It is official – “Summer’s here!!!!”

The June Bank Holiday weekend is once again just around the corner. Boy does this come around quicker each year, or am I just getting older?

This of course means that we can forget for a few days at least, our woes, the political bickering of the FG leadership campaign, the effects of Brexit, the shenanigans surrounding the funding of our SDZ, our missing catheterization laboratory, our representatives’ empty promises and so on. As the City Centre will be buzzing with all manner of musical delights and a not insignificant hint of colour, over this June Bank Holiday weekend.

Returning to our streets will be the annual “City in Bloom”. A collaborative project between Waterford Council and Waterford Business Group (WBG), which has made a noteworthy contribution to additional Tidy Town points for the City. This, cross city project, has grown literally from few very small seeds, i.e. a handful of window boxes, to over 300 floral displays! In truth, there is no limit to this projects growth potential.

Start looking up at buildings and business shop fronts in the city centre, O’Connell Street, Ferrybank and Ballinakill Shopping Centre. Soon you will start to see the hint of the riotous colour which will soon engulf Waterford’s main footfall areas. City in Bloom will deliver once again for Waterford. In 2018, there could well be an exciting application to “Tidy Towns”, for Waterford City. Plans are afoot, to launch a bid as part of a “Bigger and better Tidy Towns”, supported by WBG. There is even consideration being given to the introduction of specific “Pollen bee friendly flowers!”, to make the application unique. The seeds have well and truly been sown (pardon the terrible pun)!

To launch the 2017 City in Bloom festival of flowers, there is an excellent competition for businesses to take part. WBG have teamed up with one of their members, Morris’s DIY on the Cork Road, to offer a €1000 voucher to the “Best 2017 improved shop/business front”. Some say that the best competitions are the simplest. All businesses have to do is post a before and after picture on www.facebook.com/WaterfordCityCentre/ Pictures must be posted before the August Bank Holiday and the winners will be announced in mid September. Businesses are allowed to post pictures retrospectively, provided the facelift/improvements took place from January 2017.

In conjunction with the launch of City in Bloom, Summer in the City makes a very welcome return to our city centre. On the main stage in John Robert’s Square we will see live acts performing across the opening weekend and right through, the hopefully long balmy summer weekends, to late August. The programme promises to deliver some age old favourite tribute acts, a smorgasbord of local singing talent and then there’s ArtBeat. This will once again showcase some of Waterford’s best emerging young talent. Bailey’s New Street will host ArtBeat every Saturday afternoon.

If we can now ask the weather gods to shine down upon us this summer, we are sure that all the programmes being launched this weekend, will help to get our city rocking, over the months of June, July and August.

There is much to look forward to around the wider county as well. You will find that there is a festival taking place somewhere, to undoubtedly suit any interest, hobby, or pastime. In terms of the bigger national and international picture, Redwater is flying the PR flag for our pretty, attractive coastal villages. We have already heard stories of people coming to the locations, where this drama has been filmed. Long may this continue and we hope to exponentially see more and more coming as the programme develops its fan base.

Our city should bloom during the Summer of 2017. As we get ready to sow some very strong roots for future growth and better news, in terms of our economic recovery.

There is much to look forward to on our horizon. In the meantime please do take time to look up at our wonderful quirky, higgledy piggledy buildings, sporting the colours of summer. Enjoy the free entertainment being provided across the city centre.

Above all “Live local, love local, shop local”.

Imagine All The People.

As businesses edge ever closer to the last quarter of the 2015 financial year many will start reviewing the year just past and start to scrutinise whether or not it has come up to the meticulous financial planning that took place some nine or even ten months or so ago. As each of Waterford’s many City Centre businesses give due consideration as to whether 2015 has been a good, bad or just an average year we must bear in mind that there as some circa 1500 people employed across our City Centre and as such our City Centre is one of our largest “employers” and the success or failure of our City Centre will impact on everyone who lives, works and plays in Waterford.

There can be no doubt that increasing footfall in the last quarter of the year will be welcome, but I fear that it will not be enough for a number of businesses who are once again literally hanging on by their fingertips – it seems that this is becoming a rather worrying annual trend!

We need to address a more constructive and creative way of increasing the footfall right across the entire City Centre and we need to ensure that our City Centre becomes a destination that attracts and encourages a higher spend from right across the wider South East region and further afield.

At present we can see continued pressure on our City Centre businesses and there is repeated increased pressure on these businesses in terms of paying the “day to day” associated business costs. In fact there are many business owners now having to resort to paying for business bills and expenses on their own personal credit cards just to survive from one month to the next. Yet this message of hardship does not seem to be being addressed and there are many people that quite wrongly assume that if you are in business today in Waterford you are making a fortune! How wrong can you be!

Let us not be in any doubt that Waterford is on the third or last tier of Ireland’s economic recovery and we lag so far behind the likes Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway that it will take significant investment and help to get us near to any sort of meaningful recovery, let alone on par with these other Cities that are now so far ahead of Waterford that we may never catch up. By the very nature of this lopsided, central belt, recovery the South East and North West will need considerable economic incentives that far exceed what we are currently receiving at the moment.

Our City Centre employers must have an opportunity to compete and this in turn will create employment and this in turn will generate greater spend and this in turn will increase footfall – it really is a case of ever increasing circles. But alas there are those who cannot see these opportunities and rather than use carrots to get our localised economy moving, once again we are being beaten with not one stick but several sticks all at once.

So just how do we increase the footfall through our City Centre and that is the €64,000,000 question?

Our festivals certainly bring additional footfall to the City but they do not necessarily bring increased spend for our hard hit commercial rate payers. The many festivals that we can now call annual events do continue to be reasonably successful but as with all events they have a lifespan and there are pluses and minuses to holding and staging such large annual events.

