Hello PPMA friends

The next in our series of 4 questions for PPMA Award winners, is with Amanda Harcus who was presented with the President’s Award for Special Contribution. Amanda is Director of HR & Workforce Development at London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

• What has been the biggest lesson you have learnt from your careers so far?

Interesting question, being able to continually learn is paramount, when I reflect on this question two things come to mind, the first is that Nothing is impossible, however the time in space to think it through is really important and therefore protecting some time that is your thinking time is paramount to being successful. This is something I struggle with as I pride myself on being proactive and action orientated so often underestimate the amount of thinking time that I need! The other thing  I have learned is the importance and value of having a great network and by this, I mean having a network where you have a safe space where you can share your vulnerabilities or the things you don’t know and find out about them, linked to this for me is continuing to learn being really important in any role and I believe that the day you stop learning is probably the day you either stop working and worse,  potentially stop thriving.

• If you were Chief Executive of your organisation what one change would you make (in an ideal world!)

Gosh that’s a question to think about, so,  if I was chief exec of my organisation  one change would I make,  Say for me this would be about introducing fun, challenging the workforce to do 1 fun thing a day whether it’s make someone smile, whether it’s to surprise someone whether it’s to share a joke or something that they’ve heard that’s funny because sometimes the workplace especially in the current climate can seem really serious and we know that laughter is really important for our well being.

• What one superpower would you like to have to make people’s lives better.

The superpower I’d like to have to make peoples lives better would be to be able to show them what the potential future could be for them, perhaps to inspire them, perhaps to show them it could be different and if it’s different that could be better for them

• If you were able to give your 18 year old self 1 piece of advice today what would it be?

I love this question, I did this when I became an NLP practitioner so I went back on my timeline and I actually talked to my 18 year old self I was in care from the age of 14 and was often told I wouldn’t make anything of myself, would either end up on drugs, or pregnant and a statistic. Being a bit of a rebel, I was determined I would make something of myself and my family always gave me some self belief said my advice to my 18 year old self was you doing okay you don’t need to worry about what you’re going to do with your career until you at least 30 because let’s face it you’re going to be working until you’re in your 60s anyway so find out what you enjoy find out what you like and make sure that’s what you spend your life doing because life is short and precious and it’s okay to try different things out it doesn’t mean you’re failing.

Amanda Harcus, Director of HR & Workforce Development at London Borough of Tower Hamlets and winner of the PPMA President’s Award for Special Contribution.

We’d like to thank Amanda for her frank and interesting replies to our 4 questions and they certainly give us all something to think about. Watch out for more answers to our ‘4 Questions’ over the coming weeks.

Hello PPMA friends

Here’s the second in our series of 4 questions for the winners of our PPMA Talent Programmes from Emily Drake. Emily is Head of Payments, Systems and Registrars at Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and the joint winner of our Peer into The Future programme 2020.

• What has been the biggest lesson you have learnt from your career so far?

It’s a really good idea to move around the business to get a different perspective on HR/OD from the operational side.  It helps you to empathise with what other managers are dealing with in their day job and become well rounded as a professional.

• If you were Chief Executive of your organisation what one change would you make (in an ideal world!)

We are very lucky to have a personable and approachable chief executive who really does value the organisation’s people and their views and opinions, regularly reaching out for individual ideas and feedback.  If I was CX I would definitely continue that legacy and would challenge myself to meet a different employee on a regular basis to understand their role, achievements, ideas and challenges.  I think that would be a great connector throughout the organisation and keep me in touch with the day to day things that affect our people.

• What one superpower would you like to have to make people’s lives better.

I would love to have the power to fly…..then as a little pick me up when people are feeling down I would whisk them into the skies and let them see the beautiful world below and I bet that would bring a smile to their face!

• If you were able to give your 18 year old self one piece of advice today what would it be?

Don’t worry about what other people think of you – as long as you are kind to yourself and others you can’t go far wrong.

As part of our recent Virtual Conference we asked all of the Peer into the Future finalists to record a short video talking about the personal legacy they each were asked to prepare as part of the programme…and here is Emily sharing hers.

