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Starting a new job, within a consultancy firm, after over thirty years spent only working for large corporates. Not only that, but nine months into a global pandemic and at the start of the third UK lockdown.
A bit daunting?
Some might think it is.
But that’s exactly what I’ve done.
So, how is it going so far?
Five weeks in already, and the time has just flown by. I’ve learnt so much already and I’m totally immersed in my new world.
Yet, I’ve not met any of my new colleagues face to face. Plenty of Zoom and Teams meetings of course, but these days, surely, they count as face to face, don’t they?
To be honest, life has changed so much in the past year that it hardly even seems strange. Is building a relationship with people, having not met them physically, possible via Zoom? Based on my experience I would have to say a definite ‘yes’ to that, which is just as well.
Simplify Consulting is way more than a job, it’s a family. Building those relationships is crucial if you are going to function as part of the family. It’s helped enormously that from day one, everyone here at Simplify was so helpful, informative and welcoming. I could immediately tell I’d joined a dedicated band of professionals, who were not only hard-working and passionate about their company but were really lovely people too.
(The Simplify Team)
My fellow colleague Chris Lamb also started the same day as me. Having someone to share the experience with has been extremely helpful for us both. We’ve supported each other whilst navigating those first few days when you feel so strange and obvious as “the newbie”. We’ve compared notes (over Teams of course) and had many instances in the first couple of weeks when we’d share logistical snippets as we navigated through the usual minefield involved in starting work in a new company.
The induction process was great too. Before I even started, Simplify had provided and set up my laptop, mobile phone, and my email account was fully functioning, so I was ready to go on day one. A novel experience for me, however a testament to how quickly and efficiently Simplify onboard new resources and engagements. An important attribute when you consider the nature of a consultancy business and the need to quickly engage and start making a positive impact for our clients.
The next part of my induction journey was to understand the SimplifyDNA and consulting approach, including the hugely impressive “Capability Model”
My introduction to this on day two confirmed with absolutely no doubt that I had made the right decision to join Simplify. Here was a company who are not only incredibly professional but are in fact what they market themselves as; practitioners and experts in their field.
Feeling suitably humbled at this point, it finally dawned on me, here was the opportunity I’d been waiting for, for years, but without realising it.
Finally, I can make a real contribution to building something amazing. I can take all that experience gained over all those years of managing programmes and projects and help hone the Simplify delivery capabilities to be something even more superb than it already is.
Of course, I’d figured some of this out during my recruitment process, but back then I didn’t know what Simplify was really all about. I do now, and WOW is it exciting.
What am I going to be focusing on in my new role as Head of Delivery?
My key focus will be to expand on the existing capabilities at Simplify and build a Delivery Centre of Excellence. We will employ best practice across all aspects of project management to deliver a consistency of approach and quality of standards across all project deliveries.
Our delivery centre of excellence will offer our clients the benefit of the very best in effective predictable and re-useable project management tools, techniques and processes. All brought to them by a team with practitioner level competencies in this field. Our framework and methodologies will provide the support for all delivery needs. This could range from consultancy and guidance to clients to enable them to effectively deliver their own projects, supporting an existing team with a delivery, managing the full lifecycle of a project, or the complete management and delivery of a complex programme of work.
I am also actively involved in current client delivery engagements, and I’m sharing my knowledge and experience with other members of our team. As a member of the Simplify ‘family’ I will also be getting involved in the fundraising activities we see as such an important part of our overall ethos.
I know it’s going to be a journey filled with incredibly hard work, but I’m used to that. I also feel it’s going to be the most rewarding journey of my life. I’ve had thirty-four years of my career to date, all spent working for large corporates. Like many of us, although I’m used to managing risk in my work, it’s something I’ve been somewhat adverse to in my career, so I’ve always taken what I saw as the ‘safe’ path. It’s taken me this long to take a leap of faith and try something new. I don’t think I’m going to regret it.
I’ll keep you all posted 😊…….
If anyone feels like me that they want to make a change and perhaps even take that leap of faith into something a little bit different, now, may be the time. We are always looking for knowledgeable, enthusiastic individuals to join our team. Check out our website www.simplifyconsulting.co.uk and contact us for our job opportunities.
Sheila Sambrook
Head of Delivery