Q&A: Marshall Motors’ Jo Moxon

In this article: Marshall Motors’ HR Director Jo Moxon talks to MotorPro about how the group attracts talent, the impact of coronavirus and the company’s focus for the next six months

What are the key education and training requirements for people entering your company?

We’re an organisation that looks at how individuals have been successful, not just what they have achieved academically or professionally. Values and culture fit are really important to us at Marshall and we are proud of our Great Place to Work status and work hard at maintaining that.

First and foremost, we look for colleagues who are customer focused. If this isn’t a strongly held value, then we are not the company for you!

If your role with us involves people leadership we are keen to understand your style and how you bring the best out in others. Building a strong internal pipeline of talent is important and we want leaders who can embrace this and make sure we are fit for future.

How do you source talent for your organisation?

We have an internal recruitment team which handles the vast majority of vacancies within our business. Our approach is primarily to source internal talent and develop colleagues for future roles. We have a very successful Future Leaders programme which is designed to support the career progression of our colleagues into their first leadership roles. We have a careers website we update regularly which aims to attract a diverse range of future colleagues into our business who may not have had previous experience in our sector.

What impact did COVID-19 have on the apprenticeships?

Our first-year apprentices have been most affected by COVID-19. The very nature of their training means they work under close supervision in our sites which has clearly been an issue over the past few months. The health and safety of our colleagues is a priority for us and we will not compromise on this; social distancing has made this incredibly difficult. Despite that, we have continued to support their learning while furloughed. 

We continue to believe apprentices will form part of our future strategy and an important investment in our business growth. Like many dealer groups right now, we are looking ahead and will be making decisions on numbers of apprentices in line with growth expectations and customer demand.

How are you managing the new skill-set required for the switch to plug-in vehicles?

The technical training required with EVs is still developing as we know this technology is still very new – on this, we line up with our OEM partners and utilise their training for our colleagues at Marshall.

What leadership development programmes do you run?

We take a blended approach utilising our training academy in Oxford as well as our virtual academy online.

We have bespoke programmes for leaders which encourage colleagues to take their first step into leadership and subsequent programmes that develop leadership skills once in role. Our sales programmes for leaders covers sales and service techniques in a coaching capacity so that when they return to the business they become coaches and mentors for their sales teams. 

Additionally, we have programmes that develop our leaders in building and managing effective colleague relations which is an important part of our culture at Marshall.

What is your key focus for the next six months?

We have been very open about our growth plans which mean my focus in HR and learning and development is about gearing for growth. This means making sure we are in good shape from a talent perspective, our policies and practices are scalable without compromising on rigour and the important elements that make up our culture are inclusive as we expand. I am making some key appointments into the HR team who will bring additional breadth and expertise to the team – it’s a really exciting time for us.