?”
But for me, I think because I grew up around technology, around engineering, going on holidays to see the amazing feats of engineering just because we could, I wasn’t afraid of those environments, and I knew what they were about. I recognise for a lot of people that isn’t the case.
How did you end up working in neuropsychology and what is the link with STEM subjects?
Human beings are the most complicated thing on this planet. I think the challenge of trying to work out the brain and how that relates to what we see in terms of people’s behaviour and their emotions. I’m really interested in that. When you have an accident or something goes wrong with the brain, how that manifests and how we can make it better is a real kind of passion of mine. I think the two things are kind of quite related, really, I think we’re just engineering people rather than engineering machines. The same principles apply. It’s about scientific inquiry, it’s about hypothesis testing, it’s about doing thorough research and really understanding what’s going on.
My background when I was younger was in science, I studied all sciences at A-Level and was very much in that direction, open to go off to whatever branch of science I wanted to go into and it’s people that I chose and people that I wanted to work with because they are so interesting and it’s great to be able to help them.
I didn’t really know psychology was a profession until much later. I grew up in the Middle East and studied sort of quite traditional subjects and so I was aware of the sort of traditional professions in science. When I got to A-level and decided what I was going to do at university and started looking at psychology and thought, this sounds amazing! And then I studied psychology with neuroscience.
Even right at that kind of early stage I was really interested in the neuroscience behind it, understanding the brain and what that’s all about. It was only my second year of university. I was thinking, what am I going to do next? And thought becoming a clinical psychologist was a great way to be able to practically apply those skills, putting it into practice and doing something useful hopefully in the world. Alongside kind of my studies at university, I also worked as a support worker because in psychology you need clinical experience before you can go into clinical training. I was really privileged to get to work with a young man with autism, and I worked with him all the way through, most of my second year and my third year, which is a real privilege to get to learn and actually get to apply psychology.
I really like that idea of kind of studying and working at the same time. And I really love these kind of courses where you get a sandwich year. You can go off and work in industry and really kind of see what it’s like and then come back and finish off your studies. I think it probably motivates you a bit more. I’d really love to see psychology going a little bit more in that direction, a bit more applied so people got some practical experience you get to do a placement.
How did you progress within your field?
To train as a psychologist, it’s quite a long path. You have to do an undergraduate degree. You usually go out into the field and do a couple of years and get research experience or clinical experience. You then go back and do a doctorate in clinical psychology or educational psychology. If that’s what you want to pursue, which is a three-year course. I went out from there and was working in central Manchester, working in the community. Sure Start centres, children’s centres, meeting families from all kinds of backgrounds and just sort of helping them in the early years really with young children and young parents often needing support.
From that started going more into kind of the neuroscience side of things and was very fortunate to be able to work at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London for a couple of years, in a specialist service for tics and Tourette syndrome, which was absolutely incredible. And I learned so much in those two years and going to work in London in the capital was amazing. Exhausting at times, but absolutely amazing.
Alongside that journey, I’ve continued to study in neuropsychology. I’d been working, training up and doing the additional qualification that you also have to do to become a neuropsychologist, which takes a couple more years. All in all, its been a sixteen year journey from start to finish.
I established my own private practice in community-based neuropsychology ten years ago. We work all over the northwest and sometimes all over England and Wales seeing children and families who’ve had acquired brain injuries and providing them with community-based rehab.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I’m going to credit this advice to my father because I think it really works in terms of the practical application of running a company, running it successfully, and also branching into tech. The one thing he’s always said to me is, don’t delegate any work that you’re not either prepared to do yourself or that you don’t fully understand. That’s not to say that you can’t partner with people that have expertise that you don’t have, but you need to understand what you need and what your service needs and what your service users need in order to provide the best for them. I always make sure as a result that I know kind of everything I’m doing intimately in and out and make sure that I can always support anyone in the team is working on any of the projects if they get stuck, because I understand those issues and challenges myself.
Have you seen a move towards greater neurodiversity in the workplace recently?
I think one of the things that we’ve seen a lot of the last couple of years over the pandemic is the shift to home-based working for a lot of us, and also hybrid working.
I think what we really must acknowledge is just how beneficial that has been for people who have accessibility issues for a variety of reasons. It really suits a lot of people to not have to make an onerous journey into work, to not have to deal with a lot of the social demands of work, hot-desking, or the uncertainty and all the challenges of work which have got in the way of people being able to be as productive and happy at work as they can be.
