APPRENTICE star and West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady answers your careers questions and meets an inspirational CEO.
Here she gives a reader advice on how to tackle disruptions in the workplace.
Q) I work in a content creation job that requires periods of quiet in order to concentrate. Prior to the pandemic, we’d have a chat at our desks, but then quieten down again so we could get on with our work.
During lockdown, we worked from home, but our roles do require collaboration with others, so it was always intended for us to return to the office.
However, we now share a floor with other departments – including the sales team, who are constantly on the phone to clients, plus have meetings in the open-plan space – and I’m finding I’m seriously affected by the louder surroundings.
Do you have any suggestions?
Fran, via email
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A) I completely understand the importance of quiet in order to be productive – and it can be very hard to find! But I also think it is important for teams to come together and collaborate in person.
It sounds like you would benefit from a hybrid working model, so you would be in the office say three days a week and working from home two days.
The first step is to broach the matter with your manager. Explain how your concentration is impacted by the new office noise, and how you would work more productively in a quieter environment.
If it is not company policy to allow working from home any more, look for solutions within your office. Are there meeting rooms or other spaces that you could book?
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And although it’s not an ideal resolution, there are also some great noise-cancelling headphones available now that will help. Whatever method you try, it will take time to adapt, but do make sure you give it a chance.
- Got a careers question for Karren? Email [email protected].
A Day In The Life Of…
Claire Turpin, 42, is CEO and founder of Contur, a sustainable, luxury activewear range. She lives in Manchester with her sales manager husband Simon, 46, and daughters Daisy, 12, and Florrie, 10.
I wake up at…
5.50am to hit the gym for a 5K run, 20 minutes on the StairMaster and a weights session. I’m back home by 7.30am to oversee the kids’ breakfast and teeth brushing, then I walk my youngest to school.
On the stroll home I listen to a podcast. After a shower and breakfast, work begins at 9am from my home office.
A normal day involves…
As a working mum, I have a six-hour window. I’m very task-oriented and don’t get distracted. Having prepared my to-do list the previous night, I first check the day’s key priorities, which usually include two or three phone meetings with suppliers.
After launching in February 2020, business took off during lockdown as the nation became fitness obsessed. With no fashion background – I’m a trained fitness instructor and previously worked in recruitment – I was regularly at the factory in London asking questions.
Now I’m down south fortnightly, visiting the factory and meeting textile agents, business partners and content creators. Other daily tasks include poring over fabric samples and looking at next year’s trends.
Once the girls get home, I focus on cooking dinner and helping them with homework, then after their 7.30pm bedtime, I work in front of the telly, creating social media posts and answering emails.
The best part of my job is…
Photo shoot days – seeing my mad ideas come to life is amazing. And when we appear in magazines – Lorraine Kelly was recently wearing Contur in a shoot and my heart skipped a beat!
And the worst…
We have a strong brand presence and people think we’re a huge company so we get approached by a lot of big influencers and companies with big propositions. It’s hard saying no because it’s not yet commercially viable.
I wind down by…
Turning on a Neom diffuser and watching a good BBC drama series or something non-taxing like Love Island, before bedtime at 10.30pm.
- Visit Conturuk.com.
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