Nigel Barron
My role allows me the time to focus on understanding how things work and how they could work even better.
Describe your typical working day?
I have always liked to start early in the morning so I am usually in work for 7.30am. This allows me to review what’s happening, prioritise and plan for the day ahead. I will have a number of meetings throughout the week and each day can be a different topic and a different group so one day can be an internal review meeting to look at production, distribution and Quality updates and the next meeting can be a call with the client to discuss an ongoing strategic initiative. I typically plan my day and try to minimise disruption as I find this is the best way to make real progress. It also makes you take the time to look at those actions or tasks that you sometimes put off in favour of more easily achieved goals! It is also important to get the right balance between work and personal life so I also like to leave the office reasonably early to make the best of the evening!
I am also fortunate that my role offers me the opportunity to travel. Meeting and spending time with the customer is not only enjoyable but really crucial to building the relationship with the client. I travel about once a month and typically for 2-3 days at a time and this really works for me
Do you think your job makes a real difference?
Yes, I believe my job makes a difference. The Strategic Relationship Manager role is a new role within the Business Development team. A big part of the job is making it easier for the customer and Almac to work together. It is not as easy as it sounds but I really enjoy working with all the internal teams at Almac, identifying opportunities to strengthen how they work together and with the customer. Understanding both the client needs and what is important to them and being a voice for the client within Almac is also really important to me. Everyone in their job can think of something that could perhaps be done better or quicker or they find frustrating but they feel they don’t have the time to spend looking at in detail. My role allows me the time to focus on understanding how things work and how they could work even better. Both the internal teams and client teams really appreciate someone taking the time to listen to them and do something that makes things just a little bit better for them. This strengthens relationships and trust and creates the dynamic for improvement and change.
What type of exciting projects have you worked on?
I am very lucky that a key part of my role is working on strategic initiatives and that clients I work with are also very much focused on innovation. I have worked on a range of projects which are right at the forefront of clinical supply development. These include bar coding, elabelling, information warehousing, label service such as regulatory and translation services, the latest in temperature monitoring of clinical product on the supply chain such as individual kit monitoring. What is particularly challenging and interesting is trying to identify which of the many technologies make sense and will add real value for Almac and our clients.
What advice would you give someone considering applying for a job with Almac?
It is of course important to know what Almac are about and particularly understand the values that are core to the organisation. Almac are interested in people who are motivated to do their best for Almac and for Almac’s customers.
Everyone has qualities. Make sure you demonstrate yours.