Unless these are staged as part of an overall “festival plan”, that avoids “clustering” of events, then there will be a diminishing return on our investment. In addition due to the fact that we continue to see falling or stagnant footfall to the City “clustering” our festival automatically equates to lessening the economic benefit for the commercial rate paying businesses in our City.

If we are to become a “festival capital” capable of rivalling the likes of Galway City then we must try harder to get it right, and perhaps more importantly we must work harder to get a greater “buy-in” from the very businesses that are paying their part through annual commercial rates contributions. At present many of these businesses see and perceive no or very little financial return and therefore we will continue to see issues around “buy-in”. Perhaps the messaging is all wrong and just maybe certain stakeholders are just expecting businesses to “buy-in” without examining the messaging they are delivering. Or at the very least they are wrongly “assuming” they have got the messaging right when in fact the only people on the same page are those closest to them and not the wider City stakeholders.

In a past life I organised trade exhibitions all around the UK and to keep these exhibitions fresh and relevant we had to introduce new exhibitors every year, we had to develop the exhibition every year and we had to be very creative with the messaging every year. If we got all that right we would continue to see annual increases in visitor numbers and increased visitor numbers meant more income for the exhibitors and this in turn gave the exhibition longevity. Get it wrong and an exhibition would very quickly become extinct. As I see it attracting people to our City Centre is much like attract people to those exhibitions I once relied on to make a living. In the exhibition industry we needed to have lots of carrots and there was not a stick to be seen anywhere.

One of the other recurrent issues with driving footfall up in the City Centre is of course the perceived cost of car parking. As a City we can now see mounting pressure attracting people from residential areas such as the Dunmore Road into the City Centre. The now huge variety of new shops and free car parking available in and around Ardkeen means there is less of an incentive for people to travel those extra few kilometres to the City Centre.

Drive past this area of the City and you will see many, many cars parked and many people shopping. And with the imminent proposed start to the excellent GIY project there will be literally many more attractive carrots in this area that will prevent even more people coming into the City Centre.

So it seems that unless we come up with a holistic approach to ensuring the renaissance of the City Centre we will continue to see it struggle and we will continue to see footfall remaining stagnant or falling. We really must come up with creative solutions that communicate the unique selling points of our City Centre and we need to give our City Centre businesses a much needed helping hand.

Let us stop looking for radical consultant lead answers when every man and his dog knows what is needed. We seem to be trying all manner of complicated solutions and yet the answers may well be right under our noses.

Have we misplaced our shovel?

Don't hold your breath. 

Waterford City Centre was literally buzzing last weekend and this in part could be attributed to the current promotional programme that is “Summer in the City” and of course the good weather helped also.

This is a cooperative effort by the Waterford Council, Waterford Chamber and the Waterford Business Group who have combined with the Council’s Art Department to organise a series of free entertainment events every Friday evening and Saturday afternoon right through until Saturday 12^th September. In addition there will be a concurrent ArtBeat project that focuses on young emerging local talent playing in New Bailey’s Street.

These two projects are truly a collaborative approach to making the City and its Centre a viable and attractive place for us Waterfordonians and our many summer visitors to congregate and enjoy some excellent entertainment. ArtBeat is also an “edgier” option for the younger members of Waterford at explore budding talent and New Bailey’s Street is certainly swinging to a different beat every Saturday afternoons right through until 29^th August.

It is by working together that we will move Waterford forward and create a product that we can all be proud of and to a certain extent we can all shout about in a positive manner.

But like so much positive news stories there is always a wee word of caution.

Whilst the City Centre is busier at the weekends we are seeing the start of the week becoming increasingly quieter. This is a concern to the many businesses and employers around our City Centre. The need to get increased footfall into the City Centre has to be a priority and increased footfall on the weekends cannot be at the detriment to the start of the week. This imbalance of peak shopping times needs to be looked at and, dare I say, we need to incentivise shoppers to come into the City Centre at the start of the working week.

In fact we need to incentivise shoppers to come into the City Centre on every day of the week!

With another large development about to open in Ardkeen Shopping Centre we will see further erosion of the possible market share for the City Centre and there can be no doubt that this will have an adverse effect on the footfall. We know that there are so many people who have simply gotten out of the habit of venturing down the Dunmore Road or down the Cork Road or coming across the bridge to access the City Centre and this has to be of immense concern to everyone.

Are we now inadvertently creating our own City Centre doughnut and are we ever so slowly strangling the life out of the City Centre?

I would be concerned that we are not creating enough incentives for people to come into the City Centre and this always brings us back to the age old problems and fiery topics of car parking and retail mix. When we hear and read about proposal to spend money on the North Quay and other areas “outside” the actual City Centre we must ask the question would such large sums of money not be better spent addressing the South Quay car parking. Is not the solution staring us in the face?

We need to “take back” the South Quay and reinvent this space/area as public realm space thus allowing us, our visitors, our tourists and alike to actually access this wonderful piece of real estate. I am sure the costs involved in claiming back these areas would be much less than any investment into the North Quay and would an attractive South Quay ensure an accelerated development of the North Quay. This proposition along with a radical solution to cheaper and more affordable car parking would drive up footfall in the City Centre and encourage a better retail mix. After all no big retailer will invest in an area that does not have the creative potential to deliver ever increasing numbers of shoppers and therefore income. 

Yes, the proposed Michael Street development will help our retail mix but just how long will this project take to come to fruition and will it come on stream in time to help boost the footfall to the City Centre. A North Quay development will also help in attracting “business people and suits” to the City but again just how long will we have to wait for this development, and judging by how long it has taken to knock down the old mills I would not be holding your breath.

