We’re not sure what we’d do without our Business Support Manager, Donna Irwin, who’s been with us since 2019, working behind the scenes with her team to keep everything on track for both colleagues and delegates. Find out more about her role and discover her top tip on how to get the most out of training.
What’s your main role at Impellus?
I’m the Business Support Manager with overall responsibility for all our course administration, systems and finances.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Working together with the whole Business Support Team to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible, whether that’s the arrangements for an online course and sending out the course materials that we provide or making sure that our colleagues have all the right equipment and resources that they need in order to do their jobs to the best of their ability. If our customers and colleagues experience seamless services without necessarily realising how much work has gone on behind the scenes, then that’s very satisfying.
What’s most challenging?
Juggling different competing priorities. As the Business Support Team works across all functions in the Company, we’re often in demand to get involved in lots of different tasks and projects; it can be a difficult balancing act to make sure that we prioritise the right things without compromising on our level of service and attention to detail.
Briefly describe a typical day or week.
The structure of my days can vary each week dependent on any pre-booked meetings that I need to attend but I’ll usually begin each day with a review of any messages that have come in since the previous day and what’s in the diary for the day ahead. Once again, it’s a matter of prioritising and picking up on the very urgent issues first whilst making sure that I’m available for any member of the team who might need help with something. I have my own projects to work on in addition to the day-to-day administrative and financial tasks, and I’m often involved in projects being run by other members of the Management Team.
I co-work in an office with the rest of the Business Support Team every Wednesday which gives us the opportunity to collaborate in person and discuss any issues anyone is having or suggestions for improvements to processes that we might want to make. It’s a great opportunity for us to get things done together in a quick and straightforward way.
What single piece of advice would you give someone to help ensure they get the most out of their training with Impellus?
Be prepared. As soon as you book onto a training course, block out the time in your calendar as you would for any other commitment or meeting and let colleagues know in advance that you won’t be available on that day. That way, you won’t be distracted and can give the training your full attention.
