2017-07-25
Gareth, SortRefer’s Operations Manager and quite distant relative of Jackie Chan
Meet Gareth, SortRefer’s Operations Manager. When he’s not managing three children (all under five), he’s leading people at SortRefer and SortRefer’s strategy. Gareth gets his inspiration from a year of teaching English in China, three years’ studying his MBA and 15 years’ being a water polo goalie for the Grantham water polo team.
Taking experience from the past and using it for the future
Gareth has a wealth of experience working in personal insolvency, money advice and business operations. He’s taken his experience from working in a B2C environment to convert into managing the operations arm of a market leading B2B company, SortRefer.
“We’re constantly looking for the next way to make our customers’ (and their clients’) lives easier, from sourcing right through to supplier management and to revolutionise the conveyancing process.”
Hitting targets and moving forwards
Gareth supports the Directors to develop and implement the company strategy/business plan to ensure we keep hitting goals and moving forwards. This is by defining our vision, writing a set of achievable objectives each year and raising employee awareness and involvement.
“We take customer feedback and industry problems and translate them into practical and technology driven solutions.”
Gareth implemented an employee well-being programme to retain top talent. Having to look after a young family, his management styles at work are similar to family life. Home life ranges from spending time on homework, practising and nurturing his children to grow and succeed. At work, Gareth promotes autonomy, involvement and team collaboration, allowing employees the flexibility to work in ways that suit them.
Gareth says:
“Employees who understand the 'why' of the company can get involved in the big decisions and ultimately feel invested in their work and they tend to add a lot more value.
SortRefer has a unique proposition with an equally unique set of employees who all contribute to its continued success. It’s what I’d describe as an organic team-effort environment. One where everybody plays an instrumental role in our growth and understands how important their efforts are to succeed. Such a level of involvement and responsibility gives us all a real sense of work satisfaction. It’s what drives our culture of coming together to achieve.”
It’s all about Gareth
Here are some things you won’t know
- He’s played regional level water polo for the Midlands
- Jackie Chan is Gareth’s wife’s, grandfather’s cousin’s son
- He is a qualified pastry chef
- He spent one year teaching English as a foreign language in China
- He owns a bouncy castle business and has a total of five bouncy castles
- If he were stranded on a desert island, the three things he’d take with him are his dog, a pillow and a bottle of rum
