Our Rising Sparks
For anyone who doesn’t yet know me, my name is Lauren and I’m an administrator at our Chesterfield centre. I’ve worked for DBC since January of this year and I can honestly say that since the beginning of my employment here I’ve received more opportunities to grow both personally and within my career than anywhere else I have worked before (which I know may not seem that big of a deal considering I’m just a sprightly 23 years of age) but it has been a very big deal for me. My year has been a strange one to say the least, I’m sure many of you likely feel the same way. My year has involved a lot of transformation, including tremendous loss, and I have felt at times that I’ve lacked a sense of direction in my life. However, having this company and its support as one of the few constants in my year has helped my growth exponentially, and one area in particular that has opened up new opportunities for myself and others has been the Rising Sparks programme which begun back in May.
The Rising Sparks aimed to invest, stretch and challenge members of the DBC workforce who senior management believe have potential to progress within the business. The sessions were run by Sue Colebourne and Frances Drew, and has featured other members of the business including Daniel Adey in our penultimate session on Brand awareness and business improvements (which was a voted fan favourite!). The programme focussed on areas which were designed to explore and expand personal attributes, skills and knowledge, which I believe to be criteria that has been fully met.
The content of Rising Sparks included that which has improved our knowledge of DBC on the whole, such as an in-depth look at the company values and how our roles reflect the mission statement of DBC, to more holistic and personal content including self-awareness, emotional intelligence and goal settings. And along with these some more light-hearted activities. Such as the creating of our DBC heroes. The DBC heroes were mascots created by ourselves which were designed to be the embodiment of the company values.
I was interested in how the programme had impacted on my fellow Rising sparks and so I sent out a survey (if there’s one thing I‘ve learnt since starting at DBC it's that this company loves a survey) and the results showed that not only did 100% of us enjoy attending the sessions, the majority of us feel the programme has benefitted us in our current roles and has put us in a better position to progress within the company. Some of the responses regarding the programme include “it motivates and teaches me a lot”, “I enjoy getting to interact with the other centres” and “I enjoy the discussions and understanding other team members views on topics”. This was an anonymous survey so they really could have been brutal had they wished. Which is great news, everyone who attended the programme enjoyed going!
My favourite part of attending the sessions ties in nicely with my favourite part of working at DBC on the whole- I’m surrounded by such genuinely inspiring people. Each with their own stories, and with various diverse paths to their achievements, and getting to spend time amongst such a great calibre of people has contributed massively to my drive to succeed. I find the best way to get ahead in life is by choosing mentors, striving to never be too comfortable and to surround yourself with people who strive to achieve.
By Lauren Macluskey