Meet Phil Henfrey, ClearSpace’s Head of Operations. Phil has worked in information management and office moves & changes industries for over 10 years - we know, he doesn’t look old enough. Phil oversees ClearSpace’s overall day to day operations, supporting active projects and managing our onsite staff.
We thought you might like to get to know Phil a bit better and so we asked Phil as many questions as we could in 60 seconds (some work-related, some not so much). We love him a little bit more now. See how it went here;
1. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? Either with my family or researching new craft beers and the breweries behind them.
2. What are you most proud of in your career? In a previous role I headed up a project for Primark who were wanting to transform their Head Office and specifically the environment of their buying departments. The CEO’s vision was to see from one corner of the office to another. In my experience of working in the retail sector for various high profile brands, buying departments are notorious for storing samples from floor to ceilings, in corridors, on, in and surrounding storage units. We successfully enabled Primark to introduce collaboration spaces and the result was a more positive working environment. A clear space for clear minds to be creative.
3. If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction. He’s cool, full of attitude and a no-nonsense character! Totally opposite to me…
4. What is something you learned in the last week? Getting to grips with our new CRM system and establishing some new processes to future proof our business operations. It’s great.
5. What do you love about working in London? It may sound cliché but I love the hustle and bustle. The streets are getting busier again and the whole atmosphere is returning. Our offices are based just around the corner from St Paul’s cathedral.
6. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet? Charles Bukowski, the American author. He wrote quite gritty novels about down-beat America, based on his own experiences, and so I think he’d be an interesting guy to have a conversation with.
7. What does a typical day look like for you? I have a fair amount of admin to do on a daily basis relating to all our active projects. I have to source suppliers, meet with our client base and keep our Project Managers and Filing Clerks busy. I’m currently working on a project with a London based publishing company. We’re helping them to audit their storage and filing and identify reduction and rationalisation potential. Like most companies they are considering what their future office looks like and we are helping them to prepare for that.
8. What three traits describe you? Beard, bold and loves a beer.
9. What trends in office design excite you that you see today? Just generally how much change is being brought about as a result of the pandemic is very interesting to me. What we do is essentially change management and being involved in those types of conversations and having influence in future ways of work is fun. Most office designs are changing for the better with more open and collaborative spaces. Companies are posing questions about how they work going forward.
10. What advice do you have for Facilities Managers struggling to implement agile working? Make sure you have buy-in from all of your key stakeholders at the top. If staff see that they are onboard it really helps to filter the message through and lead a successful change.
11. What advice would you give to yourself age 10? Invest in Bitcoin and Tesla.
12. What is your favourite thing about working at ClearSpace? It’s a young company and so being involved in building a foundation of business processes for the future is the best part.
13. What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this? I’d probably attempt to use my degree in film and broadcast productions.
14. Why should companies looking to transform their workplace consider partnering with ClearSpace (in no more than 10 words)? Most change projects fail, we will ensure yours is successful.
15. What would you name the autobiography of your life? Cool story bro!
Phil is a member of the management team at ClearSpace who between them have decades of experience of managing and implementing successful change management projects within the office rationalisation, office relocation and refurbishment space. Based in London, ClearSpace help Facilities and Office Managers to improve their working environments for the better, reduce footprint and save money. Speak to our dedicated team today.