Bryony Fagan has never been work-shy. Starting her first full-time role after college as an office administrator at NCP, within a month of joining the company she was offered a position as the regional managing director’s personal assistant. When the northern and southern regions were merged, she became assistant to the MD, Duncan Bowins.
The role was the first she applied for when she moved to Manchester and although she wanted to be a career PA, she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. Bryony and Duncan immediately established a good working relationship and she now sees herself staying there for the foreseeable future.
After the merger, an on-the-road lifestyle became a necessity, especially under Duncan’s management. “He likes me to be out and about and experiencing the business we are working in,” she says. Together they travel the country on cluster visits to all of the regional car parks, calling on each site in turn during the year. She admits that these tours can get very intense, with long days, but are a great experience. “We spend time in the car parks wearing high-visibility jackets and actually help to run the sites,” she explains.
When not on tour, she divides her time between NCP’s London and Manchester offices. “Duncan’s role is national and I attend as many meetings as possible with him,” she explains, adding that they try to keep the amount of time spent in both areas evenly balanced. The pair are seen by their colleagues as a unit and she is proud to add that they get on like a house on fire. “Duncan took me under his wing and has really nurtured me over the past year. He’s very practical, approachable and inspirational.”
The strength of their partnership is clear. When Duncan decided he wanted to put together yearly conferences for thecompany, he asked Bryony to help organise them with his team of directors. “I’m always keen to get stuck in and take on extra responsibility, so I loved it.” The first conference had a six-week lead time, however, which meant quite a few long days prepping and working closely with everyone involved to ensure that it was a success. Bryony comments that despite needing to have such flexible office hours to prepare everything internally, it was worthwhile, as all those who attended loved it.
She now helps to arrange four conferences regionally each year, in Scotland, Manchester, the Midlands and the south of England. In total, roughly 600 delegates from NCP attend, so Bryony and her colleagues take the time to provide them with a bit of fun. At the first conference, special in-house videos were shown to staff demonstrating such business acumen as how to attract customers during the holiday season. This was done with the whole team of organisers in Christmas-themed fancy dress, which proved to be quite a surprise for some of the attendees.
The company works in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, and Bryony is taking part in the Salford 10km run this year as part of the fundraising. As well as her eagerness to get involved, she comments that her role demands organisation, confidence and, above all, flexibility. She also works well under pressure. “I get things thrown at me and they have to get done.” Her work can be “quite manic”, as is evidenced by Duncan’s diary, which is often filled with meetings a month ahead at a time. “At the moment we are holding a lot of meetings to plan for the future of NCP. It’s very customer-based, so the team is always looking for new products to improve the experience,” she elaborates.
Bryony is a huge advocate of NCP and the role she plays within it. “I couldn’t imagine not doing the job I do – I just love it,” she enthuses. Having found a vocation that fits her so well is proving to be an inspiring start to a long-standing career.
A day in the life
- 6am I get the train down from Manchester to London. I’m very comfortable being on the road and enjoy the fact that, depending on where I am, my day can be very different from one to the next.
- 8.30am I start work by going through the diary and then checking Duncan’s emails and mine for anything urgent. I’ll print off everything he needs for the day’s meetings – I try and get him everything ahead of time so he doesn’t need to ask. We aim to respond to any queries we receive within the same day.
From there it can vary a lot – every morning I usually make a list of everything that needs to get done that day, and in what order of priority. As Duncan travels so much, a lot of my time is spent making bookings. From July onwards, I will also be preparing the annual regional conferences. - 2pm I take on ad hoc jobs as they occur, but most of my daily tasks are meetings and document preparation, for instance creating PowerPoint packs for Duncan and the 10 regional heads of operations. It can take a couple of afternoons to collate everything, as it involves gathering information from lots of different sources and creating finance slides.
- 5.30pm My working day officially comes to an end, but I’m happy to stay until later when needed. When I’m in the London office, I often work late as I want to get things done. I love my role, so I’m willing to do what it takes to be a success.
