Philly specialises in communications, leadership and management development and personal effectiveness. She is an accredited coach, action learning set facilitator and a CIPD Learning and Development Associate.
Philly’s career has spanned both the private and charity sectors, where she has gained extensive experience in communications and management. She joined =mc 10 years ago and has worked with organisations such as Marie Curie Cancer Care, Royal Shakespeare Company, Department of Education, and the World Food Programme. Before joining =mc, Philly specialised in strategic partnerships and was Corporate Account Team Manager at Alzheimer’s Society working with large scale corporate partners that included Tesco and KPMG. Prior to that she worked for performance development consultancy Lane4.
This year I am delighted to be continuing my work with some inspiring partners, Cancer Research UK and Royal Shakespeare Company.
The newly developed Future Managers Programme in partnership with Cancer Research UK is now supporting it’s fourth cohort of aspiring managers. The programme gives participants an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a manager and whether this is a role they would like in their future. Through on the job learning activities in between workshops, these aspiring managers have the opportunity to practice some of the key skills of management and reflect on where they would like to develop. It is such a rewarding programme, and participants continue to get a huge amount from this support. Our work with Cancer Research UK through the New Manager Programme, also continues into this year, with two more cohorts planned to support new managers with essential management skills.
This year, also sees the launch of a second cohort of apprentices on the Success at Work programme, in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Over a 7 month period, through a series of monthly workshops, the programme gives apprentices a portfolio of tools and knowledge to help them to navigate organisational working and their roles. This programme forms part of the RSC’s ongoing mission to support apprenticeships in the workplace through their apprenticeship programme. This has seen them be shortlisted this year for Best Employer as part of the Apprenticeship Guide Awards 2024.
Effective presenting and influencing continues to be an invaluable skillset in our sector, and I, along with my colleagues, continue to take great delight in supporting groups looking to hone their presenting and impact skills, with organisations such as UNICEF, V&A, Doncaster Community Arts and WaterAid.
Finally, my work supporting organisations and teams to find their way through change initiatives continues this year, and I have been working closely with a few partners to make these transitions as clear and smooth as they can be.
I began my career in the private sector, working for Lane4, who specialise in performance development. I worked on internal communications between their global offices, and then moved into the commercial team, launching customer relationship initiatives across the business – a key account management programme and customer feedback process. During this time, I became an accredited coach.
In 2010, I moved into the not-for-profit sector, working on projects that looked at gaps in service provision and how charitable organisations could best galvanise support, through their volunteer networks and private funding streams. I then specialised in corporate partnerships, managing virtual and cross-departmental teams.
In my role at =mc, I value the opportunity to work across so many important missions, sharing the practical approaches with our customers that will make a real difference in their day to day.