How the Moving Up programme supported me and now my team

This #GoodNewsFriday we hear from Thomptiana Thompson about how she has seen the impact of our Moving Up Programme from both a participant and an employer’s perspective.

Skills for Care’s Moving Up is a programme which supports managers from black, Asian and minority ethic backgrounds to take the next step in their careers. It includes a mix of self-learning modules and live online sessions, and covers topics and skills including networking, building self-confidence, leadership skills, creating a personal brand, and identifying your own skills and weaknesses.

Thomptiana Thompson is a cluster manager at Certitude London, which provides a range of care services to people with a learning disability, autism, or a mental health condition.

Thomptiana has been working in health and social care for around 22 years, progressing from support worker to deputy manager and now into her current role.

Thomptiana described her first day on the Moving Up programme as “mind blowing”. She remembers that one of the first questions asked on the programme was “What does your name mean?” For Thomptiana her name means 'Princess of Strength and Resilience (fighter)', a definition which she says resonated with her as she won’t settle for average and always wants to do her best.

For Thomptiana, this opening question highlighted the importance of every element of our identity, including our culture and race, in everything that we do – including our careers.

Thomptiana told us that the biggest thing she took away from the Moving Up programme was greater confidence, saying she realised that she was previously reluctant to grab opportunities but she’s not afraid anymore.

She also told us that Moving Up really opened her eyes to the importance of networking in order to discover new opportunities to ‘move up’, and that she feels that’s the number one key in taking the next step in your leadership journey.

Another element of the programme which Thomptiana found most useful, was the open and honest space that it created for people with different experiences and in different roles to share their own perspectives and stories. She felt this allowed the chance to learn from others, and also made everyone feel less alone.

As Thomptiana progresses in her own career she also wants the people in her team to move up too. That’s why she’s now enrolled two of her team members onto the current Moving Up cohort, and she’s had good feedback from them about their experience on the programme so far.

Like Thomptiana, her team members have said that the programme is having a positive impact on their confidence and helping them to feel more comfortable about going for more senior roles and different opportunities.

Luckily, Thomptiana tells us that at Certitude she feels there are many opportunities for people to progress and that diversity is celebrated and supported. This includes the organisation’s intercultural network group, which is where Thomptiana first found out about the Moving Up programme. The organisation also offers mentoring, plus various sub-groups which allow staff members to take on more responsibility. There's also opportunities to progress with regular ‘acting up’ roles available for staff to take their next steps.

For Thomptiana, her upwards journey isn’t over and her long-term ambition is to eventually progress into an area management role and take on more training responsibilities.

We were delighted to hear how the Moving Up programme has given Thomptiana more confidence to progress in her role.

Find out more about Moving Up.

Find more information around supporting culture and diversity with our Black History Month spotlight.

View our #DevelopingLeaders spotlight for more support around leadership and progression.

Share your good news stories with us by emailing marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk

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