We're taking the long-term view

Apr 2 2007 By Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

Mondays, who needs them? Today, however, sees the emergence of the region's long-heralded, substantially altered, new business support service. Will it be like the normal Monday for its new boss or the same old, same old? Alastair Gilmour finds out.

It's significant that the North-East's newest business leader's fantasy job is a mountain guide.

Perhaps the appointment of Alastair McColl as chief executive of Business Link North East (BLNE) means the region should stop just clinging on and letting things happen but realise it's time to take the long view and grab the chance to raise a flag in unexplored territory.

From day one - which this is for the former media executive and for BLNE - a good mountain guide needs to show that he's adventurous but not foolhardy, ambitious but not irrational, brave but not indifferent, a leader and a teamworker, a goal-setter, an achiever and a winner. It's a tall order but his is a big job and it represents a big change in the way business support is accessed and delivered in the region. What's more - he's up to it.

"A lot of people have asked me why I've stopped running newspapers to join Business Link," says Alastair, the former managing director of the Gazette Media Company - publishers of The Journal's sister paper, the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough. "But during the six years I was with the Gazette I was closely involved with the regeneration of Tees Valley and I realised what potential the whole region has. This represents a real opportunity to make a real difference and to totally transform the regional economy.

"I've got two boys aged nine and seven and not only have we made a home in the area - I'd been in regional newspapers for 20 years in such glamorous places as Hull, South Wales and Gloucestershire and just shy of six years in Middlesbrough - but we're passionate about providing a future for them and have them grow up in a region that's confident and a region where they can make their futures."

The freshly-scrubbed Business Link North East has morphed out of four separate identities - Business Link Northumberland, Business Link Tyne & Wear, Business Link County Durham and Business Link Tees Valley, and it was a long time on the drawing board. Far too long, some say, and not all of them cynics.

But last year, a consortium calling itself the Coalition For Ambition, led by prominent North-East figure Paul Callaghan and made up of One NorthEast and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), signed a contract to deliver - from today - the Business Link-branded service, worth at least £30m over five years.

The name eventually changed to Business Link North East and it will also be responsible for delivering the regional Skills Brokerage Service under the Train to Gain brand, which is also funded by the LSC.

The North-East is the only part of the country where the regional development agency and the LSC have managed a joint procurement process to ensure the best possible outcome for businesses in its region.

Alastair McColl says: "For an awfully long time the North-East maybe lacked ambition, but I think that's changed. I've seen a change in the six years I've been here - and now we're a really ambitious, confident region and I think we've made a great deal of progress.

"Having said that, there are well-documented challenges and if the region is going to meet those challenges we're going to have to have a higher quality, consistent business support service because as it stands at the moment our business stock per head of population is only 59% of the UK average.

"Our productivity rates are only 80% of the national average and we also have challenges in and around skills. I think the creation of Business Link North East gives us the opportunity to contribute and overcome some of those challenges - quite simply, our role is to focus single-mindedly on the economy of the North-East by creating the best business support network in the best region of the UK."

Business Link North East's new headquarters are at Seaham in County Durham, in ultra-modern offices which will employ 320 staff, overlooking the North Sea.

There will be little time, though, for mountain guide McColl to gaze out to the horizon or to smell the alpine flowers.

He says: "Business Link North East is an independent organisation with a largely private-sector board - a formidable blend of skills that I think is a massive advantage.

"Our aim is simply to help businesses through their key growth stages, from help to starting businesses, helping businesses navigate some tricky areas, and continually helping established businesses to grow, develop and evolve."

A senior management team is being assembled but several key members still await identification. But it's an area - along with the level of service provided - that Alastair will not compromise on. The widely-respected Nicki Clark [former commercial director of Business Link Tyne and Wear] has been appointed head of operations and Jonathan Lamb is head of marketing in a whole new operational model which will not be completely ready until September.

"I believe passionately that from the first working day of April we'll be building something that will help to transform the economy of the North-East in a very positive way," says Alastair. "I have to say, though, that it won't all be perfect from today and I'd love to say it will be an absolutely seamless transition, but this is a very big change and we have a lot to do. However, we have realistically achievable plans and a clear sense of purpose. There is a real big dividend here; a more vigorous, more productive economy, greater prosperity, more jobs and more wealth for people in the region.

