Women in Leadership: Helen Lambert

Helen Lambert attended a cohort of the Women in Leadership (WiL) course and used the course to help progress her career.

This course is delivered through the Smart and Inclusive Leadership and Priority Skills for D2N2 SMEs projects, which are part funded by the European Social Fund. Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is pleased to offer free (fully funded) places on this course to support employees of small and medium businesses that are based in Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire.

This project is part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF).

Women in Leadership Alumni, Helen Lambert

It is a great opportunity to gain a different perspective and understand the challenges of being a Woman in Leadership, gaining new tools, skills and knowledge to bring back to your organisation.

Helen Lambert, Operations Manager for YMCA Robin Hood Group

What do you do for a living?

When completing the WiL course I was an Operations Manager for YMCA Robin Hood Group. I provided inspiring leadership and clear direction to the supported accommodation team to improve the lives of vulnerable homeless adults, young people and refugees, working in partnership with all areas of the organisation to develop the service delivery and secure funding to support residents.

I was responsible for Operational Service Delivery and the project management of the implementation of a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform (In-Form) to manage our residents' information, revenue generation, measure performance and service delivery. I secured new contracts to provide supporting accommodation for young people and unaccompanied alyssum seeking children, supported with funding to roll out of tablets to our front-line teams to enable the teams to provide a digital doorstep service to streamline processes, increase productivity, drive efficiencies, performance and resident engagement with a digital technology library to access.

Prior to joining the YMCA, I worked for Serco and (G4S - Prior to TUPE to Serco) working with the directorates across all functions to enable successful delivery of contractual services. I was responsible for leading on the implementing of the operational strategy and improving the synergy between property acquisition, field operations, service user allocation, property maintenance and transport to meet the demand and delivering a project plan to exit contingency accommodation.

How long was it between when you last studied and studying WiL?

I completed a number of courses and internal training to develop my knowledge and skills but hadn't completed formal studies since 2017 with an internal leadership course and 2007 for a formal qualification.

Why did you attend WiL?

The course was recommended, and I saw it as a good opportunity for me to develop my skills and knowledge and I was considering my MBA, as this was a level 7 course, I saw this as a good opportunity to 'test the waters' to see how much work would be involved and understand what would be expected from me.

What did you get from WiL?

The WiL course was a fantastic experience, it gave insight and empowerment for Women as leaders and the ability to share ideas and learn and gain insight from other women in leadership, it was extremely empowering and the coaching sessions were a great support for boosting my confidence, believing in my ability and seeing things from a completely different perspective and having new ideas, tools and skills to deal with situations.

Was some of the content transferable to your circumstances and/or career intentions? How so?

Yes, most of the content was transferable and refresh previous knowledge gained, we were going through mobilisation of a new contract, and I based my report and used the models, tools and skills gained to support my report and I have recommendations for the mobilisation of another contract due next year, the Iceberg and Culture Web models were really useful.

You’ve now made the move from WiL to the SLA + Executive MBA. How/why did this happen?

Completing the WiL course and the report successfully and awarded gave me the confidence to complete the SLA, it showed that after all this time, I could complete the work. It was a challenge to start, there was so much support and structure, which supported with ensuring you knew what was expected from you to complete the report and gave valuable insight on how to use NOW and referencing, which has supported me since starting my SLA.

Would you recommend attending WiL?

Yes, it is a great opportunity to gain a different perspective and understand the challenges of being a Woman in Leadership, gaining new tools, skills and knowledge to bring back to your organisation.

The NTU Women in Leadership course is suitable for women currently working in or towards leadership and management roles and is accredited at Level 7, meaning participants can gain 20 credits towards a postgraduate qualification. To achieve these credits, you are required to attend all sessions and successfully complete the assignments which incorporate personal development planning and demonstrating learning in the context of your workplace. This is a fundamental element of the programme in which we will support you in demonstrating the application of your learning. Individual feedback is also provided upon completion of your assignment along with optional 1-1 personal development coaching throughout.

Completion of this course will enable you to progress onto the Senior Leader Apprenticeship (SLA) utilising the 20-credit obtained on the Women in Leadership programme. The SLA is designed for specialists who want to or have moved into a managerial role and wish to propel their career. The apprenticeship offers the opportunity to consolidate your managerial and leadership experience so far to be able to work more effectively across functions.

The apprenticeship will support you as you expand your network and gain a broad knowledge of business management and cover topics such as data driven decision making and change management. The ability to personalise your learning and apply it directly to your organisation puts you at the heart of our learning model and ensures both you and your organisation benefit directly from your studies.

The SLA is accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), upon completion you will also receive a Level 7 CMI award. An optional top up to an MBA award is available for an additional fee.

How to access the support available

The Women in Leadership course is running a number of cohorts throughout 2022/23. You can register your interest and a member of the team will be in touch to discuss eligibility and suitable dates.

You can also contact us via any of the below channels: