Meet Steph Drinkald, Assistant Centre Manager at the BIC
You could say Steph was always destined to become our assistant centre manager, particularly given the need to make our tenants’ business, her business, and she’d be the first to agree!
Lighting up the BIC everywhere she goes with her positive outlook on life, Steph loves nothing more than getting to know our customers, so we thought we’d take the time to get to know her a little more!
I’ve been here 19 years now, so I feel like part of the furniture.
I started in 2007 around the same time as Jo Sinclair, who is now in the marketing team. We were both in our early 20s and I was working three days a week on reception, but as the years have gone on, we’ve both progressed and become really good friends.
I’ve had multiple roles in that time, but I think I really found my dream position when I began working with Doreen and became assistant centre manager. It means I have to get to know each and every tenant and even half of their personal lives too, which I’m sure most of them will testify too! I absolutely love it.
I’m really interested in people.
If I’m not talking to tenants, contractors or staff, I’m on the phone to them or asking about them with other members of staff. I’m just so interested in people!
I try my best to build a rapport as quickly as possible with tenants which is key to the role. Like I say I don’t need to know personal lives, but I tend to find that out anyway. It’s lovely and really helps with the job.
Once you build that rapport, you tend to find that you can talk to people from any walk of life and make much more of a difference to them and their businesses. The not so positive aspects, say if a tenant has issues – which is rare – because you’ve built rapport it’s so much easier to deal with.
My people skills I think are my best asset. I like a good talk and I think that’s why I love what I do so much. Even if it means visiting a tenant sometimes takes twice as long because I end up stopping to chat to people along the way!
I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
The BIC are really, really good at helping their staff progress. Health and safety is a good example. I did a task for someone else and when I spoke about how much I enjoyed it, they pushed and encouraged me to go further and follow it up.
They not only listened to me but went out of their way to ensure I was reaching my potential and I now encourage my staff to do that. It’s the same with workspace, I loved it and they put me on courses to learn more and progress. I think that’s the main reason I’m still here.
We’ve started creating hampers now too.
When a company is moving to the BIC or expanding, it’s so exciting, especially businesses that are just getting started, so we try to make sure the move is as painless as possible and make them feel settled.
One of the ways we do this is by creating hampers ready for them moving in, which is something we just recently started doing but has gone down really well! It is just a lovely finishing touch.
One thing people probably don’t know about me is I’m a huge history nerd!
I read a lot of history books and visit a lot of quirky little book stores in my spare time to find old books. I’ve been like this all my life. I don’t know why I’m so interested in history; I just am!
For instance, at the minute, I’ve just read two volumes on the gun powder plot and am now reading Victorian history. It’s my absolute favourite thing to do!
A few people have inspired me along the way.
The main one being the centre manager, Doreen. I work very closely with her and she’s always made it clear I can go to her about absolutely anything.
She’s helped me progress to where I am now and is always encouraging me to do more and push myself, even when it’s out of my comfort zone.
I absolutely love working alongside her.
I have a bizarre obsession with… health and safety.
There aren’t many people around who like Health and Safety but I really, really do, so I’m honoured to be the BIC health and safety officer! I genuinely like it and love the fact that the BIC completely trust me to ensure everything is safe and running smoothly.
My dream legacy is just knowing I’ve played a small role in shaping the BIC community.
It might sound cliché but the BIC really is more than just workspace and I would like to think that I’ve contributed to the amazing community that we have managed to create here over the years.
In fact, I hope that will be my legacy, the fact that I have played even a small role in creating this amazing place where companies of all shapes, sizes and from all sectors have come together and been able to grow.
It’s a laugh a minute!
The maintenance guys really love to play practical jokes and the wider team get involved too. Whether they’re jumping out from behind cars or bushes, they are always playing jokes and making me jump out of my skin.
One of the funniest moments however was when Doreen and I got one of them back by sneaking up on all fours while he was painting with his headphones on and gave him the shock of his life.
There are always little jokes going on. You never know when they’re going to happen and because you’re out and about all the time, you need eyes in the back of your head because someone can jump out on you at any time!