In Your Shoes - Michelle McKearnon

I am Head of Engagment at Highland Reserve Forces and Cadets, an arm's length organisation working with the Ministry of Defence to support Scotland's Reserve Forces and Cadets in Central and Northern Scotland. I joined the organisation in 2017 as a Defence Account Manager and then took over as Head of Engagement in 2019. I manage an Engagement and Communication team, and no two days are the same. 

Previously I worked in Business Development for various organisations, including founding the Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce where I was CEO before joining HRFCA. I have always been interested in supporting our Armed Forces and in developing business opportunities and partnerships, and my current role allows me to do both.

I live in Fife with my husband and General Jericho Jones the cat. I have 3 adult children.

Monday

Monday is my main office day. We work a hybrid rota with everyone doing 3 days in the office and 2 days working at home. Of course we are often out and about on the road too, so it’s nice to have one day when I can work in a quiet office and get organised for the week ahead.

My team covers an area of over 20,000 square km from Dunbartonshire in the South West, to Shetland in the North East, so Monday is a good time to catch up with everyone and see where people are going to be.

Then it’s a day of answering emails and working on strategic level reports which underpin the work we do in supporting the Armed Forces. I also find time to water the multitude of plants in the office – they are taking over every available space but add some welcome greenery.

Tuesday

I worked from home today and had a Zoom call with our HQ in London and colleagues from RFCA’s across the UK to discuss some of the coming changes being implemented as a result of our ongoing 10 year review. There is a lot of new terminology to get our heads round, and, as with all change, not everyone likes it. I think it’s fair to say it was a lively discussion!

As the end of the Financial Year approaches, I review all spend against budget forecasts and make sure invoices are all submitted before the deadline. Managing budgets in the face of ongoing cuts is a real challenge, and we have to demonstrate value for money. As always, my engagement team have been on top of it so I don’t think we will be on the naughty step at year end.

Working from home brings its own challenges – my laptop growing legs wasn’t one I anticipated!

Wednesday

A day of meetings in Edinburgh. First a meeting of Tri-Service Defence personnel at our quarterly REB (Regional Engagement Board). This meeting, hosted by 105 Regiment Royal Artillery, brings together key stakeholders from across Scotland to ensure clear lines of collaboration between our respective organisations. I added our updated forecast of events into the joint Main Events List; this ensures that the two RFCAs, the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force all have sight of each other’s planned activities. It is important we deconflict diaries and identify areas where we can work together.

After a quick lunch it’s a short hop along the road to Redford Barracks, the base of 51 Brigade and Army HQ (Scotland). I met the new Army Engagement Manager and look at some proposed marketing and promotional materials. Again, we are aiming to align our messages and be consistent across all platforms.

Finally I attended an evening event at a briefing of over 50 employers and civic leaders in Archers’ Hall, home of the Royal Company of Archers, the King’s ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland. I got home at 9pm.

Thursday

Today we had an engagement event with Fife Chamber of Commerce, one of our ChamberFORCE partners who help deliver support for Defence. My team head off to Knockhill – who are Gold Employer Recognition Scheme holders – to take part in a karting challenge between civilian and military teams. Soldiers from 154 Transport and Logistics Regiment, and sailors from HMS Scotia and the Royal Marine Reserve make up the military teams.

I had a lunchtime event at Dundee Rotary Club as a guest of the President, and enjoy the opportunity to network with local businessmen and women from Dundee, and hear an inspirational talk by Roy O’Kane from Kanzen Karate.

Our weekly Senior Management Meeting took place in the afternoon where department heads deliver a roundup of activities and are briefed by the Chief Executive on any new issues or recent developments. It’s always useful seeing what is happening in other departments - Estates, Finance and Cadets – and we lean in to assist each other where our work overlaps.

Friday

Friday - and time to check in with my fellow Heads of Engagement across the UK in a Zoom meeting to discuss national issues and challenges. There are 12 of us in total, each managing a fairly large chunk of the UK and N Ireland so we have lots to chat about!

It is also closing day on applications for our new admin officers and I will have a pile of applications to sift through next week before interviews in April. Recruitment is a time consuming and serious business; it’s vital the successful candidates are a good fit with our existing small team and I will be putting a lot of time into this over the next two weeks.

It’s not unusual to work on Saturdays at Community Engagement events, so I end the afternoon by loading up the car with our trusty gazebo and lots of promotional literature ready to head to Stirling 900 Festival tomorrow.

Saturday

As it’s a community event with lots of families and youngsters, our 3 military bear Mascots are ready for duty. Sgt Major George, Squadron Leader Archie and Royal Marine Bandbear Ned, are always popular and generate huge Social Media activity for us. Our hashtag #followthebears lets our Cadets and young at heart follow the bears’ adventures at events around Scotland.

A tremendous turn out for the parade was dampened somewhat by horrendous weather resulting in several hundred very soggy pipers arriving at Stirling Rugby Club. The unpredictability of a Scottish Spring always has an impact and today wasn’t our day, although in the true spirit of the Armed Forces, resilience and good spirits saw us through to the end.

A busy and varied week done and dusted as Head of Engagement at HRFCA. I hope you enjoyed finding out more about what we do!