To do your job well, you need...
Resilience. We are working at pace to recapitalise much of the capability that keeps the UK independent nuclear deterrent at sea, 365 days a year. Our work is vital and the “no fail” element adds a level of focus that can put pressure on me and the teams tasked with maintaining toady’s capability and delivering the future.
Adrian Orchard
First job in government
I spent 35 years flying in the Royal Navy as a Fleet Air Arm Harrier pilot, so my first government job in uniform was as a freshly graduated Sea Harrier pilot flying from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. My first civil service role was on secondment from Cabinet Office leading major programme delivery at Sellafield, part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Proudest achievement to date
I was immensely proud of being part of a team that pulled my major project at Sellafield out of the “red” and set it on a course for success.
Most bizarre thing that’s happened to you at work
I have to use an example of my time in uniform – our aircraft carrier strike group made up of seven ships was heading back from the USA. Nearing the Azores, we all stopped in mid-ocean and deployed a small boat to head over to a Portuguese fisherman who we effectively surrounded. Armed with a bottle of whiskey and 200 cigarettes, our team bartered with a surprised fisherman, who gave us seven swordfish that we brought back to the aircraft carrier and that evening had the best fish supper ever!
If you weren’t a civil servant, you’d be...
Involved in the third sector – mental welfare is an important strand for me and I have a particular focus on post-combat PTSD.
What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever been given?
Always listen more than you speak.
If you could wave a magic wand over the civil service, what would you change?
Make performance management an area of critical focus. We aren’t as brave as we need to be in addressing it. We owe it to those who aren’t performing to be honest and help them to improve or to find a way to do something differently. Poor performance is frustrating, but poor performance not addressed drags teams down.