Sales & Marketing coordinator, Alex Norris’ recent appointment to team Ground & Water represented something new for everyone in the business and put its values to the test. He explains why.

My arrival at Ground & Water meant a new company for me and a new employee in a brand-new role for the company. Since its formation in 2009, they (or now, we!) have grown steadily without the need for a dedicated in-house marketing team or even an individual focussed on either sales or marketing. This is indicative of two things. Firstly, the excellent work that the team do and the amount of growth that has been achieved largely through referrals, word of mouth and old-fashioned relationship building. Secondly, a willingness and even a desire, for everyone here to roll their sleeves up and get involved when a bit of sales and/or marketing related work comes up.

I have been made to feel part of the team from day one

And make no mistake, good work has certainly been done in those areas. I feel incredibly privileged to have joined an organisation where there is already a great deal of excellent content, both in its internal sales & marketing literature and on its external facing website. And Ground & Water has a sales process, which has already been tried, tested, and refined. So why am I here, I hear you ask? I’m here to ensure it gets to the next level and just as importantly, free up the rest of the team to get on with their various day jobs, at which they are clearly the experts.

One area where everyone pitches in is the regular blogs that Ground & Water have put out over the years. If you’re reading this, it’s likely this is not your first time on the website; but in any case, I encourage you to have a browse around dozens of articles written by our team on a wide variety of topics – most related to site investigation work and the various “sub-topics” surrounding this key aspect of what we do. This consistent sharing of expert opinions and advice is something which I am very keen to continue and to make it easier for all involved, I will be carrying out interviews with the team members and creating blogs from those moving forwards. The hope is that it can then only take up a few minutes of that person’s precious time rather than several hours, but our content will still be rooted in the expertise that real hands-on engineers, technicians and various other roles can provide.

The Ground & Water family get on socially as well

Our leadership team has already been extremely receptive to a few ideas I’ve had since I came in, including a new live chat function on the website – if you’re reading this during office hours you should see a box in the bottom right corner of your screen where you can say hello or ask a question!

This is just one small piece of evidence that everything I heard about Ground & Water prior to and then during the interview process, is true. They are all about finding the right people then empowering and trusting those people to do their job to the best of their ability. A genuinely people-focused business dedicated to looking after employees and clients alike, ensuring that at all times both are treated as people with wants and needs. I have watched Ground & Water lead with integrity consistently in my short time here – solutions which are in no way the most profitable for us being recommended because they best suit a project’s requirements and objectives, along with several Continuous Professional Development courses specifically tailored to clients’ requests.

From an employee’s perspective, I have been a huge beneficiary of the Ground & Water people-first approach within just over a month of starting with the company. Earlier this month, my mum passed away. She had been somewhat ill for a while, but it took the entire family hugely by surprise. The only contact I had from the office in the couple of weeks after that was a seemingly endless stream of support and kindness, from every level in the business. I was actively asked by a director to switch off from work when I absentmindedly answered a group message that came through to my phone. I was asked in advance of any call, and when one came through it was literally: “how are you, how is your family, can we do anything at all?”  “I think I’m doing okay all things considered, but I am conscious that I’ve only been with Ground & Wa…” “I’m going to stop you there. It doesn’t matter. You take all the time that you need, we are all thinking of you and when you’re ready to step back into things, your job will still be here.”

I am very aware that I have not been with the company or known all of the fantastic people within it for long enough, to show that I am worthy of the kindness, support, and patience which I have been shown in the past few weeks. That is why I have absolutely no reason to doubt that it has truly come from the goodness of their collective hearts and genuine empathy. Now I’m back, I can’t wait to repay every one of them by getting stuck in and making a difference for the team. There have been a few false dawns in my career thus far, but I know my mum was incredibly happy for me when I told her all about the new role I had found and the people I would be working with. All the more motivation to make her proud moving forwards.

We support each other’s personal endeavours as well – this was a group outing to watch our resident thespians in a production of The Drowsy Chaperone

The best way to sum up my start at Ground & Water is “promising” – I couldn’t have asked for a better onboarding process with a gradual introduction of new responsibilities but instantaneous acceptance as part of a tight-knit team. Be sure to follow the journey on which we are about to embark – I know that I’m very excited to have joined a group of industry experts, providing an outstanding service and customer experience. I feel the Ground & Water family is excited to have someone on board who is dedicated to driving sales and marketing operations, along with the additional level of planning and organisation that this will allow them. There are a lot of ideas being discussed and a lot of exciting opportunities which we’re looking forward to grabbing with both hands – I won’t spoil it here, so you’ll have to follow us on all the socials, keep an eye on the website and attend some upcoming events to stay in the loop. Big things are coming – we hope you’ll be along for the ride!