Monday

I was at work for 8am ready to review what happened at the weekend – mainly to check we had enough people to handle all the calls. We have more than 30 different shift patterns so we can match working hours to our people's needs. Lots of them work part-time hours. I was pleased to see we had very few people absent coupled with some really good performance figures from both sales of insurance policies and policy renewals.

I get a lot of e-mails, so next I spent some time catching up with these. I spent lunchtime in the employee lounge, which is a great space where our colleagues can relax during their breaks, watch TV, go online or just chat with their friends. Sometimes I even take them on at table football, but not today.

In the afternoon I had my weekly meeting with senior managers, the HR manager and training manager where we cover the operational detail of ongoing activity, getting updates to ensure the smooth-running of the call centre operation.

This afternoon I had a team leader and advisor forum to discuss everything that is happening on-site and check they're up to date on the latest news and see if they have any ideas on improving how we work together.

I'm also on the project team for the BGL Group's senior management conference being held in Venice in September. We will have 175 managers at the event, and I'm in a team that has been tasked to decide on the business activity for the last afternoon of the conference, so I had an update meeting this afternoon to look at what we'll be focusing on.


Tuesday

Tuesday started with the weekly networking meeting for directors – an informal get-together in the on-site Costa coffee shop at BGL Group's head office, Pegasus House in Orton Southgate. This is a great way of finding out what's happening in other parts of the company, and to let colleagues know what's happening with Fusion at Bretton.

Next I had a "prospect" visit. We regularly have visits from companies such as the Post Office and Marks and Spencer who are already working in partnership with the Junction division of the BGL Group to help them offer insurance products to their customers. This morning's visit was from a prospective new client – I gave them an overview of the company and some detail about how it runs. I also gave them a tour of the site to see the contact centre in action, introduced some of the key people and then let the visitors sit down with the advisors to listen in to some calls.

It's the last week of the month, so it was time for the monthly managers' meeting which I chair. Here we review performance for the last month, to look at where we're doing well and where we could make improvements.

Next I had an induction visit from Andy Bord, a new director who will manage the BGL Group's own brands of insurance such as Budget and ibuyeco, the carbon neutral motor insurance. I gave him an overview of the business and gave him a tour of the site and let him listen in to some calls.


Wednesday

Today I went up to our Fusion Contact Centre in Sunderland to meet the head of site there, Jason Turner. We meet to share best practice and review details about some of our operational plans. To me, it's essential to make the effort to see people face-to-face at some point rather than doing everything over the phone from Peterborough.


Thursday

I'm project sponsor for Fusion's annual awards scheme – Go For Gold – where employees from all levels have a chance of winning some fantastic prizes including the top prize of a holiday worth £4,000. It's a very exciting scheme. We have tied it in with sponsorship of potential Olympic athletes from areas close to each of our UK call centres. In Bretton, our local athlete is Goldie Sayers, the British Record-Holding Javelin Thrower. She's great fun and has been in to visit everyone here and take part in some games as part of the launch for the Awards. We're all rooting for her to win a gold medal in Beijing.

I also had a meeting about Peterborough United Football Club – we've decided to take on sponsorship of a corporate box at the POSH again next year. We're really excited that POSH have gone up a division and we're hoping to get Aaron McLean to visit us in Bretton at some point. He won the Footballer of the Year category, which Fusion sponsored, in the The Evening Telegraph Sports Awards earlier this year.

I'm also a project sponsor for Fusion on Communications. We had an update meeting today where we looked at all the methods we use to give and receive information. The next stage is to put it on our intranet so everyone at all our sites can see how we communicate with them. This also includes a calendar earmarking special events and promotions to see what's happening on site at each site every day.


Friday

Today I was involved in a high level all-day strategy session with the Fusion Board planning for the 2008/09 financial year which starts in July.


Saturday

Today I played in a competition at Elton Furze Golf Club – I enjoy a reduced rate membership as part of one of the many benefits of being an employee of the BGL Group.

Afterwards I picked up my son Tom (17) from a call centre in Bedford where he works at the weekend to get earn some extra money while he studies for his A-levels.


Sunday

We went to London today to do a "dry run" for Olivia – our 15-year-old who's going to be doing work experience at a fashion magazine in Notting Hill Gate. She's going to be staying with family friends in Ealing for the week and we wanted to make sure she's prepared, with a safe route into the city each day.