Thanks to Emily for her thought provoking replies to our questions. Over the coming weeks we’ll be posting the answers to these questions from our other Talent Programme winners, so watch out for those. Applications for the 2021 cohorts will be opening soon – so if you’d like more information then contact Grace at admin@ppma.org.uk

Hello PPMA friends

Over the years the PPMA Talent Programmes have recognised the potential of some very talented people and this year is no exception. We asked all of this year’s winners to give us their answers to the 4 questions below and we start the series with recently crowned ‘One to Watch’ 2020 winner Mae Wilson. Mae is Senior HR & OD Officer from Doncaster Council.

• What has been the biggest lesson you have learnt from your career so far?

My main lesson so far is that I should never feel like I have ‘learnt everything’ and that I am at any given moment a complete finished product. This has been a hard truth to accept, but it has been necessary to my personal growth and evolution. By being open to change and new information I have been able to tackle my own limitations but also learn new tricks and insights about my skills and abilities.

• If you were Chief Executive of your organisation what one change would you make (in an ideal world!)

One of the biggest challenges I can see our workforce facing, and something I would like to address if I was Chief Exec – especially in a place that had really only just started to recover from the effects of flooding when the pandemic hit – would be putting things in place to support compassion fatigue and mental burnout.

We are already a supportive organisation, but I would love to put things in place to show our workforce how universally valued their work is to the organisation AND the public we serve. Culturally we are beginning to recognise that all roles within the public sector have the potential to be mentally taxing, but often this is either not recognised in the individual officers themselves, or people are perceived as ‘too far from the action’ to need support. Therefore similar to the work introduced by ‘Schwartz Rounds’ in the clinical field I would like to encourage people from all roles to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in public service.

• What one superpower would you like to have to make people’s lives better.

I love superheroes! But with this love comes the knowledge that with great power comes great responsibility. Therefore I would like to have the power to make sure that every piece of bread anyone would ever want to toast, will always toast to their perfect requirements. My rationale behind this power is that not only would it help cut down on potential food waste, but I believe it would also help start people’s day so much better – as with the threat of a burned breakfast completely out of the picture, people can instead focus on larger more complex problems facing our world and their day in the comforting knowledge that at least a small part of their morning has been taken care of.

• If you were able to give your 18 year old self one piece of advice today what would it be?

The ‘mantra’ I would share with my 18 year old self, is one that has recently really helped me respond to my inner critic, and given wind to my inner cheerleader. It is from the fantastically quotable Terry Pratchett – “coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

I have come to appreciate that life is not lived in a straight line of binary choices, it is messy and complex and you can only make the best decisions based on the information you have available to you at the time. You will however never really have to start from nothing. This has not only helped me feel more comfortable about the perceived risks I have taken in my life, and in my career, but it is also a phrase I come back to when I need to remind myself how far I have come, and that even if it doesn’t feel like it, there is always some thing to be gained from the things I have experienced – good or ill. I have come to appreciate that at the same moment I am both the oldest and youngest version of myself and here lies the realisation that I not only have a long way to go into an exciting unknown future, but it is with the benefit of a range of experience at my disposal.

Mae Wilson, Senior HR & OD Officer, Doncaster Council and PPMA One to Watch 2020

We’d like to thank Mae for her frank and interesting replies to our 4 questions and they’re certainly food for thought. Over the coming weeks we’ll be posting the answers to these questions from all of our Talent Programme winners, so watch out for those. Applications for the 2021 cohorts will be opening soon – so if you’d like more information then contact Grace at admin@ppma.org.uk.

Dear PPMA colleagues and friends

We’re delighted that over 200 people are already registered for our PPMA Virtual Conference on 15^th and 16^th September. You still have time to book – registration closes on Thursday September 10^th so you still have plenty of time. You can find out more about virtual conference here.

We’re also really pleased that we’re honouring the PPMA Annual Excellence in 2020 awards programme. The quality of our entrants was really fabulous this year and we have a great virtual schedule for you starting on Monday 31^st August.

From the 31^st August to Thursday 16^th September we will be announcing our category winners. At 10 am each day we will be sharing the category shortlist on social media. And at 4pm we will be announcing the winner.

We’re publishing the schedule for you now so that you can make sure you have the key dates in your diary.

As ever, thank you to our sponsors and judges for supporting our awards. And thank you of course to all of you who have taken the time to enter.

Just as a heads up, we’ll be releasing the PPMA Annual Excellence in People Management Awards 2021 immediately after Virtual Conference.

PPMA Virtual Awards Schedule