I think one of the major things that’s happened for me is to see that embraced across most companies, and most people are looking to see how we can accommodate that as a need.
I think there is much more recognition now, now that we’ve all had a couple of years at home and seeing what works for us from a work perspective, that perhaps it wasn’t working for a lot of people, and we need to look into that now. It’s great to see it’s on the agenda.
Morson COO, Adrian Adair, was put through a gruelling HIIT by The Body Coach himself, Joe Wicks. After the session, Adrain chatted to Joe about motivation, national hero status, his family cookbook and his ultimate guilty pleasures.
Joe Wicks has been elevated to a household name over the past few years. The already well-known fitness coach and TV presenter had authored a number of books and his brand ‘The Body Coach’ was a massive hit on social media. But it was the lockdown of 2020 that really pushed Joe to the next level. His ‘P.E. with Joe’ series was aimed at keeping children fit throughout the pandemic in the absence of school sessions and proved to be a huge and invaluable hit. The series amassed over 100 million views and earned Joe a well-deserved MBE.
After the session, Joe Wicks spoke with Adrian in an exclusive interview about his performance, his approach to mental and physical well-being, and the importance of sleep and diet.
Joe Wicks: Mate, you’ve done really well with those five exercises there!
But what we have to remember is that it’s not just about the physical, it’s about mental health as well. I really believe in the harder you push the better you’ll feel afterwards. That’s my true motivation. I don’t really focus on changing the way I look it’s about changing the way I feel. If you’re in a bad mood, you do a quick 25-minute workout and come out another man.
Adrian: Definitely! You must have received some incredible success stories from individuals who have completed your workouts, what are some stories that have stood out most to you?
Joe: There are so many, it’s my favourite part of the job reading DM’s and letters, I’ve had a lot of children’s letters and pictures sent to me. To see people, go on physical journeys is great but when I dig deeper and see that people are overcoming anxiety and depression, that’s the best part of my job. It really shows the power of exercising and good food. Some people are a bit lost and confused about how to get going but once they start forming habits like short daily workouts and cooking food at home, their energy, mood and productivity at work change. It also makes you more tolerant with your kids and I love the effects it has.
Adrian: We both have kids of a similar age, was that some of the inspiration behind the family cookbook?
Joe: Yeah, I got in touch with a really great child nutritionist because I had no idea and wanted to do it right and share some good content, so I set up an Instagram account. I wanted to give everybody a chance of eating healthy food and developing good habits. When they’re young and exposed to different things they will start to be more adventurous with their food. That led to my family cookbook which is called ‘Joe’s Family Food’. You have to get kids involved with healthy food at a young age, the sooner they start messing with their porridge and putting a bit of salt and pepper on it, they start engaging and interacting with it. The more your kids see their dad exercising and coming back with a big smile on his face, they see a really positive role model.
Adrian: It’s great to see all your tips and tricks on Instagram because it gives those with kid’s huge inspiration of what to do.
Joe: Exercising really does make you more patient around your kids, if I’ve exercised and my kids are having a tantrum I interact with them differently and patiently so I think it has a really positive waterfall effect on families and that’s why I encourage families to do 20-25 minutes exercise a day. Even going for a walk after dinner, just helps to get fresh air.
Adrian: Is that what inspired PE with Joe?
Joe: Yeah so before lockdown I had this live tour planned to go around schools and help children. Completely funded by myself with no cameras but when the lockdown was announced I said right I’m going to do these live workouts Monday to Friday. I was really hoping that schools in the UK would put it in the newsletters and tell their kids about it and on that first day nearly a million people were doing it live and we had 118 million views globally after 18 weeks of workouts.
Adrian: That’s amazing and you’ve obviously turned into a bit of a national hero, how has it changed your life?
Joe: It’s weird because at the time I didn’t really think it’d change my life; I have quiet life at home with my family but when I do go out, I am noticing a lot of children recognise me. I feel like it used to be adults that wanted a selfie and now it’s mainly children. It’s not all the time but I always make time and always have a selfie and they always say ‘Thank you for getting us through lockdown’ every parent and kid says that so that’s how I realised how important that time was in helping people.
Adrian: What was the biggest thing you learnt during the pandemic?
