Helen Moore, group director of Orbit Homes, is a woman who is working in the construction sector. In this article, Helen explains to PBC Today how the sector needs to address the skills shortage and tackle gender diversity in construction
I would like to tell you that my lifelong ambition was to work within the construction industry, however, it happened purely by chance! It has, however, given me the most exciting, fascinating, and rewarding career, and I am passionate about encouraging more young people to be enthused to join our sector. It is essential, to address the acute skills shortage and avoid ‘group think’, so that we become a sector which is seen as an attractive place for anyone to build a successful and rewarding career, and tackle inclusivity and gender diversity in construction.
I received a lucky break as I had just completed my Business Studies degree and I was introduced to Alan Cherry, founder, and Chairman of Countryside Properties, who said he was always looking for bright young graduates to join his business. The interview went well, and the rest, as they say, 33 years on, is history!
Alan was an absolute visionary and for a young graduate, who knew nothing of housebuilding and construction at the time; he became a fabulous mentor. I learned so much about creating new communities and what makes a genuinely attractive, tenure blind, sustainable and viable development, which I have used throughout my career.
It was a fabulous place to work and so many of my contemporaries have gone on to great things from that excellent grounding. I have always been very driven, and having seen so many young people in senior roles at Countryside, I set myself the objective of being a Sales & Marketing Director by the time I was 30, which I achieved, albeit with only three weeks to spare!
Progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go
When I joined, I was one of only three women, who were not either secretarial or administrative support, out of a team of 350. I felt it was necessary to reach Director level before having a baby if I were to be taken seriously and not overlooked for promotion. How many men need to think, when is the best time in their career to have a child, I wonder?
That was in 1998 and I was the first female in the organisation to have a child and return to work, so there was no maternity policy, or enhanced maternity pay in place, but thankfully I was able to resolve that for those that followed me.
It’s almost inconceivable to believe that was the situation only 23 years ago and there has been great progress in the intervening years, but the truth is, there is still a great deal of conscious and unconscious bias in our sector.
After 16 years, I left Countryside and joined Crest Nicholson as Sales & Marketing Director of their newly formed Eastern region, based in Brentwood. I had made it clear at my interview that I aspired to become a Managing Director.
I am a firm believer that we owe it to ourselves as women to clearly articulate our goals and then work really hard to achieve them. It’s important that no one can ever use the excuse that they didn’t realise you were ambitious.
This is something that men are far better at than women! Research shows that if a man fulfils 60% of a job description, he will apply for the role, whereas women generally want to fulfil 100% of the criteria before they apply. We must take a leaf out of our more self-confident male colleagues’ books and put ourselves forward and then, when we get the position, avoid the tendency to succumb to imposter syndrome, as many women do, despite having to be damn good to get the job in the first place!
It became clear fairly quickly that my ambition was not going to be realised in a timescale that would suit my ambitions, so I took the decision to start my own business and become a Consultant, add more skills to my CV and to utilise my experience gained through two recessions to help others through the Financial Crash of 2018.
My first client was City & Country, a family owned business that specialised in the restoration of historic and listed buildings. After working on a consultancy basis for a number months I was asked by their CEO if I would be their Sales & Marketing Director and I politely declined saying I had made that mistake before! But I did say I will be your Managing Director, he laughed at the time, but eighteen months later, they offered me the position as their first non-family Managing Director.
Stepping up into the role of MD was not without its challenges. It was a staunchly male dominated business, with several guys who had their eye on the role of MD, so you can imagine it took quite some determination, resilience, and sheer hard graft to win them over.
Coming from a Sales & Marketing background however was, I believe, enormously helpful as the communication skills I had honed over the years meant I was able to effectively articulate my vision and the more professional and progressive culture that I wanted to instil within the business.
Construction needs to encourage more women into senior roles
When I joined City & Country, there were only a handful of female members of the team, other than those in administrative roles, but by the time I left, it was almost a 50:50 ratio and I believe this made a huge difference to the balance of the team, the quality of decision making and ultimately our results.
Sadly, I still see a huge gap in gender diversity in construction, particularly in women reaching the most senior positions in our industry. The challenges are often around stereotyping, and statistics show that women do have to be so much better to achieve the same as their male counterparts.
They also often bear the brunt of domestic and family duties meaning their effort and level of commitment to succeed has to be even higher. All too often, the unconscious bias around expected female traits is used against female leaders; men are considered ‘assertive’ while women are considered ‘aggressive’. Men are ‘strategic’ whereas women are ‘manipulative’, men are ‘passionate’ whereas women are ‘emotional’.
It is very disheartening to learn that 75% of performance reviews for women include negative personality criticism and women are 2.5 times more likely than men to receive feedback about aggressive speaking styles.
Sadly, woman seeking senior positions need to develop a thicker skin and work harder if they wish to succeed, but it also is important for us to embrace our difference as diverse views and experience make a team so much stronger and more effective.
While at City & Country, I introduced a graduate training scheme and it was great to hear the feedback from potential candidates that one of the reasons we had so much interest from females was because it was self-evident that there was no glass ceiling in our organisation.
After ten years, I felt it was time to move to my next challenge. I knew I would never find an organisation with a product as truly stunning as we delivered at City & Country, but I felt sure there would be other opportunities where I could use my passion to add value. I turned my attention to seeking a role where I could make a real difference to other people’s lives.
Orbit could offer me this, being one of the largest housing associations with a portfolio of 45,000 properties and over 100,000 customers, with a vision to lead in building thriving communities. They were looking for a Group Director to lead Orbit Homes and grow their land led strategy to deliver 6,500 high quality, tenure blind, new homes by 2025.
I have learned so much about the amazing work Orbit does to support our tenants through our award-winning Better Days Programme, helping them to thrive on a personal basis too. This has motivated me to ensure that at Orbit Homes, we harness the strength of combining social value with commercial focus; to ensure we deliver profit for a purpose through our activities.
I have now been with Orbit for two and half years and in that time, we have re-branded Orbit Homes and built a new website; created our own design standards, RoSPA accredited house type range and sector leading standard specification.
This means our homes are not only well-designed, attractive and safe to live in; they are also more cost effective with durable fixtures and fittings, which is as important to us as it is to our customers as we retain many of the homes.
The team are also working hard on solutions to achieve net zero carbon, deliver homes through modern methods of construction and seeking to make every pound of investment go further through working with social enterprises. But for me, one of the most important things is to create a more diverse team and a more inclusive place for people to want to come to build a successful career.
Women in senior roles need to act as role models to create wider gender diversity in construction
I have always said on balance, despite the challenges, that I believe being a woman in a male dominated industry has been of benefit to me. I certainly have had the standout factor – only this month, I was again the only female leader in a room full of homebuilders. Thankfully that is changing, but not nearly quickly enough.
I consider it essential for women in senior positions to be great role models and that it is our personal responsibility to hold the door wide open for others to follow and go on to achieve greater things.
Helen Moore
Group Director
Orbit Homes
Twitter: @orbitgroup
