Unlocking New Horizons: My journey towards being a future leader at Vodafone UK

Embarking on a career journey is a challenging endeavour, and for many, the desire to learn and develop along the way becomes a driving force. In my case, the opportunity to delve into a distinctive job role and simultaneously pursue a tailored apprenticeship programme at work proved to be the catalyst for a new chapter in my professional life.

Where it began...

I started my career at Vodafone UK in 2016 where I joined as a Customer Care agent in our Stoke-On-Trent Contact Centre. At this point in my life, I was very driven by my future career progression and the opportunities on offer at Vodafone were really appealing. Since starting at Vodafone I have progressed into a number of different roles, firstly as a Team Leader at our site in Manchester – then onto other roles in the business including Operational Readiness and then Customer Experience. Today, I am a Service Design Manager for Home Broadband, which is part of the Digital Tribe. My role is to design omni channel customer journeys, using Design Thinking and research principles.

How it's going...

In early 2023 I started to think more about my onward career progression at Vodafone, which is where I first heard about the Henley Future Leaders Programme.

Through the many development conversations I have with my manager, it was clear that there were learning opportunities that were important for any continued progression into a senior leadership role. It didn’t take long for me to realise that this was a huge opportunity for me to learn and develop professionally with targeted learning which is tailored to exactly what I need to become a future leader at Vodafone. Examples of the modules include Strategic Management & Financial Management. Having met the entry criteria for applying, I completed a baseline assessment and submitted a formal application to Henley Business School, not long afterwards getting accepted onto the programme.

The Future Leaders Programme began in earnest in April 2023 and I am now around half way through the course. It has been an enjoyable but challenging experience so far, the opportunity to get back into a formal learning environment to enrich my knowledge and skills has been incredibly rewarding. Especially knowing that I can use the knowledge, skills and behaviours taught through each module and apply them to my day-to-day role. For me, the biggest challenge has been adjusting to a learning mindset after around 14 years since I left an education setting, alongside balancing the programme with my work and personal life.

I am incredibly thankful for the amazing support I have from not only my management, but from the wider business peers and stakeholders that I work with at Vodafone. Through this support I have been able to easily balance my role with the required 20% on the job learning as well as completing all the necessary workshops, reading and assignments required for each module.

Being on the Henley Future Leaders Programme is giving me the ability to learn new topics and deepen my knowledge of other areas, all of which is absolutely key to my future development goals – meaning my studies towards this programme are the cornerstone for the next chapter of my professional life at Vodafone, wherever that takes me.