Lessons from 'The Bob Job'

By Jo Boswell, Founder Sentio-B Ltd | 6 min read

When Clare Muscutt invited me to be interviewed as part of the Women in CX podcast series, I immediately agreed – I was flattered and honoured to be included in a group of such interesting and talented women. And as for talking about CX, well I can keep going for hours.

But then reality set in. Not only did I need to source some higher spec tech equipment to meet Clare’s podcast expectations, but I also realised that my preparation for the podcast required some deep reflection. As an accredited coach I am accustomed to getting others to reflect and delve below the surface, but as someone with a strong ‘hurry-up’ driver I confess that I find it much harder to practise this myself.

I perused the information I had received from Clare indicating the flow of the conversation she wanted to engage in, and I must say the first question had me stumped:

‘A moment in time that defined who you are’.

My initial reaction was to think it would be too difficult to whittle the multitude of different experiences that have shaped who I am into one defining moment. So I started to think back over my career to see if I could identify a moment that was pivotal, and as I reflected on some of the challenges that I had faced – and overcome – in different roles, I identified a symmetry between one of the first roles I held and the last role before I left corporate life.

I was twelve months into my graduate trainee programme at British Airways, having spent my first placement learning the ropes of a customer service business as a check-in agent at Heathrow, when I was approached to apply for a new role: Bob Ayling had just taken over as Director of Marketing and Operations (which covered about two-thirds of the airline’s operations, including ground staff and cabin crew) and he was looking for a graduate trainee to become his assistant. There was no JD, and there was no-one who had previously done the job to help me understand exactly what it entailed; what it offered was a unique opportunity to witness how this large and complex business I had recently joined was being steered at the most senior level. After interviewing a few of the graduate trainees, Bob decided I was the right person for the role, and so I found myself treading the carpeted corridors of power in the airline’s head office, Speedbird House.

I soon realised how daunting it was to be the most junior person at all times, with colleagues at all levels eyeing me with suspicion as I tried to carve out a role that would provide Bob with the support he was seeking, as well as deliver the valuable learning experiences I needed. Quite easily the most formidable people I found myself dealing with were the all-powerful PAs – I can still recall the apprehension I felt whenever I opened the door to the CEO’s office, wondering what kind of mood his PA would be in – and I quickly understood that nurturing these relationships was absolutely key to success in the role. It was an important lesson in using empathy to build relationships; I needed to understand the stresses and challenges those around me were facing so that I could build trust and rapport, and this was key to my identifying how to add value in the role.

What lessons did I learn that I’ve been drawing on ever since in my career?

·  I had to be proactive at identifying different ways that I could create value – for Bob, but also for some of the team around him (his PA and direct reports).

·  I had to be determined and resourceful to ensure that I achieved the right balance between working hard to support Bob (drafting his speeches and handling correspondence as well as collating reports from his team for the CEO) and ensuring that I got to sit in on the more interesting meetings and events.

·  I developed empathy as a way of building relationships and trust, and I honed my influencing skills to encourage cooperation and collaboration with those whose help I needed to fulfil my role successfully.

When I moved on to a new role, Bob recruited another graduate to replace me. I took that as testimony that I had made a success of the role; and my successor had the benefit of my experience and a handover.

Fast forward some twenty years, during which I spent time developing my commercial expertise and leadership skills in head office roles as well as overseas in Paris and Copenhagen, and I was facing a new career challenge that had many parallels with the ‘Bob job’ experience.

For some time, I had been very vocal about the need for the airline to start using its customer data more intelligently. As a result, in 2011 I was invited to head up an initiative to address this (later known as the ‘Know Me’ programme). Once again, I found myself looking at a blank sheet of paper. Neither the role, nor the approach to addressing the customer data conundrum, were at all defined; and as with any change there was fear and suspicion amongst some of my colleagues about the intentions of this newly formed initiative and the impact it would have on their area.

I realised I needed to get my colleagues united behind a customer experience rallying call, and I collaborated with a cross-section of colleagues to develop a vision that would bring disparate departments together to work towards a common goal.

I had to be forthright and creative in securing some of the resources I needed to get started, drawing on my influencing skills to persuade some talented people to join what was viewed as an uncertain mission.

Above all, I maintained a relentless focus on identifying the business value of this new approach, ensuring that we could show tangible results which got the attention of the CFO and ultimately the BA Board.

As with any change initiative, the going got tough at times and I had to draw on my resilience and determination to navigate numerous setbacks; but it is only now in reflecting on Clare’s interview questions that I’ve realised how much that early formative experience helped shape the skills that I would draw on so extensively to lead this significant transformation programme in my later career.

The moral of the story? Newly created roles can – at first glance – appear ill-defined and daunting. Whilst your initial instinct might be to avoid them as too high risk, it is worth considering what kind of learning opportunity they represent. Some of the best career opportunities are not necessarily the most obvious ones.

Jo Boswell

Jo advises on customer experience innovation and supports customer experience leaders with coaching development. She focuses particularly on helping organisations harness customer data, insight, and technology to drive customer experience improvements, whilst driving the cultural change needed to unlock value for themselves and their customers.

Jo previously enjoyed a career with British Airways spanning 27 years, where she was the driving force behind the airline’s ‘Know Me’ initiative, a successful transformation programme that embedded personalisation into the customer experience and service strategy. CX Magazine listed Jo in the Top 20 Customer Experience influencers in December 2019.