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Nicola Wilson, age 34 and head of HR at Loop Customer Management, which handles client interaction for organisations such as Yorkshire Water and B&Q, shares her aspirations
How long have you been in this job?
Just over two years.
How long have you been with your organisation?
Two years, ever since Loop was formed by parent company Kelda plc.
What does your role involve?
Supporting managers to bring out the potential in their people, by recruiting employees who initially have potential, through ongoing personal development and skills training, and having people policies and processes that enable this to happen. I have a very capable team which keeps things running.
What are the best and worst things about this job?
Seeing people develop and try new things is the best, the worst is not having enough hours in the day.
What is your current major project or strategic push?
To truly make this company a great place to work. We know that we are already good, but we have two specific initiatives in place to make us even better. We are building development programmes around empowerment which feature feedback - I believe that empowerment only works when feedback is given. The other initiative, in partnership with the Chartered Management Institute, is a two-year programme for 60 managers. We want our managers to know that managing people is the most important thing they do.
What was the best career decision you ever made?
To continually push the boundaries of my comfort zone and try new things, whether a new role or a new organisation.
And what was the worst?
Not pursuing a secondment to Australia in my early twenties. Sydney seemed so far away, a risk I wasn't ready to take at the time. Having been since, I wish I'd been braver then and had a go.
Which of your qualifications do you most value and why?
In this type of role, building relationships with others and the ability to make things happen have been more effective than my qualifications alone.
How and why did you become a trainer?
It seemed a natural step as part of broadening my HR experiences, and I believe effective training is key to a successful HR team. When I was offered a training role, not having a go was never a consideration.
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