My First Week at Avencera

When Katy (‘the boss’) suggested to me that I might like to write a blog about my first week at Avencera, I reacted as many who have worked in-house in comms or external affairs might. “Sure”, I said, “but what sort of voice do you want me to use?” Inside, I was thinking: “Do you want me to write it aimed at prospective clients? Or at potential new staff? Do you want it to be funny? Or serious? Or insightful?”

But Katy simply looked back at me, her face a cross between amusement and bemusement. “What do you mean?” she said, “write the piece as you of course!”

Therein, I think, lies some of the magic of Avencera.

My first week here has shown me a group of people who thrive on diversity in the truest sense of the word. You aren’t asked to be like anyone else, or to conform to a specific idea of what the right answer is. Avencera is successful because it attracts people with such different talents. And it is only through harnessing those talents together that you can solve the trickiest problems of today.

Crucially, there is no hierarchy in those talents. There is no-one (or if there is, I haven’t found them yet) who thinks comms and engagement is less important than analysis, or that building assessment products is less important than writing strategy advice for c-suite executives. Breadth is celebrated, because the more different skills we have the better it is for everyone. People want to help each other, they ask questions, they are happy not to know the answer.

I have been told in the past that I talk too much about being an ex-civil servant. Well, I’m going to do it again. Because one of my favourite things in my first week here has been engaging with so many former public servants of all descriptions – whether that’s civil servants themselves, but also former college leaders, teachers and doctors. And that’s because so many people have the wrong impression of public servants in this country. Too often I hear phrases like “they wouldn’t last two minutes in the private sector”. Well, these guys have lasted a lot more than two minutes. These guys are taking the skills and knowledge they developed in public service and applying them to the problems so hard that established consultancies couldn’t get anywhere near fixing them. As a proud ex-civil servant, that makes me feel pretty good.

I also have to say something about the work we do and the clients we do it for. We simply have the best clients who ask us to do the most interesting things. I’ve been particularly fascinated to have Matt Hamnett bring me up to speed on the work we’re doing with the Thames Freeport – something I’ll be getting stuck into over the next few months.

Coming into a project of this scale, where we’re leveraging the power of the freeport to drive a step change in AI skills across the region, is exciting enough. But to have a big Reza-shaped space to slot into, leading engagement across all interested stakeholders including global technology companies as well as the media and politicians, is an absolute dream.

You might think be thinking now, well this all sounds great, but what’s the real story here. Surely this is too good to be true? And you’d be right. I still haven’t quite figured out how to use the shared area yet. My laptop keeps forcing me to install more updates. And I definitely offended my new boss by telling her that her Avencera-branded gilet made her look like a farmer.

But all in all? I’d say it’s been a pretty great first week.