There are two things that make RMS stand out from the crowd. The first is our passion for innovation; for finding new, improved ways of working via the benefits of technology. Even more important is our people. Our team is comprised of true retail experts who love what they do. This month we interviewed Clare Worsley, our Senior Partnership Relationship Manager, to find out more about her role and her thoughts on the future of the industry.
Hi Clare.
Tell us about your career to date...
With the exception of a brief spell in the NHS and as a Mortgage Advisor, the majority of my working life has been spent managing projects, people and infrastructure for the AA (the automobile association, not the other one!). My largest department was an inbound call centre which comprised 340 staff, a training function, a performance management function and 13 Department Managers.
I enjoyed this until 2015, when I decided on a change of direction and moved into an operations management role in retail. In 2017 I was given the opportunity to join RMS on a fixed-term contract to manage a large-scale project for Boots. I was contracted for 12 months initially, however, following the end of the project I was invited to stay and now manage the relationships between RMS and our DIY partners.
What are the key responsibilities of your role at RMS?
As the Senior Partnership Relationship Manager, my primary responsibility is to anticipate and understand the requirements of our DIY partners, and to put robust plans in place to make sure that we are always ready to take our clients’ plans and turn them into reality.
What is the best thing about your job?
There are so many things I love, but the best thing about it is the people that support me in making our clients’ plans happen. The team never disappoints me and in fact, there is something every week that makes me proud to be part of this company.
What has been your biggest achievement while working at RMS?
My biggest work achievement has been to pick up the Boots Sweetshop project partway through, hit the ground running, and steering it to completion. There was an award ceremony post-completion, and I won the leadership award and RMS also received awards for the delivery of the teams. It was a whirlwind of a project but very rewarding both in terms of delivery and client satisfaction.
My biggest personal achievement was trekking and skiing around Canada. I took some time out in 2010 and decided to go by myself to discover the Canadian Rockies. I flew, trekked, skied, dog sledded and took the rocky mountaineer train all the way across Canada – it was amazing, I would like to go back one day and go to the Calgary Stampede.
Clare with her leadership award for the Boots Sweetshop project
What has been the biggest challenge?
I don’t really consider anything a challenge - I just get on with it – and I think our biggest opportunities always come from anticipating our clients’ needs and making sure that we strike a balance between the anticipation of something happening, the cost of setting ourselves up to act and the ensuing reality. Preparation, and understanding your subject matter properly are the keys to success.
What has your experience been of working during the pandemic?
I have worked from home for a long time now, so it hasn’t really changed much for me. The hardest thing for me to deal with was being furloughed. I’m sure that many people who were furloughed felt similarly in that they worried they would lose their grip on things related to their job. It was very difficult to take a back seat, so I was really glad to come back to work.
How has the DIY sector changed in the last year, and how do you see it changing in the future?
I think it’s safe to say that the DIY world has probably had its best year because of lockdown rather than in spite of lockdown. Everyone went DIY crazy, so all our DIY partners have had a great trading year, which in turn has been great news for us all at RMS. I wish I’d had shares in Google/YouTube last year; I’ll bet there have been lots of people (me included) who taught themselves how to make, build or repair something using their instructional videos. I put a fence up in the back garden and it’s still standing, so I’m pretty proud of myself!
As with every business, I think we have all had to get used to a new way of working, not least because the year-on-year upturn to online trading will have been accelerated by the lockdown. I anticipate that many more businesses will increase their click and collect store footage, and we are already supporting some of our clients with this initiative.
I think one of the most important things that the pandemic has taught us is that you have to be prepared to change and to make sure that you have systems in place to facilitate quick change. A crucial part of the system has to be the people that work within it, because there is no place for complacency anymore. This is evident in the way that lots of high street dinosaurs have fallen during the last 12 months.
For Clare, working from home has been the norm for years
How do you see RMS adapting to the new retail landscape?
We are an agile and forward-thinking company, we have lots of great brains that work here, and all of us know that we need to innovate. Our core values support change and innovation and we challenge each other to do things better all the time. I don’t think any of us have a problem with the future - far from it, I think we are excited by it!
