Setting ambitious goals at giffgaff

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at giffgaff

Hey! I am James, one of giffgaff’s ministers, looking out for our Ministry of Wellbeing. I’m a qualified mental health first aider and work with our diversity and inclusion team as a champion for our LGBTQ+ community. Day-to-day I am responsible for the risk management processes at giffgaff.

How did you start your journey at giffgaff and what has it been like so far?

On average we spend roughly 33% of our day at work. In order to feel fulfilled and lead a healthy life, work has to be enjoyable. To accompany this you must be able to be yourself at work. My first interview was two years ago, as soon as it ended I knew giffgaff was where I wanted to work. The lure of the brand and its focus on members, the technology available to succeed, the friendly faces and the ministries focused on culture and growth, made giffgaff stand head and shoulders above the rest. I knew giffgaff would fill the gap I’d identified and to date it’s only exceeded my expectations.

How do we do things differently at giffgaff?

I’ll never forget my first fortnight. My boss had arranged introductions with those who would be my key contacts, but I was encouraged to spend more time travelling to all corners of the business which helped me establish a network immediately. It was such a positive onboarding experience, seeing how passionate everyone is about their role and objectives. Everyone at giffgaff is accessible and will make time for you. Sharing your ideas and being curious is encouraged, there isn’t an incorrect thought or suggestion, you’re invited to be involved, speak your mind and “get stuff done”, we call it being gritty, I’d never experienced a working environment like it.

We’ve also got an open plan office environment, no-one has a private office, no-one is kept tucked away from everyone else. Office space is used to collaborate as an ecosystem, all focused on the same goals. Finally our ‘all-staff Monday morning meetings’, where at the fait of our spinning wheel, a new team each week introduces themselves and explains to giffgaff what they’re working on, why it’s important and what the objectives and key results are. It all helps to build a true sense of mutuality and community. And during the lockdown we’ve successfully moved our Monday morning meetings online.

One project that you’ve done at giffgaff that you are particularly proud of

Understanding the threats and opportunities surrounding a business plays a key role in its success and longevity. My first project at giffgaff was to bring my experience in risk management to review and revamp our risk register. Whilst we understood our risks and had an action plan in place to mitigate them, the project I embarked upon stripped it back to the bare bones, to ask the business:

• Did we understand how or why the risk could occur (it’s cause), and where we were able to influence the cause, were we?
• What controls did we have in place to prevent the risk, or to reduce its impact should it occur?
• How are we prioritising threats? Do we understand the impact on the business? (Not only financially, but also the impact on our members who are at the heart of giffgaff)
• How are we monitoring our risks? Could we tell if the likelihood or impact was increasing between reporting periods?
• Who was taking ownership for each risk and its controls?
• Are we identifying potential future risks

The answers to those questions allowed me (with help from people around the business, particularly the brilliant teams in our Finance department) to re-analyse our register, our reporting and our process to provide a new view for our leadership team. A view that aims to support their strategic decision making process.

How has giffgaff contributed in your growth?

Every giffgaffer is encouraged to take responsibility, not to shy away from ownership no matter the size of the task, all with the knowledge that you’ll be supported along the way. Prior to joining giffgaff this had not always been the case. giffgaff’s culture allows people to make mistakes and learn from them, to identify gaps in knowledge and skill set and go after closing them. I feel that not only have I benefited from personal-growth opportunities at giffgaff but also career-growth opportunities and for that, confidence in my own ability has improved significantly.

How does working at giffgaff help you with your work-life balance?

giffgaff places a great deal of focus and commitment on supporting it’s people. As well as having a dedicated People team it also has it’s Ministries. The Ministries are dedicated places for our people to be involved. Ranging from HIIT classes, through to yoga and mindfulness sessions, on to football, to food, culture and personal development, everything is covered and it’s all included just for being a giffgaffer. What we’ve also seen this year is the businesses remarkable ability to flex it’s agile muscles in adopting a working from home approach literally over-night and adapting how we work to suit the needs of all our people in unprecedented times.

Describe your experience & time at giffgaff in 3 words

• Ambition : The desire and drive to be the best that we can be, it’s evident everywhere
• Community: The heartbeat, both our members and our people benefit from giffgaff
• Focus: We set goals and we work hard and play hard to smash them