The young ones – encouraging pathways to professional growth

NG Chartered Surveyors treats its younger staff differently to their competitors – that’s according to one team member who has quickly worked her way up to Associate Director level.

Charlotte Steggles was speaking at the second of NG’s series of round table events. held at its offices on the outskirts of Nottingham.

Charlotte said: “We’re encouraged to learn from the bottom-up – and NG has given me the pathway to be able to do that.”

Charlotte was asked by Waseem Ali of Rockborne whether she was more likely to stay with NG because of that clear route to professional development.

She replied: “Having that pathway, and being able to set goals, are really important to me – and to the rest of the team here at NG.”

Ellie Smith of SF Recruitment said that 50% of the directorships at her company are “homegrown”.

She added: “This has really helped with our retention. Recruitment is well-known for high staff churn, but we’ve worked hard to transform that over the last four years to make it into an employee-centric environment.”

Zoe Bellenger, also of SF Recruitment, said: “There are definite pathways to career progression at SF. I’ve benefited from this myself – it’s a fantastic feeling to know you can grow in a role with the support of my colleagues.”

James Mcintosh of Cogent Skills said that a decade ago business owners were concentrated on salary – now, it’s changed; it’s all about keeping good people.

Meanwhile, Lynn Burnham of Clover HR said that from an employee perspective staff are as interested in job satisfaction as they are salary.

Lauren Sutherland of Freeths said that her law firm offered definite promotion pathways. She added: “I feel like I’m supported to be the best I can be at all times.”

Maddie Hammond of Hallam said that the digital agency try and encourage people to “find their feet” and “discover what their passion is”.

Georgie Duffield from Tank talked up the benefits of collaborating with further education. She said: “We work a lot with local colleges. We hired two account executives this was and they came in and fitted straight into our culture. We make sure there’s a very clear pathway to progression.”

Talk to turned to how bringing through young professionals can help with a successful succession plan at a business.

Waseem said: “It’s not just about bringing young people through; but also increasing diversity in a business. As for succession – business owners have to be careful about managing expectations when it comes to promoting young talent. That’s the most challenging thing.

James agreed. “Our apprentices will come in – and they can get to the top relatively quicky. However, it’s not uncommon for them to find that management has a different idea of how they want to continue to run the company.”

Maddie said: “That’s why it’s important for any succession plan to be for the individual and not a cut and paste template.”

Meanwhile, Lynn thought that if a company can make an employee a “better person” then it’d done well.

Georgie warned over self-doubt. She said: “I got promoted quite quickly, and I wonder whether everyone thought I was qualified enough. It’s easy to get get imposter syndrome.

Lynn agreed, saying that age shouldn’t be a bracket – a skill set should, while Maddie said that “self-doubt is a killer – you have to control it.”

Carrianne Dukes from eComOne added: “Having a growth mindset culture within a business is key. It’s vital that business owners have the attitude of “If you make a mistake, you learn from it.”

Charlotte said that the culture at NG similar. She added: “Our managing director is very much an advocate of if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

Lauren agreed that syndrome is a big thing. She added: “It’s very natural to have days of self-doubt. My line managers have always been there to support me, though.”

Maddie summed up: “Everyone makes mistakes; it’s how you learn from them.”

Many thanks to all our guests for taking part.