12 People of Waterstons – Lesley Buckels

Lesley joined us this year to take our work in the Social Housing sector to the next level. She worked with housing providers in the public sector to help them use technology to deliver excellent services to their customers, as well as improving current working practices.

We asked her about her career so far, what she’s passionate about, and how she plans to take 2024 by storm.

“After working in the public sector, in local authorities, arm’s length management organisations and housing associations, holding numerous roles, my interest in technology led to me taking up an opportunity to work in consultancy.

“My focus has always been the client and their customers, working collaboratively to get the best out of technology, and introduce new ideas and approaches to service delivery. One of my key strengths is change management which underpins activities – and I have seen lots of change in the sector, some good, other less so but the focus is always on outputs.

“This is an exciting time in the sector, lots of challenges many of which will need technology to be the enabler to meet those challenges, and I am planning to raise the profile of Waterstons within the sector so that the brand offerings are extended to a broader consultancy offering.

“The sector is facing several challenges, and is on the rebound from bad press and increased scrutiny. Legislative changes will bring focus to the customer and property journey, where data and reporting will mean that the sector will need to think and behave differently – the customer voice will be at the forefront of service delivery.

“Addressing these challenges will mean investing in the right technology, rather than technology for technology’s sake; this will provide an opportunity for the sector to move out of its’ comfort zone and become more innovative, to address the long-known problem of a lack of governance around data, resulting in poor quality data, impacting decision making, and looking at opportunities to integrate solutions, where appropriate, to provide end-to-end processes.

“We aim to address this by hosting webinars, roundtable discussions, and establish regional ‘clubs’ to share ideas and promote change as a voice within the sector.

“I love meeting people, hearing their stories and working with them to do the best job possible. It’s always great when the client tells me I am ‘part of the furniture’ as that demonstrates the value of the relationship as they know I understand them, but am still able to constructively challenge them. Things don’t always go well, but that’s ok, we work to find solutions.”

Are you in the social housing sector and want to find out more about our upcoming events? Get in touch with Lesley at Lesley.buckels@waterstons.com