Authentic Achievements with Special Guest Jayne Archbold
Authentic Achievements with Special Guest Jayne Archbold
From Bestselling author, currently writing the forthcoming book Authentic Achievements – The 7 Secrets to Building Brave Belief, Unstoppable Sales, and Turning Your Leaders Into Talent Magnets for Guaranteed Sustainable Growth, this show shares advice, stories and inspiration to help you achieve exponential growth personally and for your business.
In this episode I am delighted to be joined by my friend and ex colleague the fabulous Jayne Archbold, Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer of Iptor, a global ERP provider focused on distribution centric businesses.
Jayne joined the company in 2016 after an 18-year career at Sage Group plc, the UK’s largest software company which provides ERP software for small business to Enterprise businesses.
Jayne is a seasoned executive with a record of driving product innovation, operational transformation, integration of acquisitions and delivering business growth. Jayne is also non-Executive Director and Angel Investor for UK based HR software business, Saberr, and non-Executive Chair of UK base ESG software business, Notify Technologies
Find out more about Jayne at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynearch…https://www.facebook.com/jayne.archboldhttps://twitter.com/JayneArchboldhttps://www.instagram.com/jaynearchbold/ and find out more about Iptor at https://iptor.com/
If you want to find out more check us out at www.authenticachievements.co.uk If you enjoyed it please check out our YouTube or our recent blog or subscribe to our Mastermindset Newsletter
Full Transcript
Authentic Achievements with Jayne Archbold
Kim-Adele
Hello, and welcome to this episode of authentic achievements where it’s my absolute privilege and delight to be joined by an old friend and old colleague. The fabulous Jayne Archbold, Jane. Welcome first. And then I’ll do a software introduction. It’s so lovely to see you.
Jayne
Yeah, you too, Kim. It’s great to see you again and thank you for having me.
Kim-Adele
Oh, a pleasure. You’ve got such an insightful story, but let me start by telling the people who aren’t as privileged as me to know you a little bit about who you are in your journey, and then we’ll get into chatting to you. So Jayne Archibald is the managing partner and chief executive of IPTA a global ERP provider focused on distribution centric businesses. Jane joined the company in 2016 after an 18 year career at Sage group, the UK’s largest software group, which provides E R P solutions for small businesses to enterprise businesses, James, a seasoned executive with a record of driving product innovation, operational transformation, integration of acquisition and delivering business growth. James also the non-exec director and angel investor for UK based HR software, business suburb, and non-exec chair of the UK based ESG software business notified technology. And I know from having worked with you, that you are also one of the most amazing, authentic leaders that I’ve ever had the privilege to know and work alongside. So I am thrilled to have you here today. Thank you.
Jayne
Wow. I feel very humbled. Thank you.
Kim-Adele
Oh please. Don’t you, you, you are, you were epitomized me that you are, you walk your talk. So you were always no matter, no matter what the challenge is. And, and yeah, I was with you at Sage for the small period of your 18 years. I only did the three, but it, it was an amazing organization, but it came with its challenges. Didn’t it? It had its very big highs, its very big lows. And your ability to remain who you were throughout, all of those and to remain focused on the people you were leading and making sure that they’d got what they needed was an inspiration to see and something that I have long mind and wanted to share.
Jayne
Thank you.
Kim-Adele
Pleasure. So how about you tell me and our viewers a little bit about your journey so far.
Jayne
Okay, well you’ve done this sort of big corporate type. Let me probably give the reality. So a bit of background about me as a person. So I started my life up in the Northeast of England with a very working class background, very close knit family, my parents with my grandparents. So I was quite grounded from being very young, but initially I was the only child until I was 15. So a lot of it’s special attention. And I think the key thing for me is my mom believed that I could do anything. So she thought I could be the best dancer and I was actually terrible, but we practiced a lot and she just gave me the inspiration to kind of go on and be the best that I could. And I think that’s a core value that sort of stems through everything that I do and, and believe in.
