Rob Clarke is a Director at motive8. He has years of experience in the commercial leisure sector and is widely recognised for his expertise in residential leisure facilities.
In the first of our team spotlight series, we caught up with Rob to get his thoughts on the future of the leisure industry, what’s next for motive8 and his own personal plans.
The 5 star experience is more attainable than ever before
The leisure industry has evolved a huge amount in the last 10 years. Social media and online fitness have played a key role. The Body Coach, for example, went from a personal trainer in a local park to international superstardom.
Recent trends show that people spend more on experiences and less on material items. The leisure industry has had to diversify and adapt to such changes in consumer spending.
The 5* hotel and first-class flight experience is now more attainable than ever before, and this level of service is becoming more and more common place right across the industry.
Problem-solving and communication are key to client relationships
We solve many complex challenges for our clients. We are often too quick to assign a cause and don’t dive deep enough to understand the real reasons. Clients appreciate our expertise in finding the root problem and, only then, do we create a plan to deal with the issue.
Keeping clients happy can be difficult too. We work with multiple stakeholders daily. Clients, developers, managing agents and residents, who can all have different views on what needs to be done or the equipment required.
As with all relationships communication is key, and our team do a great job.
Possibilities for growth are endless if you have a great team
Throughout my career I have focused on driving efficiencies within an organisation. Whether through procurement or process, I always enjoy taking a step back to look at how a business operates and then drilling down into the detail to make the cogs turn in a more efficient and effective way.
Recently, I have shifted my focus to look at people. Employees are the backbone of any organisation. Get the right team and there are no limits on what you can achieve.
motive8 is a more diverse business than most people realise
I have worked across nearly all of motive8’s departments. I have understood the inner workings of the business, the day-to-day issues facing teams and opportunities for growing departments.
I am proud of how we have completely taken Pool & Spa Maintenance in-house. There were challenges we didn’t see coming but we were able to adapt quickly and successfully make one of the biggest changes to the business in years.
motive8 is a great organisation to work for. We may not get it right every time, but we will try and try again to make motive8 the best it possibly can be.
The next 6 months is going to be exciting
We have some exciting projects on the go at the moment and I can’t wait to see where they take us by the end of the year.
On a personal note, I got married in 2021 and my wife and I are looking forward to a road trip across the Rockies in Canada for the Christmas and New Year break.