Sean Fisher’s OCS Journey to Cleaning CEO

“You’ve got to have the energy and the edge – the pace at which we operate is relentless, but at the same time, it’s good fun.”

The new OCS TRUE values – Trust, Respect, Unity and Empowerment – sit well with Sean, who believes when you find the right people, it makes everything else significantly easier.

“That’s everything we stand for, as a business, as a cleaning business, and myself as an individual,” he says.

“When you get the right people, who are true to those values, you have a successful business – and I think those values suit us perfectly.”

Putting values into practice

In practice, for Sean, those values look fairly simple – but the impact they can have is seismic.

“You’ve got to be professional, polite and well-mannered – that’s a given,” he says.

“At the start of every shift, you’ve got to be on site before the shift starts. I expect all of my operators to be visible on site, engaging with customers, and making sure they’re getting the best out of their team in terms of productivity and standards.”

And that engagement with customers – which builds unity and trust, as well as demonstrating respect – is essential to building partnerships that truly help people and places be their best.

“It’s important to build those relationships because, together, we’ll achieve significantly better outcomes,” says Sean.

“We do a lot of relationship mapping, from site level all the way to procurement and CEOs, and if you get that right, you can have the right conversations with the right people – you’re not forcing a relationship, but building something that will be beneficial for both parties in the longer term.”

Building solid foundations for OCS

A successful relationship can deliver a number of strong outcomes,  made possible by the successful day-to-day delivery of services. Those longer-term outcomes are something Sean is focused on in his new role as CEO of Cleaning.

First, however, comes a period of building the foundations that will serve the new OCS business well over the decades to come.

“My main objective this year is to get things like budgets, succession plans and performance management right, ensuring we have the right people in the right roles, and are giving the right opportunities to those people, too,” he says.

“That will create an incredibly solid foundation from which we can build upon and deliver on our overall business mission.”

That mission is, of course, to be the best facilities management business in the world, making people and places the best they can be – and it’s a mission that enthuses Sean as looks ahead to the coming months and years.

He says, “OCS needs to stand for quality, and I want to help OCS become synonymous with being the best.”