Jayne
And then when I was 15, my mom had got, my parents got divorced prior to that, my mom remarried and then I had a sibling, so a stepbrother, same mother and he’s now a pro professional footballer. And it’s quite interesting when we sit together rather dinner table with both moms, not so often now cuz we are all traveling everywhere, but he, you know, he is never been the best footballer in the world, but he did pray premiership in the UK. He also had the, the privilege of playing in the us and then in Australia. And I think the common things when I talk to him are, again, it comes back to my mom and having that support and the belief and also feedback regularly when we weren’t doing things right. So that kind of stemmed from an early age. And I think that’s probably important to share, which is a key part of who I am.
Jayne
I then went through a bit of a wild stage as a teenager. So I was doing my all levels here in the UK at high school and then was due to go on to do my a levels and go to university. And then unbeknown to my parents decided actually I didn’t wanna do that anymore. And I went off and got myself a job as quite a junior person in the insurance sector and they were mortified because they wanted me to pursue higher education. So the compromise was that I went two nights a week in the evening to college having done a full day at work to do the qualifications whilst at the same time, getting a really good general understanding of what working life was really like. And it, it was actually kind of tough, but I learned an awful lot. And then I went through a number of different roles and ended up with Sage, but I guess the key thing.
Jayne
So from working my way through the ranks at Sage, I came in as a sales manager, responsible for training recruiting people and then progressed into to general management, managing director. And then my last position at Sage was CEO of Europe. But throughout all of that, I think being involved and, and, and getting, putting myself out there wanting to learn, being adaptable and just experiencing new things was a key part of my journey. But I think the key thing for me is it’s about being authentic and being myself. And when I look back the times when I’ve been most miserable and there were some periods in my time when I was trying to be somebody else and that just didn’t really work
Kim-Adele
That’s, it’s so true, isn’t it? Because I spent a lot of years in corporate life desperately trying to fit in and trying to be the corporate being that I expected everybody to be. When you know me, I’m like a hyperactive puppy dog, most of the time really fit with the mould. And it wasn’t until actually it was at Sage where I decided I needed to just be able to be me. And if it worked, it worked and if it didn’t work, then it wasn’t a, wasn’t a good fit. But people like you walking that talk helps people like me to have the courage to go. Maybe it’s okay to be me. Maybe it’s okay to just be who I am and therefore put my focus in what I need to do and what I need to learn instead of what I need to pretend to be, because that just, it took up too much of my brain power. I didn’t have enough spare for what I needed to learn, but what I love in your, in your journey is the belief that your, that your mum gave you. And, and that somehow we can borrow belief. Can’t we, when, when people give it to us and constantly give us that feedback, we can borrow their belief while we find our own. Is that something that you’ve found you’ve been able to, to do for others when you’re helping them to really realize their potential?
Jayne
Yeah. And, and it’s fascinating for me. So I come across, you know, different people from different nationalities, different cultural backgrounds and a key thing that I find, you know, I see huge potential in people. And very often they lack confidence and that confidence then comes down to the fact that they actually just don’t have that belief. So supporting people through that and, and how I tend to do that. I mean, it’s not a one size fits all, but generally is, you know, understanding the person, not just from a, a business relationship perspective, but what is that person really about? What makes them tick? What are the inner demons that are going on for them that might be holding them back. And, and that’s actually really, really important. And then working with, with the man on an individual basis to, you know, get clarity on what we’re trying to achieve, what support they might need, but then giving people the freedom to come up with their ideas and get on and do things for themselves and not being frightened to make a mistake.
Jayne
And that’s really how we learn. And I think if you go back to, to, you know, being a child, you fall off your bike, but you get up and you, you learn and you, you have another goal. And in business, it’s very much about that for me, the worst environments that I’ve been in myself personally, and I’ve seen happen to other people is where they’re just fearful of making a mistake. And therefore they never, ever will realize their true potential or their true happiness because they’re, they’re, they’re holding back. So unlocking that is what I see as the CEO today, I’m looking across the business. One of the things I’m looking at right now, we’re going through a huge growth phase. I wanna see hu within our business, maybe haven’t spotted because we’ve not been together due during COVID, but as a talent there that we’re not necessarily seeing, hearing or listening to, that we can unlock and really get people out of those limiting beliefs.
