Case Study: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Alesia Carrington from the London Borough of Waltham Forest took part in our Apprenticeship Level 5, which is an 18-month long course, developing her personal development and leadership skills, and helping her gain confidence in her role.
During this time, she worked on developing her delegation and conflict resolution skills, primarily looking at how these would help not only her, but her whole team.
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To start, Alesia set out clear goals to develop her delegation skills and work on her conflict resolution skills. Both of these skills, through our apprenticeship programme, can be focused on with support from your manager.
Developing my delegation skills not only relived some of the pressure. Delegating work not just to people you manage, but people who manage you. When it is accepted with ease, it helps to build confidence, everyone knows their role, what they need to do, the impact they make.Alesia Carrington, London Borough of Waltham Forest
When it came to her biggest challenge, when trying to develop her delegation skills through the course, she explained: "If I’m being honest, the biggest challenge was myself, overthinking." Alesia felt that her managers might think that she would start taking over, due to her doing the course. However, she found that people were happy to do what is needed to achieve the goals set out in their role.
During the programme, Alesia switched organisations and found a culture shift, which she felt took some time to get used too. She went from having a very supportive manager, who had encouraged her to take up the apprenticeship, to a new role with a different culture to the one that she had been used to.
I got through it, from drawing from the confidence I built up in my previous role, reminding myself they recruited me to do the job and support from DJ.Alesia Carrington, London Borough of Waltham Forest
When it came to conflict resolution, she felt that not dealing with conflicts was having a negative impact on how she was perceived within her role. "Sometimes saying nothing is just as bad as the individuals who say and do negative things." explained Alesia. She struggled with trusting in herself, at the start of the apprenticeship, when situations needed direct responses that didn't allow time to process and think things over.
She was able, at her previous organisation, to join a mutual mentoring programme, which has continued through to her new role. This mentor has become someone she can go to when she needs a second opinion or needs to discuss work related challenges, and the benefits are mutual.
Sharing challenges is so important, leadership does not have to be achieved in isolation, I don’t believe it can.Alesia Carrington, London Borough of Waltham Forest
Her advice for prospective apprentices is to build a support network within your cohort. "You'll go through similar challenges, maybe not always at the same time," she said.
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- Award-winning learner-focused approach
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- Two years of free support after your course
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Support your aspiring and current managers to be empowering and confident leaders with happy
Happy offers leadership programmes at Level 3, Level 5 and Level 7, from new managers/supervisor level all the way up to senior leadership teams and CEOs. These programmes are based on the ideas of trusting your people. They are practical and based on applying what yo've learnt. We aim to inspire and ignite change in your organisation, as well as giving you valuable management skills such as business strategy, decision-making, negotiation and project management.
We also offer programmes tailored specifically to people from Global Majority backgrounds. The content is the same, but have been designed to give new and experienced managers the skills they need to navigate organisational culture with a clearer perspective on their own potential, as well as building their confidence and expanding their professional strengths.