September Apprentice of the Month - Luke Garwood
We are happy to announce that the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Luke @ Centrepoint!
Luke is almost one year into his Level 4 Salesforce Consultant Apprenticeship and has already made a big impact within the awesome team at Centrepoint.
Nominated by LDN Senior Skills Coach, Kevin - we received some excellent feedback from Luke’s line manager Daniel, as well as four other brilliant nominees, which you can read below…
Luke’s Skills Coach:
In Luke’s job, he has been put into the role on Business Analyst from day one. He has continually challenged himself and has stepped outside of his comfort zone. Over the months he has grown in confidence and in stature. So much so, that he has been given the responsibility to over and deliver the new Salesforce system at Centrepoint.
In his first attempt at submitting his project, he has demonstrated a good understanding of what the role is, the techniques used, and when to apply them. The project work has been well executed. In addition to my recommendation, the end product of his efforts will help society in the broadest sense...
Luke’s Line Manager
Energy:
Luke is an essential part of the team that keeps our Salesforce database ticking over for 450+ users across multiple teams. He has hit the ground running since he started 10 months ago and is now a member of the team who is recognised and widely appreciated across the country. Luke carries out two training sessions each week for end-users and will still go that extra mile to support staff by offering one-to-one support to those who need it.
Enthusiasm:
Being a System Administrator can include some quite dull tasks which are essential to the running of the database. However, Luke never complains and always completes tasks to a high standard and in a timely manner. He’s always confident enough to try a new task which he may find difficult or may take time. His enthusiastic personality makes staff smile during training sessions and he is always looking at ways in which we could improve the end-user experience.
Willingness To Learn:
Since Luke began at Centrepoint 10 months ago, he has always wanted to take part in as many group sessions as he can. Whether it’s training sessions, feedback sessions or team meetings, he has wanted to be involved since the start. There is so much to learn and understand at Centrepoint and to gain the amount of knowledge he has in 10 months is a testament to Luke. This has caused his confidence to increase over the past six months and is now able to run training sessions and offer advice to end-users with confidence. Luke continues to show his willingness to learn by wanting to complete system developments in areas that he does not use on a day-to-day basis (e.g. Flows, Visualforce etc.).
Ability To Take Feedback:
Luke has been developing an app for our Partnering team and throughout the project, he has been open to feedback - both positive and constructive. He has taken constructive feedback on board and made any relevant changes to the developments to meet the Partnering team’s needs. At the end of each of the training sessions Luke runs each week, he asks for feedback from those who attended. Again, this is both positive and constructive feedback which is taken on board to help him improve future sessions.
Propensity To Take Action:
Throughout the Partnering app, Luke has taken it upon himself to ensure the project is completed to deadlines and the developments are in-line with the requirements. Luke will arrange meetings with the Partnering team, as they are the stakeholders for the project, to ensure everything is on track for the deadlines. As Luke is very busy on a day-to-day basis, he has also continued to work outside of his usual hours during this project. This is not something that Luke needs to do but he decides to do this to ensure the project is completed on time.
Example of an outstanding piece of work:
Luke has many achievements since starting at Centrepoint but his most recent achievement is completing with the Partnering app mentioned above. He has managed the project from start to finish with minimal support from me. He has completed all of the requirements gatherings, development work, stakeholder management, data import, and deployment over the past 3-4 months, and the app is now ready to be used by the Partnering team. Throughout the project, Luke has never complained and has created a high-quality, user-friendly app which the Partnering team is excited to start using.
This project has meant that Centrepoint can better manage relationships with partnering organisations and will improve the ability to run reports for KPIs. This is just one example of how much of an asset Luke is to Centrepoint and he is a pleasure to manage.
Our runner-up for this month is Level 3 Digital Marketing apprentice Natasha Balfour! Natasha was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Howard, with feedback provided by line manager, Rebecca.
Natasha’s Skills Coach:
Over the last month or so Natasha has almost single-handedly run the marketing operation at work after two colleagues left, taking on a high level of responsibility for delivering major projects, all with calmness, dedication, and professionalism. She also showed great organisation skills to keep up with her coursework, passing the Coding exam on the first attempt and submitting her first project on time and to a high standard. I also asked her to present at the most recent Live Session, despite it being a busy period, and she did a great job.
Natasha’s line manager:
Natasha has continued to demonstrate an outstanding attitude and willingness to deliver through a very difficult trading period. When Natasha joined the marketing department, there was a team of three. Subsequently, the department head has taken maternity leave and the second team member completed their fixed-term contract and this has left Natasha as the sole member of the function. The business has provided some administrative support, but on the whole, Natasha has single-handedly managed the workload of the marketing department as well as completed her studies for nearly twelve months.
Throughout this time Natasha has remained positive and demonstrated a willingness to learn and execute every task on time to her best ability. Natasha willingly listens and takes on feedback and adapts her activities and behaviour accordingly.
Natasha’s initiative and enthusiasm have come to the fore throughout this very difficult period. Furthermore, Natasha has demonstrated calmness and the ability to cope with the pressure of someone beyond her years.
Throughout the whole period, Natasha’s overriding concern is her studies and how and where she will gather the requisite skills and experience to complete the course.
Here’s what was said about the other nominations:
Sophie Sarney @ Taylor & Francis:
Sophie is full of energy and is always ready to tackle the day, take on new challenges and support colleagues across the business regardless of whether it’s a Monday or last thing on a Friday. Her enthusiasm has remained stable even during tough times, and continues to grow. Sophie joined Taylor and Francis as an organisation in the height of the Global pandemic where we have had to continually shift focus and adapt our ways of working to meet the demands of our customers and colleagues and this is a challenge she has risen above and taken in her stride.
Catarina Oliveira @ Future PLC:
Catarina has become an invaluable member of the bookazine team. During lockdown last year we lost resources within the team and Catarina had to step up to fill in the gaps. Catarina works methodically and accurately whilst also completing tasks at pace and on time. Nothing is ever too much trouble and she goes above and beyond to get the job done.
Matthew Hayhoe @ Alain Charles Publishing:
Matt has been an incredibly reliable and hardworking member of the editorial team here at Travel Bulletin magazine - the speed in which he produces high-quality work is really quite spectacular! Although he has only been an apprentice with us for a relatively short time, it is rather reassuring that I know, without a doubt, that if for some reason I need help on a task, or if I am not immediately available, Matt will produce any work to an incredibly high standard. I have grown to rely on Matt in almost all areas of our work here at the magazine. What's more, Matt always initiatives any task with a positive, can-do attitude, which is infectious to all those around him.