Developing senior leadership skills through Help to Grow

How did you find out about the Help to Grow scheme?

My Managing Director, who had previously been on the Goldman Sachs government funded programme received an email about the course and asked if anyone fancied it. I put my name forward and pushed to go on it.

What made you decide to go on the course?

I was ready for my next challenge. I’d become Head of Client Solutions during the pandemic, and because of what had happened in the pandemic, our company became more design-driven and eyes on my team to deliver. Because of that, I felt that I needed to get that fully rounded development for myself, 

This course looked like it covered lots of different and interesting elements and was up-to-date too. It looked a really good fit for me at the right time. 

What were your first impressions of the course?

It’s actually quite strange because I design training programmes as part of my job! It’s a bit weird being a participant on one, but I just felt the way that it had been blended with the different elements of the online workshops, the resources you could access and the live sessions and peer groups, along with the one-to-one mentoring, worked so well.

You received one-on-one mentoring on the course. How did that benefit you?

Kieran, who was my mentor, asked me what I wanted from our sessions, which was really good. There were certain things he recommended we might cover as part of the course structure, but ultimately he said that this was for me and to be honest about what I wanted to get out of it. 

I got permission to share our management accounts and he went through the entire document with me, which helped me to feel confident about what different lines meant and how it all linked together, along with me testing out my learning on financial terminology. It also gave us as a company an outside view on our accounts and how to present them so they are easy to read and engage with. This has then allowed me to suggest some improvements to these reports in the future. Overall, It has helped me to feel much more confident going into management meetings and understanding the financial and commercial elements of the business

What surprised you about the course?

I went into the course with a fear of finance, I would openly say that. It was one of my weakest areas as a senior leader. As I shared with my peer group, there was a lot to take in after the finance module and I needed a few Percy Pigs to get me through it, but afterwards things started to make more sense. 

Steve, our peer group leader, took time and went into the content a bit more with us, which was really good. We had an accountant on our peer group too, which was really helpful. Then, just by chance, I was asked to develop a finance for non-finance managers module for one of our biggest clients, which luckily dropped at a time when I could put my learning straight into practice and test out what I had learned and then think about what I had benefited from when looking at this topic. 

At the end of the module, I went to the Bank of England lecture at the university, which I would never have gone to before I started the Help to Grow course. I’ve even had the confidence to change my own mortgage, so it’s just given me that extra boost in terms of financials in and outside of work. I’m not scared of it anymore, and the feedback we’ve got from that course I designed with the team has been really positive, which is the most rewarding thing.

Have you been able to put into practice what you’ve learnt on the course?

I’ve set up meetings with my MD and we have started to go through my growth action plan and look at actions that we can implement within the business. So, we’re working our way through those.

I was asked to work on our new strategy at the end of last year, so I’ve been able to bring in learning directly from the strategy module and really change our mindset and approach on that. We’ve now got everyone in our business involved and engaged in that. We’ve tried to totally shift the mindset to it being about our clients and how we can add value to them. It was nice that that content was well received. 

Is the course suitable for people working at small and larger companies?

Definitely. In the peer groups, it’s good to have both sides and that mix of different industries and different sized companies, there’s people from companies that have been going for years and people from companies that are new. I learnt so much from other people and want to continue to do that in the network I have built and Alumni events with the university.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of joining the course?

Do it now! The learning that you get from the course, the SMEs who deliver it have been there and done it. You get that sense that the deliverers have their own stories and good examples to give, which brought the content to life. It wasn’t just model after model. And the case studies, just hearing from real businesses and people who have gone through this before. It made it so much more real. It would be beneficial for anyone who has either been a senior leader for a while or, like me, is new to senior leadership, because there’s lots of stuff to learn and reflect on. There might be things that you’ve done before, but there’s often a different way that could work better. 

For me, it’s been great to learn about how our company can do things differently and be curious. It would be beneficial for anyone in a similar position.

How are you finding senior leadership and what are your plans for the future?

I want to give myself more time to reflect and learn. With this programme, because the sessions were all scheduled in, it meant that I was able to give myself time to actually learn. Sometimes with webinars, you book on a session and then realise that you don’t have the time to attend. You get the recording, and you never watch it. This made me do it and want to do it. I’m looking for my next opportunity to stretch and learn and how that can benefit the business

My team have grown within this, and I’ve now given some of the line management to other members of the team, which is a development opportunity for them and gives me a chance to mentor and guide and have more time to work on the business. I’m definitely doing more future thinking now than before, which is down to the confidence I’ve gained from this course. The ultimate outcome is me now becoming a Director at Primeast and motivated to make a difference.