Winner: Moses Ayoola, Business Director (Hard and Soft FM), Sodexo & Queen’s Hospital, Romford

Moses Ayoola is a Sodexo business director based at Queen’s Hospital (QH) in Romford, where he leads a team of 700. Together, Moses and his team implemented a strategic response to Covid-19 by creating extra capacity at the hospital, changing the set up of wards and rooms, and maintaining the piped-in oxygen system, security lock down and cleaning of areas at short notice.

In January 2018, Moses joined Sodexo as a facilities manager, overseeing five service managers. His leadership style is effective and a manifestation of Sodexo’s CARES behaviours: compassion, accountability, respect, enthusiasm and service. He is a leader, team builder, motivator and problem solver. He is an excellent communicator and a driven, loyal, passionate and caring mentor.

Results gleaned

Moses instilled discipline through a supportive and inclusive leadership approach. He established a culture based on compassion, trust and integrity.

Queen’s Hospital had one of the highest lost time incidents (LTI) in Sodexo Healthcare. So Moses:

  • Introduced a weekly leadership safety walk where all managers and supervisors are required to visit various areas, identify risks and hazards and address any concerns;
  • Set up a Safety Action Group to meet monthly and report to the Trust Health and Safety Steering Group;
  • Ensured the health and safety target was included in managers’ objectives by setting clear strategic and SMART objectives for his direct reports;
  • Changed the training curriculum and delivery;
  • Changed security stab vests from overt to covert.

QH went from the site with one of the highest LTIs in Healthcare to one of the lowest. The hospital won Sodexo’s Site of the Year – out of more than 2,000 Sodexo sites in the UK and Ireland at the Spirit of Sodexo Awards 2020.

From 2018 to 2020:

  • Sickness rates dropped from 15 per cent to 2.9 per cent, stabilising 5 per cent during the pandemic;
  • Labour turnover went from 30 per cent to 4.9 per cent; and
  • Engagement score climbed from 47 per cent to 78 per cent.

Key learning

Management excellence motivates all team members to champion the company’s shared values and goals. It creates a consistent and productive workforce. An example of this is when Moses, with the help of HR, set up listening groups with the frontline teams during the pandemic in a bid to drive engagement, key KPIs and operational efficiency.

Quotes 

“Moses supports new ideas and innovations; for example, we are the only site to have a Braille menu.” – QH patient dining manager.

“Moses drew me in when I was shielding – I could have been another long term sick statistic, but I worked from home throughout because he called me every day (to see how I was) I never felt disconnected. He kept me in the loop.” – QH domestic manager.