Joe: I think realising how important social connections are for us to be happy was the most important. You can have loads of followers on Instagram, but I still felt really anxious and lost, so I think communicating to family and friends was really important. Men struggle to say how they feel when they’re suffering with their mental health because there is a stigma about being embarrassed and ashamed. If you can open up and be vulnerable in front of your kids and wife then that’s amazing and it really opens up the dialogue. I’m doing a documentary on parents with mental health and it goes into if the parents don’t open up to their children then the children will think it’s their fault so it’s really important to show that side.
I’m doing a documentary on parents with mental health and it goes into if the parents don’t open up to their children then the children will think it’s their fault so it’s really important to show that side.
– Joe Wicks
Adrian: We believe mental health awareness is so important and have set up mental health first aiders in all our offices. What other mental health tips can you share?
Joe: Even before food, sleep is such an important part of mental health, it affects your productivity, it affects your mental health and your effort. The second thing is exercise and obviously we’ve just done an intense workout, but you can do low-intensity stuff like going for a walk with the dog, all movement is positive. The third thing for true health and happiness is communication and telling people how you are feeling. It really takes the weight off your shoulders when you talk about how you feel. When you let out a cry it’s amazing what it does for you, I did an Instagram live during the lockdown and got a bit upset and cried and felt so much better for it. It was like letting anxiety out of my body, I think people are embarrassed to do that but I’m not.
Adrian: Have you got any tips for the Morson team in terms of food prep?
Joe: We live in a world with so many temptations with food- Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat can all be delivered to your door, making it easier to be unhealthy. You’ve really just got to get back to basics, cooking healthy food at home, I make big Bolognese for example and you’ve got lunch and then you put in the fridge and can have the rest for dinner the next day. These little things they might seem silly, but they actually make a massive difference to your body composition. Meal prep is so important and then for breakfast, you can look at oats, and quickly make omelettes so keep it consistent. You’re not going to transform your body in two weeks but doing it all year round will help massively and my biggest advice is don’t exercise to look good, exercise to feel good.
Adrian: What’s your guilty pleasure?
Joe: Well I love a gin and tonic; I’ve got a gin bar at home and it’s more for the flavour and the other is Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. Anything chocolatey I can’t just have a bit I have to have the whole bar. I have a good relationship with food, I don’t feel guilty about it, if I’m going to have a big blowout, I train hard on that day too to balance it.
Dad of one, and Morson COO, Adrian Adair was recently interviewed by the family lifestyle magazine BROOD, in a candid exploration of professional parenthood, juggling a successful career alongside the demands of family life. Adrian’s wife Leanne – who runs a successful business herself, and their beautiful little girl Alana joined them for the shoot.
How long have you worked in recruitment and why did you decide that Morson Group was the right company for you to achieve your career goals?
“Well, I’m a recruitment lifer, I started in recruitment when I was a graduate. I’d been looking for the right company for a number of years, I’d met with a number of CEO’s and then I met Ged (Ged Mason OBE, Morson Group CEO). I had already decided in the lift that I wanted to work for Ged. He’s a well-known, well-respected leader, a family man himself and he was proud to be running a family business – Ged’s father founded the company 52 years ago. And I think what clinched it for me in the lift was when he said, ‘recruitment is all about the people’. That’s one of the tag lines we use now ‘placing people first’. Whilst it’s en-vogue for businesses, this has been the recipe that’s been in existence at Morson for over 50 years. I think I knew when I joined the company that it had the right ingredients for me to continue to move the business forward.”
How long had you worked at Morson before you became a dad?
“Well, when I met Leanne, I had always said I wasn’t going to get married, I didn’t like pets and I don’t want children – she said OK to all three. Then we got married, we’ve got a dog and Alana arrived 3 years ago! (We all laugh) So, I’d been here for about 7 years before she arrived. I think because we are a family business there’s always a kid in the building. Alana after this (interview) will go up and see Ged, sit in his chair and he’ll spin her around. I think even though Morson is a big organisation it’s still a family business and you look after your family, don’t you? We think new arrivals to the family are great and kids are always encouraged to be around, and I think that’s fantastic. I think it’s really important for kids to see where their parents work and understand what they do.”
Morson have quite an innovative approach to supporting working parents, can you tell us a little bit more about how the company do that so successfully.
“I think a lot of organisations are still figuring out how to handle working parents, whereas it’s been baked in here. Simply, we look after them in the different ways that they need. That might be a part-time return or a full-time return with flexible hours, there’s no set solution it’s about each person as an individual and their specific job role, we try to understand what is going to work best for them and the business. I think the average time for an employee to work here is 7 years – which is amazing for this industry. And the average tenure for our directors is 15 years, so again lots of people are here for a long time, because we support them.