Groundhog Day.

Surely, we need to be acting now and we need to be acting collaboratively to get our City Centre re-energized once more and the clock is ticking extremely fast and if we and the powers that be are not prepared to act in an accelerated manner surely it will be too late. And in years to come will we all be lamenting that we “should have done this and we should have done that” way back in 2014 and 2015.

Well, we are now halfway through 2014 and still we waking up to the same “Groundhog Day” issues and concerns that have been dragging on for years and years. Surely, we no longer need to wait for another consultants report or another enquiry. Rather we need to act now and we need to act radically once and for all to get the people of Waterford and our visitors back into our City Centre.

The very heart of Waterford’s future plans has to be the City Centre and if we are serious about positioning the City as an economic driver of the south east, as a future University City, with a University Hospital and so on, then we need to be proactive in our solutions in tackling the falling footfall in the City Centre.

Why can’t we introduce a creative car parking solution and give free car parking to support promotions such as “Summer in the City” to attract even more people into the City Centre? Why can’t we have reduced car parking rate rates at the start of the week and so on? Why is taking back the South Quay off the agenda?

Only three possible suggestions, but suggestions that will have real economic impact and at a time when all we will be hearing in the run up to the next budget and next general election is “this will create REAL economic impact” then that economic impact needs to hit Waterford pretty fast and very hard.

You don’t have to dig too deep to find those creative solutions. Maybe we have just misplaced our shovel?

Rise and Rise again, Until the Lambs have become Lions.

“Rise and Rise again,

Like the Phoenix from the ashes,

Until the Lambs have become Lions,

And the Rule of Darkness is no more.”

This seems to be a very apt poem for Waterford at the moment. We have been for far too long “down and out” and yet can we now see the real signs of positivity beginning to return to this wonderful City and County.

I have over the last number of weeks touched upon and written about the many, many positive business stories that have come our way and this week is no different.

We now have confirmation that Bausch and Lomb are to invest significantly in Waterford City and expand the plant that manufactures products for a truly worldwide market. I am sure that we can all remember the not too distant announcement from the new owners of Bausch and Lomb, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, that they were either to cut pay and resize the workforce or close the plant. This in hindsight, though a very tough decision to take for the workforce, has in the end been played out positively for all concerned.

Valeant have been true to their word that short term pain would lead to long term gain and we can see the fruits of this promise with a multi-million Euro investment in Waterford City and the South East region. There can be absolutely no doubt that the very tough business decisions made and taken not even 12 months ago will see long term benefit for Waterford City and the employees of B & L.

This news, in addition to the announcement of the Portlaw development by Agora Incorporated, will, I am sure, deliver much needed additional jobs across the region and more importantly help to reduce our unemployment rate back towards the national average target.

I also believe that there will be further positive job announcements in the near future and this to must be welcomed by ALL and celebrated. As collectively we are beginning to put Waterford back on the jobs market and that can only be viewed as encouraging news.

Whilst the jobs news is great the sporting success of the Senior Hurling Team must also be applauded and will in time help to create a more positive attitude from the people of Waterford.

I have asked the question many times over as to why our nearest neighbours are more positive about business and business opportunities. And I do believe that due to the county’s phenomenal hurling successes the business community and the people of Kilkenny are just not quite so shy when it comes to “beating their own drums!”

But perhaps now Waterford is on a sporting success journey that will allow the people of Waterford to once again believe that they have something to shout positively about in terms of GAA Hurling.

Thanks to Noel Browne for the picture.

I must confess that having come from Scotland to Waterford City, some fifteen years ago, I am not familiar with Hurling and all the finer points of the game. The Garland household was brought up on rugby and my Father was so respected in the game that his ashes are actually sprinkled on the pitch at Murrayfield, on the try line, under the goalposts, at what used to be the old clock terracing end of the stadium. We sprinkled my Father’s ashes in 1999 and Scotland did in fact win the last Five Nations that year, but since then our Nations rugby prowess has diminished and we seem to now be collecting more wooden spoons than championships. I suppose I must take heart from the fact that we are reigning Five Nations Champions and yet I attended the WLR FM Big Rugby Breakfast last week and Ronan O’Gara did suggest that I start supporting another sport – I wonder why? 

I have watched Waterford play hurling on many occasions and whilst I still do not fully understand the sophistication of the game it did seem to me that the team did not fully believe in their own ability to win. They seemed to play the first half extremely well and fade or falter in the second half. But the team of young guns that I now see on the field of play seem to have absolutely no fear of their opposition and they simply go out believing that they are better than the foe they will face on the pitch on any given Sunday. The players chase and chase again and never seem to give up. They are simply prepared to leave it all on the pitch and I am sure that after the game last Sunday there were many, many aching joints and sore muscles.

The self belief we have will determine how our business functions and operates and this in turn will determine just how successful we are in business. Self belief is something we ALL have to learn and accommodate in our everyday lives and the more we believe in our own abilities the better we will ultimately perform. We must also expel the self-doubt that lingers in us all if we are to face adversity in the face and travel the hardest road to our destination. As without testing oneself in our everyday and business lives we are clearly not trying hard enough.

The joy of our Waterford Hurlers will lift the City and the County and quite rightly create expectation for the coming Championship games. We must all harness the drive, determination and positivity of the team, the squad and the backroom staff and shout, without shame, about the wonderful Waterford City and County we all live, work and play in.

It is time for ALL our Lambs to become Lions once more and as the City and County rises from the ashes we must embrace the recent multi-million Euro investment success and we must celebrate our sporting success.

 “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools,” Napoleon Bonaparte.  

