Habitat for Humanity Great Britain’s Post

I’ve always believed that success is a result of the quality - not the amount - of time we put in. So this week I encouraged my exceptionally busy team to spend quality time together away from our desks to reflect on our purpose and priorities and to challenge and inspire each other . We spent the first part of the session in the marketing suite of 40 Leadenhall street - M&G Real Estate’s new 900,000 sq ft development in the heart of the city of London which is targeting a raft of accreditations including BREEAM excellent, Well Platinum and NABERS 5*. Here we developed a roadmap to help us keep productive and on track with our priorities . We also pretended to be an asset manager faced with tough choices. What ESG improvements should they prioritise? How can we better guide them ? But my favourite challenge involved selecting every day items to best represent how we want to be perceived by other teams. A delightfully eclectic collection of objects emerged including a shoe horn, a nut cracker, a battery, a toy digger, a can opener and a spider’s web . Together these symbolise strength, utility, vitality, pragmatism, simplicity and efficacy - all vital values and characteristics needed to be an effective and impactful ESG team in a world of increasing complexity, competing demands, and an array of reporting, compliance , data and operational issues. The message being clear - we must work with intention and smarter to elevate ourselves or risk being seen to be stuck in the weeds. The objective for the second half of the offsite was to complete a team challenge that would help others. For this part, we spent several hours at Habitat for Humanity International’s workshop in Dagenham upcycling and transforming various pieces of unloved furniture into something unique and beautiful for those less fortunate. M&G plc has been working with this amazing charity for several years now, supporting its Empty Spaces to Homes project which seeks to alleviate the housing crisis by converting vacant, derelict premises in to good quality housing . We came away extremely hot, totally exhausted, absolutely filthy but full to the brim with inspiration and gratitude. Days like these only require a small investment in one’s time but the value they bring to employees , our clients and society is incalculable. Thank you to my amazing team for making me laugh and giving it their all and to the wonderful people at Habitat for Humanity for empowering us to make a small difference. Sidney Montague Jane Rawnsley Aneta Wiak Emma Williamson Alan Page Amber Woods Lucy Kidson Henrietta Blackmore David Clare