It was evident during Covid how important this (to support working parents) is for Morson. We talked as a board about what we could do to help our working parents – as it was just crazy wasn’t it?”
We all agree it was a very hard period – especially for working parents.
“So, we put on some kids shows during the day, we sent educational toys out to all our colleagues’ children as well. I think it was the little things that helped, and again I think what was interesting was that a lot of organisations during that time finally got to see the kids on the video calls, but obviously it’s something that we’ve always encouraged.”
Has becoming a parent changed your managerial style at all?
“I think you do become more understanding as a parent, because whilst the theory is great, you don’t know until you do it yourself. I’ve always admired working parents, but when you’re doing it, yourself you just think ‘wow!’. I’m definitely more of an empathetic leader since becoming a father.
How did you personally adapt your life after you became a dad?
Adrian – “I used to be at the gym early every day for example, and I can’t do that anymore. And obviously, you sleep less – bet everyone says that. One thing that stands out is that I don’t read anymore. I used to read a book a month…”
Leanne adds “He used to read the paperback to front by 6 am, then read a book – you were like Johnny 5!” We all laugh.
Adrian – “…yeah, but you have to adapt your routines, and it can take a bit of time to figure out how to do that and of course that can change and evolve as your child grows and evolves too. Another thing I don’t really do anymore is either is watch TV – if I do watch it, I fall asleep! We’re very lucky in that we’ve got a gym in the garden though – so I can still fit ‘going to the gym’ into my life as much as possible. Leanne’s a bit of a night owl and I’m an early bird, so that combination works well for us. We’re a global operation, so for example I was doing some work with Australia this morning and some days I might need to be on to North America at night, so being flexible in your approach is important and that can help you in terms of balancing being a parent with work-life too.
One thing I do try and do, which I think is important for all working parents, is to make time for yourself, you’ve got to fit that in when you can. So, for example, because I’m an early bird I will go biking in the mountains at the weekend, but instead of making a day of it like I used to, I’ll do it early in the morning, so that I can be back in time for breakfast. I think it’s important to find the balance, because that’s your escapism from work and the pressures of life, and I think for me that really helps me in terms of staying energetic, productive, and happy. There’s a bit of a joke in the office if I’ve not been to yoga, ‘Have you not been to Yoga this week, Adrian?’ Because you can tell!”
“I’m actually missing a yoga class today! We do corporate yoga here actually, in the building. We’ve done it here for several years now and I think that’s something I encourage as it’s great from a well-being perspective. Yoga is something you can do collectively. You don’t have to be super fit, you don’t have to be super flexible, everyone can do it and that’s something else did through covid, we put the yoga class online. It’s great that we can now practice it in the building again, as it’s a great way of interacting with the team out of the office setting. We’ve got graduates that come to the classes, right through to people who have been here for years, everyone benefits from it massively. This is something that other companies are starting to implement, but we’ve always been the first to do things like this. It’s so important to us that we’ll often talk to our clients about their staff and let them know what we do here and what the benefits are. We were one of the first companies to have a well-being manager and things like that are important whether you’re a parent or not. It really does help to create a productive and engaging environment and that obviously links back to people staying here for so long.”
Self-care is obviously very important to you and something that obviously has great benefits, is it something you continued to do right from the moment Alana was born or did it take you some time to figure out how to maintain that? And if so, did you feel guilty at all for having that time?
Adrian turns to Leanne laughing, “Do you want to answer that?”
Leanne – “When Alana was first born, we were members of a local gym which do games every year where everyone has to compete. You get points for going to classes etc and he basically was there every day! So yes, right from the beginning!”
The room erupts into giggles – Oh, so no guilt in having time to yourself then, Adrian?
Adrian – “Well, I didn’t want to let the side down. We were in a team, and it was probably a bit for my ego too, as I was in the 25–40-year-old category, so you’re competing against 25-year-olds, so it was good to beat a few of them!”
Leanne – “But, then we saw the benefits, that even when you’re so tired, the more you exercise the better you feel! And we got into a good routine with that, so, no guilt never came into it.”
Brood – “That’s such an important message, as for some people, where exercising isn’t the ‘norm’, they will think that sounds crazy, but once you tap into to it and integrate exercise into your routine you can see the benefits. It’s great that Morson makes that so accessible to their employees.”