Keep the cash here & just watch us grow!

Just who has their finger on the pulse?

This week IBEC predicated extremely strong economy growth for Ireland Inc over the course of 2015 and figures that are well ahead of Government and EU estimates. In fact IBEC are predicting a growth in the Irish economy of 5.4% and they are also indicating that by the end of 2015 unemployment will be fall below 9%.

These are really some very strong headline figures, if they are in fact to be delivered, and if IBEC are able to predict with such accuracy we have to ask why then that ISME’s are less confident about an Ireland Inc recovery.

A recent survey by ISME’s to its own membership resulted in a press statement that business confidence is actually waning and that SME’s are increasingly pessimistic about the economy. The ISME survey polled some circa 930 businesses and stated that there was “a reduction in 11 of the 12 indicators used to gauge confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises” (source Irish Times.com 10^th April 2015). According to the study, business confidence fell by 50 per cent to 39 per cent in the quarter under review while expectations were down 65 per cent to 57 per cent. The declines come after steady increases over the past 12 months.

In addition to the above business bodies both stating their case we also have Government stating that recovery is also well on the way and that they are also targeting reductions in unemployment and strong growth in the domestic economy.

With everyone saying one thing and another just who are we to believe and just how do these predictions and forecasts actually affect Waterford and the South East region?

Ireland Inc is currently witnessing a three tier recovery with Dublin way out in front and heading the Championship Table, followed in close second by the south west/Cork/Limerick/Galway, and propping up the table we find the North West region and the South East region. There have been various Action Plans for Jobs and various recovery plans tabled and printed over the last three to four years but to date we are still to see and witness accelerated growth in the very regions that need most of the help on offer.

Unfortunately, we will continue to see an unbalanced approach to any recovery because you need to have real heavyweight political clout in order to fight the investment case for both FDI and domestic growth. To complicate matters Government and the political system are now on election footing and gearing up for a general election this time next year. You only have to look across the Irish Sea to see the political manoeuvrings currently going with manifestos promising this and manifestos promising that. All would seem rosy when elections are just around the corner but reality bites when we look at just how much ground the South East has to make up.

There is no doubt that there is some business confidence across the South East and yet we know that many businesses are having to find and secure business outside the South East region as the rate of economic growth here is slower than the rest of the country.

That in itself is not a bad thing and encouraging businesses to chase and secure contracts in non-traditional geographical areas is in general good for a business as they are spreading their risk. However, we do need to see stimulus packages in place to make doing business closer to home the real game breaker for everyone. This will help keep the cost of being in business low and will help to keep local incomes be spent locally and keep local commercial business rates and taxes coming in to the purses of local councils, to be once again spent locally. We do need to create a culture of generating money locally to be spent locally.

So which business organisations are we to believe when it comes to predicting the strength and recovery across Ireland Inc and in particular the South East?

We have to judge our own local economy’s recovery on a few key facts that our unemployment rate is still circa 3 to 4 percent above the national average (which of course is unacceptable no matter what spin is put on this figure), our youth unemployment is also considerably higher than the national average, third level educational attainment is lower than the national average and our disposable income per household is much lower than the national average! These few stark statements show that we need South East solutions to a South East regional problem of a much weaker recovery than the rest of Ireland Inc.

But what can be done?

The simplest and easiest way to start any local recovery is a commitment to shop local and on the ground the Waterford Business Group have always championed this approach and this commitment. We can see from the recent public relations that this Group have even engaged with Waterford ex-pats to push the “keep it local message”.

In fact the group have gone much further than that in recent weeks and months. The Waterford Business Group have been instrumental in the award of the Purple Flag accreditation, are an integral part of the City Centre Management Group, have recently provided free customer care courses to some 60 plus staff of Waterford Businesses, are about to pilot a scheme with Waterford Library Services and are doing so much more than they will ever be credited for. Yet because this highly organised and driven Group are not seen as a “pillar organisation” like IBEC, ISME, Chambers etc they perhaps will never get the credit for the volume of voluntary work they do on behalf of Waterford’s many businesses and the people of Waterford.

To sum up there is an organisation with its finger on the pulse in terms of where Waterford and the South East are in terms of an economic recovery, they work with the vast majority of businesses across the City and they making a significant difference to the City, County and region.

So the next time you want a commentary on just where our recovery is across the South East is just ask the right people, in the right organisation, that are doing far more for the jersey than can ever be put into print.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw.

There's rays of hope as City gets its place in the Sun!

My Grandpa always told me to very, very conscious of how you speak to people outside of your place of work and also championed the mantra that you must never judge a book by its cover.

These are two extremely important points to bear in mind if you own and run your own business as you must always remember that you are really never off duty and you are perpetually having to fly the flag for your own business. YOU are your business’s most important brand ambassador and therefore when you communicate with people face to face, on the mobile phone, by email, by letter or via social media remember that you will continually be judged in relation to your own business. And I will come back to this towards the end of this week’s article.

Waterford City retained its recent run of positive news stories this week when on Wednesday 25^th March Sun Life moved into their new premises, and these new premises were officially opened by Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton, Mayor of Waterford Cllr James Tobin, Sun Life’s Senior Vice President for Client and Technology Services David Healy, and Sun Life’s General Manager Karen Burns. All these speakers spoke of the drive and determination to make the Waterford arm of Sun Life’s global network one of the jewels in the business’s portfolio crown.

Sun Life in Waterford employs circa 300 staff members and the expansion into new premises gives a potential to employ many, many more and VP David Healy spoke of the team ethic of Waterford’s employees and their hard work and dedication that has made the Waterford facility as important as any other of Sun Life’s worldwide locations. In fact Minister Joan Burton also highlighted the fact that on a recent visit to the Group’s HQ the Waterford operation was talked about at Board Room level as one of the business’s best brand ambassadors. It is hoped that in future years Sun Life will take on several new staff members and this new premises is ready and suitable for any future expansion.

