November Apprentice of the Month - Josie Lyddon
We are happy to announce the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Business Administrator Apprentice, Josie @ Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council!
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach Steve, Josie has always been keen to learn so much since joining the programme and has already taken on so many exciting projects in her role!
Check out Josie's winning Apprentice of the Month nomination along with our other fantastic nominations below!
Josie’s Skills Coach:
Josie has been a very engaged and enthusiastic Apprentice from the moment I first met her on the course, and she has maintained this level of commitment and interest in the course ever since. The number of work events and tasks she gets involved with at work astounds me every time I have a Coaching Session with her manager, Milan, as well as the level of responsibility she is taking on at such an early point in her career with Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.
Josie is always keen to learn, takes on feedback with ease and in a positive manner, and is always keen to contribute in Live Sessions, joining in with her peers effortlessly. Josie is calmness personified, and she never shows that she is stressed or worried, but also she isn’t afraid to speak up and question constructively where necessary. I can see a bright future ahead of Josie without a shadow of a doubt.
Josie’s Line Manager:
Energy: Josie has supported the team with the ‘Big Summer’ campaign where she was out in the community for three weeks engaging with children and families across many activities. Despite some early mornings Josie always turned up with a big smile on her face and was very positive and eager to start the day. This energy shined through when she was engaging with residents, explaining what they needed to do and ensuring they were having a great time.
Enthusiasm: Josie showed great enthusiasm during our ‘This Girl Can’ campaign where she attended many of the events and activities with me, taking part and encouraging others to do so, whilst promoting the benefits of sport and physical activity. Her enthusiasm about the concept of the campaign was great, as she believed in it, and this helped others to want to take part too. She also created some great creative marketing materials, and we were able to share them across our social media channels.
Willingness To Learn: Josie has demonstrated her willingness to learn through the training and workshops she has attended since starting her role in March, some examples include first aid, safeguarding children and adults, data protection, creative thinking and mental health first aid. Josie attends these courses and workshops to advance her knowledge which is great to see. Josie has also been eager to attend many meetings with service providers, community groups and schools which has enabled her to build new relationships and fully understand all the work that is undertaken in the team.
Josie has been fortunate to work with all officers in the team on a variety of projects from youth, and sports to community projects which has exposed her to learning something new every day, this has enabled her to support so much of the delivery of all the events and projects, she is always happy to be involved and gain new skills. Recently Josie has really started to take an active role within the youth council and designs and leads her own icebreakers for the group and reflects on how the sessions were delivered and considers how we can adapt to improve delivery.
Ability To Take Feedback: Josie has been assisting our support officer with preparing for in-person meetings and taking the minutes. Our support officer has provided Josie with some feedback and tips i.e., remembering to make note of the organisation that the person speaking is from, and Josie took the feedback on board and her minutes have been great. During our 1-2-1 meetings, I have provided feedback on all the projects Josie works on, and Josie takes all these comments on board and recognises where she may need to make a few improvements.
One example was to ensure she was creating content and posting on the youth council's social media and managing the accounts. She was unsure about what to share, so I suggested putting together a plan for the next 12 months which aligns with the projects and events the team are delivering. Josie took this feedback on board and has been working on the plan including some ideas about what could be posted depending on what is going on that month, thinking about new creative ways to engage with the audience, to try and support recruiting more youth councillors and gain more of a following.
Propensity To Take Action: For our big summer campaign Josie came up with the idea of a wildlife photography competition which would run alongside the campaign. Within a short space of time Josie had to decide on the criteria for entries, the context about what they should be taking photos of, how to submit your entries, create a poster and organise a judging panel. Josie didn’t panic under pressure to get everything prepared, Josie will ask the team questions if she is unsure of what to do and will then go and do it. The competition was a great success with lots of entries.
Example of an Outstanding Piece of Work or Task
Since starting her role with the Council Josie has worked on so many different projects that it can be difficult to pin it down to just one example. One task that stands out though is adding over 300 events and activities to our events calendar for the big summer campaign, for residents to access. Josie had to collate all of the activity forms that had been submitted by partner organisations and add all of the information onto the council event page, ensuring all details were accurate i.e. cost, time, location, date, how to book, who it’s aimed at etc. and I know that this can be very tedious however, Josie did not complain and happily helped out her team and got them all added in time which was great.
I would just like to add that all the work that Josie supports helps the team with the delivery of our projects and events. Josie has been fantastic at producing all our marketing materials for our events, this includes posters, leaflets, agendas, social media squares etc. I have been impressed with her creativity when producing the materials, very eye-catching and colourful designs. Josie has also demonstrated her business admin skills by producing Excel spreadsheets with data, as well as taking minutes at meetings which she has received good feedback about. Her commitment to attend the events and projects has been above and beyond, she is dedicated to supporting the team with any assistance required at events.
Josie is a real asset to the team.
Our runner-up for this month is LDN Publishing Apprentice, Francesca! Francesca was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Helen, with feedback provided by the team at DK.
Francesca’s Skills Coach:
Francesca's dream was to enter publishing, and she proves how transferable skills can be, using her customer service and communication skills so well, that six months or so in, a literary agent commented to Francesca's boss about what a fine assistant she has. Francesca has the trust of the team at work, she radiates positivity, and is rarely to be seen without a smile on her face, enthusiastically contributing to Live Sessions too.
Francesca’s line manager:
Frankie attacks each new task with vigour and always steps up to the challenge even if she's sometimes a little unsure. Her energy around new authors though is unmatched - Frankie always always shows how excited she is about their book and this goes down so well. I really appreciate how much care and attention she brings to author meetings and it means the authors leave feeling so boosted and supported.
Here’s what was said about the other fantastic nominees:
Shaow Eng Thian @ EPAM:
Shaow is an exceptional apprentice who has made a significant impact during her time with our company. She has consistently demonstrated her adaptability and unwavering dedication to learning and growth. The project she has undertaken is particularly challenging and complex, and Shaow has consistently risen to the challenge, playing an important role in supporting the team with the progress made so far.
Sarah Clegg @ Univar Solutions:
Sarah is always ready to take on a new challenge and tackles each piece of work with a desire to provide the best outcome for the business and users. She works well with product owners and teases out the information we need that form the basis of the functionality to form the enhancements.
Rebecca Snoad @ BBC:
Rebecca is always striving to learn more - and not just about Digital Marketing but across all departments at Spark - and has been a great help on set numerous times. Rebecca is keen to be involved in BBC as much as possible seeking out opportunities and initiatives the BBC runs to take part in.