Congratulations to Tom Wilkinson on his promotion to Manager of the Midlands Estates & Facilities team.
We spoke to Tom about his career and motivations.
What have been some significant moments and milestones on your Venn Group journey?
A year into Venn Group, the recruitment process didn’t go very well with a particular client. I told my manager, ‘I think I’ve messed this up, take this client off me because this deserves a better consultant than me.’ He recognised the hard work I’d put in and explained clearly where things had gone wrong. Having a manager who gave me that confidence and clarity helped me to move on and learn from my mistakes. Four years on that is now my biggest client and I wouldn’t have got to Principal Consultant without them, which had been my most significant milestone prior to my promotion to Manager.
What brings you joy outside of the office?
One thing that gives me a lot of satisfaction is my pets – which sounds like I’m a ten year old child talking about my hamster! My partner and I have recently rescued two dogs from the Dog’s Trust and we absolutely love them. We also have three rabbits and essentially moved house to get them a bigger room. We are both massive animal lovers and the fact they are happy to see us when we get back from work is always a pleasure.
What important lessons have you learned from your management team?
There’s no single secret on how to manage successfully. There are various different management styles and it’s helpful to take what works from each one: I’ve learned how to be resilient from Greg Jones; how to be very personable from Tom Brown; how to give my team a lot of responsibility from Stuart Birt; and how to be organised from Fabian Liladhar. I’ve learned to be myself without trying to copy someone else, and I make sure to keep learning as I go along, because you will never have it all perfected and there are always ways to improve as a manager.
What would success as a manager look like for you?
Success will be for the Venn Group Estates & Facilities brand to be recognised as the strongest in our market; we are already the go-to supplier for the NHS and a lot of universities. I don’t measure it on monetary success, because you can’t control the number of jobs in the market, but you can control how well you provide a service to others. My main measure of success for our team is to make sure every single client knows what we do and thinks we can do it better than anyone else.
We also heard from the management team who have supported Tom over his career:
“Tom has been an integral part in the successes of our Midlands Estates and Facilities team over the five and a half years he has been with Venn Group. His great passion and knowledge for the sector he works in has enabled us to provide an important service to some key sectors, primarily within the NHS and Universities, and contributed towards the company’s growth in these areas. His dedication and hard work are highly valued and he acts as an ideal role model for the Consultants who work alongside him. Well done Tom on your thoroughly well-deserved promotion.”
Fabian Liladhar, Senior Manager
“Tom has been instrumental in the sustained growth of his team in the Birmingham office over the last five and a half years. To have achieved this feat in such challenging times makes the success of his team even more remarkable. I am very much looking forward to working closely with Tom as a member of the management team in the future. Congratulations on your promotion Tom, wishing you and your team continued success in 2022.”
Stan Murray-Hession, Director