The opening of Sun Life’s new premises was much more than just another IDA backed expansion of an existing global business in Ireland. This was really a local team effort on many fronts and a huge amount of credit must go to Sun Life’s senior staff members for making sure that where ever possible contractors for the new premises were sourced locally. This commitment to source locally shows how it can be done, shows how it should be done and perhaps many other organisations should take note and copy this model. We need to see more large orga

nisations make a commitment to source locally as we all know that this makes commercial, financial and social sense.

There were a number of senior contractors engaged in the Sun Life project and these included; CJ Falconer and Associates Architects, Nevin Construction and Fieldmaster (Office Design and Service). There were also a number of smaller local contractors who were involved in the supply and fit out of IT, audio visual and so on. In total over 100 local people were involved in the project and that is a significant number of wage packets being invested directly back into our local economy.

Sun Life could easily have championed “a company sourcing or tendering policy from HQ” to use one particular supplier for this project. But they did exactly the opposite and credit must be given to them for making a commitment to source as much as possible from local Waterford businesses. The challenge is now to get other multi-nationals, government departments, and local authorities etc to look closer to home when seeking to find new suppliers. If there is a commitment to copy the Sun Life model then everyone will benefit. After all what is the sense in seeing wages being spent in Dublin, Limerick or Galway? We need a holistic approach to sourcing and engaging with local companies but above all we need leadership to make that commitment to try “by hook or by crook” to use local companies and therefore engage with local employees.

In addition to good news from Sun Life on Thursday 26^th March the Waterford Mail launched its first every annual golf charity competition in Waterford Castle Hotel and Golf Club. A poignant moment for me to return to my first ever place of employment in Waterford City. The event will raise money for three local beneficiaries and I do hope that this event will be supported by local businesses as the causes do need the additional support that the money raised will bring.

Whilst at the launch I had the opportunity to meet with the new owner, Seamus Walsh (and his team), of Waterford Castle Hotel and Golf Club and I have to say that I would be extremely encouraged that we will finally see this iconic island realise some of its latent potential. I believe that the new owner will not only make a significant difference to the Castle but he will also be an integral part of a resurgent Waterford and I am sure that he will be an important voice who will champion the need to connect with the people of Waterford City and County and the wider region. We wish you the very best of luck in your new venture.

 

So the above ultimately brings me back to my opening paragraph. I spent last week meeting with some wonderful business people who were to a man and women consummate professionals and ultimate brand ambassadors for their own businesses. And yet my week ended on a sad and bitter note that can ultimately be attributed to poor customer service.

On Sunday 29^th March, having competed a gruelling 100 kilometre charity cycle for Mount Sion Secondary School in aid of new Astroturf pitches, in hurricane like conditions, with a number of fellow The Biscuit Club members, I was met by a business owner who told me “Not to park that piece of s***e (my bicycle)” next to his apparently expensive bike. Initially shocked by this verbal attack I obviously had to retort in my usual Scottish manner. But this “business ambassador”, and I use this phrase loosely, has now lost a customer and a potential significant customer, as I will ultimately upgrade my “piece of s***e” at some time possibly later this year, but unfortunately not with him.

In business you must at all times take care how you speak to people as you can never be sure just where your next customer might come from!

“Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you.” Food for thought. 

It is Team Work that really counts!

It was with much disappointment that I watched my beloved Scottish rugby team lose yet another Six Nations rugby match in 2015. That is now three loses in a row and there is a very real chance that I will be adding one more “Wooden Spoon” to my ever expanding collection.

I once again found myself shouting expletives at the television set on Saturday afternoon and in the dying minutes of the match I began to look for scapegoats. Unfortunately, I started blaming the Irish referee Mr Georgio Clancy-Cappuccino-Cinquecento for what I felt, in the heat of battle, were some very unjust decisions and the awarding of the penalty try in the dying minutes was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. I could not believe that I was to witness another defeat on the back of some very dodgy and biased refereeing decisions!

How could Scotland be so unfairly treated by two consecutive referees in two consecutive Six Nation’s matches?

I was of course feeling hard done by and was naturally looking for someone else to blame, as often happens when poor performance is witnessed and experienced. I should have just accepted that Italy were the better team on the day and out muscled and outsmarted Scotland. In the cold light of day they deserved to win and I should not have been looking externally for excuses and I should have been focusing on how poorly the Scottish team performed.

“Honourable in victory and gracious in defeat”, my Grandpa once told me as a wee boy on holidays in the North East of Scotland in the beautiful City of Elgin. This mantra takes pride of place in my sporting life and yet sometimes due to passion and adrenalin I do wander off this track and become the ubiquitous bad loser. My family and friends will testify to that.

It is very clear that in sport and business we should be benchmarked by our own performance and to succeed on and off the field of play we do need to perform at the very highest possible level. This often means working as part of a larger team and knowing what you are or perhaps more importantly what you are not contributing to any given set of goals. To succeed as a team all the constituent parts have to work together for a common cause and every cog, wheel and motor must work in unison and work as one. Should any part malfunction then the whole mechanism will grind to a halt or break and subsequently fail.

It is therefore important to have very clear goals aims and objectives within any organisation or when attempting a project.

My disappointment at yet another Scottish rugby false dawn was soon forgotten when the Waterford Business Group (WBG) “Night at the Dogs” followed on from Saturday’s Six Nations climax with Wales beating France in Paris. The “Night at the Dogs” was a fundraiser for the WBG, with a pledge of money going towards the Ballybeg Brick by Brick Appeal.