Kim-Adele
I love that. It’s so true, isn’t it? You know, I’ve, I realized I’ve learned more about leadership since becoming a mum than I ever, ever knew in the 20 years before, because you know, if we learn to learn how to walk or talk or run or skip, we’d be mortified today, wouldn’t we, and yet at our most vulnerable we did it, but it’s just, we wanna fit in. We’re not afraid to fall. I mean, the amount of times they fall and get back up and you’re like, really, but we all believe that they can do it. Don’t we it’s that, come on, come on, you’ve got it’s in you. And I think as, as leaders, that’s one of the great superpower is when people are willing to go and look for that in somebody and then lend then their belief. And I love that you do that over, over all of those different nationalities and cultures, because that all come out in very different ways. I imagine you must have to get very adept at really listening to understand rather than listening to interject
Jayne
AB. Absolutely. And that is the key thing. And it’s really listening and given COVID, I mean, business didn’t just stop. So trying to do that in a virtual environment, I have to say was much more challenging for me because, you know, usually you can find the right environment that works for somebody, whether it be going for a walk or taking somebody for a coffee, or just having a, you know, lunch to then having to do that in a, in a virtual environment. But now I wish that was a big learning for me to learn and adapt as, as as many of us have done, but it is really about listening to other people and, and knowing how you can then tune into to those things that they maybe are not necessarily saying. The other key thing for me, and which is challenging for a number of cultures that I work with is encouraging people to share their feelings.
Jayne
And, and that, for me, even just recently, I was had the luxury of getting my direct reports together about a month ago for the first time in two years. And during that time we had some new hires. So people had never worked together. And I was leading from the front sharing things that were quite personal for me and sharing how I felt about certain situations and the purpose of that was to get other people to open up. And it was challenging for some others who never thought they’d do that. But once you can do that and break down those barriers, even four weeks on the team are much more open and the relationships are starting to work so much better. So, but again, that’s all about what two things they’re leading by example, but really, really listening and seeking to understand.
Kim-Adele
I love that and got an amazing culture to be, to be building cuz when you build that level of trust amongst people and sharing that vulnerability, they’ll walk through walls for each other, won’t they? Cuz they’ve got that. Absolutely. They’ve got that drive. So what would you say has been your proudest moment so far?
Jayne
My proudest moment and I, I really thought about this and it actually goes back a long time and it’s back to my Sage days and it’s back to 2008 and I still, I dug it out from the shelf. I have this little trophy here and this was I wasn’t a CEO at the time. I was actually sales leader of the small business division in the Sage UK. And this was a national event and I won sales leader of the year in 2008. And for me that was amazing, but it wasn’t about me. It was about the team cuz I couldn’t have done that without the team. And the reason that I won is I had a fantastic team around me, that team, we had very clear, so clarity around what our shared goals were. We worked as a team, we shared our feelings. We listened, we innovated, we did things actually going back to 2008, that many businesses not even doing now, which was, you know, segmenting our customer base profiling customers, profiling our people and trying to match up relationships. That’s only one little part of it, but it was about breaking new boundaries. And as a consequence, we delivered results in the, the medium and the long term. And, and what we did back in 2008 is, you know, a platform for some of the successes that Sage you’re having now, even though I’m sort of long gone, but for me, the proudest moment was, was that because it was breaking boundaries, doing something we’d never done before, but with a fantastic team around me,
Kim-Adele
I love that. And, and that, it’s a great example. Isn’t it? Around taking risk. Yeah. Cause I think sometimes that’s the thing that we don’t do. You know, you, you so eloquently called it breaking boundaries, but, but actually one of the things that often holds us back is the fear of taking a risk in case we fall. Yeah. But what you did with you and the team were, were take the risk and believe that you’d fly and see what came out the other side of it, but create that again, space for them to go. Do you know, if we fall a little bit along the way we’ll, we’ll catch each other. Yeah. And we’ll, and we’ll keep it going, which is so crucial, isn’t it into, in how you really build and sustain teams to, to be able to move forward.
