60 seconds with Robert Prince

26 April 2019

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your background?

I’m thrilled to have joined the RFL in January as the lead for the group corporate shared services. I’ve enjoyed more than 20 years in managed and shared services, in industries as diverse as car rental, telecommunications and nuclear power. I’ve previously worked with organisations including NHS Shared Business Services, designing and deploying finance and accounting, and IT services across more than 40 trusts.

Tell us about your role?

My role is new within the trust, and the result of putting the group strategy into action. My remit is to pull together a number of back-office support services into a shared services model for the group. One example of what we are doing is the investment in the new robot or ‘robotic process automation’ – a new technology which is supporting our finance and HR teams to automate some tasks.

Can you describe an average day?

I commute from Birmingham so I spend a lot of time on the train. This might deter some, but I’ve done it for many years and I really appreciate the quiet time to catch-up on email, review committee papers and plan for the day ahead. I have the privilege of working with a wide variety of teams, so a typical day will be a mixture of meetings and team visits. I try to spend the day at one site at a time and I like to base myself at ECC for two or three days per week at least.

What do you most enjoy about your job?

Lots. The variety of work is so interesting I learn something new every day, there is such a broad scope. Most of all it’s the people I meet and get to work with. I really appreciate working across so many teams, and harnessing our collective brainpower for a common objective is so stimulating. It’s my dream job.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?

I feel passionately about supporting patients and ensuring they have the best experience possible. Right now we have some challenging systems that don’t always work the way we and our colleagues need them to, and that’s a cause of frustration.