BEST INTENTIONS

Daily challenges

Steve joined London Overground, then operated by LOROL, in 2013 as finance director. Before that, he held senior roles in a wide variety of industries. These included food and drink marketing, hygiene and a spell with rail operator One (National Express East Anglia).

The variety of challenges each business presented is what Steve feels makes him well-equipped to take the company forward.

“I’ve worked in organisations with great products, processes and, importantly, fantastic people that delivered great outcomes,” he said. “But a third of my working life has been spent with the Overground, through a period of constant change and challenge. That is why I've enjoyed it, adding value, working with our brilliant teams and growing the organisation every year.

“I joined the railway because I knew it was such an interesting, complicated, evolving business that provides fantastic service every day.”

Social value

While the business is in a good place, there are challenges and opportunities which Steve and his team are looking to address. Challenges include operational performance, especially on the North London Line, and ever-increasing passenger numbers.

“We returned very quickly to pre-pandemic passenger numbers, which is something to celebrate but also a challenge,” said Steve. “Our plans will address this and help us carry on being an industry leader. A planned new integrated control network with Network Rail, for example, will be a great help with train performance.”

Opportunities include strengthening ARL’s environmental and social impact, and corporate governance areas (collectively known as ESG). One of the main steps will be appointing a new head of ESG role.

“I am passionate about the environment and keen that we deliver improvements in our footprint as an organisation,” said Steve. “We're delivering a new LED lighting plan and we will agree other initiatives to lessen our environmental impact.

“Governance limits risk. It’s having the correct procedures and policies that ensure we do the right thing and the assurance in terms of considering what could go wrong and being prepared.

“Social value is all about doing more for the people in our communities beyond running trains. I’m sure that’s a value shared by colleagues across the business. We already do so much, but we have exciting plans in this area that people can get involved with.”

Performance culture

Other opportunities include developing a performance culture within the business.

“A performance culture means being able to readily define what success looks like and measuring it,” Steve explained. “With that, you can agree on actions that get us to where we need to be.

“Whether that’s trains being safe, clean and on time, delighting customers with our service or improving our revenue protection, every area of our business can be measured in terms of effectiveness and outcome.

“Developing our performance culture will enable us to deliver better services for our customers and better outcomes for our colleagues and stakeholders – celebrating those successes as we go.”

Excellent standards

Steve regards colleagues, especially drivers, station teams and people working behind the scenes, as the best placed to let us know what can be done better. For this reason, clear communication and engagement underpin the leadership team’s approach.

“Every day colleagues deliver to excellent standards, with passion and pride in what they do,” said Steve. “That attitude is infectious, and we’ll continue highlighting the great work people do for this organisation and our customers.

“Colleagues can also call out areas to improve. We are committed to engaging and maintaining regular feedback, in person and across our channels, so we are recognised as an organisation that listens and acts.

“The good work of colleagues will be the bedrock of the great outcomes we want to achieve. People here are brilliant and I am sure their support will give me the best possible start to my time as MD.”