Jayne
Absolutely.
Kim-Adele
If, if someone is, you know, watching today is thinking about how do they create that great team camaraderie, that team common goal, I guess that that one sense of purpose, is there anything you could share with us about how you do that? Yeah,
Jayne
So, so typically what I would be doing with any team starting at the top is, is looking at, and actually it’s pretty timely cause we have a plan at IOL called IOL 22. That was our three year plan that comes to an end of this year in the next week. So we’re gonna be starting our next plan. And that starts with reevaluating our purpose. So we will open that up, have a discussion as a team around what, why are we here? What, what is the purpose? And that purpose is several dimensions in the sense, what does this mean for our customers today? What does it mean for the potential customers of the future? What does it mean for the employees today? What does it mean for the future talent and so on? What does it mean for our key stakeholders? So we, we discuss and debate and that will take as long as it takes, but we’ll get that down to be really clear on what our purpose is.
Jayne
We’ll then purposes. We then realign that to our vision vision hasn’t changed in the last seven years, but it may be, we probably gonna make a few tweaks now because we’ve done some acquisitions. And then from that, it’s then been really clear on what are the big goals at the top that we’re looking to achieve and how do we ensure that we align the organization and focus around that? And the key thing is not getting distracted. So it starts with that. And then for me, one of the key things that’s worked really well, we’ve set ourselves priorities and we’ve done this, especially during COVID, but we’re carrying that on was to say, okay, what are the, the must do things. So if we wanna achieve our plan, these are the non-negotiables. And then every week we have a quick 30 minutes stand up virtually of where are we?
Jayne
What’s on track. What’s not on track. What helps support people need, but it’s very transparent. So there’s no hiding or, and none of these PowerPoint displays of everything looks beautiful. Let’s have real honest conversations around what’s working. What’s not working. And if we need to flex and pivot back to the learning, falling off the bike and pick myself up, what do we need to do differently? Because quite often in my experienced end goal that you want is still the same, but how you get there, you need to adjust course. So they’re probably some of the key things that, that I have been doing where we really got success during the last couple of years of COVID. And we’re gonna be carrying that on.
Kim-Adele
I love that. I, I often use the analogy that, you know, as, as a leader, it’s my role to say we’re going to Edinburgh, but how we get there may change along the way we may, we may start off on the train and then there might be leaves on it and we have to find an alternate. But as long as we keep talking to, to your point, the goal itself might won’t change necessarily, but your way of achieving it will, but creating that open dialogue. And I love that, that constant check in with what do you need to, what do you need to thrive? Have you got the support that you want really has got to be empowering to your people, for them to feel confident that they can come to you when they feel that they need something else as well? Exactly.
Jayne
I mean, it’s uncomfortable sometimes for people, if they don’t have up, some people like to know exactly how they’re gonna get from a, to B to your Edinburg trip. Yeah. But there’s a okay accepting. There’s gonna be leaves and storms and some of the track might come off, but actually it’s getting the right mix of teams and sub teams working together so that you can help where people do like more structure and, and, and more clarity. And it’s step by step. Quite as we know, life’s not like that, but how you can come together and work as a team to get through it. This is not about individuals. This for me, is about teams pulling together with their strengths and really focusing on that end goal and, and, and getting there together. And I’m not that worried about how we get there and how many mistakes, as long as you know, we’re sticking to our core values, which of course is, is super important.
Kim-Adele
I love that. So there’s been so much that you’ve already done, but what would you say has been one of your biggest lessons?
Jayne
01:18:19
So this is more of a recent one and I, I’m not gonna go under this specific, but, but we had a major innovation that I was super excited about. Absolutely believe in this is what we need to do as a business and had the desire to execute and real, push it and get this message out to market. And we’re really excited. And I knew that it was gonna be a challenge internally to take people on that change curve. And despite having done lots of massive transformations for me, this didn’t appear to be that big. But what I hadn’t done is with my team at the time at the start really understood what the impact was gonna be on the people. So there was skills issues, capability. We were learning as we were going, which was part of the challenge, but not understanding and appreciating that capability gap.
