Allison Winter Wonderland

by Beth Hallam
11/02/2010

For many, evenings and weekends offer some down time, time to relax and 'chill' out, but for one man, 'chilling out' means something altogether different. Martin Allison, Dean of Leeds Met's Faculty of Business & Law, has put his own plans on ice to help rescue and prepare the British Bobsleigh team for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I met with Martin to find out what makes him tick and to find out about his involvement in a sport that was heading downhill fast, but for all the wrong reasons.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Life in the fast lane

As I sat chatting to Martin in the new offices of the Rose Bowl, it soon became very clear why he was the right man for the job; his unrelenting passion and enthusiasm for everything he does is infectious. It would seem that Martin, a devoted husband and father of twin boys, from the North East of England, never stops. Prior to joining the team at Leeds Met, he worked as a professional banker for 20 years, which he admits is no longer the most impressive thing to say at parties, took on the chairmanship of a graphic design, marketing and branding agency, and worked with a business coaching and business advisory board to sell its franchises throughout the UK.

Speaking about his time in banking, Martin says: "At the time it was great and I was very proud of the way I could link and relate to the customers. I had a real passion for the professionalism, got heavily involved with the institute and am very sad to see where we are with it now."

Martin's chairmanship of branding consultancy Thompson Brand Partners, included the implementation of a number of professional systems and processes, including HR, accounting, sales and management systems, which helped steer the company towards further success. As he explains: "I had some great fun and they're a very capable and award-winning company. It's a great business, which has just celebrated its best year yet. I've always been a businessman. I've always been involved with clubs or societies, junior chamber, chamber of commerce, the institute of bankers, the institute of financial services, etc. I love working with people, it's my passion really."

Another passion of Martin's from throughout his life has been his love of the outdoors. It was during his school years that he was first introduced to a variety of sports and the topic of geography, courtesy of influential tutors Gary Hulme and John Swain. "Not only was Gary my form tutor and physics tutor, but more importantly he was a really keen sportsman. He got us into volleyball and basketball and got us to try all sorts of different things. At the age of 15, he took me skiing, which has since become a lifelong interest. John Swain was a geography teacher, who obviously had an impact on me, as geography later became the subject I went on to study at Manchester University."

No business like snow business

It was his love for the great outdoors together with a cool head for business that enabled Martin to glide down the next path in his life. In 2008 he took on one of the biggest challenges of his career so far; the responsibility for turning around and rescuing British Bobsleigh, a sport that was, at the time, very close to meltdown. But despite facing many down hill struggles, and often making him feel somewhat close to the edge, Martin has managed to bring the sport back from the brink and is preparing to see his beloved teams go for gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics, which begin this weekend. "I have been helping the British Bobsleigh Association to come through a period which has seen it lose its soul and become disconnected. Whilst I recognised the importance of a financial turnaround, I recognised that there was an equal, if not more important, need to recreate the soul of what the Association was all about.

"The athletes have done some remarkable things; the ladies team are world champions and will be going to the Olympics as just that, which is an outstanding achievement by them having come through some very difficult circumstances. But I think this gives us a rallying call to come together."

Breaking the barriers of education

Keen to follow in the footsteps of his mother, who was a teacher, Martin was eager to share the wealth of his own knowledge with others and in 2009, alongside his role as ambassador and Chairman of the Board for the British Bobsleigh Association, responded to a rallying call from Leeds Met to join the team as the new Dean of the Faculty of Business & Law.

He first came to the University, on what he describes as dark, dingy nights, to complete part of his studies for the Chartered Institute of Bankers professional examinations. He subsequently sat as a Director and Trustee for the Institute after gaining his Fellowship and has for a long time been an advocate and practitioner of continued professional development so was thrilled to take up his latest post as the new Dean of one of Leeds Met's largest faculties: "I didn't expect to be here in the University. It was a great surprise, a great pleasure, a great challenge and, more importantly, a great opportunity.

"I know the business community pretty well and I know quite a few of the Civic community, so working with the academic community to bring that together for the good of the city, the good of the region and the good of the economy was an opportunity too good to be true."

Rather than wishing to change things that have already been and gone, Martin is a firm believer in moving forward and capturing the hearts and minds around to work together and translate the faculty into a really successful, performing unit. "I think if we could rewrite history we all would, but that's not really the game I wish to play. We reinvent the future and should be looking forwards now, not back."

Reconnecting values

Drawing on similarities between his work with British Bobsleigh and his role at Leeds Met, Martin adds: "Reconnecting people to the heart and soul of the institutions so that those organisations become higher performing and more fun places to work is a challenge I see here in the faculty and the University as a whole. We've got to work together to get the student experience above and beyond where it is at the minute, because quite frankly there is no reason, which is not within our gift, why we cannot be at the top of our game if we work hard at it.

Whilst he suggests there is still some way to go, Martin has already seen a shift in the right direction and believes that learning from others will help the University to move up another gear: "I believe that there's a real passion across the faculty to work together to improve, you could call it getting back to basics. I would love people in a year's time to turn back and say 'what has Leeds Met done? They have rocketed through the ranks.' I would love to see that and it will happen when our people feel great, because when our people feel great, the students get a wonderful experience.

"I would say that my biggest responsibility as Dean of the faculty is to make sure that we give the people who come here the chance to achieve what they aspire to do and hopefully a little bit more, to go above and beyond. I think there's a fantastic opportunity to, in effect, help translate different glossaries and jargon, and to create a different understanding of the world and create something special in Leeds."

Presenting his case

Things haven't always been quite so clean cut for Martin, who, within months of joining the University, was drawing the attention of students and staff by being bundled off by the long arm of the law to the cells of the Town Hall. The 'arrest' was however just a bit of fun and formed part of a fundraising initiative organised by Leeds charity St Gemma's Hospice.

This week Martin is hoping to once again draw the attention of students and colleagues from across the University, but this time for altogether different reasons. Martin will be sharing his experiences from the field of business and sport, joining the two together in an Olympic themed presentation, ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which kick off this weekend in Vancouver.

The parallels in modern business are many and Olympian Performance 'Cool Lessons from Sport to Business' will see Martin reflecting, with a level of humour, on his recent experiences with the Olympic discipline of bobsleigh and highlight key behaviours and practices displayed by extraordinarily successful sports and companies. The presentation aims to get its audience into the Olympic spirit and will explore how this movement can be a catalyst for a performance-enhancing shift in the results of Our University's activities.

As the old saying goes, 'no rest for the wicked', well having spoken to Martin and seen for myself his total dedication not only to his career and his family, but to British Bobsleigh, one can only suspect that Martin must have done something terribly wicked in a former life!

So while many colleagues prepare to chill out this weekend, perhaps with a spot of 'Dancing on Ice', Martin will be keeping his eye on another 'cool' prize and hoping to see his beloved teams succeed and take it from the top in the Winter Olympics.

'Cool Lessons from Sport to Business' will be held in Lecture Theatre B, The Rose Bowl on Thursday 11 February from 6pm (for a 6.30pm start).

Since writing this article last week, Martin has announced he will be leaving the Univerity at Easter to move on to pastures new. To read details of Martin's new venture please click here.

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