TRAINING
Unlocking the benefits of Chamber training
While the pandemic has caused plenty of disruption, it hasn’t made personal development any less important, and the Chamber has continued holding training courses such as its Director Development Programme online. Anne Ashman (pictured), UK group commercial and operations director at Matlock traffic sign manufacturer MVIS Ltd and Bartco UK Ltd, reflects on how the training helped her career.
What does the business do and how long have you been at the company? Founded in 2012, we are specialists in the manufacture and rental supply of portable, solar-powered intelligent transport solutions, such as variable message signs, automatic number plate recognition, CCTV and data collection. I have recently marked my ninth
anniversary with the group and having joined back in 2011, I have seen most, if not all, of the big changes we have undergone – from the company name change from Colour Mobile VMS to MVIS and the incorporation of Bartco UK, Bartco AU and MVIS AU into the group.
How have you progressed within the organisation to date? Starting at the group as office manager, I have progressed first to office and finance manager, then to general manager. Earlier this year, I was promoted to UK group commercial and operations director. One of my main responsibilities
is to ensure the smooth running of core components of both businesses. Idea generation and driving growth play a huge part in my role also, allowing me to bring my team together to advise and make these ideas a reality.
It is already helping me to put a
better structure in place within the group companies I run by using the tools I learnt on the programme.
How important is career development to you and why did you want to join the Chamber’s Director Development Programme? A great career has always been a goal of mine since a very early age. Even though I now have a fantastic job, which gives me chance to travel and work on some major highways schemes to help keep the UK moving, I still want to better myself and push myself further. I would hate to stagnate and think
there is always something new to learn or improve on, so when I saw the Director Development Programme advertised, I wanted to
be part of it. I completed an Open University business degree last year but still felt that there was some missing links, and the Chamber’s programme filled these in for me.
What did you learn on the course and was there anything in particularly you enjoyed? I enjoyed everything and with it been online, it was so convenient. I felt like I learnt how to build the “necessary blocks” of the business better and to make sure communication within the business was widespread across every department and how important this was. The course leader Charles was a pleasure to learn from.
How would you describe the process of moving up from managerial to director level, and what kind of knowledge or experience gap exists that requires training? It is exactly what it says – as a manger, you manage a company; as a director, you are part of the team giving the company the direction it needs to travel in – and then communicating it to the whole company. The skills this course has given
me allows me to analyse areas of the company using some simple ratios that Charles taught us, as well as a way to set objectives and how to push them out to the team while making sure they are realistic goals that can be achieved. How to identify the “stars” and
“rebels” within the team was another aspect – and if they really are rebels, how to deal with the rebellion. The course covers everything
from HR to accounts – it really is in-depth and gives you a good understanding on how to build a strategy for a business.
Development for company directors
The Chamber’s Director Development Programme returns this month – with the aim of giving directors and senior managers the confidence to drive their business forward and achieve objectives. It will once again be held online across 10 half-day
sessions delivered a week apart. The programme’s sections include topics such as
developing the right culture through vision and values leadership, creating a brand strategy, identifying and communicating priorities, finance for non-financial directors, and people management approaches. Vicki Thompson, the Chamber’s business training manager, said: “After successfully supporting hundreds of businesses over the past 12 years with the delivery of our Director Development Programme, we knew as we went into lockdown that we had to pull something significant out of the bag to allow us to continue to support businesses who wanted this high
62 business network November 2020
level of training. We adapted the programme to facilitate the sessions online over half-day sessions and worked tirelessly to ensure the sessions were as interactive as possible. The results were really pleasing to both us and, more importantly, to our delegates, who gave us fantastic reviews. “For all our concerns, training online in our virtual
classroom has worked exceptionally well for our delegates, allowing them to attend the online sessions in the morning and get straight back into work during the afternoon, and we’re looking forward to running it again.”
The Director Development Programme runs from 20 November to 5 February, with sessions taking place between 9.30am and 12.30pm. It costs £1,300 plus VAT for members and £1,690 plus VAT for non- members. To book, visit
bit.ly/3oJ3iZa
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