Jayne
And we did at a high level, but not really down to the absolute detail. And one of the key challenges was we were remote working. Cause this was in the height of COVID people who normally would’ve shared their feelings didn’t they were putting on the mask of coming onto a team’s call and saying, no, this is on track. No, I’m fine. Everything’s okay. But actually then getting really stressed about it because they actually were learning and they were fearful to say, look, I just don’t know. So what we, what we’ve done as a consequence, we stopped the project. We, we actually have launched part of it, but we were then finding issues, executing, and we reevaluated and really talked to our people to say, look, do you wanna be part of this? And actually if you don’t it’s okay, cuz there’s plenty of other things that we can do.
Jayne
And some of the people here are coming up for retirement and they said, you know what? We thought we kind of wanted to do it, but it’s just too much of a leap for us. And actually I wanna reduce my hours down to 60% instead of having to work 150%. And we’ve said, that’s fine, but it wasn’t being clear on the start. And that, that for me is a massive learning. And it’s kind of common sense when it, when I think about it now, but at the time we were so passionate and so keen to get on and rush to do something, we failed to take everybody with us and I take personal responsibility for it’s a massive learning for me. And no matter how big or small a change is going forward, I wanna make sure that the people are comfortable or if they’re not, and they don’t wanna be part of it and don’t force people. So that’s my big learning.
Kim-Adele
I love that. What, what a great lesson and, and have brave you to share that, cause it is that piece, isn’t it that says sometimes we, we can get carried away with how go with, with where, where we see the potential and the fact that we see that it’s gonna be good for everybody that we can sometimes not take that moment. And I think COVID through is all a curve ball, didn’t it? You know, the things that you would normally have been able to rely on, like reading somebody’s body language, the water cooler chats that you get the chance to, or like you said, taking them for lunch and things, they just weren’t there. And so we, we got to deal with this amount of space. Yeah, absolutely. And trying to watch everybody’s faces, it becomes very hard. Doesn’t it to, to spot some of those, some of those signals, but what I love is that you actually, as, as you know, as the leader and as the organization, when actually this isn’t working, let’s stop, let’s not just plow on regardless, which I’m sure you will have seen in your career as I have never works well behind kicking.
Kim-Adele
And that actually you took a moment to go back and actually we didn’t do this bit. Right. But let’s now get it right. Let’s find out what the options are to move forward. And it doesn’t mean to say that, you know, we’ve gotta do it in the same way or we’ve all got to do it. And I think you made such an amazing point about there being other things in an organization that people can do. Because I think often when we, when we think about transformation, there’ll be some people that transformation fills them with dread, but actually once you’ve transformed, you need to grow. Yeah. So there’s probably roles for them and not every part of an organization is in transformation at any one point. So it’s looking at where you fit those skills, isn’t it. And you, you talked about that so beautifully understanding what people, what people were good at, what they wanted to be able to do, where they could shine and how do you help them move into those spaces so that they’re still supporting the team and feeling valued. Yeah. Which is crucial, isn’t it? I think.
Jayne
Yeah, absolutely
Kim-Adele
Amazing. So if you could go back and tell the younger Jayne, something that, you know, now that you wished, you know, men, what would it be?
Jayne
There’s a few things, but the first thing is be authentic. Be yourself. I went through a couple of years of, of real hell, because I was trying to fit to your point earlier. I was trying to look to other people and be somebody else, the moment that I realized, actually, it’s all right to be Jayne. In fact, you know what, it’s better than being all right. That, that was when I’ve kind of thrived both personally and professionally. So that, that would be the one thing always be you couple of other little points that I think for me would be less ask more questions. So, and be, be more curious and not be afraid to ask questions. I remember sitting in boardrooms years ago with, you know, mostly, you know, very experienced people, 20 plus years, my experience, and I’d be frightened to ask the question, actually, don’t be how just, just ask and also not being afraid to ask for help as well.
