Charlotte (ISP) Blake - the true Idealogy Service Provider

When your role encompasses everything financial and everything HR it's hard to find the time to add yet another dimension to the amazing service you offer your team. But for Charlotte Blake it's all in a day's work, this calender year closes with some of the finest information imparted to the Idealogy group... Which mince pies are worth your (paid by Charlotte) wages!

Upon the board on floor two is a table, listed are the major brands of mince pie, and threatened into participating are those nearest to Charlotte. Pies are eaten, daily, and scores marked out of 10. As Greggs took a day 1 position, the benchmark is set pretty high. Would you put money on Asda to top it??? Well it would be a safe bet as they're pulling two 9's out of the bag straight off. The rest of the board files in like a more exciting cousin to this years Formula 1 season as we charge forward past M&S, Mr Kipling and on towards Aldi and Waitrose.

So we'll be sure to keep you posted on full results but for now, see what you make of Charlotte's league table, and more worryingly, see what you make of Idealogy's combined waistline as the season nears!

Posted by Idealogy

Getting your teeth stuck into Finance - It doesn’t have to be a pain in the neck!

For over a dozen years, Charlie Blake (she’s a lady!) has been responsible for the financial management of Idealogy and for Selling Ideas before that. Initially she joined as a Financial Assistant but quickly became the mainstay of everything money-side in the business, working to develop internal systems, proper project finance records, at the same time building solid, long-term relationships with clients and suppliers alike.

And, as with jobs of this nature, she’s had to take the rough with the smooth – finance is never a straight path – using the good times to create systems and methods in preparation for the much heralded (and now very real) downturn. But she has committed wholesale to the challenge while also finding the time to raise two lovely girls of her own, Hannah and Gracie, and there have been times, we’re sure, when she may have thought that she’d bitten off more than she could possibly chew. Her response? Up the qualifications, skills and experience and lets see what we can continue to improve or cost control!

Charlie loves the ‘continuity’ of the business and, by that, she means that many of her colleagues have been in the business as long, if not longer, than she has. So she knows the people side of the organisation intimately, she has many friends within, and loves that there are no subjects that are taboos. Except when it comes to her other passions – horror or vampire movies and The National Trust. Both of those tend to get people, except the weirdoes, rushing for the exit doors.

No matter – she soldiers on, knocking over hurdles that continually get placed in the way of SME’s. She’s now worked on 3 internal reorganisations and is still smiling, because she marks it down to experience. Add to all this her long-term commitment to improve her CIMA qualifications, her role as a School Governor, a full-time Mum, and her new iPhone, and life is, at best, a difficult act to balance.

Good to know she’s sinking her teeth in with such relish!

Posted by Idealogy