By Business & Finance 
Regus country manager Gearoid Collins takes the Business & Finance 60-second challenge.
Q. What was your first job?
Finance and leasing sales with AIB in Sandyford, Dublin. It offered fantastic training, way ahead of the curve in terms of systems and process at that time. I really enjoyed my work there.
Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?
Professionally, I have helped some people to develop, grow and hit their personal targets.
There’s no better sense of achievement for me than recognising talent, developing it and then watching people work hard, morph, try new things and reach their goals. I get huge pleasure in seeing that happen.
Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A business mentor friend of mine once told me, when recruiting people it’s vital to look way beyond what’s written on a CV and how questions are answered in an interview.
Try to focus on the attitude of the applicant. If you get the right attitude, that’s the first and biggest step.
Q. In three words or less, how do you define success?
Achieving together.
Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff?
I have a great team, already motivated within themselves. Of course, there are times when I feel I need to act as a catalyst to get things going again when disappointments occur, or results are below our standards.
I have found on these occasions that it helps when you engage yourself in the team and invest time in your people. When I do this and allow everyone to own their work and have a sense of purpose – that’s when I see people increase their engagement.
The key then is to step back a little and let the talent grow. When everyone knows their role in the team, they then own it and the team as a collective keeps the motivation going.
I motivate myself through the exact same dynamic of being part of this standards-driven team, but also through my own goals, as well as my responsibility to lead the team to success and growth.
Q. If you could step into the shoes of one businessperson for the day, who would it be and why?
I don’t have idols or heroes in business that are recognisable names to your readers I’m afraid.
There are many people with whom I have worked in the past who have achieved great things relative to many different challenges.
I’d like to have lived in some of these people’s shoes for a few days, just to be able to fully appreciate their achievements, and how they surmounted their various personal challenges along the way. These are the people who inspire me, rather than famous people.
Q. How do you relax?
You need to ask me that when my three young kids grow up!
Q. What’s your motto?
I’m not the motto type of person really. I like to plan, share a plan, bring people into the plan – and then go at it. So I guess ‘Fail to prepare; prepare to fail’.
Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business?
I see huge opportunities as our business tracks the digital curve. What has changed in Ireland over the last ten years is phenomenal in how commerce transacts and in the way people work.
I see a future, not so far ahead, where workers will increasingly work in more flexible ways, times and places. Companies will continue to cut fixed costs and look for places where their workers can work remotely wherever and whenever they want.
The focus will be more and more on output, and solutions will need to be available for these workers to work where and when they want.
Regus and our parent company IWG, through other brands like Spaces and Signature, provide a variety of solutions already to this ever changing demographic.
My goal is to have more and more locations to serve the ‘future worker’ who will need to avail of flexible working spaces and an array of options from co-working and private offices.
When everyone knows their role in the team, they then own it and the team as a collective keeps the motivation going
THE MODERN WORKPLACE
Regus is the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace solutions and has offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
These offices are popular with a range of users, including startups, local businesses, remote workers, as well as national and international companies that wish to open satellite offices.
