A week in the life of… Alida Scholtz, CEO and MD, G4S UAE

Sunday

The first thing I do when I wake up is read the newspaper and scan for business and industry news updates. Since my job is not a typical Sunday to Thursday nine to five position, my schedule has to be determined at least a week prior by each week’s calendar of events. Once I enter the office the first thing I do is catch up on some more emails, go over my schedule and do some solitary brainstorming before the day begins. After I’m all settled my day starts off with one of my weekly managing director’s staff meetings, addressing strategies and discussing practical issues such as workflows, customer visits and operational reviews. After my meeting I normally focus on important phone calls and spend my time catching-up with other team members to discuss our progress and upcoming projects.

Monday

My day is already loaded with customer visits and travels to our other local branch offices, which are likely to stretch many days further. The energy I have and love for my job is what keeps me going. I have another engagement scheduled for today with our second chain of command and field operations, to discuss the operational programme of one of our upcoming private security events. In between my meetings I scan key online news portals to stay on top of current economic and political situations, and advise my teams on important industry related news.

Tuesday

This morning I have a telephone meeting lined up with the CFO to discuss our monthly results, various transformation activities and related progress. We keep our relationship strong and make sure to catch up daily on important financial reports. One of my daily activities includes an internal meeting with my sales team to discuss a series of updates on our full year progress and movement of major contract negotiations, whereby we evaluate our relationships, productivity and sales goals. I also meet with our marketing team weekly to discuss our branding strategies, product launches and editorial enquiries and plan out our staff engagement functions.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are usually very demanding, so my personal assistant makes sure that all my emails are answered within 12 to 24 hours. During the day I attend any escalations personally with my team of managing directors, leading the way forward depending on the gravity of the situation. These situations rarely happen, but if they do we are always prepared for any situation. I’m very active on LinkedIn, and check my account daily. I try to connect and interact with potential customers and vendors and look for new talent. I highly value and use the power of social media to communicate and connect with like-minded people. Major contracts need my approval and review – this is a very time consuming aspect of my role – but we always manage our sales pipeline very effectively.

Thursday

Every week we organise a meeting with our shareholders to keep them up to speed with our investments and discuss potential opportunities related to innovation and technology within our industry. On Thursday afternoon my senior leadership team meets me without delay. During this meeting we connect and discuss the progress of the week and how we can become more efficient and ensure that we can present a solution to every problem. Later in the afternoon we have one of our wonderful company retreats planned to add some fun to the week.

Friday

I do make myself available to my work 24/7, but not in a traditional sense. I never go into the office but I do check my email at night. My weekends are important to me as I finally get the change to reflect at ease on our industry and work. On Friday I like to spend time with my family and friends. In the morning I usually go running outside, it’s great now that the weather has changed. The rest of the day I spend with my family and catch up with close friends to conclude our day with a traditional South African Barbeque. I also spend my time reading books and doing research related to my PhD programme.

Saturday

On Saturday I normally manage my household, do my grocery shopping and have the house cleaned and organised for the next week. I try to enjoy my weekend to its absolute fullest and am as productive as possible.