Started in Hospitality which led to Talent Mgmt and then Trains!
I Loved working in Hospitality - I am all about customers and people - so after working in various hotels Front of House it was a natural move for me to head into training. Firstly I was a National Front of House trainer and headed up a reception training school, I then changed hotel groups to become a Regional Training Manager where I looked at more people development in leadership skills.
After spending so much time on the road I decided I would like a more stationary position closer to home so took a Learning & Development Manager role for Virgin Trains. Within this business I grew and developed within the HR team and took on various other roles - Head of Training, Head of Recruitment and Head of Talent overall (responsible for all Recruitment, Training & Development). I was feeling a little frustrated that I was a back of house function who couldn't influence change in the business as much as I wanted to....so I decided to take a leap into the world of Operations.
This is where I developed my operational railway knowledge - Customer Experience Manager Liverpool & Holyhead, then Manchester and lastly I took the General Manager role over the North West & Wales route. I loved this role as it gave me a wide view of the business and I was able to lead and influence teams within the operation but also work with the Executive Directors on making key decisions which affected the business.
Work with key customers to ensure we add value and deliver a great CX.
I work with key Alstom customers to ensure we deliver a great customer experience on key touch point areas which affect fare paying customers. So I look after the Train presentation on a number of key contracts ensuring that our suppliers deliver to a high standard and we add value wherever we can. Which includes working with the customer to meet their demands, understanding their customer data and insight to influence and affect change. Working with suppliers to review innovation and key market changes that can help us to deliver more effectively & efficiently. Work with other Alstom teams to understand how we can deliver products to a high standard and push the boundaries of what we do.
Working with Alstom internal teams and suppliers - variety!
As I work with multiple customers I get the privilege of working with different people, Alstom teams across the network and different suppliers. I can to experience a lot of variety in my role, building relationships, skills, experience and best practice - keeps me very busy. I also love the variety of travel and locations - although my office/base is at Longsight, Manchester - I travel up and down the WC network to various meetings/workshops/audits etc. I love understanding the various challenges our customers have and thinking about how we can support/help them. The railway as a whole is moving/changing at the moment - which can make it tricky to deliver and operate under so its understanding how you navigate through this and deliver the best you can.
Think about what you love doing and use that as a guide!
I believe you should be in a job that that plays to your strengths, that leaves you feeling energised and fulfilled at the end of the day. Not everyday can feel like this due to challenges/set backs which may occur but on the whole it should make you feel like you are playing to your strengths. Don't be too fixed or rigid on career moves/next steps. I have never known what I wanted to do, opportunities have come along at the right time. Be open minded, brave and make a leap - you never know what this opens up for you.... I think every opportunity leads to something that can help you further cement your thinking about what is "you". Building relationships is key in any role and can help you to unlock doors and smooth the way.
I scored NAS 50 twice on my route - only Manager to have achieved this
When I worked for Virgin Trains we had a business aspiration to achieve NAS to 50 (net advocacy score). The benchmark set was seen as the target for all "recognised" customer service businesses to be operating at which would deliver a great CX for the customer. The customers actually completed a survey to score us out of 10 on how much they would recommend us to a friend/family member....so it was real and truthful with follow up questions to understand more around the experience. I am delighted to say that on my Liverpool route we scored 50 on 2 different occasions - we were the only route to achieve this score. This a team effort - everyone working together - fleet to deliver the trains, teams delivering excellent customer experience, F&B team delivering Food & drink to the trains and the cleaners keeping the environment clean. We ensured we Reward and recognised all the frontline teams for their delivery - I was so proud!
