Views of Mercian Residents Matter
To demonstrate its commitment to resident involvement and develop new ways of involving tenants, Mercian Housing Association have appointed James Walsh to a new role of the customer involvement manager.
The creation of the role and the recruitment process was implemented with full resident involvement driven by the Residents Forum operating within Mercian. From setting the job title to being involved on the assessment day, both Mercian and James have benefited enormously from resident input during his recruitment.
Together with external consultants the Forum produced a comprehensive review of Mercian services which will ensure residents get the best value from Mercian and the services the association provides.
This review together with the new role will form a key part of Mercian’s customer involvement strategy, creating structured and sustainable customer involvement opportunities such as tenant board members, mystery shoppers and tenant training opportunities.
Paving the way for residents’ views and tenant involvement to be at the heart Mercian’s operations are underpinned by strong communication and professional support from the Customer Involvement Team.
James has a diverse background from growing up in Newtown in Birmingham and attending Aston Manor School before living in Castle Vale and Bromford. He has experienced first hand the problems that residents face synonymous with deprived areas. He believes that his upbringing has given him skills he could not have acquired anywhere else and actively encourages people to raise their expectations and aim towards making a better life for themselves, their families and the communities they live in.
Working with people and making a real difference in their lives together with providing excellence in customer services are key drivers for James and he hopes to bring this ethos to the role of customer involvement manager.
Commenting on his appointment James Walsh said: “I am very excited about challenges ahead and hope to develop on the foundations that have been laid by Mercian and its residents. It will be extremely beneficial to listen to and understand residents’ views and opinions. We will ensure that their views matter and are the cornerstones of the continuing development of our services”.