Liz Mayes is starting to get used to regular trips down the A19. In her new role as North-east director of EEF she gets out and about on Teesside, making frequent visits to manufacturing companies that make the regional economy tick.
On one particular trip she tried to explain what she does for a living to her five year-old daughter, Lois.
Liz recalls: “We were driving over the Tees flyover and I pointed to the industrial landscape. “I try to help all of these companies”, I told her. She just sort of looked at me so I’m not sure I got the message across! She is only five, after all.”
The Teesside business community is certainly listening to Liz as she bangs the drum for local manufacturing. Appointed to her new role in September, she has been busy discovering the key issues facing the sector and forming a plan of action to tackle them.
Top of the list is the age-old skills crisis which shows no sign of going away soon. An estimated 8,500 skilled workers from the region’s engineering and manufacturing sectors are expected to retire and need replacing by 2020.
In this context talk is cheap but Liz, a self-confessed pragmatist, is already putting building blocks in place to tackle the issue on a practical level. She is driving the development of EEF skills groups in the region - an initiative that could become a national template for other EEF offices around the country.
Chaired by Siemens Energy HR director Mike Jones, the North-east group is working with dozens of local schools in a bid to promote the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and the career opportunities offered by an increasingly diverse manufacturing industry.
Liz says: “We are making strides in tackling skills issues. In 1993, 26% of the manufacturing labour force had no qualifications. By 2013 that figure had fallen to 16%.
“There are certain perceptions of the industry that are just wrong. The idea that factory work is low-skilled is a myth that needs to be got rid of.”
As well as grappling with skills and other weighty issues, Liz is also assisting members on practical matters such as legal compliance and productivity gains through the adoption of lean manufacturing techniques.
A naturally gregarious person, she seems to be a natural fit for a role in which face-to-face communication is essential. She’s had a good grounding for it, too, having spent twelve years building strong business relationships at the CBI. She joined the organisation in 2002 after completing an economics degree and gaining two years’ experience at a small business research company.
Initially she took an executive-level role at the CBI but quickly rose up the ranks to become assistant director to former regional director Sarah Green. The job required a diverse skills set, with Liz organising events, managing accounts and promoting the benefits of CBI membership across the region.
She became acting director for a short while after returning from her second maternity leave before taking on the EEF role “to further my career progression”.
It’s a far cry from her first taste of work experience as a teenager, when she earned extra pocket money helping out in her mother’s hair salon in Lincolnshire. One of eight siblings in a “big, complex family”, she had a “normal” upbringing and “happy” childhood before she headed off to study economics at Durham University.
“I hope I don’t sound too boring,” she says. “Try to write something that makes me sound articulate and interesting.”
Articulate and interesting she certainly is, but boring? Not a bit of it.
In a business world dominated by big egos, refreshingly normal is just fine.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
What is your biggest achievement (personal or professional)?
On a professional level, getting the job at EEF. It feeds into my passion for North-east engineering and manufacturing.
What car do you drive?
Honda Civic.
What’s your favourite food?
Fish and chips on the Fish Quay at North Shields, where I live.
Favourite tipple?
A cup of Ringtons tea - it has to be Ringtons!
What’s the last book you read?
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook. It’s all about the challenges of having a family and progressing your career - something I can relate to.
Who or what makes you laugh?
My nutty five year-old daughter Lois. She comes out with the most wacky stuff - I think she gets her sense of humour from my dad!
What’s your ideal job (other than your current role)?
If I won the lottery I’d like to open a little tea room somewhere.
What’s your greatest fear?
Something bad happening to my kids.
What’s the best piece of business advice you have ever received?
Honesty underpins great leadership. You have to be able to have difficult conversations as well as the easy ones.
How would you describe yourself?
Happy, optimistic, pragmatic and calm. I like to get things done.
How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?
£10 for working Saturday mornings at my mum’s hair salon. I was 15.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
Good quality food.
And your speciality dish?
A good Sunday roast.
How do you relax and unwind?
By having days out with the family.
Where is your favourite Teesside place?
The entire industrial landscape of Teesside is absolutely unique. Where else in the country would you see that vista?
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