Let me tell you about Roz. Because Roz’s story is so inspiring and offers an amazing example of how innovative approaches to team development at Renishaw can have a real and sustainable impact.
I first heard about Roz Woodman via her colleague Ben Goodare, the Head of Sustainability at Renishaw. When I was telling Ben about my work to get professionals aged 50+ back into the workplace following the Great Retirement of 2020 and beyond, and my focus on the value and wisdom they can bring back into the workplace, he told me about a key member of his team.
Roz Woodman, he told me, is brilliant at seeing the big picture, has the connections to make projects happen fast, serves as a mentor to her colleagues and provides the glue that holds everyone together. She brings a wealth of experience, expertise, and wisdom to her role as Sustainability Manager for the Value Chain, built on the back of Renishaw’s commitment to employee career development, lifelong learning and upskilling.
The start of the journey
Roz originally applied for a sales role at Renishaw, having recently taken the decision to downsize her career due to that age old work/life balance conundrum. But she missed the challenge of her previous role, and so jumped at the chance to provide maternity cover in a Buyer position. From there, with the support of the Renishaw team, Roz took up the opportunity to take the Chartered Institute for Purchasing exams, which was swiftly followed by a position as a fully-fledged buyer, soon to be promoted to a senior buyer.
Roz was buying myriad items, including circuit boards, semiconductors, packaging, adhesive, washers and fasteners, but it soon became clear to her that the system could be much more streamlined. So, with Renishaw’s support, she developed a Vendor Manager Inventory Programme, developed a framework and contracting, and she was off. The project was a huge success, and Roz soon became the team lead and started training graduates. Roz was now a team leader of six buyers, and worked in this way for several years, creating best practices in streamlining capital purchases.
Zoom forward to 2022
Ben knew instantly that Roz would be a great candidate for the role of Sustainability Manager of the value chain when the position became available: she understood the supply chain as well as anyone could and had already created best practices for the business to become more efficient and sustainable. Roz’s job now is to integrate business practices and processes from the UK and worldwide into one central way of working that is ethically and environmentally sustainable. And make no mistake, Renishaw is really ambitious in its approach to sustainability (they’re committed to being an industry leader in ESG), so Roz’s challenge has real purpose and the potential for enormous transformation.
But why am I telling you all this? Well, firstly, it’s great to share an update on ANY organisation that takes sustainability so seriously and builds the ESG agenda into the heart of both strategic and operational development. I’m particularly struck by Renishaw’s commitment to the S in ESG – they’re fully embracing the social change that needs to take place, but it’s also about a company that really invests in its people, that puts its faith in them, that sees career development as a long term process, celebrating both the fresh and new, but also the expertise and knowledge that can only be built over time, and can be found in people like Roz.
And she would be the first to say that the journey she has taken has paralleled that taken by Renishaw itself, and that journey isn’t over for either of them yet: “We are a world leader in the products that we manufacture, in the beautiful buildings you see here, and we are learning to become a world leader in ethical business practice.”
Renishaw Offices
Conclusion
Renishaw is committed to seeing sustainability in its broadest form, including, yes, reducing greenhouse gasses, but also taking a firm stance against modern slavery, working with like-minded organisations such as Action on Plastic in Stroud to reduce single-use plastic and looking at every part of its supply chain, and part of that is recognising and utilising the talents of team members like Roz, and all that she brings to the table. I’m so glad that Ben introduced me to Roz and her work, sharing with me how the team would not be as efficient or successful without Roz’s expertise and wisdom. He was also very clear that having her in situ was vital to his leadership role, which is a great reminder that age diversity and inclusion in the workplace are crucial for success.
So, what are my takeaways from my conversations about Renishaw with Ben and Roz? I think it’s about seeing potential everywhere – for environmental, social and governmental change, and for the people that can make that happen, especially those over 50s like Roz!
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Sarah started her career in fmcg marketing working as a brand manager on Clover and as an interim manager on Clover (twice) and Quorn. She founded a start-up interim management company in Gloucestershire and that business changed the percentage of women and diverse talent in senior marketing and HR roles. Sarah specialises in attracting, onboarding, developing, engaging and retaining diverse talent into forward thinking businesses to improve productivity, performance and profit. Flexible working and wellbeing play a large part. Since covid-19 wreaked havoc on the job landscape, Sarah has a created an innovative programme to get senior experienced professionals back into work or fine-tune their current role so that it makes happy.