From Army Roots to Growing Leaders
After serving in the military for fourteen years, Lisa made the bold leap into the corporate world. Since joining Virgin Money, she's held a number of roles, each one shaping her path to where is is now - a Leadership & Talent Senior Consultant. Lisa is also a Chair in our Vets & Virgin Network, where she supports fellow veterans transitioning into the workplace as well as leading initiatives externally to support veterans and their families in the wider community. Her story is one of adaptability, resilience and a passion for helping others grow.
Check out Lisa's story here.
From the Front Line to Leadership Development
Hey Lisa, tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Virgin MoneyI'm a Senior Leadership Consultant at Virgin Money and ultimately responsible for building leadership capability. This includes shaping and embedding the expectations of people leadership at Virgin Money, designing and implementing leadership development that enhances the skills and capabilities of our leaders and consulting with key stakeholders across the business to ensure development initiatives align with strategic priorities.
What are you currently working on?
Alongside delivering out new to role leadership development programme, I've been heavily involved in the launch of our new performance management framework over the past few months. This has involved us updating all our policies, guidance, tools, resources and development for both colleagues and people leaders. We've now moved into the implementation phase which will see us deliver development to our people leaders giving them the skills and knowledge they need to embed our new framework.
As well as your day job, you’re network co-chair of our Vets @ Virgin community. What inspired you to be co-chair and what are you most proud of?
I am a very proud veteran myself and prior to joining Virgin Money I had a 14-year career as an officer in the British Army. I felt incredibly fortunate to have had such a smooth transition into corporate life but sadly this isn’t the case for all veterans and that’s what inspired me to take on the role of co-chair. I wanted to use my skills, experience and passion for the Armed Forces to provide the support and awareness Armed Forces veterans need as they return to civilian life and to support the families of those who have served or are currently serving.
The thing I’m most proud of is when the Network was formally recognised by the Secretary of State for Defence in 2019 and awarded the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Employer status. There are only around 800 companies in the UK with Gold status and we we’re recently reaccredited earlier this year which is testament to all the hard work the Network has put in to ensure our policies and processes do not directly disadvantage service personnel, reservists, veterans and their family members and we continually meet the highest expectations of being an Armed Forces friendly employer.
How does someone who joined the Army at 17 end up in Financial Services and currently a Leadership & Talent Senior Consultant Virgin Money?
It’s certainly been an interesting journey and hasn’t followed any of the traditional career paths. After leaving the military in 2014 I got chatting to a fellow veteran at a network event who encouraged me to apply for a role working with the CEO of Virgin Money. What I lacked in corporate experience I made up for with my varied and intriguing background and was delighted to be offered the role of Business Manager to the CEO which I did for 5 years. I think it’s so important to focus on the things you can bring to the role and show your commitment to learn the rest. Leaning on my military experiences in strategic planning and my exposure from the CEO Office to the wider business decisions, I applied for a Strategy Manager role. My new role allowed me to work closely with the business areas and have a better understanding of our products and propositions. This was a role I chose with my head, allowing me to increase my technical experience and adding to my overall skill set.
I also lead on numerous other activities including being the purpose lead and positive leader for the team, colleague engagement rep, mentor for young change makers and Co-chair for Vets @ Virgin. Being active in these spaces not only allowed me to increase my network across the business but it also allowed me to add value in areas that gave me a real sense of personal purpose.
After 3 years of being a Strategy Manager, it was time for a new challenge and this time I wanted my new role to be one that spoke to my heart. Maybe the stars aligned for me where I was put in a position that allowed me to apply for a role I was really passionate about. On paper I’ve not had the typical journey into HR but I never lost sight of what I really wanted to do.
Day to day, what’s the best bit for you about working at Virgin Money?
Being able to connect with our fantastic colleagues is definitely the best part of my day. People leaders are the single biggest factor on whether teams perform. They set direction, build capability and help the team work with and for each other. I feel incredibly privileged to be in a position where I get to support our people leaders.
What’s something you’re passionate about outside of work?
I don’t often sit still and have so many passions outside of work. It probably comes as no surprise that I’m heavily involved in supporting military charities. I love reading and learning, connecting with people and I’m also a bit of a fitness enthusiast and really enjoy pushing myself in the gym, at team events and races.
Sometimes it’s the things that set us apart that make us the perfect candidate.
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