A cold crisp evening awaited the WBG, the dogs, the race punters and the supporters of the Appeal at Kilcohan Park Greyhound Track. We had 11 great sponsors supporting ALL 11 races on the night and the highlight of the evening was the Waterford Business Group Sweepstake with a €1000 prize available for the winning dog.

The whole evening went by extremely smoothly and without a hitch due to the teamwork of the WBG Committee, support of Willie Moore and his Committee, and the great work of the staff at Kilcohan Park ably led by Carl Pallas, the Stadium Manager. Like a well oiled machine everyone knew what they had to do and what was expected of them and the success on the night was simply due teamwork and planning.

There were no scapegoats and no one to blame, as nothing went wrong on the evening because everyone performed to the very best of their ability.

And this ability to perform at the very highest level leads me on to ask these very simply questions “Is Waterford really performing to the very best of her ability?” and “Are we ALL really pulling the right direction or are we pulling in opposite directions?”

These two questions really should initiate considerable debate and if the answer is “No” to the first question and “No” to the second question then how do we turn that around and how do we ensure that we are all, to use a well worn phrase, “Singing off the same hymn sheet?”

When we see so many of our competitive towns seemingly stealing a march on Waterford City is it because they have a more cohesive approach to working together or do they simply get projects over the line by “Hook or by Crook”. Do our competing towns take the attitude that this will be good for our town so we will make the project work?

It does seem that getting projects off the ground in Waterford is difficult and securing support also seems to be rather laboured and full of ever-present barriers. Yet when driven people have the strength and determination to keep going the rewards are there. And projects that are lead by driven people do come to fruition, but why oh why does it have to be so difficult?

There are many great projects, schemes and developments going on in and around the City and yet there could be so many more if we just fostered a culture of being willing and able to identify what projects will put the City back to its rightful place as Ireland’s fourth City of the Republic.

We need to encourage those with drive, vision and determination and help them deliver for the betterment of ALL. We need to see REAL teamwork at play and REAL strength of mind to work with the right people who can deliver for this great City of Waterford.

By finding the right people and creating the right “Team Waterford” we will not have to find scapegoats such as I had to do towards the end last weekend’s Six Nations rugby match. Instead we can create a well oiled machine that delivers for Waterford City, County and the South East.

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm,” said Winston Churchill, maybe secretly he was a Scottish rugby fan.

ENDS

Sometimes a simple word of thanks can be the best bonus.

We see many businesses and organisations put in place reward structures that focus predominantly around a receipt of a cash reward. And we hear periodically about groups of individuals from specific industry sectors, particularly investment bankers and banking in general, earning huge cash bonus rewards. In some cases these can be referred to as “balloon payments” and these are more often than not measured in the hundreds of thousands of Euro.

When I worked in London one of my friends was employed by one of the world’s largest merchant banks and to this day he is still employed in this industry sector. I recall one year, in the late 1990’s, whilst driving to Cardiff for a Wales versus England rugby match, we started talking about the how well each of us were doing in our respective areas of employment. Three of us in the car thought we were being gainfully employed until we heard of the yearend “balloon payment” our banking friend was about to earn.

It was an unbelievable £250,000!

Well to say the car went quiet was an understatement. We were simply dumbfounded and yet the amount was such a regular payment in this industry that our banking buddy stated the amount with such little excitement and enthusiasm that we had to ask again just to make sure we heard the figure correctly.

When asked how he could justify such a large bonus payment and how he could have earned such a vast payment, the story I was told was trapped in my memory forever.

As a Senior Fund Manager he would gamble, his words not mine, people’s pension funds on the open market and was given leeway of plus or minus £5,000,000 a week! If a profit was being made then the company rewarded his gambling with massive end of year bonus payments.

I ask if he had any concerns that he was gambling people’s retirement funds and his answer was simply “No”. He told us that he was so far removed from the source of the money that it was just a process to him and the money was therefore not “real”. As he worked away on several computer screens he never actually saw any of the money transactions he made or lost, and as a consequence it was just like a computer game to him and I suppose a bit like online gambling today, but with absolutely none of the obvious risks.

Initially, I would have been more than a wee bit jealous. As would the other two friends in the top of the range BMW paid for on the back of balloon payments. It had started to rain, as it always does when you drive towards Wales. And as the westbound carriage of M4 motorway was heaving in a sea of George Cross clad English rugby fans, and we crawled ever nearer the Severn Bridge (the old one and not today’s shiny new bridge), I was so glad not to be involved in an industry that rewarded such high risk strategies and created a culture of greed, dishonesty and a breed of sales people that in my mind had no scruples and or ethics whatsoever.

That journey was almost 20 years ago and yet we regularly read and hear about the very same over inflated bonus culture that still exists within the banking industry. Despite the collapse of banks, such as Barings, bailouts and many other financial scandals these International institutions facilitate. We just do not seem to have learned the lesson that over rewarding staff based on large monetary bonuses can be counterproductive and in fact can often be incredibly destructive.

There are so many other ways to reward your staff other than simply taking the easy option by making additional monetary payments to them.

I would always be concerned that monetary payments, over time, not only become expected, but to a certain extent become rather meaningless. And by meaningless I am implying that the staff member or members in receipt of regular bonus payments more often than not forget the “Why” and the “What” are the core values of the company or business they work for. They merely do what is necessary to earn that yearend bonus payment no matter what the consequences are.

It sometimes does quite evidently become a race to the bottom with no real vision as to what a bonus culture is doing to a company’s brand image. And remember every single employee is a brand ambassador for the company and business they work for. So by creating a bonus grabbing culture within a company or business this can be very much counterproductive.

