Staff Day


This years annual staff day saw a move from the norm for many staff as we had a change of venue, from our usual haunt of Hundith Hill, to the rather more accessible Rheged. Though the setting was ideal for those travelling from further afield, there were a few problems with the acoustics leaving some of our presenters with rather sore throats due to competing with the over-zealous Air-Con! However, in true Impact fashion this did not deter our staff from making an enthusiastic and valuable contribution to the day.

The event started with Mike Muir (Chief Exec) sharing his recent experiences that demonstrate that there is no substitute for good communications. Taking the time to develop a rapport and understanding of those we work with is the key to good relations and the foundation of a customer focused service. Mike also talked about how important it is to go the extra mile to achieve at the highest possible level. The approach that Impact takes to seemingly unsurmountable obstacles bears witness to this philosophy and Mike thanked all staff, volunteers and tenants for the positive and caring contribution to our successes.

The Senior Management Team then detailed some of the key achievements of the last year:

Alison Coupe (Community Investment Director) showed a film clip made by some of the young people involved with our Youthastic project. This was the outcome of work done by Youthtastic when they interviewed a selection of our service users to see what they think of Impact. This and the results of the status survey are being used to actively promote a better service for all our clients and partners and have informed the Holistic working group.

The rest of the morning was taken up by the launch of the re-modeled Customer Services Standards

Before the commencement of our afternoon activities the grand finale was the telling of "Johnny the Bagger", a shining example of how good Customer Service can come from the most unexpected quarter and the introduction of our very own "Johnnies". These are awards given out by Impact to those members of staff who are considered to be delivering a top class service. Those on the receiving end were Bill Rushforth known for the great generosity in the sharing of his chips, Paul Graham for his ability to "climb" into computers to fix IT problems, Isobelle Ashburner for superlative mattress turning skills and Graeme Lewis for his ferocious determination to deliver the highest level of service possible at C47 furniture stores. Well done you all and please let's have your nominations for next years Johhnies!