A day in the life of… An Operations Director

We’re taking a look at what it’s like to be in the shoes of team James Gibb!

This time we’re finding out more about what it’s like to be an Operations Director at James Gibb from Debbie Rummens in our Glasgow office.

Introduce yourself and your role in James Gibb…

My name is Debbie Rummens and I’m Operations Director at James Gibb residential factors, based in our Glasgow office.

How long have you been with James Gibb?

I joined on the day James Gibb residential factors acquired Grant & Wilson Property Management Ltd (2nd March 2015).

What does an average day for you look like?

I work closely with our Support Services Director, Val Black, who is also based in our Glasgow office. We share an office, and our day starts with a recap of what’s happened the day before. We discuss situations which affect both areas of our business. I then respond to emails and telephone calls which have come in overnight, and meet with our Operations Manager to discuss any challenges affecting our Property Management Team and portfolio of properties. I particularly focus on developing new relationships with prospective clients, which includes inspecting new buildings and developments and discussing the services we offer. I meet with contractors to ensure our response times and quality targets are being met, and I assist our social media partner with delivering interesting and informative content via our social media channels.

What is your favourite thing about working with the James Gibb team?

We have teams of really good people who are focussed on delivering the best possible customer service, which can be challenging with tens of thousands of individual clients, many with differing objectives. They take great pride in managing their property portfolios, and work hard to exceed expectations. Our teams do a lot of work in the background on behalf of clients, which can largely go unappreciated simply because of a lack of understanding of the legal and legislative obligations placed on both co-owners and factors, but they maintain their focus and good humour. When they do receive a thank-you, or a great testimonial, it goes a long way, and I feel very proud of their achievements.

Do you have any interesting stories about working at James Gibb?

I came to factoring from a property, investment and management background, where the teams would be working on behalf of individual home owners or buy-to-let investors. Each client made his/her own decisions, but, of-course, factoring decisions mostly involve gaining agreement from the majority, whether that’s a tenement of 8 or a development of 300 owners. It never fails to amaze me how difficult that can be to achieve, especially when all owners share the same interest, and the resulting benefits, of maintaining their homes, investments and environments. It’s quite rare for a majority of clients to agree a proposed course of action from the outset, and commit themselves to that shared financial undertaking. We’re very lucky in Glasgow that the City Council and Glasgow Heritage Trust remain in a position to consider providing improvement grant assistance to co-owners, or many more of our beautiful Victorian tenements and Listed Buildings would sadly be lost.

What’s the best thing about being an Operations Director?

No two days are the same. We’re a people business which directly involves property, and the needs of both are ever changing. With the support of co-owners, we’re in the enviable position where we can assist in maintaining and improving their living environments or their investments, which is very rewarding when it comes together.

Find out more about Debbie here.