You would think that it would be relatively easy to set up a sales function within a company or business. But getting the right structures in place and getting that sales function working smoothly, is one of the core fundamentals that so very often is incorrectly planned and more often than not not set up at all.

Many businesses focus on rewarding their sales staff based on achieving, meeting and surpassing targets. Targets that are often set without applying any real thought and science to the process.

There is far more to motivating staff to sell correctly than just a monetary reward. Clever companies put a great deal of consideration and energy into coming up with creative strategies on just how to reward their staff and when to reward their staff. I have even come across some reward schemes that acknowledge and reward an employee’s wife or husband and their family. These schemes build a unique relationship with their staff and make sure that employees see a bigger picture when working for the company. They are more likely to go that extra mile if they know that their employer is taking an active interest in what goes on “outside the factory fence”.

In many instances there does not even have to be a monetary reward to motivate and encourage staff members. We are social animals and in general we like the one to one human interaction we have been designed to receive. And we have been blessed with two ears and one mouth; I always say that we should be listening twice as much as we speak. Communicating messages of encouragement is something that must happen more regularly in our day to day business lives. A simple acknowledgement of good work and a verbal “Thank You” is often all that is needed to bring the very best out of many staff members.

Unfortunately, this is missed on far too many senior managers and business owner and those who cannot even be bothered verbally thank their staff will see this indifference seep into and trickle down to ultimately affect how customers are dealt with.

And finally, remember that a balloon always bursts when it comes into contact with just one little prick. 

ENDS

Purple Flag will restore some balance to City spend.

As a wee boy growing up in Glenrothes, in central Scotland, our family lived on an estate that was designed as part of a number “New Towns” built to house the overspill of the redevelopment of Glasgow’s infamous tenements.

These new town planners had designed self sufficient housing estates that contained the entire infrastructure needed for modern family living in 1960’s Scotland. This included compact modern housing, a “village green” type grassed play space, secure garage lockups for your modern car, local shops, primary schools, a post office, lots of open space and one of my most enduring memory’s was a state of the art playground with new shiny brightly painted playground equipment that was in my mind the best in the world.

The playground that serviced Cromarty Court was on the way to my school, Rimbleton Primary, and was the most wonderful of places to start an adventure from. Included in this playground was one huge monolithic slide (or "shoot" as we called this in Scotland) that was in my eyes simply the highest structure I would ever have to climb, a series of three swings, the essential (yet lethal) brightly painted steel and wooden roundabout, but the most impressive of all these items was the yellow and blue seesaw that sat at the very heart of the playground. This to me was the best of the best of all the things to play on and partly due to the fact that a fall from the top of the shoot one sunny day put me off this once favourite play structure.

One of my many memories of playing on the seesaw was of course seeing just how many of your friends you could get standing on this balance beam on what would today be seen as a health and safety on no. Unfortunately, the once common seesaw has been replaced by those wobbly and springy ducks, hens and elephant contraptions that break ALL your teeth or give you children whiplash.

One abiding memory that will stick with me forever would be when one of my, shall I saw heavier playmates, would sit at one end of the seesaw and I would be left dangling one hundred feet in the air helplessly bumping up and down on the seat to try and bring my end of the seesaw back down to terra firma. On the odd occasion, when I would be feeling brave, I would push myself over the brightly painted safety handle and edge inch by inch towards the central pivot point and through the powers of some mystic magic seesaw fairy I would somehow make myself heavier thus levelling out the weight distribution and bringing the seesaw back down to ground. I would later learn in Physics classes, at Bell Baxter secondary school, that at five years old I was in fact implementing one of Newton’s many laws, which to this day I still do not understand and so I will be sticking to my fairy theory.

It was this memory that sprung to mind in early December when I was in the City Centre and several businesses from the George’s Street, Gladstone Street and O’Connell Street area of the City stopped me and asked why there were no additional Christmas lights etc in these areas when compared to Christmas of 2013. I believed that the reason is due to the fact that the ice rink this year had been moved and was set up further down The Quay, towards Rice Bridge, and that this meant there was no additional emphasis on the entrance to Winterval up and through Gladstone Street and along George’s Street. In 2013 there was a greater importance stressed on bringing footfall through the City Centre by directing people up Gladstone Street and along George’s Street and thus in 2013 there were significantly more lights, a number of craft cabins, some food stalls, better signage and even a gigantic blow-up snowman or bear or something on The Quay showing you the way through Winterval.

This year there was very little in the way of Christmas decorations in these areas and many traders and businesses were feeling that they had been forgotten in 2014.

Some traders and businesses had even said to me that there was a clear inconsistency in terms of investment in this area of the City when compared to other areas of the City and this of course has led to many metaphors coming my way.

But the one that seemed to be coming to the fore was the idea of an unbalanced seesaw where one side of the seesaw had seen significant and continued monetary investment at the cost of the other side. Thus there will always be one area of the City looking better than the other and for a City the size of Waterford this is extremely noticeable and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Clearly, there has to be a rebalancing of the seesaw and this cannot be the sole responsibility of the traders and businesses that have chosen to invest, work and trade in this once bustling area of our City. Over the last few weeks we have seen and heard of numerous entrepreneurs investing in property in this part of the City to start that renaissance process. But this would be made much easier if it was felt that there was at the very least some parity in terms of future investment. If we are truly to drive the City forward then we need to encourage more investors into the City and this will be made much easier if the current set of entrepreneurs feel that the seesaw can be balanced.

