Tell us a bit about your role at BRC?

The purpose of BRC Learning is to be the Go-To organisation for Professional development for the retail sector. I lead a team of learning professionals to bring fresh and creative content to the retail businesses large and small based on their need. Last year BRC bought OSS Retail (formerly Oxford Summer School) and so those programmes that have been so loved by so many are now in our care. Our focus since the start of the March lockdown has been to support our recovering sector with meaningful programmes.

What was your background before joining?

I am proud to say I have been in retail of some sort all my career. I started out life in Tesco working in stores, commercial and then International. From there I went to Barclays Retail Bank where I properly started my journey in HR. From there I went to TUI Travel where I worked in the Airline part of the business which was fascinating. Then things started to get interesting! I joined Argos about a year before the digital transformation started, this was an amazing role and it taught me so much, about myself as a leader but also about business transformation and the impact change has on an organisation and the people in it. Most recently I was Group HRD at Card Factory based in Wakefield, Yorkshire.

What are your priorities for the next 6 months

To listen and bring my passion for our sector to everything we do. By listen I mean really understand what our retailers want from us, how we can support and perhaps take some strain off them. BRC has an incredible reputation for being the voice of retail in the UK and BRC Learning is just as committed to making careers in retail attractive by being the champion for Better Jobs and providing uniquely retail professional development.

What should members look out for next year?

Well, we will be bringing OSS programmes back more modern and updated next year. We will be addressing subjects like Diversity and Inclusion, Digitisation, Automation, Data Analytics and Sustainability through a range of learning interventions. All our offers will either be hosted on our new learner experience portal or a blend of digital and face to face.

As well as learning products (webinars, modules and short courses), lectures and talent programmes we are keen to work with more businesses in our sector on bespoke programmes addressing challenges that they face in developing new skills like AI, Machine learning and Data Analytics so please let us know if we can support.

If you would like to discuss the development requirements of your business please contact Lucy via lucy.crowther@brc.org.uk

This article was featured in the Summer edition of The Retailer >>