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Welcome to episode 23! A journey into grey space, stakeholder influence, and the evolving impact of business partnering at scale.
In this episode of the IT Business Partner Playbook Podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Gavin Galloway, an IT Business Partner at Rolls-Royce (US). Gavin joined the role mid-pandemic in 2020 - without much prior exposure to business partnering. He has since carved a thoughtful, strategic path through mentorship, reflection, and persistence.
1๏ธโฃ Navigating the Grey Space:
Gavin describes the BRM role as living in the โgreyโ - where formal authority doesnโt exist, but influence is everything. He shared how he had to quickly develop a working knowledge of frameworks, stakeholder dynamics, and organizational complexity - all while remote.
2๏ธโฃ Stakeholder Management Tools & CRM Thinking:
To stay on top of exec needs and business priorities, Gavin uses tailored stakeholder templates - acting like a CRM for relationship tracking. He stressed the importance of documenting lessons and insights, so new team members donโt have to start from scratch.
3๏ธโฃ Value Through Financial Fluency:
We explored how financial understanding can elevate a BRMโs value. Gavinโs self-taught approach to aligning tech and finance has helped him earn trust and influence key investment decisions.
4๏ธโฃ Collaboration & the Power of Face-to-Face:
Gavin and I discussed the real-world impact of in-person interaction for building trust, especially in global teams. From cultural understanding to spontaneous innovation, these touchpoints often accelerate delivery and deepen relationships. Gavin is now working on a white paper to help quantify this value.
5๏ธโฃ Enabling Future BRMs:
We explored training and mentoring approaches within Rolls-Royce, emphasizing the need for vertical knowledge, hands-on learning, and passing down experience purposefully. Gavin also acknowledged that not every BRM journey looks the same - and thatโs okay.
6๏ธโฃ Breaking Silos & Creating Space:
We challenged the idea of BRMs as gatekeepers and instead framed them as connectors. Gavin shared how heโs learned to let go of โowningโ the relationship and instead enable others to flourish through collaboration.
Listen to the full episode to hear how Gavin is influencing change, redefining value, and helping to shape the future of BRM at one of the worldโs most iconic engineering organizations.
This episode reflects the evolving, high-stakes nature of BRM work - especially in complex, regulated sectors like defence. Itโs about agility, emotional maturity, and using every insight as fuel for influence.
#BRM
#BusinessPartnerNetwork
#Leadership
https://bpn.goagora.org/
Find our Highlights and podcast article on the BPN. Gavin will also be sharing his whitepaper here, once approved.
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