Talent spotter

Oct 29 2010 The Journal

Andrew Hebden asks the boss of sponsors Northern Recruitment Group what it takes to be one of the North East's Most Influential 500.

LORNA Moran is a good judge of what it takes to be one of the most influential people in the North East – after all, her company placed many of our 500 in their current roles. It’s a position that more than justifies the founder of Northern Recruitment Group (NRG) having her own entry in the prestigious annual list.

“It is one of the greatest positions of influence to be able to bring in the influencers to the North East,” she says as we mull over the subject in her office overlooking Newcastle’s iconic Grey Street. “It’s our job to find great people that can move great businesses forward.”

Well known for her forthright views, you quickly sense that she’d rather like our 500 people to be listed in a league table, rather than the established alphabetical format.

But, as one of the North East’s best-connected businesspeople, even she knows that would only mean upsetting rather a lot of people.

Instead, she is happy that NRG is again showing its support for the publication by sponsoring the supplement for a third successive year. It does, after all, seem like a natural fit. She says: “Our business is all about finding the right people to fit the bill. We debate that, and we test that. We look at these appointments very carefully.

“We want to be working with these businesses and bringing new influential people into the region. I really believe when it comes to bringing new talent into the region we have a better understanding of how to do that than companies from outside the region. We enjoy being in that position of influence.”

Lorna Moran‘s own influence extends well beyond the recruitment company that she founded more than 30 years ago, building it into one of the leading forces in its sector, a stock market listing, and an employer of around 100 people across the North East.

She was also a founding member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, a trustee for the Northern Rock Foundation, is currently chair of the campaign to build a new Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Newcastle, and is helping to keep talented people in the region thanks to her pioneering Leadership, Enterprise, Opportunity (LEO) programme.

The latter is just a small example of how she is trying to do her bit to help the region through the current economic crisis. LEO was set up last year to provide retraining and support for senior people who have been made or face being made redundant but who still have much to offer organisations in the North East.

So far around 100 people have graduated from the programme, with the latest course beginning just last month.

“I think it has made a real difference to people’s lives,” says Lorna. “If we lose this talent from the region, then it becomes more difficult for me to grow our business.

“In order to make great appointments for the clients we have, we need to have great people in the region. If we watch them all leaving the region, than that is worrying.

“There is a feeling sometimes that when you lose people from a business then you think that they would not be right for anybody. But if they take a bit of time out, then it gives them a chance to work out what their next position might be. People tend to look back all the time at what they have done and that limits the scope of their future ambitions.

“LEO helps them to broaden their horizons by learning more about what is on offer in the region and by discovering more about themselves and what they might be capable of. We also give people a network again and that is hugely helpful because people like to be part of something.”

Lorna says she has had dozens of finance directors, managing directors and IT specialists through the course so far, and it is uplifting to see how they have been transformed by the experience. Some have moved into new careers whilst others have taken the plunge and set up their own businesses.

It is a route which she would love to see more people explore, especially with the pending public sector cuts in mind. She feels that many public sector professionals will be ideally placed to deliver consultancy services to the public sector as private businesses, if only they have the courage to make the move.

However, she thinks it will take time for the North East to adapt to the new economic environment, where there will be far less support available to businesses or entrepreneurs.

She says a “dependency culture” has developed in the region, where there is an expectation that help will be offered on a plate. It is a far cry from when she set up Geordie Jobfinders in 1976 and had to put her house on the line to persuade the bank to lend her the money.

“People need to get back into the business of risk-taking,” Lorna says. “Those people who founded businesses when I did never got any funding and we have proved that it is possible to be successful in tougher times than these.”

She says there is a key role to be played by influential business people in supporting and encouraging those with good ideas that have the potential to become successful businesses.

“They need to step up to the plate and get involved. The more influential they are, the more people will listen,” she says.

“At times like this it is not necessarily businesses and organisations that make the difference, it’s business leaders and we have a number of new leaders of some of our biggest companies. It’s the people within them that have the influence. Everyone wants to think they have influence but I’m not sure how many actually rise to the challenge.”

Fortunately, the region does have some outstanding examples of influential leaders, she says, citing Greggs chief executive Ken McMeikan as one of a new generation who seem determined to make a difference.

As well as his role with one of the region’s largest and best-loved companies, he has recently become regional president of the CBI and he has thrown himself into the debate surrounding new regional governance.

“Ken is from outside the region but he knows that if he is to have a successful business here, we need to have a vibrant region,” she says. “That’s what business leadership is all about.”

Another example she cites is CBI regional director Sarah Green who she says has shaped the business organisation in the North East into a distinctive body, whilst pioneering projects such as the Future Leaders course.

So what credentials would NRG’s founder look for in a person hoping to be included in the Most Influential 500? Stature, an articulate manner, a willingness to take risks, a track record of delivery and – importantly – likeability, all feature in her list of key characteristics.

She agrees, too, that tough economic times bring out the best in the best people. “It takes different qualities to be influential in good and bad times,” she says. And the most influential people of all can make a difference in both.