Login / Register
Branch Locator
Get in touch
Our news
EMBEDDING OUR STRATEGY: JON PITMAN SWAPS ROLES FOR SIX MONTHS TO EMBED OUR FOCUS CONNECT GROW PLAN
We caught up with Jon Pitman who for the next six months is on secondment as Keyline’s Regional Director for the South, covering Christina Dell’s maternity leave.
Jon, who joined us as Finance Director in 2021, explains why he jumped at the chance to get out and about into the regions to cover this role and what he hopes to achieve, before handing the reins back to Christina and getting back to the world of financial strategy.
“From my point of view, the aim of this move over the next six months is to really, truly understand how we deliver our strategy through the branches; to be out there and get to know the business in a slightly different capacity, with a fresh set of eyes.
Since we all came together as a new senior leadership team in 2021, we’ve worked hard at shaping a robust new strategy for Keyline’s future success, and we’re confident that our areas of focus will take us to a stronger position in the market and enable us to realise our ambition to be the leading civils merchant in the UK.
So with my knowledge of the business and our financial positioning, and my strong belief in our vision, I feel that within this role I can help to embed the strategic growth objectives into the business at a deeper level and make sure teams are supported.
To enable this, over the first few weeks I’m going to be getting out into the branches; spending time to see how the strategy is landing, how connected colleagues feel with it and how empowered our business feels to be taking the plan forward. Importantly for me, within this role I will be able to get closer and make better connections with our customers too. Making sure we’re planning together not only with our teams but with our customers as well. A lot of what we’ve done so far has been on where we focus, and so this is for me more about how we connect and how we’re connecting the plan together across the board.
ESG is a big current focus for Keyline and seeing the impact that all of our new initiatives are having is going to be exciting – from our HVO trucks to electric fork-lift fleet I’m keen to recognise how this is making a difference to sustainable miles for our customers.
Similarly, I’ve been involved in the overarching objectives relating to our apprenticeship programmes and the investment we’re making as a business in our people, so to be able to see this in practice and how we’re supporting colleagues’ career progress at grassroots level will be extremely valuable to me when I return to finance.
And one of our newest developments has been growing our nationals team and introducing a technical and projects division within the business. I can continue the fantastic work Christina has been doing to embed these areas into the regions and wider operations. I want to make sure as a region we’re playing our part in supporting this.
This is also a great opportunity for me personally, as I will develop new skills and be able to see the business from a fresh perspective. Already it’s a new experience for me as this is the first time in about 20 years I’ve not had to deal with the month end financials, and my focus can be on getting out there and making connections.
Of course it’s also with thanks, that I’ve been able to do all of this, to Tom Alcock, who’s taken on the financial reins for the second half of Keyline’s year. Tom is on secondment from his role working in the Toolstation finance team and he will be a great addition to our management cohort. I know he’s already hit the ground running and is busy planning our 2023 roadmap.
Finally, I’m sure everyone will join me in wishing Christina all the best with her maternity leave and we all look forward to her return. I have a feeling six months will fly by and so I’m intending to enjoy every minute of it!
So with my knowledge of the business and our financial positioning, and my strong belief in our vision, I feel that within this role I can help to embed the strategic growth objectives into the business at a deeper level and make sure teams are supported.
To enable this, over the first few weeks I’m going to be getting out into the branches; spending time to see how the strategy is landing, how connected colleagues feel with it and how empowered our business feels to be taking the plan forward. Importantly for me, within this role I will be able to get closer and make better connections with our customers too. Making sure we’re planning together not only with our teams but with our customers as well. A lot of what we’ve done so far has been on where we focus, and so this is for me more about how we connect and how we’re connecting the plan together across the board.
ESG is a big current focus for Keyline and seeing the impact that all of our new initiatives are having is going to be exciting – from our HVO trucks to electric fork-lift fleet I’m keen to recognise how this is making a difference to sustainable miles for our customers.
Similarly, I’ve been involved in the overarching objectives relating to our apprenticeship programmes and the investment we’re making as a business in our people, so to be able to see this in practice and how we’re supporting colleagues’ career progress at grassroots level will be extremely valuable to me when I return to finance.
And one of our newest developments has been growing our nationals team and introducing a technical and projects division within the business. I can continue the fantastic work Christina has been doing to embed these areas into the regions and wider operations. I want to make sure as a region we’re playing our part in supporting this.
This is also a great opportunity for me personally, as I will develop new skills and be able to see the business from a fresh perspective. Already it’s a new experience for me as this is the first time in about 20 years I’ve not had to deal with the month end financials, and my focus can be on getting out there and making connections.
Of course it’s also with thanks, that I’ve been able to do all of this, to Tom Alcock, who’s taken on the financial reins for the second half of Keyline’s year. Tom is on secondment from his role working in the Toolstation finance team and he will be a great addition to our management cohort. I know he’s already hit the ground running and is busy planning our 2023 roadmap.
Finally, I’m sure everyone will join me in wishing Christina all the best with her maternity leave and we all look forward to her return. I have a feeling six months will fly by and so I’m intending to enjoy every minute of it!