About Five Lamps

Graeme is an approachable leader who leads by example. He is often seen chatting with all members of staff asking about their work and also about their personal lives. He has an open door policy and all staff feel comfortable in approaching him. Graeme's relaxed leadership style influences how the Senior Management team support him in leading the organisation, ensuring that staff are supported and encouraged to be creative and innovative within their work. Staff are encouraged to bring new ideas on how they can deliver better services to their customers. Graeme has been recognised for his strengths in leading Five Lamps by being awarded the North East VCS awards for his outstanding leadership and more recently was the winner in the North as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Also during their recent IIP Assessment the assessor stated 'It was interesting to note that some of the descriptions of top managers chimed with the recognised features of inspirational leadership. Inspirational leadership is a quality attributed to leaders who are able to create a culture of motivation and commitment. Investors in People UK defines inspirational leaders as those “who create an environment of trust in which people can be creative and motivated to fulfil their potential. They tend to: Have passion, Have a sense of purpose, Be honest and trustworthy, Encourage others to share their vision, Inspire others to achieve their potential.”

The wellbeing of all Five Lamps staff and Volunteers is critical to its ability to deliver services. Five Lamps is committed to providing a working environment and management practices which promote employee wellbeing and good health. Staff were asked to contribute their ideas and ways in which they could enhance their current Wellbeing approach and these are a few of the things they have done so far and have been very successful: Free Financial Health checks for all staff, provided by our Financial Inclusion Team. This helped staff who may be experiencing issues with debt or are struggling financially. It also helped members of staff who just needed advice about what to do with their savings and any investments etc. Staff were asked to contribute a plant to their office to reduce stress levels and make their own office a healthier place to work. Free healthy Heart checks, carried out by the NHS on site. Staff also have the option to attend the smoking cessation at one their community venues and seek advice on alternatives such as patches and gums. Five Lamps asked staff to contribute their ideas on a monthly theme i.e. July 'Summer ideas'.

The most effective thing Five Lamps does to give something back to the wider world is to help their customers and the local community address social/economic and financial barriers. Each year they will work with over 20,000 people living in the most disadvantaged communities of the North East. Five Lamps is structured with four business divisions. The performance and impact of these divisions are included in their social accounts 2011/12.