November Apprentice of the Month - Olivia Broughton
We are happy to announce that the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice, Olivia Broughton @ Greengage Environmental!
Olivia joined the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability programme as an existing member of the Greengage Environmental team and has provided fantastic support to her fellow apprentices as the CR&S LDN Class Rep.
Check out Olivia's winning Apprentice of the Month nomination from her LDN Skills Coach and Line Manager along with our other fantastic nominations below!
Olivia’s Skills Coach:
Olivia is a brilliant apprentice who is passionate about making a positive difference in the world! She has successfully held the class lead position for the very first cohort of CR&S apprentices (which saw her being voted in by her peers, so it’s not just me that thinks she’s great!) and has contributed towards asking questions her peers may not sometimes want to ask!
Olivia is committed to driving positive environmental outcomes in her role at Greengage and can share her knowledge on tasks she has completed in an articulate yet accessible way. Olivia is great at taking initiative and has started work on a carbon literacy project to support this skill amongst organisations working with Greengage.
Olivia has always been fully engaged in every task presented to her and will consistently respond way beyond what is being asked of her. Olivia is also brilliant at engaging with new apprentices and CR&S guest speakers. She will often share her sustainability insights and knowledge with others in an unassuming and modest way. She works incredibly hard at everything she does, and it has been wonderful to see her skills grow over the course of the apprenticeship.
Olivia’s Line Manager:
Energy: Right from the beginning of her time with Greengage, Olivia has always come across as an incredibly positive and easygoing person. She gets on well with all members of the team and massively contributes to the team working environment in the office. She willingly takes on any task given to her and always delivers on time.
Enthusiasm: It is clear that Olivia truly cares for the environment and promoting sustainability, and this is reflected in the way she takes on and delivers tasks given to her at work. She goes above and beyond what is asked of her and looks at new ways of working that can potentially deliver a better outcome. Not all tasks given to her are particularly exciting but she will never complain about this and it feels like she understands the importance of mucking in together.
Willingness To Learn: Olivia enjoys taking on new tasks and clearly welcomes working across various different teams within Greengage. As her line manager, I really appreciate the fact that she will never make the same mistake twice which demonstrates her willingness to learn. I also appreciate the fact that she evidently takes the time to read and learn the information that she is asked to translate into reports. This makes the process of reviewing her work once complete an absolute pleasure. She is now taking on more responsibility and, in the last month or so, has been attending client meetings. I understand that she is now due to lead one of these in the next few days.
Ability To Take Feedback: I do always try and talk through any comments I have on Olivia’s work with her. She never takes any of this feedback personally and clearly takes it on board. As mentioned above, she never makes the same mistake twice. Her ability to take feedback is evident from the quality of reports she is now producing (including EIA Screening submission earlier this month) compared to when she first started which is very pleasing to see.
Propensity To Take Action: Whenever possible, Olivia will deal with issues that arise from clients and on projects with the minimum of guidance. She is always looking for opportunities to support the team and once one task is complete she moves on to the next one. Olivia works across a number of teams and is able to switch between tasks to ensure individuals are provided with the necessary support. She has recently been particularly effective in managing her workload, identifying a potential pinch point around deadlines next month and taking action early to ensure she can meet all deliverables.
Example of Outstanding Piece of Work: Working alongside a colleague, Olivia has recently taken it upon herself to review, analyse and understand the potential for Greengage to become B Corp certified. This involves the use of an online tool used to measure the company’s impact on its workers, communities, customers, and the environment. Becoming B Corp certified would potentially be beneficial to Greengage in two ways:
1. It would demonstrate to clients that we have high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, and open possible opportunities with like-minded organisations
2. Will enable us to guide other organisations through the process and open up a potential future workstream.
I have been impressed with the initiative shown by taking on this task and the potential benefits it can deliver for Greengage.
Our runner-up for this month is lvl 3 Salesforce Admin Apprentice Frederica Kearney! Freddi was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, James, with feedback provided by line manager Lucy at Bluetree Group.
Freddi’s Skills Coach:
I'd like to nominate Frederica Kearney who is absolutely smashing her apprenticeship. She has already completed all of the October modules from the learning plan, as well as quite a few of the modules from November already. She is already working with a complex Salesforce org and has demonstrated excellent knowledge of the system.
Always positive and always looking for new solutions, Freddie is incredibly strong and driven, but never arrogant, always down to earth with a can-do attitude.
Freddi’s line manager:
Freddi has undertaken a lot of training since she started. She has now earned a Ranger status in Salesforce and managed to do so at an impressive rate. She also spends a lot of time with the end users, sitting with them to learn more about how they use the system, and to really get to grips with their issues. This has been appreciated across the business and really helps us work collaboratively.
One thing I enjoy about working with Freddi is how when she comes to me with a problem, she usually has a couple of solutions prepared with the advantages and disadvantages of each way of doing it. Once a solution is agreed upon, she is flexible in switching her priorities to move with the business, which is so important in the business we are in.
Here’s what was said about the other fantastic nominees:
Zen Bhatti @ Pension Insurance Services:
Zen has collaborated with colleagues across the business to deliver work and solve problems. He was mistaken for being in a more senior by another department, due to his rapid response and delivery of quick results on business requests and I have received positive feedback from the team.
Mariana Stefani @ Pracedo:
Mariana is never one to say no to a daunting task, she thrives off the challenges of learning something new and through this attitude has learnt so much during her time at Pracedo. She is constantly challenged with learning new things and being outside of her comfort zone, and she never disappoints.
Serhat Kara @ Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan:
Coming from very different working backgrounds, technology, in general, is new to Serhat. From learning mobile device remote management to getting an understanding of computer networks, Serhat has shown keen interest and willingness to enable himself to be more independent in helping out users.
Tanisha Ali @ Welbeck Publishing:
Since she started, Tanisha has dealt brilliantly with everything that has been thrown at her. Publishing can be incredibly fast-paced and varied, and in Editorial there are so many processes and systems to learn, as well a high standard of detail to adhere to at all times, that starting as an Editorial Assistant can be very difficult. But from day one, she has taken on every challenge and succeeded.