Being Wise – Our Core Idea Explained

Our core idea is:

“To become the ‘wisest’ player in those markets within which we choose to operate. Wise enough to be able to consider the bigger picture allowing us to improve and learn. Wise enough to challenge the way things are done”.

This sets out our core ideology, and in this article, I will set out in more detail what this means and how it forms the basis of our mission. Our mission is simple:

“To create value for clients and our employees by being wise, and in doing so, become the leading independent specialty consulting firm in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland”.

Core Idea

To become the ‘ wisest’ player in those markets within which we choose to operate. Wise enough to be able to consider the bigger picture allowing us to improve and get better. Wise enough to challenge the way things are done.

Our Mission

To create value for clients and our employees by being wise , and in doing so , become the leading independent speciality consulting firm in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

Professionals

At BB7 we focus on the issues our professionals need to solve and become experts within , to offer clients a safe marketplace , inspire confidence and maintain the reputation of our profession. A professional is a member of a profession or any person who earns their living from a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the required knowledge and skills necessary to enable them to preform their specific role within that profession. To most people , acting like a professional means working and behaving in such a way that others think of them as competent , reliable , and respectful. Professionals are a credit not only to themselves , but also to others and the following seven characteristics are pre-requisites:

• Competency
• Reliability and Accountability
• Honesty and Integrity
• Self- Control
• Flexibility
• Respect of others
• Professional Image

Leading not largest!

Its not about being the largest. Its about leading. Its about influencing national policy; its about being consulted by our peers for advice and opinion; its about being recognised for proving the highest quality service. It’s about making a significant contribution to the public good, employing the most experienced and talented people; providing the best service to meet client needs and expectations , being efficient and cost effective.

We are independent practice based business. However, its not enough just to practice , we contribute to the betterment of the professions in which we operate. It is worth recognising that BB7 is a ‘Professional Service Firm’ , and those three words mean something. First and foremost , we are professionals , who are members of a profession which are regulated by the Professional Bodies that govern them. Secondly , we offer a service which is the action of aiding or completing work for people who need it. And thirdly , we are a firm. we are a practice-based business, not a business based practice.

Professional Service Firm

We are a professional service firm , a trusted independent advisory firm operating throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland , and we focus on fire , security risk and resilience. We offer strategic advice, innovative design , construction oversight and risk management services throughout the entire building lifecycle. We are trusted advisors , and our primary objective is to deliver outstanding client service , providing fulfilling careers and professional satisfaction for our people , in order to achieve financial success to enable us to reward ourselves and grow. Our clients seek out advisors for their specificality expertise , experience and efficiency. They want to work with professionals and place their trust in a professional service firm. We are quite clear that trust is a precious commodity here at BB7 and that we must maintain and uphold that trusts at all costs.

Professions

Professionals hold professional qualifications and are members of Professions. Professions are controlled by governing bodies. Our technical staff are members of bodies such as Engineering Council (EC), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and Chartered Association of Building Engineers ( CABE). Our support staff and those within Corporate Services are members of bodies such as Association of Charted Certified Accountants ( ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountant ( CIMA) ,Chartered Institute of Personnel Development or the Chartered Institute of Marketing ( CIM).

Professional bodies adopt a membership criteria for the standard of education and experience required for each grade of membership and they also have a requirement for continued commitment to lifelong learning for all members. This is a good thing. Moreover , the importance of upholding not only the highest professional standards , but also ethical standards is critical for professionals. We should uphold professional standards higher than those established by the general law , and act in the interest of the public we serve.

Increasingly , professional bodies are strengthening their governance and regulation processes and will take disciplinary action. should the member disobey the rules and standards the professional bodies have set out , or should a member be found guilty of unsatisfactory or poor professional work, they may be faced with expulsion from their membership , and we must be mindful that the threat of this happening, is very real. We support the notion that professional Bodies should raise the bar overtime and continue to strengthen their Governance processes , because public trust and protection is critical. Professional bodies and the advancement of an individual’s professional Qualification is something we have always supported here at BB7. Everyone in a technical role , or at management level must be a professional and a member of a professional body, because we are a professional service firm.

Quality And Innovation

We hold the view and aspiration that a Professional Engineer/ Surveyor is someone who is a yardstick for quality. At BB7, we are nurturing an environment where excellence is expected. If we are going to achieve consistent quality and enhance our reputation for excellence it must become a habit. Excellence is not an exception; it is a prevailing attitude. Excellence is being able to preform at a high level continuously, over and over again. This bolsters trust and confidence in us as a business and will give us a competitive edge in the market, as as our clients know they can count on us to provide an excellent experience, time and time again.

‘Excellence is doing ordinary things , extraordinarily well’ – John W. Gardner

It is essential we maintain a positive reputation for reliability and consistency by ensuring that we uphold a level of consistent quality within our services in order to:

• Achieve greater consistency in the activities involved in providing our services
• Reduce expensive mistakes
• Increase efficiency by improving use of time and resources
• Improve client satisfaction
• Market ourselves on the basis of quality
• Manage growth more effectively by making it easier to integrate new people into the company
• Constantly improve our service offering , processes and systems.

Our internal auditing function is carried out by our Commercial Team. They provide independent, objective assurance to our Director of Quality and Innovation in order to add value to and improve our internal processes and procedures or operations. They are central to our Core idea of ‘Being Wise’ and our mission and values. Being Wise is essentially a key component of our strategy. Our strategy has and will always be governed by two essential criteria’s. In fact, we will not participate  within any strategy initiative unless it is clear it does one of the following things:

1. It creates value for our people
2. It creates value for our clients

Professional Advisory Board

We are an independent practice-based business. Putting ‘Practice’ at the heart of our business is important, but we will not just ‘practice’. We strive to make a contribution to the professions in which we operate and in doing so , contribute to the public good. This is our purpose, and it is inextricably linked to our core idea of being wise. Being wise is about superior professionalism, remaining a practice – based business and at the heart of it, is our Professional Advisory Board which plays a very important role. It forms our standards setting mechanism, ensuring our service portfolio is current and setting competency criteria. Our Professional Advisory Board is a formal committee within our management structure and adopts a decision making role. Its role is to advise members of the board on technical matters, and its decision are presented to our main board for approval. The attended for each meetings are chosen from around the business, based on technical expertise and their interest in the subject matter of the meeting. We also invite external stakeholders such as clients, insurers, academics,  and subject matter experts where we deem this to be appropriate. Professions can fall into the trap of only speaking to themselves and not the wider stakeholders they serve, which can cause them to become very narrow minded and vision-less to the bigger picture.

Our Professional Advisory Board (PAB) exists to support and provide expert knowledge and experience to ensure we remain at the forefront of the profession and that we recognise our vision and mission to become the wisest player in the markets we choose to operate within. Our PAB included setting standards for competency internally within BB7. They maintain our Career Pathway Guide , Competency Matrix, Policy and Procedures on Internal Peer Review Process and liaise with HR on Performance Management issues or with the Commercial team on Risk Management, Audit and Continuous Improvement/Corrective actions. If talent is a firms life blood, an effective service portfolio strategy represents the arteries through which that talent is channelled, and innovation keeps the whole system healthy and energised. service innovation can enhance brand, add value to clients, and create valuable new revenue streams, so our Professional advisory Board plays a very important role.