CAREER DEVELOPMENT GETTING TO THE TOP
MY BIG BREAK – GETTING TO THE TOP Brian Talbot took the apprenticeship route to become the controlling mind behind an entire division of one the nation’s leading service providers
Brian Talbot Managing Director (Civil Government), Interserve Brian Talbot heads up an entire division at one of the largest service providers in the country. Starting as an apprentice with the Ministry of Defence, he has climbed the career ladder all the way to the very top. Brian Talbot is managing director, Civil Government, for support services provider Interserve. He is responsible for Interserve’s support services to the government, including healthcare support services to PFI and NHS trusts, as well as a range of local and central government departments, education and social housing facilities. The role comes after 30 years of work, gaining technical and strategic experience across a variety of roles in the industry, which gave him the skill set required to lead such a large part of the Interserve business. Talbot began his career as an apprentice with the Property Services Agency, with the Ministry of Defence. It covered a range of disciplines within the building services environment, such as
electrical engineering. He moved on to work as a service engineer in 1989 with the How Group (later acquired by Interserve). Here, he maintained heating, ventilation and electrical systems at an MoD site. He also spent time mobilising an outsourced engineering contract with BP.
experience. That’s something I’m very proud about. “As a service engineer, I saw that I could add influence and wanted to change things. “Coming up from that route has given me great grounding and experience at the coalface. Before you embark upon changing things, you must first of all know what it is you’re going to change and how it’s done, and how it should be done.” Talbot picked up skills in construction and commercial management through his time working with John Laing, working on defence contracts. Through his engineering and defence background, he moved on to business development, where he was part of the team which won an £800 million army training estate contract for Interserve’s joint venture, Landmarc. Talbot was well placed to chair boards of Interserve’s joint ventures Landmarc and Pride. He became managing director of Interserve Defence in 2006, using the knowledge he gained to form an integrated sector for the group and more than doubling its turnover.
Learning through experience
The next generation
“I left my apprenticeship and didn’t have a university degree, and still don’t,” says Talbot. “I’ve managed to reach a position of seniority without having the academic qualifications to back me up. I’ve supplemented that through ongoing training and
Today, Talbot is keen to give new FMs the opportunity to prove themselves – something which wasn’t as readily available when he was starting out. “When you’re young, you come up against the barriers of age versus experience, and the
perception that you can’t be young and have experience,” says Talbot. “It was maybe a cultural thing in those days; you had to build up a portfolio of experience before people gave you the opportunity. “Now, in a senior position, I make sure that it doesn’t happen. I go out of my way to encourage younger people that have the right drive and motivation and technical capabilities, to give them the opportunity. “You see a lot more younger people in senior positions these days. I never used to see a supervisor under 30 or 40.” Although young FMs might be ambitious, Talbot is eager to see them ‘go back to basics’ to understand what makes the business tick. “Learn skills from the shop floor first,” advises Talbot. “It means rolling your sleeves up and getting your hands dirty for a year or two.” DEVELOPMENT
Climbing the ladder Apprenticeship, Property Services Agency, MoD 1984-1989 ● Joined the How Group FM team 1989 ● Moved to a joint venture contract with John Laing Management on an MoD contract 1994 ● Moved into business development 1999 ● Joined the bid team at Landmarc Support Services, a joint venture between Interserve and PAE 2001 ● Promoted to director of operations, Landmarc 2003 ● Project director, Landmarc 2004 (later director and board chairman, 2005-2014) ● MD for its defence business 2006 Director and chairman of the board of Pride, a joint venture between Interserve Defence and SSE Contracting 2006 ● Managing director, civil government, at Interserve 2014 ●
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