"This is an organisation that acts, speaks and behaves like a business - just what the business community needs. This isn't about a bit of tweaking or a bit of shuffling - we've been there before - this is fundamental repositioning of our service, a new structure and new ways of working. That requires a substantial organisation and we're not going to shy away from that. We're going to act responsibly - with care - and we're quite clear about what we want to achieve.

"I hope we're building something that can become the gold standard for business support, not just in the UK but across Europe - and not just for today and tomorrow, but for the next decade and beyond.

"In the past, there were four Business Link services and four ways of doing things and sometimes the business community had difficulty accessing it. The key part of our agenda is to simplify what we do, streamline it, and - this is really important for me - we need to communicate more clearly.

"There has to be absolute clarity with no grey areas, no confusion, so that every intermediary, customer and supplier understands their role. All of that will allow us to substantially improve the performance. We're not just focusing on targets, we're focusing on results.

"Business Link North East will be one regional organisation with one set of priorities and one focus; an organisation that will be regionally-coordinated but strategically driven and one that will deliver very tailored local services.

"It's not very often you create a new organisation of this size while changing the operational model then taking four businesses and turning them into one, but it gives us a great opportunity to get it right.

"What we really need to do is offer services that are simple, easy to understand, and easy to access.

"That means being close to the business community, engaged at every level, speaking the same language and streamlining and simplifying the services we offer.

"We'll open access points with partners where they're prepared to let us share some of their space - private sector organisations, public sector organisations, in some places where you'd expect to see us and in some places where you might not expect to see us. We're going to be much more accessible to people at a grass-roots level.

"We'll also be embedding our teams where there are business opportunities, such as Digital City in Teesside, NetPark in Sedgefield and Narec in Northumberland - where business is developing and where business needs us. That's a pretty big change.

"Our main focus will be to have people shoulder-to-shoulder with business, understanding their needs and responding to those needs. The business community is telling us that they want a support organisation that is substantially different, one that works in new and creative ways - and one that delivers. Change like this is always difficult; doing nothing isn't an option. The past year has been really tough for the people here.

"It's taken so long to change and they've quite rightly been anxious. But I think most of our staff members are really enthused and can't wait to get started.

"We'll be running this like a private sector business and I think, with my background, I can communicate clearly with the region's business community and build strong relationships."

That done, the guide will sit down on the nearest mountain top and stare out to sea. Or, more likely, not.

"It's a really positive story," he says. "I've been really looking forward to Monday."

QUESTIONNAIRE

What car do you drive?

Saab 9-3 Sportwagon.

What's your favourite restaurant?

The Airds Hotel, Port Appin, Argyll

Who or what makes you laugh?

My boys, Angus (9) and Murdo (7)

What's your favourite book?

On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

What was the last album you bought?

The Killers, Sam's Town.

What's your ideal job, other than the one you've got?

Mountain guide.

If you had a talking parrot, what's the first thing you would teach it to say?

I'd teach it to think for itself.

What's your greatest fear?

That our generation doesn't take its responsibility to the next generation seriously enough.

What's the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

Surround yourself with people who are passionate and talented.

What's the worst piece of business advice?

Whatever it was, I probably wasn't listening.

What's your poison?

Talisker or Laphroaig.

What newspapers do you read, other than The Journal?

Guardian, FT, Northern Echo, Evening Gazette.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

£300. Building an offshore gas platform at Loch Kishorn for Howard Doris Ltd.

How do you keep fit?

Rock climbing and mountaineering.

What's your most irritating habit?

Where do you want me to start?

What's your biggest extravagance?

Foreign climbing trips.

Which historical or fictional character do you identify with/admire?

Martin Luther King, right, Jock Stein.

Which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Sorley Maclean (Gaelic poet), Mick Fowler (mountaineer), Rupert Murdoch, Bill Clinton.

How would you like to be remembered?

As somebody who always gave it 100%.

Cv

* Born: 1964 in Partick, Glasgow.

* 1983-1987: University of Glasgow - MA in Economic History and Politics

* 1987-1992: Northcliffe Newspaper Group - South Wales and Gloucestershire

* 1992-1996: Newspaper sales director - Hull Daily Mail

* 1996-1998: Deputy regional managing director - West Country Publications

* 1998-2001: General manager - Express & Echo/Exeter, Herald Express/Torbay

* 2001-Feb 07: Managing director - Gazette Media Company (Evening Gazette, Teesside)

* Feb 2007: Chief executive - Business Link North East