You spoke earlier about needing to be flexible due to working within a global company and as anyone who has a successful career knows, it can be demanding at times, so how do you switch off when you’re in Dad mode? Can you switch off?
“I think my ground rule is to be present when you’re there. So, whether it be bedtime or when we’re having breakfast in the morning, I won’t pick up my phone and I am strict with that, so my engagement with Alana is good. We’ve got a great relationship. Don’t get me wrong there are times when we need do need to go on the laptop, so we’ve got Alana her own little laptop, so she can sit there typing away with us at the times we do need to jump onto something. When you talk about work and kids I think about my parents and their work ethic, and I never remember my mum sleeping. She would be sewing in the morning when I got up and as I was going to bed. She went out to work, she would drop me off for my paper round etc, she never ever stopped, and I think that’s the work ethic that’s ingrained in me now.”
Adrian turns to Leanne and continues, “You’ve got that with your dad, haven’t you? And I feel lucky with that as Leanne’s dad worked away a lot when she was younger, so she’s used to that kind of busyness. You can see the impact that is having on Alana already and the things she’ll notice, like when Leanne is off to a meeting and she’s dressed up Alana will say, “Oh look at you mummy! Look at how you’re dressed – you’re not in leggings!” Once again, we all laugh. “We’ll encourage all parents, dads especially, to some of the school drop-offs or pick-ups, as you’ll never get that time back. I’d encourage all organisations to do that.”
Leanne – “Some weeks the balance is tipped so far towards work that it’s just too hard to get that balance.”
Adrian – “Yes, I was listening to Jay Shetty on Steven Bartlett’s podcast recently, and he was saying when he was setting up his business, he was working 16–17-hour days. There were spells last we where we were acquiring new business etc where I was doing the same and you feel bad as a parent for doing that. But equally, you have that mindset that takes you back to your parents and when they were working hard and actually, I only have fond memories. One thing my parents did, was no matter what they were doing they would have dinner with me. Even when I started working and they had dinner earlier than me, they would still sit at the table with me when I ate my dinner. So again, we try and sit at the table and it’s not always practical in terms of timings, with work, but it’s something we’re always striving for.”
We’re thrilled to welcome you on board as one of our contributors, where you’ll be interviewing different working parents from within your vast group of clients. What are you most looking forward to about that?
“I think it’s sharing stories. The more people that hear that it’s the norm (being a career parent and being an organisation that supports that) the better. A lot of the organisations that we are working with are doing some great things and I think it will be exciting to share that. A lot of other senior people that I interact with, are all in the same boat, I won’t spoil some of the stories that we’ll tell but everyone’s got a funny story from when they’re on the phone to the boss, with the kids in the background. I think it will give people inspiration, as it’s always interesting to listen to successful people and to hear how they have done it. One of the last interviews I did was actually with the body coach -Joe Wicks and he made me feel a lot better actually. You just see him on Instagram and TV and people presume, he’s got an army behind him, and that’s how he does it – but he’s not – I had a bigger entourage with me!” We all burst into laughter again before Alana then politely proceeds to offer us all a snack that she carefully pulls out of her rucksack. “And you know he’s got two kids, with one on the way, and I was talking to him about exercise and balance and he’s good at being strict with it.”
Talking of funny stories, have you got any standout moments?
“Yes, I haven’t told this one. There was this one time that I was working at home and I was on a call and Alana was going absolutely mental and Leanne just came in and said I can’t deal with her anymore.”
Leanne – “Yes, it was during those early stages when they just don’t stop crying sometimes and I’d just had enough. So, I just said you’ve got to take her off me. So, he took her upstairs put her on the bed and did this conference call.”
Adrian – “I was on this conference call; I had my laptop open, and I had a dashboard up and it was just crazy!”
Leanne – “There’s a picture of her on the bed next to all these papers.”
And finally, do you have any hints or tips for career parents?
“I think don’t be harsh on yourself. Just do your best. Also, you’ve got to make sacrifices. There’s lots in social media now around manifesting, vision boards, and it’s great to do all of that, but you’ve still got to graft. I think it’s perceived at times that a lot of people have made money easily but everyone who has done well has made sacrifices whether that’s been short term or long term and you do still need to do the work.”
Leanne – “Early mornings and wine in the evenings!”
My ideal routine:-
Get up at 5am
Have a coffee and a little time to myself
Go into the gym
Read my emails
Wake Alana up, get her breakfast and then get her to Nursery
