Ashby de-la-Zouch based agency Ashfield Meetings & Events has welcomed a new set of employees into the third year of its Future Focus staff development programme.
The intake of six: Luke Thorogood, Hollie Seager, Alexandra Gee, Emma Willis, Zoe Dunn and Asia Mirza will each follow a personalised development plan.
The Future Focus initiative was created to identify individuals with the potential to fill future, critical roles within Ashfield Meetings & Events and its sister brand, SPARK THINKING.
The agency’s programme aims to create well-rounded individuals with a wider understanding of the events sector, clients’ sectors and the wider Ashfield business.
Ashfield M&E business services and operations director, Penny Callaghan, commented: “We were thrilled that so many of our employees choose to apply to be on the programme. The six new recruits really demonstrated our values and have an abundance of enthusiasm and commitment. Our agency is already reaping the benefits of the programme and it is fantastic to be able to give back to previous Future Focus talent by supporting their development and progression into more senior roles.”
Nicola Williams started the programme in 2015 and said it enabled her to transition from project manager to senior project manager and most recently to account manager.
“The programme prepared me by developing my understanding of the different personality types I would eventually line manage and guided me to research different types of leadership so I could develop my own style. Although I have come to end of the official two-year journey, our intake has made a collective pact to continue to develop each other outside of the programme.”
The Future Focus internal programme is running in parallel with both of Ashfield’s US offices where 13 employees across the Ivyland and Indianapolis offices have been enrolled.
