Day 3 – who’s in the hot seat???

Mid-way through Growing Talent’s orientation and Holistic week we are always joined by inspiring leaders sharing their experiences and answering any questions.

Unfortunately, Simon was due to attend but was hit by Covid!

First up sharing their career journey, twists and turns, mindset throughout and key guidance for Abbas and Shari’s journey ahead was Ben.

Agreeing to give us 30 minutes, Ben stayed way past this despite the pressures on his diary sharing his thoughts and the power of ‘put your hand up’ – take every opportunity because you will learn so much had a powerful impact on Abbas and Shari who asked lots of questions and shared their thoughts and goals. 

What an inspirational journey Ben shared! From choosing college over university and an entry level job in a hotel, he put his hand up for every opportunity which involved a lot of hard, long hours but gave him the skills to progress. Now Client Services Director with a huge remit of diverse teams nationally to lead, Ben also shared the importance of being there for family events.

A ‘disrupter’ of the norm (Ben’s own description) he saw the goal and then planned how to reach it in every role. From getting hotels ready for closure globally amid all the fear and uncertainty of existing staff to working in St Lucia for a year encouraging the resourcefulness of the local staff to use their skills to deliver a unique St Lucian Christmas experience to tourists. Banning the broken baubles and tinsel used previously for handmade traditional material decorations filled with local cinnamon and making authentic rum punch minus the glacier cherries! A great example of knowing your teams’ skills and enabling them to use these – truly disrupting the norm and authentic examples leadership skills.

Following Simon’s unplanned and unavoidable withdrawal, Lauren agreed to step in this morning – without any hesitation. Like Ben, she agreed to stay for 30 minutes but changed her diary to stay longer! Lauren shared her role, finance and team responsibilities as well as her family commitments and focus on her ‘me time’ – critical to building resilience. Starting off as a temp 18 years ago having newly arrived from South Africa, she has evolved through many different roles into her current role as a crucial part of the operational team, supporting and leading others. Sharing her top tips – especially, really listen to your team and those around you to fully understand what was going on – was powerful for Abbas and Shari. More questions and thoughts were shared.

A fantastic session – thank you so much Ben and Lauren for allowing us to ‘disrupt’ your diaries! Your knowledge and engagement was inspiring, generous and priceless.

What a fabulous line-up – Abbas, joining Office Concierge, Lauren, Ben & Shari joining Master-Fix.

Don’t they look like the truly belong? Confident, relaxed, engaged……

The end of another productive day where both Shari and Abbas shared their thoughts on how Growing Talent was above and beyond any other programme they have encountered. 

Sharing knowledge collaboratively has made both feel more confident start on site with their employers. How awesome is that?