Developing through life experiences

Every situation is a learning opportunity and we can often learn skills that can help us in our careers from the experiences we have in everyday life.

For learning at work week, we caught up with two of our colleagues, Sian Foley-Corah and Ian James, to find out more about how their hobbies outside of work have helped them develop.

So Sian… tell us a bit about the activities you take part in, outside of work?

Sian: Outside of my role at DLG I work as the Leeds Rhinos Netball Team Manager, who compete in the Vitality Netball Superleague screened weekly on Sky Sports and a director on the board of Yorkshire Netball.

The Team Manager role at Leeds Rhinos is focussed on supporting both the players and coaches to ensure they are fully prepared on match day and at training sessions. My tasks are organising logistics for home and away matches, performing statistics at matches to support coaching decisions and ensuring all match day regulations are delivered and met in line with the league rules. I also liaise with the broadcast partners Sky to ensure all media responsibilities are met.

As a Yorkshire Netball Board Director my role is to support the governance of netball in the Region, developing a strategic plan to deliver on netball priorities across the area, funded by monies paid by all affiliated netball members. As a board we are responsible to all members in reporting on how their money is spent, ensuring it delivers on the needs for all netballers in the Region.

What skills would you say you’ve learned through doing this?

Sian I think the key skills are Communication, Coaching, Thought Leadership, Working and Making Decisions under Pressure, Planning, People Management, Feedback.

So bringing this into your work life, how has this helped you develop your career?

Sian: It has given me the opportunity to appreciate that it isn't always your technical knowledge and understanding that should be focussed on and celebrated, but your core values and behaviours. Most importantly, role modelling to others how best to communicate positively, work within a pressurised environment and always deliver feedback with the best of intentions.

And finally how does this make you feel?

Sian: As someone who transitioned into an insurance career quite late, knowing that I have skills and behaviours developed in sport that can be transitioned gives me the confidence that I can still add value as I develop my technical understanding of the industry.

So Ian… tell us a bit about the activities you take part in, outside of work?

Ian: I have been playing football for over 32 years now and as I'm nearing the time to hang up my boots, I decided to take up a coaching role at a local football club.

What skills would you say you’ve learned through doing this?

Ian: Coaching a football team has been very similar to managing a team within DLG. You have a list of objectives and you want to achieve during the season and you want the players and the football club to have strong values. You have to be resilient win, lose or draw enjoying the successes throughout the season which doesn't always mean winning.

It's really important to me to identify my players strengths, development areas and identify the can't do's from the won't do's. This enables me to understand how agile my players are to learn new skills, learn from mistakes, formations and behaviours which is vitally important especially when my coaching methods evolve and I'm asking my players to adapt. I found having the confidence to explain to my players our objectives and values as well as being a strong communicator with my players helps create a 'one team' atmosphere.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not always about winning week in, week out (which would be nice) it's about watching the team grow together, for them to know there roles within the team and to enjoy playing for the football club. Communicating with 20 players is challenging because getting the best out of everyone, you need to tailor your communication to each player, checking their understanding and tailor that communication to get the best out of them.

So bringing this into your work life, how has this helped you develop your career?

Ian: Coaching a football team has helped me develop my career within DLG because managing a diverse group of people, I have the understanding that every person I manage will need to be managed, coached and communicated to differently.

It's important that I have a clear understanding of DLG's objectives and values from the start so this can be communicated effectively to my people. Coaching has also helped me is understand what my people's strengths and development needs are, giving them the tools, with the right communication to ensure they not only achieve DLG's objectives, they achieve their own goals too.

And finally how does this make you feel?

Ian: It makes me proud that I have been able to transfer my skills from coaching a football team to managing a team within DLG.

Friends have questioned my thought process in the past compare coaching a football team vs managing a team DLG however, when you break it down it's not so different after all. Communication, agile coaching methods, resilience, achievable objectives and amazing values are all key to managing a creative, confident and happy team.