Steady as he goes

Harj Singh has had one hell of a ride over the last few months. In October 2009 he was appointed interim chief executive of Aldwyck Housing Association - his first job heading up a housing organisation. There was barely even time for the former director of finance to order new stationery, however, when the 10,000-home association was plunged into turmoil. Just three weeks after taking the top job, a tribunal ruled the landlord’s dismissal of a housing officer, Errol Curniffe, was unfair and an act of race discrimination. Emotions among staff and management, admits Mr Singh, were running high. All eyes turned to the new boss.

‘I immediately had to manage a crisis,’ he states. Every decision he made had the potential not just to materially affect Aldwyck’s future but his own - although strongly tipped for the top spot he was still officially interim chief executive until December. For a man who defines himself as a family man - even giving his 15-year-old daughter a cheeky namecheck simply because she asked him to mention her in the interview - the pressure of the controversy must have been immense.

So how did Mr Singh cope with the situation? And four months on, how does he see the future panning out for Aldwyck, a significant housing player in the south east?

He says the judgement ‘surprised’ him, though it was his predecessor Neil Hadden, now Genesis boss and hitherto silent on the ruling, who handled the matter for Aldwyck. If there were any sleepless nights at the time of the judgement, Mr Singh is a picture of calm now.

Quick response

Sitting in his office in Aldwyck’s gleaming modern headquarters near Dunstable, he says that he worked closely with Aldwyck’s board to devise an action plan in response to the upset. One of the most important things was to act quickly and explain to staff what steps Aldwyck was taking to address the judgement, he explains.

‘We very, very quickly instigated an independent review [carried out by consultants BDO],’ he says. It also surveyed staff, asking them to identify problems within the organisation.

‘Some staff felt that there needed to be a better appreciation of equality and diversity,’ he states. A ‘clear message’ was that ‘staff wanted line managers to effectively spend more time managing rather than doing’. The major lessons, he says now, were ‘about balancing a manager’s time and pressures in a better way’.

With his quietly spoken, thoughtful manner the Brummie - ‘even a stint in Europe [for a previous job] hasn’t removed the accent’ - comes across as the very definition of a safe pair of hands. Even if he is on his best behaviour today, it is clear that he is no blood and thunder-style boss. He talks about the need to consult - with staff and ‘customers’ - constantly throughout the interview and strays dangerously near to overusing the words ‘communication’ and ‘performance’.

There are still hurdles the new boss has to face. One of the few times he looks slightly uncomfortable is when he is asked whether, given the fact Aldwyck is not challenging the outcome of the tribunal, it will apologise formally to Mr Curniffe. There are legal reasons, he suggests, why he can’t say more about this.

Shortly after the interview a spokesperson for the association sends Inside Housing a statement in which it says sorry for the first time. ‘Aldwyck would like to apologise for the treatment that Errol Curniffe received,’ it states. ‘It fell below the standards we expect within our organisation.’
Clearly the episode has rattled the organisation. Some members of staff who have spoken to Inside Housing are still highly critical of number of managers who remain within the organisation.

There will now be changes to promote a closer working relationship between management and staff. ‘The executive are revisiting the projects that the organisation was planning on undertaking in 2010/11 with the aim of deferring non-business critical projects to allow more time for managers to spend with their staff to focus on performance,’ Mr Singh states. ‘As we move forward this year, we are devoting more time to investing in our staff. We will make the managers more focused.’

What’s more, Mr Singh has created a new post - executive director for organisational development and performance - ‘quite simply to help staff realise their potential’. He is still recruiting for the role.

It is also clear that Mr Singh has big plans for the way Aldwyck should develop. From 1 April he will oversee a restructure that will create two new organisations - Aldwyck East and Aldwyck West. And this arch-consultationist is enthusiastic about the change.

‘They are about small organisations that work more locally,’ he states. ‘We have effectively set up two registered providers: Aldwyck East, which looks after Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and North London, and Aldwyck West, which has Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northampton.’

Local approach

By focusing more locally, housing associations have more potential to ‘consult with customers and have a [better] customer strategy,’ he argues.
This year will also see Aldwyck implement its largest-ever house building programme of 600 homes. Mr Singh is keen to flag this up as an achievement but equally quick to emphasise that development should never become the be-all and end-all.

‘The focus going forward is to get to a steady state situation where we do build homes, because we know there is a shortage of affordable homes within the east of England, but we balance that with investment in our existing homes.

‘I think that has always been a fundamental part of how I have wanted to view the organisation. There is always a balance to building new homes for new customers as opposed to investment in our existing stock.’

Prior to moving into social housing - his first role in the sector was in 2004 as head of finance for Birmingham housing association Prime Focus - Mr Singh worked in the commercial sector, including two years as finance director with since beleaguered coach and train company National Express. This history explains his occasional lapse into jargon - he talks, for example, about the need for a ‘more strategic approach to customer experience’.

He adds, though, that it is this background which has taught him the importance of maintaining the strength of a firm’s core business - in this case maintaining homes and working with existing residents. ‘It is almost like a self-fulfilling prophesy that people come to want to live in an Aldwyck home because they come to understand [it will be high quality],’ he believes.

He also wants Aldwyck to look at different ways of communicating with residents to make sure they are kept informed about what the landlord is doing. Increased use of the internet is one option but the landlord will explore a variety of options.

‘Moving forward, we will be picking up best practice from other sectors and be thinking about how we use text messages for setting up appointments. When we make appointments with Barclays Bank or view our statements, we do that remotely now.’ It’s something many other landlords are already doing, and perhaps a sign that Mr Singh’s Aldwyck is keen to move on from an antiquated past.

There are other changes, too. When he took over as chief executive, Mr Singh remained in the office he occupied as finance director because of its central position in the headquarters. Meetings now rarely take place in the boardroom because he wants them to be more informal. ‘I have wanted the directors to be approachable,’ he adds.

Indeed, before the interview starts he makes a point of walking around the entire office, chatting to staff. He seems to be taking pains to point out he will not be a chief executive who issues orders from an ivory tower.

‘We are working very hard to maintain the reputation that Aldwyck has built up over the last 40 years,’ he adds. ‘The ethos of the business is very different from the decision made by the tribunal.’

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