Sean
Nolan
Sean Nolan is Co-Founder and CEO of Blink, the complete software solution for frontline organisations. Prior to Blink, he co-founded Tomorrow Communications, the UK’s leading provider of network and security services, before a successful exit in 2012. He’s currently leading Blink's mission to revolutionise the frontline experience by empowering every worker to maximise their advantage.
What does a better world of work look like to you?
A better world of work is where transparency, openness and inclusion are key pillars for growth. At Blink, we value everyone's opinions and we want them to be heard. Employees can openly share their feedback on the platform, and no one is judged for “over sharing”.
By building a psychologically safe environment, we are able to drive innovation, creativity and collaboration. We aim for an open culture where we value diversity and inclusion.
What is your business doing to build a better world of work?
We put our core values at the heart of everything we do: frontline first, bring your best self, share what you know, give everyone a voice, be hungry to learn and do less. These 6 core values define who we are, what we do and how we do it to ultimately create a better world of work. By optimising our time and efforts to connect and collaborate more, we are able to create an atmosphere of trust and reliability whereby everyone listens, everyone is heard and everyone feels valued.
What are your predictions for how work will shift over the next few years?
We believe that employee engagement apps alongside Internal Comms will play a crucial role in how leadership and exec teams communicate with their staff. This will in turn encourage closer work relationships and stronger collaborative efforts to achieve business goals. With the pandemic causing a monumental shift in traditional business operations, the role of tech will also contribute in facilitating key internal conversations across businesses which will highly impact the way people interact and collaborate.
What is the biggest challenge you see for companies who want to improve the experience of work?
Bridging the gap between leadership teams and staff is a challenge most organisations face. How can we create a trusting atmosphere where the frontline feels like they are being listened to? How can we shape leaders into authentic communicators? How can leaders aspire trust without creating chaos? It's very easy for companies to say they will improve the experience of work, but acting on this and doing something is where the challenge mainly lies.
What is one piece of advice you would share with businesses that are wanting to build a better world of work?
People want to do great work. We should start with that assumption and figure out what we can do in our roles to help others achieve that goal.
Is there an individual you admire who you believe is building a better world of work?
Carla Stockton-Jones from Stagecoach.
Know of someone who's building a better world of work?
