3rd June 2021
By undertaking his course with us, Blake has identified areas in his organisation that could be improved. Read on to learn more about how Blake undertook support from Skills Support for the Workforce in Sheffield City Region.
Blake has worked for his organisation High Availability Hosting for a while, but had wanted to gain new skills and knowledge, to show his commitment to progressing. He was first made aware of the qualifications available to him by his manager. Blake had jumped at the chance to complete qualifications which would help with his progression at High Availability Hosting, while also helping him to increase his skills. When Blake first started his qualification, he was not in a team leading role and had known that it would be a challenge to gather some of the evidence, however, he was keen to put himself forward to projects to help him improve his skills and generate the evidence needed for his qualification.
Due to Covid-19, the business has had to adapt to the restrictions like other organisations, and Blake was a part of this project, ensuring that the organisation was COVID safe. A member of staff from this team had left the organisation, so Blake had been exceptionally busy in his role, but has continued to produce great work for his qualification, showing his motivation and drive. The standard of Blake's work is exceptionally high, he clearly takes a lot of time and care when producing his work and clearly enjoys being challenged. When selecting the units for his qualification, Blake has selected units which he knows will push him to improve his skills and knowledge, rather than playing it safe.
Due to the qualification, Blake has seen more responsibility within his organization such as taking over the management of the ticket system which entails chasing any internal tickets to ensure they are on track and troubleshooting them if they are not. Blake can now also make sure that his customers are not left without a reply and that they can follow a service level agreement for the customer. Blake has commented that now he knows that “there is a difference between managing people and leading them, because of this I can help people in my organization and teach them rather than taking over and them having no real benefits.”
This course has helped Blake to identify some areas internally in his organization where they could improve- such as introducing performance reviews. He has mentioned that he thought that all the staff at High Availability Hosting should have a personal development plan, which his employer has agreed with and are looking to implement. The course has also helped Blake to become more confident in his role as he is now able to hand-off some of his tasks that previously only, he could handle.
From the course Blake felt that the best benefit he gained was the knowledge which has helped him to feel more confident and work more effectively, and to spot what he can do to improve himself, how to further his career and any personal goals. Blake commented that once he has completed his qualification that his employer has agreed to a salary increase, which has helped him save towards a deposit on his first home.
Blake has completed the team leading certificate and is now working on the remaining elements of his team leading diploma. He has said:” If I were to undertake further training, I feel it would need to be either something that has benefits for both myself and my employer; or something that interests me personally or that I could use to further my career even more.”
If, like Blake, you want to improve your skillset, and potentially progress within your chosen career, then get in touch with us. Also, if you’re an employer and you’d like to give your team the opportunity to improve their skillset and increase productivity, we’re here to help- get in touch here or click here to learn more about our services.