In July 2019, we were delighted to announce our collaboration with the BRC to support the development of future retail leaders through the BRC Retail Leadership and Management Apprenticeship. At Joules we are passionate about creating development opportunities, giving colleagues continued chances to learn new skills and gain confidence in their roles.
The areas they’ve covered so far during their programme include Managing Team and Individual Performance, Personal Development as a Manager and Leader, Organisational Financial Management and Project Development.
The apprenticeship is going really well, with the apprentices loving the combined dual learning method of development days and individual work, fitting well around their day-to-day jobs:
Charles Marriott, Senior Finance Manager, says ‘I decided to do an apprenticeship to develop my skills and to learn some new things. I’m hoping to be a better leader, to relay that to my team, build my confidence and learn some useful tools as I progress. I’ve found the apprenticeship really beneficial in terms of reflecting on certain situations that have happened in the past and looking at how I’ve reacted to those and why. I am now a better manager for Joules, I am more forward-thinking, empowering my team, and I have been developing each of them too’.
Crissy Wisdom-Chew, Transport Manager, says ‘I like the way the course is broken down into modules and I get to gain from other people’s experience and expertise. The apprenticeship has impacted my current role because I have learnt to be more structured and manage my time more efficiently, and my coaching skills are much better now as I am able mentor others. I have felt really well valued by Joules as my employer as they have wanted to invest in me, and my external trainer has been really supportive too’.
Andy Turner, Warehouse Team Leader, says ‘I have gained a better understanding of tools and techniques to help those around me, such as improving my management style to get the most out of my team, which in turn provides continuous improvement for Joules. Joules will now have more knowledgeable team leaders and managers which will improve the business. It’s been good to work with people from across the business and to support each other by sharing ideas’.
The apprentices will next be working on Unit 5 next which is Information-Based Decision Making, covering topics such as using data and information effectively, knowledge management, evidence-based decision making, decision-making tools and techniques, communicating decision and communicating to groups.
James Cockbill, Learning and Development Manager at Joules says ‘We are already seeing a return of investment from our apprenticeship group, with all of them having put their learning into practice already. Our apprenticeship group are gaining not just individual career benefit from this experience, but they are also seeing their teams benefit from this investment, with our learners leadership development transforming the way they guide their teams to perform at an even higher level. We could not have gone through this development journey as a brand without the support of the BRC, and all our learners are complimentary about the BRCs involvement in supporting the programme.
Working together with our hand-picked provider partners, BRC Learning offers high quality leadership and management apprenticeships tailored specifically for the retail industry. Find out more here.