PEOPLE ON PURPOSE - GRAHAM ALLCOTT

GRAHAM ALLCOTT

Graham Allcott is a social entrepreneur, consultant and trainer, specialising in youth engagement, volunteering and voluntary sector issues.  He became one of the youngest leaders in the charity sector when he was appointed Chief Executive of the national charity, Student Volunteering England at the age of 25: a post he held for three years.  Graham currently divides his time between Fruitful Consulting and time management specialists Think Productive, and in his spare time is putting the finishing touches on his first book “How to be a Productivity Ninja”.

Why do you do the job you do?

A happy accident.  I spent the first few years of my career in the charity and social enterprise worlds.  I’d summarise my first few years as “good at leadership, rubbish at doing”.  So I began working on my own productivity, reading books and blogs, experimenting with what made me productive or unproductive.  Then I kind of fell into teaching it to people and realised it was a bit of a calling.  So I followed my hunch, set up a training business just as the recession hit (!) and thankfully I’m still here 3 years later, with a great team of people around it now too.

What are you most proud of?

I’m proud of lots of the things I’ve done over the years, but right now, I’d have to say my book, “How to be a Productivity Ninja”.  Writing is hard work, especially alongside running a growing business.  It’s been a tough couple of years but I’m really proud of this book and as I write this, I can’t wait to unleash it on the world in a couple of months’ time!

 

What keeps you awake at night?

My cat.  She goes a bit crazy at night.

What were you doing 5  years ago?

I was CEO of a small national charity called Student Volunteering England.  I got that job when I was 25, which I still think is ridiculous, but it taught me a lot. 

What do you expect to be doing in 5 years' time?

I genuinely don’t know.  In my twenties I always used to have a 5 year plan, but these days I tend to wait and see what opportunities come along.  I’m still really happy doing what I’m doing with Think Productive, but in the longer term I’d maybe go part-time on that and fill a couple of days a week with a new social enterprise project.  A have a few ideas for things that I daydream about every now and then.

If you were Prime Minister for the day, what would you do? 

Wow.  I think first I’d see if I could invent a time machine in a day so that I had more than a day!  There’s so much to do isn’t there?!  I’m really passionate about social mobility and the potential for education to empower kids from less well off backgrounds.  I was a free school meals grammar school kid that ended up at a good uni... and all for free.  I know there are thousands just like me who weren’t so lucky.  However you argue the new system, debt is scarier to a kid from a council estate than to a kid from Eton.  Personally, I think we need LESS uni places, but paid for out of the taxes of, er, all the people who got their university education for free themselves!  That way, we’d have the best chance of ensuring we get the brightest and the best at uni, not the wealthiest.  Surely that’s also best for pushing forward our society.  Tragic that so many believe that view is so radical in 2012.

Why are you involved with On Purpose? 

I met Tom and he asked me if I’d offer some pro bono training to the group.  It’s always such a pleasure to be surrounded my like-minded people all doing such interesting things.  I’m secretly jealous I’m not one of the group!


Think Productive provide workshops on email etiquette and facilitation training that add value to your bottom line, by saving time, reducing stress and increasing productivity. Visit their site to find out more.