Strong leadership crucial to the future of Northern Ireland companies
n reflection 2016 has provided a somewhat unsteady, unpredictable
Olandscape for business in Northern Ireland in the coming years. It is on this basis that many companies are looking to either consolidate or implement a growth strategy by closely examining their leadership structure, including their Boards.
For many organisations, a strong Board can be the difference between adapting to change and thriving on it, or failing to adapt and failing as a result. The advisory role of Non Executive Directors( NEDs) in particular is becoming crucial to companies in Northern Ireland – particularly SMEs and familyowned businesses.
4c’ s Founder and Managing Director, Gary Irvine, believes that due to the UK’ s impending exit from the EU, the requirement for strong NEDs will see a notable increase:“ The need for NEDs that can provide expertise and leadership will rise significantly over the next few months and even years. The Brexit vote and now the election of Trump as President of the United States have created both uncertainty that will put many Northern Ireland companies on edge, and opportunities that can be exploited enabling organisations to grow.”
Highlighting the increased desire for strong leadership via NEDs, an independent study recently carried out by 4c of Northern Ireland companies found that 35 per cent of respondents are currently experiencing skills gaps on their Board, with 33 per cent of respondents saying they plan to recruit more NEDs onto their Board in the coming months to
Fitzwilliam and Fitzwilliam are business hotels of the year, says Georgina Campbell
he Fitzwilliam Hotel Belfast and The Fitzwilliam Hotel Dublin have been
Tnamed Business Hotel of the Year 2017 at The Georgina Campbell Awards.
The Georgina Campbell Awards are Ireland’ s longest running and most respected hospitality awards, seeking out the best in food and hospitality. They independently assess and award a wide variety of fine dining and casual restaurants, accommodation, chefs and hosts to culminate the annual‘ best in class’ list.
The Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast has won the prestigious accolade of Business Hotel of the Year for its first class facilities and service. Situated in the city centre, it boasts 130 guestrooms and four stylish meeting rooms overlooking Howard Street and Great Victoria Street, all equipped with stateoftheart audiovisual equipment; some of the most contemporary meeting space in Belfast.
Search Consultant Gareth Hanna with 4c’ s Founder and Managing Director, Gary Irvine tackle the issue.
4c Boardroom, which is headed by Search Consultant Gareth Hanna, was established in 2016 in response to companies coming to 4c seeking an NEDspecific search service. It focuses exclusively on the recruitment of NEDs across the private and public sectors in Northern Ireland and further afield.
Gareth commented:“ NEDs have the ability to bring a high level of knowledge, experience and strategic outlook required to drive growth and financial performance of a business. This support, coupled with ensuring effective corporate governance, could prove invaluable to local organisations when negotiating the complexities of the changing business environment as the UK prepares to leave the EU.
“ NEDs traditionally can come with a number of benefits to the company availing of their expertise. The most valuable services attributed were assisting with developing strategy, improving corporate governance, challenging the company’ s Executive team and in particular, gaining access to new contacts and networks.”
Mr Irvine concluded:“ 4c Executive was established to become the leading provider of true executive search in Northern Ireland. In filling over 140 highlevel assignments in NI and GB over the past three years, we have reached that goal. However, it was based on the increasingly specific requirements around NEDs that we put 4c Boardroom into place.”
With changes to the business landscape imminent, 4c predicts companies will be looking to secure the best expertise available to take them in the right direction.
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