{"id":5023,"date":"2021-03-04T14:29:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T13:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/stafford\/?p=5023"},"modified":"2021-03-05T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T11:59:40","slug":"iwd2021-choosetochallenge-speaking-to-sara-williams-ceo-staffordshire-chambers-of-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/stafford\/2021\/03\/04\/iwd2021-choosetochallenge-speaking-to-sara-williams-ceo-staffordshire-chambers-of-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"#IWD2021 #ChooseToChallenge  Speaking to Sara Williams, CEO Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;4998&#8243; img_size=&#8221;875&#215;1509&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<strong>What impact has the pandemic had on you personally and professionally?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Personally it has meant that I have missed my team and spent more time at home and have worked probably harder than I have worked for a long time!\u00a0 With the economy under such pressure the Chambers of Commerce have really stepped up and provided a service of information, advice and help to thousands of businesses in Staffordshire.\u00a0 Professionally, the greatest challenge has been moving from place based to digital, supporting my excellent teams in delivering help to businesses and people who are struggling and ensuring that everyone\u2019s mental health is looked after.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has Covid-19 changed your way of management?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think I have got much closer to my teams, we instigated daily meetings at the start of the first lockdown and currently have twice-weekly meetings which everyone appreciates and enjoys.\u00a0 Zoom and Teams has meant that it is easier to have all staff meetings on a monthly basis and also that we can quickly get the right people together to deal with an issue.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it seems that there are even more emails than ever!\u00a0 I have found that I can now attend more meetings online but I miss the downtime to consider what I have learned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Going forward, is there anything that you will be doing differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We will be working in a much more agile way and will be in the office some but not all of the time.\u00a0 We are going to use our building differently to encourage more businesses to drop in and share our space.\u00a0\u00a0 We are investing in new digital platforms and a new website and hope that this will encourage\u00a0 businesses to work with us in different ways.\u00a0 We want to be really responsive, customer focused and supportive.\u00a0 I think we always have been but we are now really putting that at the heart of our operations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has kept you hopeful during this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a bit corny but the thing that has kept me hopeful is seeing how adaptable people are and what a great service we can offer to businesses and seeing how businesses have turned to the Chamber in a time of crisis.\u00a0 Also to see how businesses are changing and adapting themselves.\u00a0 Business owners and entrepreneurs are by their very nature optimists, and this has kept us all looking forward and believing that we will come out of this together.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<strong>Women inspiring action<em>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>transforming lives\u00a0 \u00a0&#8211;\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>We stand up for Women\u00a0 \u00a0&#8211;\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Believe to Achieve!<\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Why not join us?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;4998&#8243; img_size=&#8221;875&#215;1509&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What impact has the pandemic had on you personally and professionally? Personally it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":753,"featured_media":4998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-club-news","category-international-womens-day"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>#IWD2021 #ChooseToChallenge Speaking to Sara Williams, CEO Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce | News | Blog | Events | SI Stafford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SI Stafford : Blog &amp; News : #IWD2021 #ChooseToChallenge Speaking to Sara Williams, CEO Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Stafford . 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