DOING THINGS RIGHT IS DOING THE RIGHT THING

Team Manager and military veteran Steve Armon from West Tofts in Norfolk, shares his thoughts about ‘Always doing the right thing’.

“I joined Landmarc in December 2019 as a Training Area Operative as part of the Range Team, before quickly progressing to Team Manager in just over three months. My current role mainly focuses on running the camps at West Tofts, Bodney and Wretham, and overseeing a team of 15 site operatives.

“I find this value the most important, as it promotes integrity, followed by ‘Taking pride in what you do’. From an early age I have had the phrase “do what you think is right” tapped into me. This began 25 years ago when I first joined the British Army as an Infantry Soldier. Throughout that career I have had to make some very hasty, quick and life changing decisions, either during my 19 years as a Sniper or as a Commander on the ground leading men into battle during one of my five tours of Afghanistan.

“Throughout my career, one of the biggest challenges was making others do the same, whether that’s on or off the battlefield, in camp or in their personal lives. Now a civilian in a management role for Landmarc, it’s very clear that the team will always want to do the right thing but on the odd occasion I try to remedy this with nothing but pure conversation.

“Visiting the staff here at STANTA and building relationships with one another is a key priority for me. Work place talks and centralised presentations are great tools but good communication is crucial. Understanding my team on a personal level gives me a great indication on the decisions I and they make together. Listening to their opinions and ideas is, to my mind, the best activity I can conduct.

“It’s important to have the right balance and not overload my team with too much and with unrealistic timelines. Good performance promotes productivity and working effectively with my team’s supervisor will ensure a well-structured workload is delegated with good time and this aids in the avoidance of making unwanted and hasty decisions.

“I have always worked to a set of values, being ex-military the army also has core values and these have been embedded heavily, which comes naturally. I find these are very similar to our new set of company values, a series of short statements and an ideal management tool with a fantastic set of guidelines to help our people behave the correct way and always do the right thing.

“It’s very rewarding seeing the team’s mentality to do their upmost to deliver the contract to the end user. A great part of my role is that every day is different which brings a requirement for forward thinking to solving problems and I even enjoy the brews that Richie Currie, TAROM Supervisor makes me.

“I’m so proud of the team’s commitment, attitude and hard work during COVID-19 by implementing safety measures which has kept themselves and our customer safe. This is very humbling to see and they have adapted with the changes amazingly well. The relationships that the team form with the customer are wonderful, along with superb feedback on their willingness to go above and beyond.”