Two and a half weeks before we go to Kilimanjaro and with December being a short month, the office closed and Simon and Keris as senior Group Technology Ops leaders climbing Kili still need to plan ahead.  The Group Technology Operations team still need to think about how do we support the business during this busy period, we call it “Keeping the lights on” .

What a juggling act, not only are we immersed in our own personal commitment and the apprehension of the Kilimanjaro challenge, we also feel the weight of responsibility that is our Autovista Group Technology teams and the enterprise services they work so hard and proudly to support each day for the business. Not only as managers and participants are we making a commitment to this challenge, so are these teams who need to continue to function without us to support them.

In order to ensure they are supported and the business know who to contact during this busy period and with key contacts not being available, we have put together a rota and key contacts schedule. It’s all about being proactive and clear and concise on who is able to do what and when should an incident, request or inquiry be received into the Group Technology team.

It’s not just about packing your bags and saying “I’m off, see you later team!”.  Think of the personal development opportunities our teams now have being able to show how they can manage activity and communicate service availability to key stakeholders within the business while some of the senior group technology team are absent. How can they respond to managing up the hierarchy and communicating to executive staff should the need arise?

It’s all in the aim of efficiently getting the work done, acting like a center of excellence and providing robust operational service availability as a team regardless of key members of staff being absent. Creating that model where staff feel empowered, skilled and knowledgeable within your operations structure that accountability is never an issue. So on that note the Kilimanjaro and Christmas operational support rota got created and published.

See its not just about climbing a mountain, we as managers have responsibilities to support our teams and the business, giving opportunities for others to step into our shoes. Thank you Group Technology for being so supportive….