Andrew Robinson has been a key figure at Morson Training for eight years, progressing from a Training Support Manager to being the Business Manager at the company. We spoke to Andrew about his experience with Morson and the one thing he’d like to change about the rail industry:
What are your top three favourite moments at Morson Training?
The first one would be winning the Platinum Award for our quality assurance visit from NSAR. That was something that we’d worked hard towards. Ged, our CEO, tasked us with setting up a quality training division, based on delivering a good service, something that Matt’s passionate about and I’m really passionate about. To achieve that rating from the awarding body was something we were proud of.
The second one would be the Network Rail contract award, that is one of the biggest contracts that’s ever been awarded in the industry. It’s a real game changer and I think it gives us the opportunity to try and forge sustainable partnerships with lots of other training providers, to be a better partner to Network Rail and for us to be a good client to our partners. Everybody succeeds together because it’s more efficient, it’s more effective, and everybody wins.
The last one, is a bit of fun, we did a Born Survivor together, which was a 10K military assault course, and we did that for Andy Reid’s Standing Tall Foundation. There was a team of seven of us that went, all of different abilities and different fitness levels. What came out of that was a real cohesive team unit that, when we stuck together, we competed and actually we finished in a really good time. All happy, all covered in mud, all smiling faces, but just a bit of fun.
What is the most satisfying thing about your role at Morson Training?
It’s changed so much, from the moment I came in. It was originally a supporting role coming in to help Matt grow the business from its infancy. It’s changed now into a bit of everything. The business support/business manager role sees me doing a bit of everything across the business and I love that, it’s one of the things I enjoy most about my role.
We get involved in all sorts of different things from tenders to working with apprentices over the years. I’m really keen on helping people. The fact that we get involved in working with people in prisons. We do some work with ex-offenders, we work with the Violence Reduction Unit in London to help people get back into employment with our Morson London team.
That’s something I’m really proud of. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. I can go home, look at my wife and kids in the face and know that we’re doing something good, as well as being a good business. That means a lot to me.
What three words would you use to describe Morson Training?
The three words I’d use to describe Morson Training are team, determination, and solutions. I think to just expand on them a little bit. We are a team, we look after each other and we stick together. We get things done and I’m really proud of that. That sort of feeds into the determination because we keep going when things are tough, we don’t give up and solutions, we’re always looking for solutions. We’re looking for new innovations, looking for different ways to do things, and different services that we can offer.
What is the one thing you would change about the rail industry?
The one thing I would change about the rail industry is I’d love there to be more collaboration between companies at all levels. I think the infrastructure is so large and the industry is so varied. If we could all work together, we’d find ourselves all being more efficient, we’d create more opportunities for each other, and overall, we’d deliver a better functioning railway.
Do you think Morson is helping to make that change?
We’re certainly trying to help make a change. I think as part of the new Network Rail contract, we’re trying to build a supply chain. We’re not trying to own the industry or take over. That’s not the M.O. It’s very much a case of can we work together with partners? Can we build more partners? And just deliver a better service to Network Rail, all be part of a railway that moves forward and delivers for the people.
