A five minute chat with…Zoe Miles

Zoe has never been one to let the grass grow under her feet!

In the latest in our series of five-minute chats with Q3 people, we hear from Zoe Miles the Operations Director for our Landscape business.

“Hi, I’m Zoe Miles and I am the Operations Director for Q3’s landscaping business. I have had an interesting journey into the world of FM and my current role.

“For many years, I worked for various homeless charities involved with ex-service personnel and helping people with drugs and alcohol issues. The work was very rewarding, but after nearly 10 years on the front line, I decided to take a step back and moved into the social housing sector instead. After a short space of time, I was headhunted by the former head of operations at a multi-service provider called VPS, who invited me to jump the fence from client to contractor.

“This was in May 2019, and I arrived on the first day of the job to find that the business had been acquired by Q3 only the day before. Consequently, I joined a completely different organisation to the one which interviewed me. Even worse, was that Q3 had not been informed of my appointment, so no one in the senior management team knew I was supposed to be there, which was unsettling as a newbie. I had been given the title of Junior Contract Manager, but it was obvious pretty quickly that the expectation and level of responsibility was much higher than that. Given the fluidity of the situation, I felt I had to prove my credentials to the new organisation during this early period, and gave the job role everything I had.

“Fortunately, the hard work paid off and I was quickly appointed as Head of Account Management in September 2019 and then Operations Director in March 2020.

“Despite the unusual start with Q3, this career move has worked well for me. It’s a demanding role with lots of responsibility and no two days are ever the same. Most days are a juggling act, with demands coming my way from every angle and although you can plan as much as you like, unless you can be flexible and adapt on a day to day, this job would not be for you. I feel I thrive under pressure and have the ability to be reactive and turn things round. That’s important in this management role and I can usually bring the teams along with my decisions because I like to think I make (on the whole) logical and fair decisions.

“Our grounds maintenance teams cover the South-East and West of England, delivering GM services to social housing clients as well as schools, retail centres and blue-chip organisations. My typical week starts with an Ops update with the team leaders, then meetings to deal with invoicing, cash flow, KPI reporting, works orders, client contract meetings, then site surveys and quotes. Recently, I’ve been overseeing the transfer of one of the depots. It’s incredibly varied.

“I find the HR aspect is the toughest part of the role for me, but at the same time, I love working in a people business and there is a real sense of togetherness and buzz about Q3. It’s a great feeling getting compliments from clients about the quality of the teams’ work and the willingness to go the extra mile.

“Outside work I really enjoy music events; listening and creating. It’s a complete contrast to the hurly-burly of the working day and allows me to switch off and relax, – failing that wine always helps!!!”