Business Management Review

Duty Manager (Wickes), Organised the day to day routine of the store. From opening to closing depending on the shift. Handling general inquires / complaints from staff and customers with the ability to escalate to senior management. Also to handle the cash (banking routines). Be health and safety aware. To give good customer service. Accepting deliveries from suppliers and arranging customer deliveries. Routine check on the performance of the Click and Collect service. Reporting of stock loss. Training of new staff and inspire current staff to perform at their best. Able to use the mechanical handling devices. Be First Aid trained as first re sponders.

Learnt from other TP sister companies how different each works, from software to their Customer service's. Insight profiling learning to spot how different we are and to be able to adapt to their profile to help in managing them. Improved on health and safety procedures (the Law). Finding the bottom line on which a company can survive. The importance of good communication. The ability to mentor a person. Time and project management tools and techniques. How to have difficult conversations. Able to identify staff to a skill will matrix, and how to mentor them based on it. To use active listening.

I enjoyed the classroom sections the best, these were well presented and the trainers were very knowledgeable and often gave their own experiences on how to implement what was being told. The team building challengers were fun but very informative. The actual course work was structured and was separated into different sections these were divided into smaller sections each slightly more in-depth than the one before, also these had set criteria that we had to learn or research and then prove we understood what we learnt. The time frame that each sub section was set, but we did have small leeway to finish each sub section, To Alloy for holidays and commercial reasons. The mentor that was assigned to keep an eye on my progress, was very approachable and helped in understanding what was actual required for each sub subject and provided good mentoring.

The course was well structured, with the breakdown to smaller section a great help. The structure had a few imperfections but the course was still undergoing a few tweaks as this was only the 2nd time the course had run. The online program listed what each sections were and what criteria that this related to the overall course accreditation requirements. A simple file upload of course work, that my mentored then evaluated. The small 'byte size' sections were organised well as to not to overlap / repeat what was already learnt, accept when it was necessary to re evaluated a previous situation with the new knowledge.

I was allowed to have a weekly "me time" set up where I could be left alone to complete a section or research a task. This was better than trying to get 15 minuets here and there. My store manager was happy for me to ask questions and to show my work to him. I feel that he gave me the require time to perform my tasks but also made sure I did not abused this time allocated.

I received a good level of support from my mentor. She answered many questions relating as to what was required for each section and nudged me when I was running late on a task. I also had a catch up day, away from work at the end of the course, to redo some of my uploaded files to be more structured. I also could contact the trainer for each subject for further insight or clarification on a topic.

I believe that I am a better manager overall, from using the skills gained from the course work. My main tool is the insight profiling. that allows me to understand the way another person acts/thinks this is not just for the staff but also from dealing with customers with more complaints being resolved successfully. This is being enhanced with the active listening technique learnt. Increased confidence in having difficult conversations. The use of time management techniques help me plan the day better and to keep organised through the day.

Currently we have no regularly activities running. This is mainly due to opening hours 6 am to 8 pm and the 2 shift system that is require to run it. We do however are very active in raising funds for our chosen charity. Cake sales, sponsored walks, chilly eating and raffles.

Yes

Travis Perkins Plc and its sister companies offer a wide range of opportunity for personal growth and diversity into different areas of the company. They are active in staff retention and show that they like to invest in internal promotion. Travis Perkins Plc are leading the way in providing a equal opportunities environment. Either by gender, race, age or religion. They are setting the standards in health and safety including mental health along with environmental impact of the products they sell and its stores have.

Please check out the corporation website and its 'corner stones' which they relate to. Keeping Safe. Working for customers. Upholding Family Values, Being the best, Making decent returns. Be honest, show that you have made mistakes and how you learnt from them. Be enthusiastic, tell them why you are the 'one' and what you can give to them. Want to grow with the company. Show that you are not biased to anyone and have good customer skills.