I’ve been involved with the Enable Disability Network at Natwest for a number of years. When I became Deputy Chair, I was put forward for the Radius Network Leadership Programme as part of succession planning. I’d never been a Chair before, so it was a great opportunity to focus on the role and its priorities.
When you’re really passionate about something, it can be tempting to make everything a priority. One of the best things about the Radius programme is that it helped me to think strategically, to find focus and establish my objectives. Previously, our strategy wasn’t very clear or visible. Now it’s much more refined with structured roles, responsibilities and a consistent workflow.
Having the right level of engagement with senior colleagues is so important, and Radius helped me to review how I work with our Exec Sponsor. Now, I’m more selective in how I engage with him. I’m able to make better use of his time and his network in terms of accessing his connections and using his influence. His input has been integral to boosting our visibility and the course gave me some great skills to make this happen.
The programme brought home to me that it’s vital to get out there and engage externally with other stakeholders too. It’s important to be bold and talk about what we do, and now we’re much more effective about using platforms like LinkedIn to demonstrate our good work as a network. We’re also a lot clearer about our brand and identity. We know exactly what we stand for and why.
We’ve recently been working with other networks, both locally and globally. We’re now affiliated with other carer and gender networks and have identified the importance of recognising intersectionality in what we do, as well as being able to effectively use each other’s skills and resources. Taking a more joined up approach has helped us to be more effective and more visible.
The Radius Network Leadership Programme has been beneficial in so many ways. It’s improved our strategy and visibility and on a personal level, has increased my confidence as a Network Chair. Everything about the programme was easy to access. The guidance and structure were very clear, I was easily able to manage the learning in my own time. Above all, Radius enabled me to channel my passion in the right way and this has been really valuable.