The proposed Purple Flag for Waterford City will incorporate this area of the City Centre and in fact extend right the way down The Quay towards Rice Bridge. If we are to be successful in marketing the City as a future Purple Flag destination then we need to see an accelerated investment outside of the Viking Triangle area. There are a significant number of commercial rate payers across the City Centre that wish to see not only an increased investment but fairness in terms of balancing that investment. An investment that is ultimately partly paid for in the commercial rates contributions made on an annual basis by the businesses and traders across the whole City Centre.

Through the wonders of Google maps I have discovered that my playground still has the slide and three swings, but sadly the roundabout and my seesaw have been removed – no doubt removed by the mad health and safety world we live in today.

Here’s hoping the optimism continues in 2015.

In Scotland we would celebrate Hogmanay or the last day of the year, and thus we would be celebrating the passing of the Old Year rather than the tradition of our Auld Enemy south of the border who celebrate the coming of the New Year.

All across Scotland there would be regional variations to Hogmanay including places like Stonehaven that would have a parade of flaming fireballs down the main street, Dundee would have the traditional first-footer (or first visitor) bringing into the house not the usual gift of coal but a fancy herring, in Falkland there would be a torchlight procession up the Lomond Hills (an extinct volcano), St.Andrews would have a tradition of specially baked cakes but in reality we Scots are of course known for one huge party on the 31^st December that may continue for two or even three days into the month of January.

The formula for a traditional BIG party on Hogmanay has now been exported around the globe and Edinburgh led the way many, many years ago and this winning formula has now morphed into a celebration that lasts several days, starting pre-Christmas and finishing in early January. Our celebrations would also guarantee many a sore head and the serious threat of one biblical hangover for hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults. But as I have grown older and wiser the ability to balance alcoholic intake in smaller measures has now come to me and the years of celebrating Hogmanay with such gusto are now few and far between. The tradition still carries on in the Garland household that we celebrate the passing of the Old Year and we remember the good and try to forget the bad on 31^st December of each year.

Away from the commercialisation of Hogmanay many families will sit down with friends and neighbours and recall the best and worst of the past year. And the worst of the year will be made all the more palatable with the supping of a good Scottish malt, the singing of Auld Lang Syne (crossing arms only during the last verse) and of course the obligatory countdown, with BBC One Scotland on the television, to signal the passing of the Old Year and the beginning of the New Year.

2014 has been a hugely busy year for the Waterford Business Group (WBG) whom I am immensely proud to say I am a founding member of. The main committee is made up of 5 females and 7 males, which gives the committee a unique dynamic unlike any other group I have been involved in, and believe you me I have been involved in a staggering amount of committees and groups.

Founded in March 2013 and formalised with a full constitution in January 2014 the WBG has achieved an astonishing amount in not even 24 months in existence. The achievements are made all the more remarkable considering that the Group is entire voluntary, is membership based, and receives no funding from any other sources bar membership income and through fundraising.

The committee members are giving their time and energy for FREE for the betterment of the City, County and the people of Waterford and yet we and many other voluntary groups still hear firsthand the negativity and pessimism towards our work, and through the wonders of social media we continually read from keyboard warriors of how it could and should be done better. Perhaps these keyboard warriors’ New Year resolution would be to get involved – only a suggestion!

To get back to celebrating the passing of the Old Year I have highlighted below some of the WBG achievements for 2014. This is by no means an extensive list and has been created in no particular order, as ALL of our achievements no matter how big or small, are important to us. So here are some of the Waterford Business Groups 2014 highlights:

• Lobbying the previous Minister of Environment for commercial rates support to allow the balancing of the City, County and Dungarvan Annual Rate on Valuation in the 2014 and 2015 budgets. 2015 will see no commercial rates increases for businesses.
• Lobbying Government for additional grant funding to allow capital works such as the painting of Michael and John’s Street buildings to be carried out.
• Integral part of the City Centre Management Group and are one of the most active stakeholders on said Group.
• Working with new and potential City Centre investors to ensure that they invest in Waterford City.
• Creation of a new Waterford Business Group website specifically developed for members and businesses to use – www.waterfordbusinessgroup.com
• Creation of Waterford Street Ambassadors who support the Group’s activities, act as a contact point for local businesses and can be the “eyes and ears” for businesses in the City.
• Creation of the Waterford Retail Watch Scheme. A closed texting service that circulates information and descriptions about potential shoplifters, know criminals etc. The scheme has netted some excellent results in 2014.
• City In Bloom initiative that saw the City blooming with flowers throughout the Summer of 2014. This project will be extended in 2015 and beyond.
• Shop Local Saturday supported by the WLR FM outside broadcast unit and supported by a Live Local, Love Local, Shop Local campaign.
• Summer In the City musical festival with Waterford City Council and ArtBeat.
• Purple Flag initiative stakeholder and one of the most active stakeholders working on this project for the City along with City Council, Chamber and Garda.
• Guerrilla Gardening project along The Quays and throughout Ferrybank.
• Founders of the Waterford Shopping Voucher along with the Chamber. This local shopping voucher scheme has the potential to keep literally thousands of Euro circulating in the local economy.
• Support for many local projects including the New Street Gardens, Winterval and many others.
• Liaising with local Garda to keep our Waterford City safe.

The WBG have done so much in the past year and we would hope that come the end of 2015 we will have an even bigger list of achievements to publish.

On a final note I do hope that we can all march through 2015 with renewed optimism and a sense of pride in our City knowing that there are individuals that are willingly giving their own free time to make Waterford the best place in Ireland to live, work and play.

Our collective efforts will bring real rewards and remember that there is strength in unity and strength in numbers. So support local when and where you can as you know deep down it makes sense.

I hope that 2015 brings everyone health and happiness.

ENDS

Michael Garland, founder of bizBoost