Janyne’s Q&A

How did you get into what you do?

I started my journey in defence, but have always been in commercial. I moved to IT, developing my experience across different services before moving into facilities management with CBRE. FM is similar to IT in that it's fast-paced. I worked out what I needed to do to make a positive impact on the business, and worked my way around and up the ranks. In the end, I grew my remit to manage a large portfolio to the value of c.£500m.

When I joined Macro in 2021, it was a pandemic era career move. Ross Abbate had reached out to me, and it was clear that the combination of my ambition and desire to take on a new challenge, and a business that's creative and flexible, an integrator, would be a great match.

What do you enjoy most about your current role at Macro?

Team. Giving people growth opportunities is important, but developing a good culture is a really big thing for me. I enjoy that.

I've recently gained responsibility for more teams as my career has developed, and we're on that journey of getting the culture aligned. We're creating ways of working together, synergies and improvement to deliver the growth the business is looking for.

I love winning work and creating solutions for clients. I really enjoy the “how to” element of solving customer's business issues and the sense of reward that comes from bringing the teams together to do this.

How do you find a better way/ push the boundaries?

For me, looking to improve and optimise what we do is everyday life. When we devise solutions for a customer as part of a mobilisation (whether it's cost saving, statutory compliance, or answering the question “how do I expand my portfolio?”) how we adapt is key. Whether it's a tech solution or something else, what's key is having an open mind.

We also create success through effective planning and attention to detail. As part of our standard governance approach, we review our proposed solution across every element, from structure to supply chain wherever we are in the world. One common challenge is how we take a first-time outsource and still deliver a saving when there may be set-up and one-off start-up costs. We’ve become more effective at this now and take the client on that journey with us.

What has been your proudest achievement at Macro so far?

At the moment, the thing I’m proudest of is our work win rate. 2023 has been the most successful year we’ve ever had and it’s a testimony to the work the whole business has done to deliver excellence and the work our bids team have done to make sure that this is captured and presented to potential clients.

Personally, I’m also very proud of how we’re integrating the teams to deliver better outcomes – breaking down silos, understanding how you can help and equip people deliver and where we can do things better with working groups to develop our offering – we’re at the beginning of that, a new beginning, and it’s an exciting one.

Why Macro Group?

I joined Macro (then Mace Operate) in 2021, because I was looking for a new journey. Going global was something I wanted to experience, and I wanted to help shape that growth.

As we re-launch Macro as an independent business, there's a wonderful opportunity to have an even greater influence on how we do this, and to make a difference and contribute to how the business develops.

What motivates you every day?

I enjoy working in a place where everyone wants to turn up – I don’t just mean attendance, but that commitment to coming in and giving your best, it’s how we’re geared.

Team is hugely important to me too – where everyone is committed to working together and for each other to achieve our common goals – it’s what we all work towards in terms of how we do things and is a big motivation for me daily to both create and be a part of high performing teams.

What skills do you need to be good at your job?

People skills, collaborative skills, communication skills – being able to speak to people and interact is the key element to what I do. A good conversation goes a long way – most things can be solved by speaking to people.

From a technical perspective, I’d simply describe the core skillsets I need as words and numbers – you need to be highly competent in both to work across the contract lifecycle.

From interpreting what’s being asked for in an invitation to tender, to writing bids, scrutinising contracts and their feasibility to mobilisation – those core skills are at the foundation of my work.

I took a degree in law, but it’s not so much your academic background that’s important but more how you can use your transferable skills to work across different projects and sectors.

What advice would you give to someone looking to get into what you do?

I describe my role as working within the grey a lot – there can be lots of grey areas and so there’s plenty of opportunity to give them definition which means there’s scope to learn, to be dynamic and to shape the business.

So be keen, be hungry and want to learn, grow and do well. The job is interesting as no two days are the same, but you can make it even more interesting through what you bring to it.

Also, get to know different areas of the business and become a go-to (not a go-through) person. I know it’s a cliché, but think outside the box, sometimes the best ideas can come from looking at an opportunity from a different perspective.

I’m a firm believer that a process is a good thing, but at the same time stepping outside of it (and knowing when to do that) can be important – there’s always a solution to a problem and it’s just a matter of finding it – that’s what I live by.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

My family, spending time with my kids. My children are both young and so getting a big hug or smile at the end of the day is what’s important to me.

If you hadn’t got into this line of work what do you think you might be doing?

As a kid I wanted to be a basketball player. A big part of my life was team sports. I love competition, but I also love teamwork and I’d like to have pursued a sports route.