Rob Hutchings, winner of the UK Bus Awards’ Young Manager of the Year award, speaks to Madaline Dunn about his work in the industry, and reveals the key to good management
Before entering the bus industry, Rob always knew he wanted to work with people. Studying Economics at Leicester University, he then went on to study a Masters in Business Management at Loughborough University, before applying to a range of graduate schemes. Rob said that he found the transport industry particularly attractive due to the chance of early responsibility: “I knew it was hands-on and not just being sat behind a desk,” he said.
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Rob was chosen to go on the Stagecoach graduate scheme: “It gave me the opportunity to do a lot of travelling across the UK in different postings, and that meant a lot of exposure,” he continued. “I had a really good five years with Stagecoach and then I had the opportunity to join Arriva London in a promoted role as General Manager (GM) of two large garages in central London.
“I was the GM responsible for operations and engineering for 18 months, and then recently I became Area Manager for four large garages and circa 1500 staff in North London.”
After taking on such a demanding role, I asked Rob to walk me through his day-to-day and tell me about what the job involved. He stressed the importance of maintaining a good relationship with his co-workers: “Interaction and engagement with the local managers is so important. It’s down to me to make sure that they get the support they need and the right guidance to continually improve whilst the garage is running as smoothly as possible,” he said. “I try to get to each garage every week and visit the local management teams.”
Rob explained that this entails balancing one-to-ones, group catch-ups and team meetings, as well as keeping up with the obligatory emails and phone calls to keep the wheels turning.
“I am also involved with the other parts of the business which focus on route performance, working alongside our mobilisation team to prepare for route wins and focusing on driving key metrics across Arriva London as a whole.
“It’s all about looking ahead and trying to be as cost-effective as possible. Ultimately, for all four sites, I’m responsible and delivering to a budget. I’m responsible for maintaining standards, both from an operational point of view and management standpoint. My teams regularly meet with the directors to discuss current performance.”
The secret to good management
Responsible for a plethora of different areas and juggling many balls at once, I asked Rob what he thought were the essential qualities for good management, and how he ensured that all the cogs moved smoothly. “In terms of qualities,” he said, “you have to have the ability to make a balanced business decision and cut away from the noise of ‘business-as-usual.’ I think it’s important to not go along with the crowd. You have to be patient and learn from those around you.” He emphasised the importance of accountability: “Perhaps most important is being accountable for the decisions you make, and visible management is key to that. It’s all about engaging and communicating with your team on the front-line.”
Having acquired plentiful knowledge about the bus industry and its inner workings over the years, I asked Rob how he had managed to excel in the industry at such a young age. He responded: “I’m quite driven; I work hard to deliver and never shirk responsibility. For me it’s all about getting in amongst it – learning how to do something yourself and finding out the most about your job and other people’s jobs. That’s what I did on the graduate scheme, and that’s what I continue to do now. The most important thing is learning from your mistakes and moving forward.” Rob also stressed the importance of putting in the work and dedicating oneself to the job: “I’ve also always put myself up for ad-hoc activities and extra responsibilities,” he added.
Drawing upon his enthusiasm to succeed and achieve, I asked Rob how he had managed sustain improvement at both the Brixton and Norwood garages in London. Rob noted it was a collective effort: “There are two very dedicated teams there. There are lots of key management and supervisory staff who work with me not only day-to-day but in the wider business approach looking forward to the future.
“We began undertaking our transformation program of Brixton in January 2018, and with the use of business excellence tools, we won the hearts and the minds of the local staff to deliver improvements across the business. That enabled us to get traction in monitoring our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and our efficiencies in a much more detailed way which in itself delivered a lot of improvements off the bat. Moving forward, it was about maintaining traction. It was the same for Norwood. Now, although I have moved on to an Area Manager position, I know that the garages are still doing well using the same toolkits which is a testament to the local management.”
Team success
Considering the dynamic nature of the job, I asked Rob what his favourite aspect was. He couldn’t name just one: “Celebrating success with colleagues is a great part of the job, as is the constant and varied engagement I have with this vast and diverse workforce – I’m constantly engaging with the workforce at all different levels throughout the business.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to travel across the UK quite a bit – I’ve made friendships for life, and I have great memories from being around the UK as a result of all my postings,” he added.
“In terms of personal achievements, winning ‘Young Bus Manager of the Year’ was massive for me. Similarly, I was the GM of the Brixton Garage when it won Garage of the Year in 2017 – so that was a big achievement.”
I asked Rob to tell me a little bit more about his win at the UK Bus Awards. “At the UK Bus Awards it’s always really exciting,” he said, “because you get to see colleagues from past and present, and share successes with them.
“I personally felt really proud to be there from the start – to be nominated for the award in the first place was for me an achievement in itself because there are a lot of dedicated people in the industry. I was really proud to win the award.” He continued: “It was a lot of hard work over the years; I felt an overwhelming sense of pride. When it was announced, hearing my name read out was massively exciting. It was a good night, with lots of celebrations.”
When asked what made him stand out from the other candidates, Rob was very humble, noting: “I had to do a quite a rigorous presentation and interview in front of the committee, which demonstrated tackling age-old problems in the bus industry, and I was able to demonstrate efficiency and real improvement in the ways which I was tackling the problems.”
Taking on challenges
Speaking of tackling problems, I asked Rob if there had been any challenges he had overcome within his time as a manager which had tested his managerial skills. He replied: “In the bus industry, you are constantly up against a difficult operating environment. Across the UK there are falling passenger numbers, so we have to make sure that our revenue growth is there, that we’re controlling costs and that our quality is ever improving in a highly competitive market.
Motivating colleagues and working with the Trade Union is equally as important – we’re a people business after all!”
Rob added: “Other than that, the other challenge is that when you’re trying to implement new projects or plans, it’s important to make sure your team is on-side as a whole. There’s an ongoing challenge to deliver as best as possible.”
Totting up all of his successes I asked Rob what his plans were for the future: “At the moment, I’m focusing on improving the bus services that we operate for our customers, and continuing to deliver a quality service to the local community. I hope to continue my track record of getting good results, and have fun doing so!”
Bringing back the basics
In terms of the future of the industry Rob said: “The bus industry is under a lot of pressure, not just in London but nationally; seismic changes such as electrification, Uber, Deliveroo, and express supermarkets all provide operators with challenges.
“Across the board, there will always be a place for mass transit operation, especially in densely populated areas. The bus industry as a whole needs to react more quickly in an operating environment, and focus on delivering the basics to attract customers and maintain and improve bus passenger patronage levels.”
He continued: “The transport industry is also under a lot of pressure due to shopping patterns and habits of our customers and so we need to continue doing what we do, delivering the basics right. If we do that people will come back again and again.”
As a successful young person in the industry, I asked Rob if he had any advice for young people thinking of entering the industry. He said: “Try it – you won’t find a better opportunity to work in such a varied role, delivering a service to thousands of people every day. It’s an opportunity to develop and progress quickly, and an opportunity to demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the business quickly. You won’t be bored, just keep your mind open and soak up all the experience. If you keep your head down, and you are committed to the role, there’s no reason why you can’t progress.”
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