Grace Woolerton
Business Administrator to Operations manager
I decided to do a business admin apprenticeship as I had started with my current company with no administrative experience, I thought it would benefit me to gain the correct knowledge and practical skills whilst working in the role. The BA apprenticeship helped me to become a lot more organised and look at different theories and tools, not just in my role but in my daily life too. I learnt to understand why organisation as a skill is so important, different processes and procedures that enhance communication improve performance throughout the organisation including internal and external stakeholders.
After completing my Business admin apprenticeship and putting my knowledge and skills to practice, I decided I wanted to take a step up and become a manager. My director also agreed that this was a good decision and as the admin apprenticeship was such a success, we wanted to go with the same training provider for the management course. the management apprenticeship has helped me massively in all aspects. I always thought apprenticeships were just a lot of coursework with a pass or fail, however, it has been so much more than that and has been an eye-opener on how interesting the learning is. The biggest thing I have learnt on this programme is how everyone has different personalities and behaviours that impact the types and ways of carrying out tasks and dealing with changes or challenges. I learnt that as a manager I need to change and adapt my leadership and management styles to get the best out of my team. It also taught me a lot about myself and it was fun to learn more about my personality type, and levels of emotional intelligence which I put into practice when dealing with challenging situations in the workplace.
My future ambition is to put all of my knowledge into practice and become a successful operations manager, not only looking at the daily internal office operations but also tying the strategy and logistics of a business to its operations and productivity.