WW L L INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAULA BASNETT
Paula Basnett, Chief Executive of Wirral Chamber of Commerce shares with us an insight into her life, career and role as a foster carer.
Born in Birkenhead in 1967, Paula grew up with her parents and siblings John and Sharon. She now lives in Oxton with her husband Mark and her three children, Robert, 24, Jessica, 17, and Emily, 10. They also have six foster sons and daughters aged from 10 to 17.
Paula worked for Wirral Council for 24 years where she gained valuable experience in supporting businesses with their growth plans. In 2014, she landed her dream job as Chief Executive of Wirral Chamber. Here she talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive interview about her role as Chief Executive, how she led a rescue mission to save the organisation from collapse and her role as a foster carer.
When you were appointed as Chief Executive of Wirral Chamber in 2014, you led a rescue mission to save the organisation from collapse. It is now the fastest growing chamber, how did you achieve this?
We started with a vision that the Chamber should be the best Chamber in the country. Of course that sounds fantastically ambitious given we were starting from such a low base but I firmly believe that a lack of ambition is the greatest limiting factor in business. So we set the bar high.
I had the full backing of the outstanding group of business leaders who now comprise the Chamber Board, led by Chair Asif Hamid. Their experience, guidance and support gave me the confidence to aim high and the mandate to lead the organisation through the changes necessary to enable us to deliver on our goals.
The transformation we have undertaken has only been possible with the active support of my Senior Management Team, the team of people, both within the Chamber and in partner organisations such as Wirral Council, who have fully embraced this vision and worked with me to realise it. Without them, none of this would have been possible. We still have a long way to go to becoming the best Chamber in the country but the progress we have made in the last 3 years has shown that this ambition is achievable and motivates us to get better each year.
Tell us what is your normal day like?
One of the great things about being a Chamber Chief Executive is that no two days are the same so it’ s difficult to describe a normal day.
In the morning I often spend time with my senior managers and directors to review progress, opportunities and challenges. I like to keep a handle on our financial position with our head of finance and make time to talk 1:1 with staff to better understand the issues they face in the business.
Meeting with businesses is central to the Chamber and to my role. Only by understanding what business needs can we ensure that our services are helping them to achieve their potential.
I try to meet with businesses most days, either at their premises or through one of our many events for businesses, from round table discussions to network receptions at one of our managed business centres.
And partnership work is key too, as it is through our partnerships that we can grow and achieve more for business. So I am regularly meeting with partners, working on how we can develop more and better services for our businesses.
Who is your role model of a leader?
An early leadership role model for me in my career was a wonderful man called David Hunt. He led Wirral’ s Inward Investment Team and appointed me as his Deputy in spite of my lack of investment experience at that time.
He put his faith in me, involved me in key activities and decisions, entrusting me to take on demanding new challenges and I always knew he had my back. That was immensely empowering and helped me develop both personally and professionally to the point that over time I came to lead that organisation.
Sadly David is no longer with us but I regularly think of him and try to emulate his empowering leadership style. His motto
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