About the BBC - Chris Kane

BBC receptionist to attend Royal Garden Party

Chris Kane Chris Kane — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:33:06 +0000

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to recommend somebody from the Workplace team to attend one of this summer's Royal Garden Parties.

It was really exciting to hear that Zina Craker, one of our long serving front of house representatives, received the gold embossed invitation and she's now off to meet her Majesty at Buckingham Palace.

We have been on tenterhooks for some time as there were lots of formalities to be completed in advance of receiving confirmation of the invitation. But as the photo below shows, Zina has her invite firmly in her grasp and there's no stopping her now!

Chris Kane is Head of Corporate Real Estate for the BBC

Zina Craker, Receptionist at White City celebrates 40 years service with the BBC

What happens at a Royal Garden Party?

Flexible Working at the BBC - you can't keep a good man down

Chris Kane Chris Kane — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:25:36 +0000

At last week's Leadership meeting Mark Thompson paid tribute to our Deputy Director General Mark Byford for running the BBC's General Election campaign from his front room. What's this all about you may ask? Has the BBC taken its property cost cutting campaign to an extreme?

As a result of an unfortunate accident Mark Byford (pictured below) found himself nursing a badly broken leg for three months and unable to make his daily commute. Not to be constrained by such an inconvenience Mark was determined, as Head of BBC Journalism, to be able to lead the overall co-ordination of the BBC's Election coverage. Armed with his broadband connected laptop, Blackberry, TV and radio, he was able to do this from his Winchester home. In effect he watched and listened to more output than anyone else and was able to lead the overall Election team effectively throughout the campaign chairing daily phone conferences and giving regular feedback.

From a flexible working point of view this is yet another example of how we need to stand back and reflect on the adage - 'work is something you do, not a place you go to.'

We want the BBC to be the most creative place to work in broadcasting - flexible and dynamic, where people can achieve their best. People often say they feel obligated to work in a BBC building even when they know they could be more creative or productive in a different environment.

To solve the problem of 'presenteeism' we need to strike a different work-life balance that, where possible, gives people the option of working part of the time away from their building base.

The case of Mark Byford proves it can be done.

Chris Kane is Head of Corporate Real Estat for the BBC

We are changing lives with 'One Water'

Chris Kane Chris Kane — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:06:08 +0000

Every now and then fate deals us a good card. Excellent sales of One Water across BBC catering outlets up to March mean that a third play pump can be set up to help communities in Malawi. One Water also has money left over to get well on the way to purchasing a fourth one! Thanks to all staff and visitors who have bought One Water for making this possible.

The playpumps use special technology so that while children have fun spinning on the playpump merry-go-round, clean water is pumped into a tank above ground.

I visited Lesotho last year and was enormously proud to see how this simple idea has completely changed the lives of people in these communities. I will be making a return trip to Malawi in July, along with Catering Manager Hilary Friel and Cutomer Service Director Kate Smith, to see first-hand the benefits that the new pumps will bring.

In preparation for the trip, Island Mastara from Media Village engineering has even been helping us with some language lessons - 'zikomo' Island! (Thank you!)

Well done to everyone who has supported the One Water initiative.

Chris Kane is Head of Corporate Real Estate for the BBC

Flexible working, video conferencing and the BBC

Chris Kane Chris Kane — Fri, 07 May 2010 09:13:04 +0000

Lots of people talk about the benefits of using video links to avoid the need for travel. In the main there is a fair degree of scepticism about the usefulness or otherwise of this technology, for example, 'it's expensive, the picture is poor and one needs a degree in rocket science to get the kit working!'

For the BBC move to MediaCityUK in Salford we're working on the theme 'Salford - it's not as far away as you might think.' A key element of this is embracing video conferencing.

To help us get started we have installed 'the Tube', a permanent video link between the Manchester and London based project team. We have allocated two meeting rooms that work as a pair, enabling team members to drop in at any time to connect up. It's simple, requires no technical support and provides a richer form of interaction.

A sign of things to come.

Chris Kane is Head of Corporate Real Estate for the BBC