A Spotlight on Victoria Craig, Head of L&D for Portico & Searcys

What better way to wrap-up International Women's Week than with a spotlight on the recent promotion of Victoria Craig , Head of Learning & Development.

Earlier this year Victoria was promoted to Head of L&D for Portico and Searcys . In recognition, we've put Victoria in the hot seat, asking her what the future of L&D looks like for both businesses and an insight into her new role.

Since Victoria joined Portico in 2019 she has worked tirelessly to grow the Portico Learning Academy, from enhancing the variety of course we offer and introducing learning pathways. Victoria has gained may outstanding achievements in her two years of service, winning a handful of awards including the Princess Royal Award, a UK Employee Experience Award, as well as winning Gold in the 2022 Learning Award for People Development Programme of the year (Private) for Portico's pathways.

Hi Victoria, congratulations on your new promotion! Tell us what your new role at Portico and Searcys will entail?

"Thank you! The love that’s poured in from our Portico team and the warm welcome from our Searcys team has been a joy to experience. That’s a great question. Ultimately, I am responsible for the strategy, creation and delivery of our learning approach. I have a strong belief that there is no such thing as a work/life balance, there is just a life balance. So our learning approach acknowledges and supports both our personal development, as well as professional."

Tell us about your experience in L&D and your journey at Portico.

"With nearly a decade of exploring L&D, from coaching on the shop floor to being a guest speaker at conferences in front of 350+ people, the same intent applies: support people to realise their own potential and give them the resources to do so.

I’ll never forget my interview experience at Portico with Paul and Hanna. It felt like I’d met directors who truly understood the value of providing this in a workplace. It’s the reason I jumped at the chance to join Portico and the reason I’m here today."

How will Portico’s and Searcys’ L&D offering change?

"Now I can’t give all my secrets away… however the important thing to note is, these two businesses may share some similarities but need to be respected for their differences. Therefore I won’t be applying the same “formula”, as they say, to Searcys that I did Portico. Instead, I am taking a bespoke approach and ensuring the strategy delivered is one that supports the vision of the business and is shaped by our team members who make Searcys the renowned institution it is today.

For Portico, we have our five Portico Pathways in full swing with a few new initiatives launching across the year."

Tell us about your thoughts on the importance learning and development has to our employees.

"This is a great question. In my mind, I have a duty of care to everyone in our business in a very specific way. We are living through the fourth industrial revolution (tech) and my duty of care is to ensure that our people not only are prepared for today but for tomorrow.

This isn’t just about advanced technology. For example, by establishing leadership behaviours and coaching our people to see the benefit in applying these, this creates a workplace people can thrive which in turn positively impacts our team members in their day to day lives. This is everything."

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

"Have you met our people?! My goodness, they are a joy! When I am visiting sites, delivering workshops or coaching others, seeing our people thrive or being a shoulder for them through hard times means the world to me."

What’s your biggest achievement at Portico?

"My go-to answer would be, we’ve built our Portico Pathways up to be award-winning (Princess Royal Training Award 2021, Gold – People Development Program of the year @ The Learning Awards and a few more). This is overwhelmingly appreciated but there is one small moment that I always return to in my mind.

During the last lockdown, I was delivering a virtual workshop. Our team members were joining from across the Portico Portfolio from Leeds to Aberdeen. We were having an honest conversation about where our motivation was sitting and what was affecting that.

Everyone was discussing when I noticed one person hadn’t spoken yet. When they did, they said, “This.”

When we enquired more, they told us that living alone and being a near-lone worker was tough but our workshops, a place where we could be heard and really connect with others, was getting them through it.

If you’re reading this, you know who you are and thank you as you and our Portico community got me through the lockdowns too."

You’ve recently won many awards over the past year! Tell us what this means and why is it important for Portico and our training offering?

"Yes, we are thrilled! For me, it’s a testament to our directors and our Portico people. For our directors, it highlights how supportive they are of our people. They believe we have recruited the best people (that’s you!) and it’s our duty to open up development opportunities to support progression, whether that is into a new role or progression in one’s skills to help us feel more confident in our day to day.

Secondly, I could talk all day about our Portico people (I’m glad we didn’t have to do a speech at the Learning Awards as I would have!). These awards are a testament to the dedication our people have to delivering exceptional service for our clients and creating a supportive workplace for our colleagues.

I know Hanna and Amanda will be rolling their eyes at me as I’ve not mentioned my part in this. They’re great at telling me off for not practising what I preach and making me take moments to celebrate the wins. Overall, the way I see it is, I’m the facilitator to make these development opportunities happen and I’m so grateful to be a part of that with you all."

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

"I’m going to tell you a secret. Sam, our Head of Branding, has asked me these questions. She gave me three optional questions at the end and I had to choose one to answer. I could have chosen another, but I thought, I ask our people to reflect and answer challenging questions all the time so it’s only fair I do too, right?

Professionally, I would say the answer is that everyone has imposter syndrome. From CEOs to entrepreneurs to the new person starting in your workplace that day. So next time you are stressing because you’re in a meeting with someone senior or influential, remember they might just be feeling the exact same way that day.

Personally, I have a reminder that pops up on my phone every Sunday night, it goes, “If it doesn’t matter in 5 years time, does it matter?”

Give it a go. It’s done me the world of good to put things I’d usually overthink into perspective so that I can concentrate further on the points that do matter."

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