SCHOOL EDITION 29 MAY 2024 - Flipbook - Page 22
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
22
Business INsight
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22 2020
business@irishnews.com
www.irishnews.com
Celebrating business leaders’ success
O
NE of the core objectives of the Institute
of Directors (IoD) is to
promote and encourage
strong leadership.
Put simply, we believe it is fundamental to the successful realisation
of any organisation’s vision, whether
they operate in the private, public,
or third sector.
Part of that process of encouraging leaders to develop and invest in
themselves – and by association the
success of their companies – is to
celebrate the achievements of those
directors that are already out there
and doing just that.
It’s one of the reasons the annual IoD Director of the Year Awards
plays such a vital role in showcasing
the talent of our business leaders
across Northern Ireland.
We recently launched the 2020
awards, which are this year celebrating their 10th anniversary, and have
as ever been impressed by the sheer
excellence that is evident among the
entries received so far.
However, the calibre of winners at
the Director of the Year Awards has
always been exceptionally high.
Last year, the flagship Chair’s
Award for Excellence in Director and
Board Practice was presented to William Barnett of W&R Barnett and in
2018 to the late Brian Conlon, making the First Derivatives founder the
award’s inaugural recipient.
It is the highest accolade presented at the ceremony, recognising
the personal imprint of Northern
DYNAMIC VIEW
ENCOURAGE:
IoD NI
chairman
Gordon
Milligan,
launching the
IoD Director
of the Year
Awards 2020,
with head of
corporate
trading at
awards
headline
sponsor AIB
Orla McGerr
PICTURE:
Kelvin Boyes
Kirsty
McManus
Of course, all leaders
have a natural ability to
succeed but truly great
ones understand that by
continually developing
and investing in their own
skills, they can reach even
greater heights.
Ireland’s most high-profile leaders
on the culture and success of their
organisations through outstanding
professionalism and the implementation of best practice in governance
and leadership.
Of course, all leaders have a natural ability to succeed but truly
great ones understand that by continually developing and investing in
their own skills, they can reach even
greater heights.
And that’s true not just for themselves but, much more importantly,
for the organisations they represent.
Research carried out by McKinsey
& Co for its Global Management
Matters survey found a direct correlation can be made between high
competency among managers and
productivity.
It found a single point improvement in management practices
(which it rates on a five-point
scale from ‘worst practice to best
practice’) is associated with the
same increase in output as a 25 per
cent increase in the labour force
or a 65 per cent increase in
invested capital.
That research is backed up by
what we see in businesses across
Northern Ireland and the Director of
the Year Awards act as a benchmark
to local organisations and showcases the immense talent and leadership throughout the region.
With all local winners then considered for the national IoD Director of
the Year Awards in London later this
year, the awards also present recognition on the UK-wide stage.
It’s fair to say that Northern Ireland has punched above its weight
on the national platform over the
years with locally based leaders winning the overall UK Director of the
Year title on several occasions.
We have so much to be proud of
and we look forward to continuing to
champion the efforts of our leaders
and seeing them rightly rewarded
for investing in themselves and their
businesses.
Kirsty McManus is national
director of the Institute of
Directors Northern Ireland
Come on Boris, show us the money
T
HAT’S it then. It’s all over
bar the shouting. No, not
Liverpool’s inevitable
crowning as Premier
League champions, but
Brexit.
Today, the government is
expected to see its Brexit divorce
deal with the EU pass unamended
through Parliament and with that,
with or without the ringing of bells,
the UK will leave the EU at 11pm on
Friday week.
Of course, whilst Boris will want
the word ‘Brexit’ to now disappear
from public discussion, today (or
January 31) is only the end of the
beginning of Brexit. There will
be plenty of talking, debating and
arguing about it for some time
to come yet. A bit like the 1966
England World Cup victory, we’ll
never hear the end of it!
So, with a Brexit reality now
upon us, it is great that we have our
own Assembly and Executive back
on the field.
A collective Stormont Executive
voice was sadly absent from the
Brexit debate this past couple of
years. With Boris’ deal now done,
2020 is a critical year where how
we trade with GB for the next
generation will be defined.
The business and farming
community worked over Christmas
with the local parties and
unanimously agreed a series of
amendments to the Withdrawal
Agreement Bill.
Yes, given the strength in
Parliament, these amendments
fell, but the interventions have
returned in the New Decade, New
MANUFACTURING
Stephen
Kelly
PRESSURE: With
Boris Johnson’s
deal now done,
2020 is a critical
year
“Of course, whilst Boris will
want the word ‘Brexit’ to
now disappear from public
discussion, today (or January
31) is only the end of the
beginning of Brexit”
Approach document and there
remains a requirement for the UK
government in the Withdrawal
Agreement to legislate for
businesses in the north to continue
to enjoy ‘unfettered access’ in the
GB marketplace.
Much of the delivery of Brexit
will also pass through the Assembly
as Legislative Consent Motions.
Whilst this won’t stop Brexit, it will
perhaps help iron out the roughest
of edges for us.
There also remains a need for
both the EU and the UK to agree
some derogation, mitigation,
compensation and a space for
local representation as they
try to conclude what the future
relationship between them will be
in the years ahead.
With the Executive and Assembly
back and with a huge body of
work to be done to make up for
the past three years, there is also
a responsibility on civic society
to play our part in creating and
protecting the space which allows
our new Executive to get stuff done.
As we did with the Brexit debate,
we are prepared to offer our
insight and effort to help. We also
have a responsibility to continue to
speak truth on to power.
Civic society should be joining
the calls from the Executive to both
the NIO and Treasury to step up
and properly fund the New Decade,
New Approach plan. The UK
government committed not just to
the local parties. but to us all.
Whether it was bad faith or just
bad maths, not putting in place the
funding or investment needed to
kick start our political institutions
and our economy is bad form.
Our local firms and families
are being asked to carry the cost
of Britain’s Brexit and our local
parties accepted commitments from
the UK government to try to get our
public services and infrastructure
back on track. We aren’t asking for
another hand out, but a hand up.
So, come on Boris, show us the
money!
Stephen Kelly (stephenkelly@
manufacturingni.org) is chief
executive of Manufacturing NI
(www.manufacturingni.org)