Yesterday (28.01.21) I had the opportunity to have a virtual catch up with Alison Hoyle, Director of Risk and Compliance from Southern Water and President of the Institute of Water in the South East Region. This was organised by Kim Rodwell, fellow Rising Star. I first interacted with Alison when she delivered a great presentation in the Institute of Water Women in Water Webinar Series South East Area. I was really interested in meeting her face-to-face as well as hearing more about her career story.
First, a bit of background about Southern Water. Each water company has their own challenges. In Southern Water, water has half the number of connections then sewage. While other companies in the industry are generally water-focused, at Southern Water, sewage is the main focus. This can cause challenges from a resilience perspective with more mixing and fragmentation. For instance, chloramination isn’t possible because of all the mixing that occurs. It can also cause a disjointed feeling from a consumer perspective. For example, joint billing being lead with other companies cause result in confusion about provider or even consumers not knowing who their utility is.
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| YouTube (2014), Alison Hoyle... and her Southern Water experience |
Some Quickfire Advice
- Use your contacts when applying to jobs to find out their organisation and their prospective. Never be afraid of this- these people are your support network.
- Relationships are important but they must be authentic.
- Being at a senior level (being a manager to managers) is different. You don’t know the people in the company or on the ground anymore.
- The more senior you are, the more people pay attention to you and what you do in your role.
- The most challenging part of managing COVID-19 in the role of Director has been managing different peoples’ reactions to the virus and their different attitudes to risk.
- Try to get the opportunity to work on a price review, for example with a 1-2 year secondment. It will let you see how businesses work to make decisions, it is great for networking and you can see the breadth of the information needed to pull together the company.
- Culture can be a big shock when moving company.
Some In-Depth Advice and My Interpretations
In 2011 Alison changed company after working with one company in Yorkshire for 15 years. It was difficult leaving family and friends within the company and the area. There was also a big culture shock, moving to a new company near Brighton. This change happened because Alison had asked for a promotion in the Yorkshire company which was turned down. After being headhunted to Brighton, she was then asked if she would consider accepting the promotion she had initially gone for in Yorkshire. It can sometimes be very easy to get pigeonholed and looked over for opportunities because of this, especially if a company thinks you are in it for the long haul. Personally, I think it takes a lot of courage to move roles because a job does not fit with your values or your way of working etc.
This really reminded me of a webinar I attended this week, The Pipeline Industries Guild "Apprentice to Director", organised by the Wales and West Branch. Laura Flowerdew, CEO of Bristol Water spoke about how she left a role in London because the job was being inflexible with the working schedule. She realised her family was a really important value for her and to feel fulfilled she needed flexibility from her job. Moving her family to her hometown, to Bristol was what was best for her. So she mustered her courage, quit her job and looked elsewhere in Bristol.
Both of these stories really resonate with me right now. I have been working in the same company for 6 years now and have really enjoyed my time in Anglian Water. But there is a current job freeze so there are few roles available right now, as I’m drawing to an end of my PhD. I applied for the Anglian Water Graduate Scheme and got through the application stages but didn’t make it through. My feedback was that I would be more suited for a technical/scientist role than a managerial role. Alison’s comment about being pigeonholed really reminded me of this experience.
Instead, I am now starting to think about roles beyond my comfort zone of Anglian Water. I have built up a lot of transferable skills and have a considerable network, from my PhD. Alison’s advice to me as a person was to make sure Anglian Water know I want to keep the door open and then to consider consulting and regulators. I have realised that I can still apply my values, I can do a job that is helping people, in my field of watery interest, but without it being exactly what I initially had envisaged. If these wonderful role models have the bravery to try out the unknown, I feel like I should really give it a chance.
