I joined Morris & Spottiswood in late 2021, and my role has already evolved. I was initially employed as a Senior Project Manager with the primary responsibility of overseeing multiple projects, liaising with clients and the delivery team on project specific matters. In my new role as Strategic Development Manager it’s a much more comprehensive position where I can contribute to the entire team’s success at portfolio level.

My role mostly focusses on developing and driving improvement initiatives throughout our Finance Sector team. This involves reviewing and monitoring team performance and KPIs, identifying trends and areas of opportunity, as well as listening to and collating feedback from both our internal team and our Finance Sector clients.

Using these findings, I identify areas that would benefit from improvement, before formulating a plan to optimise performance and deliverable outcomes. These types of initiatives could be anything from devising training to upskill the team, implementing a change to a process, or developing a digital solution to improve process or delivery efficiency.

A big part of my role involves ensuring that the needs and requirements of our contractual and framework obligations are met, so I regularly engage in client forums and collaborate on shared solutions. I keep the client up to date with the content and progress of our 90-day action plan, and make sure that I share our Good News stories along the way!

As well as working with the team on improvement initiatives, I also communicate key client updates and ensure that content is appropriately conveyed to the team. If these updates require more in-depth explanation or training, I make sure that the message is fully understood by all.

Ultimately, my overall goal is to establish a culture of continuous improvement throughout the Finance Sector and it’s something that I’m very excited to be part of. I’m proud to be able to add value to the team’s strategic development initiatives and feel a sense of accomplishment when I consider the growth of the team.

Going forward, I’d like to extend the Finance Sector team’s existing initiatives and innovative practices to new clients in the same sector, as I believe this would really facilitate growth and expand our experience in this area.

Longer term, I’d love to see this working model adopted and implemented across our organisation and see other areas enjoying the same benefits and results. I think it could make a hugely positive impact on our overall success.

During my time at Morris & Spottiswood I’ve already been involved in a wide range of activities including helping lead the Finance Sector to embrace digital platforms which track everything from key project milestones and project details to cash flow and risk register; and preparing training content and material to support the roll-out of new initiatives and make sure our team have the right skills and knowledge to implement changes to process, this culminated in organising a full-day, in person, event involving presentations and workshops.

That event is my biggest achievement in this role – so far – and something I really enjoyed doing. It involved the entire Finance Sector team and was designed to roll out new strategy and purpose to all team members and facilitate learning, understanding and growth of the existing process. I planned everything from identifying and inviting speakers and coordinating workshop leaders to creating the event agenda. I personally led one of the workshops and encouraged interaction from the attendees.

This is an incredibly varied role, so I’ve also been responsible for embedding our new process for onsite quality management using a bespoke mobile app and organising collaborative events and conferences to better engage with our supply-chain. I’ve even created an internal communication tool to be used by the entire Finance Sector team, and collated our Good News, Lessons Learned and Best Practice reports which go to our wider stakeholders.

It's a truly multifaceted role where I’m able to be an analyst, strategic thinker, leader, and problem solver.

I love the fact that Morris & Spottiswood’s values align with my own, particularly in prioritising the wellbeing of employees (for example promoting a work-life balance but also providing opportunities for professional development and growth). I’m proud to work for a company that not only has a strong sense of direction and ambition for growth, but also really values doing what’s right for its employees and clients.

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