Jayne
The other thing would be surround yourself with great people. You don’t need to be, you’re the best at everything yourself. I’m not good at many, many things, but I can surround myself with, with people who are and collectively together. So I think when I was younger, if I, if I look back to me in my early twenties, it was probably, I was trying to be somebody I wasn’t. I was trying to think I needed to know it all. And look at me, how cool am I all wrong? Stop that nonsense and actually just be yourself. And, and you have you, you good success and, and grateful along the way as well. So that, that would be my advice to me looking back now. And I wish, I wish I’d had somebody to give me that advice, Kim. Cause I would’ve, would’ve been a lot less painful for me.
Kim-Adele
Oh, I love that. And you’re right. Isn’t it. I remember similarly starting out and thinking, I thinking I had to know everything. Cause if not, I wouldn’t be competent. So I was like, hold, I need to learn. I need to learn. And I looking back, I must have been some kind of crazy person. I was desperately trying to know everything, not to be a Knowit all, but just to appear relevant in, in that, in that space. And, and you’re right, actually, once you free yourself up to go, you don’t need to know how to do it. You need to know how to find someone who can do it and then help them be the best that they can be. Absolutely. And, and once you, once you get to that space and I think, yeah, I, I read something the other day over the weekend actually, which kind of really resonated when I knew I was gonna be chatting to you.
Kim-Adele
And they said, actually, unless you are adding value as a leader, you’re just an expense. So unless you are thinking, how do I add value? And, and you know, I see you do this and you you’ve shared so eloquently today. How you do that? How you look to add value to the teams, not by saying, I know all the answers, not by saying, look here, this is the way it’s done. But by saying here’s where we’re going. Talk to me about what you need to get there. Let me understand how I can help you be the best that you can be. That’s how you are really able to unlock that potential. Isn’t it? And be value, not just a cost.
Jayne
Yeah absolutely. That, that couldn’t agree more.
Kim-Adele
So what next for Jayne?
Jayne
What next for me I’m gonna be continuing on with my journey with IOR taking us to the next level. So we’ve just done a couple of acquisitions, so really excited about that. And we’re gonna leave one stand alone, the other we’re gonna integrate, but it’s continuing on that, that growth path. So I’m excited about that. And then my journey as non-exec chair with, with notify gets me back to my hometown in Newcastle, which is, which is great for me, but that’s a really fast growing business in a great space in the ESG space, but it’s also enabling me to learn new skills. And it’s quite unusual for people to be a chair and be a CEO of a different business. Usually people go into non-exec chair work while they’ve given up their CEO job. So I have to switch hats, but I’m interestingly it’s helping me learn. So I don’t know all the answers. I can’t be the expert. I’m not there to be the expert. I’m there to sort of ask questions, steer them in, in the direction and give them the benefit of my experience. So that’s probably getting me ready for the later time in my life, but who knows what’s next? And there could be other acquisitions coming our way with a, at all. So yeah, just, just gonna wait and see really, but sticking to the plan to accelerate the growth and have fun along the way.
Kim-Adele
Fantastic. Well, I hope you’ll come back and share with us how it, how it’s going and let us know and share more of your advice. It’s been so great. And if people want to get in touch with you, how do they do that?
Jayne
So they can get in touch with me on Twitter. They can get in touch with me on LinkedIn or on email. I’m assuming we can share the, the details afterwards also on Facebook. So it’s very simple. If you look for Jayne Archbold, there’s not so many of them. It’s Jayne with a Y you will find me on social media. So go get on the socials or Jayne Archbold.com.
Kim-Adele
Fantastic. Jayne, it’s been an absolute delight for anybody, everybody watching. We will make sure that all of Jayne’s contact details are in the show notes below Jayne it’s been a joy. Thank you so much for coming along and sharing your amazing journey. And I look forward to chatting again really soon.
Jayne
Fantastic. Thank you very much.
Kim-Adele
Okay.