Modern Apprenticeship in Management – Nathalay Smith, Everwarm

I asked Nathalay how she is finding the qualification and what the benefits have been from the recent work:

“As a young manager, sometimes it can be a bit harder to persuade people that what I am saying is the right approach and how something should be done.  This qualification is giving me the skills, knowledge and tools to be able to gain respect faster and to know how to approach situations.”

I asked Nathalay what she enjoys about being a Manager:

“It is good to be able to coach others and to co-ordinate their work.  I like having a team and enjoy being able to work with them and senior management to make solutions, and then to take the final decision when that is needed.  I like to be organised and know that we are getting everything done the right way.”

Nathalay has made good progress through the Modules and I asked which have been most useful:

“I found the Health and Safety topic very helpful because I was carrying out an audit within the office at the time.  The audit and the work for the qualification went hand in hand, enabling me to understand what I needed to do and how to close off the audit effectively.”

We talked a bit about the importance of communicating within Nathalay’s role and the challenges that can be involved:

“The communication and information flow between the office and the site teams is important and can be challenging because of the nature of the work.  I have learnt from the qualification, the importance of finding different ways to communicate to better meet the needs of the site teams. This has really improved things.”

We then talked about the Self-Development & Coaching Others Module:

“Coaching others is something I have probably always done but this module was still very helpful.  It helped me understand how to use smart objectives and how to make them work for individuals and for the team.”

When it comes to what Nathalay has learnt from the topic of Performance Management:

“I plan to use this knowledge and skills going forward.  I think it will also be really motivating for my team to be part of this process.”

I asked Nathalay what her key learnings have been so far from the qualification:

“Definitely the health and safety topic.  I had knowledge in this area but it was more basic.  It was good to go over this in more detail and gain a better understanding. 

The practical application of the course is also very helpful.  It gives me validation that I have learnt what I am meant to learn and that I can apply it.”

Finally, I asked Nathalay if she would recommend this to other Managers:

“Yes I would, even if you have covered some of it before, it is good to refresh your knowledge and there is so much opportunity to learn new things.  I have found it really motivational to learn new things and also to have some validation that I can do my role well.”

It is great working with Nathalay and we look forward to working more with her in the future.

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