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Teamwork is the key for Oliver Lancaster, Director of Operations
Oliver Lancaster is our new Director of Operations. We caught up with him recently to find out more about his career journey and how his experience as a rugby fly-half was the perfect preparation for a career in operations.
How did you make the switch from directing on the pitch to directing operations?
“I’ve always been a keen sportsman, and growing up, I played a lot of rugby. I was lucky enough to play semi-professionally for a few years, which sort of fulfilled a dream. I played at Harrogate and Lymm in the National Rugby League. I was fly-half, and did all the organising, which I think makes a lot of sense, given what I do now.”
“I think for operations, there’s kind of one of two routes people tend to take, and it’s either from a warehousing background or from a purchasing and supply chain background, and that’s where I came from. I started my career as a retail buyer, working for an e-commerce company in Manchester, and then, gradually, moved up the chain from there. I moved to a couple of businesses, and then ended up at Involvement, originally to look at product diversification and then purchasing.”
“The move to operations really started when we launched a new system, Business Central, back in 2022. It was a massive change for the business, and there was an opportunity for someone technically minded to steer elements of the project, particularly the purchasing side. Then gradually I became involved in designing the warehouse management system, and I really enjoyed it. The project went well, and I kind of never looked back from there. I found myself as Head of Supply Chain and, more recently, the Operations Director.”
What’s the secret to successfully rolling out a complex, technological move, such as the one Involvement made to BC, and what are the benefits?
“At the time, it was such an important project because the system we were on was quite antiquated and we’d outgrown it. It was a massive project, and it was only getting bigger year on year as we grew. It was a significant cash investment just to buy the system. But an even bigger investment in terms of the amount of time it took for key colleagues as well, so it was a difficult project.”
“Our move to Business Central delivered us more than efficiency”
“But what the BC project has given us, and the role technology plays and continues to play in our business is yes, efficiencies. But it’s more about the ability to relax to things like regulatory changes. We’re not having to completely redesign paper-based processes or add a load of resource into it. It would take up a load of time, a load of money if you had to hire more people to deal with things like plastic tax, EPR, or BRC regulations.”
“Microsoft 365 Business Central has helped us to meet our reporting obligations and our customers’ reporting obligations as well. Being able to leverage technology for that allows the people in the business to focus on more value-added things, rather than pushing numbers around a spreadsheet.“
Tell us about the Invo Fulfilment-Palletforce partnership. That was another great example of how a combination of speed, agility and teamwork got a project over the line.
“Invo Fulfilment joining the Palletforce Network has been another highlight, because it displayed all of Involvement’s strengths in one project. We were in advanced talks with Palletforce, about joining their network. There was going to be a really gentle 10 week onboarding period, and we were just in the process of working out what that would look like. Then one Friday, I got a phone call saying a member’s gone bust. Can you take these postcodes on for Monday? So, I have to make that choice today.”
“The correct answer really was no. But knowing what I know about Involvement and particularly the people here, I knew we were capable of doing it. I knew it would be difficult. And I also knew that it was a one-chance opportunity. If we didn’t take it there and then, those postcodes would have been given to somebody else, because they have to guarantee full coverage.”
“So, we said yes. It was a challenging couple of weeks, but we achieved it, and now, only a matter of months later, Invo Fulfilment are consistently at the top of the Palletforce leaderboard. On all the key performance metrics that they track our team has been 100% for a number of months. That consistency week on week is absolutely fantastic. And that’s what we can achieve. That’s what we can do, but it’s only because of the people we have here.”
What’s the secret to building that great team?
“There are a number of inputs that feed into the end result of having a really great group of people. People who operate with a very open mind and ask not, “Can we do this?” But, “ How can we do this?” and finding a solution to the problem, rather than just finding excuses or reasons not to be able to do something.”
“One of them is hiring well. We don’t actually have to hire particularly often, because our staff turnover is low. We have a great group of people who, over a long period of time, through things like our Coaching Academy, through things like our Values Handbook, the Book of Involvement, and all those other things you read about, practice what we preach every day.”
“This leads to groups of people who are really resilient and really open to taking advantage of commercial opportunities when they present themselves. People are open to continuous improvement, coming up with ideas themselves, not just being all right with change, but actually looking for it. At Involvement, change is constant!”
What does the future hold for you and Involvement?
“If you’re not moving forward, you’re standing still! But you can only do that if you are confident in the people and the processes and the systems that you have. But, you know, if something came along this afternoon, whether that was an opportunity to double the size business, or we decided to diversify into something else, or go into manufacturing in Manchester or whatever it might be, we know that we can look at it and if it makes sense for us and strategically, and we want to do it, we will find a way of making a success of it.”
“Like every business at the moment, there are cost pressures, and we have to be mindful of that. But we’ve got a really open forum as a director group, we trust each other’s expertise, and we make these decisions as a team together. Sometimes we do come to the conclusion that we’re not going to progress with something because the risk is too high or it’s not the right time, or whatever, the reason might be. But it’s never, “we don’t have the money to invest in this, or we don’t want to expand, or we don’t want to try this”, that’s never a reason for not doing something. More often than not, actually, if it’s a justifiable, exciting opportunity that requires a bit of investment, then we will sign it off.”
“My desire to be part of a team has kind of never left me. I don’t, unfortunately, play rugby anymore, but like a lot of people, I’m now getting very into my paddle tennis. But, as I find myself approaching 40 and having to listen to my body a little bit, my rugby days are definitely behind me. I don’t miss waking up on a Sunday morning feeling like I’ve been hit by a train every weekend!? I absolutely don’t take for granted the fact that I wake up every morning genuinely excited to go to work. It’s an incredibly privileged position to be in.”
Discover more about Involvement’s People-first approach to business here.
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