Why learning and development matters to me

Lisa Downs, Head of Care and Registered Manager for Caring Together Charity in Cambridgeshire, discusses why it’s important for her to #KeepLearning as a manager and to support her team with their development.

I’ve been in the care industry for more than 10 years and started as a co-ordinator. As a manager I appreciate the opportunities that training, and awareness have provided not just to me but also to the teams I’ve worked with over the years.

I considered the best way to demonstrate in this blog how important learning can be and figured honesty is always the best way to go.

When I joined care it was a happy accident. I’d experienced a burn out of sorts in my previous industry and as a single parent I was on the hunt for a role I felt would make my children proud of me. I was contacted by a care provider who wanted someone with my background to join their team due to the transferrable skills I’d be able to bring with me.

Being able to tell my children what I was learning, who I was meeting, and what I was achieving was a fantastic feeling I quickly became addicted to and as a result I went for progression at every opportunity.

In 2016 the chance to become a manager was too good to pass up and as a result I began my Level 5 in Leadership and Management in Care. I remember the day I received the email advising me I’d completed the qualification, the pride that shone from my children was the absolute icing on the cake of what was already an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

From there, I’ve completed endless courses, trainings and qualifications all to learn as much as I can about the work we all do every day; there’s never a point for anyone where they can officially say they know it all and the learnings we can do as members of this industry supports us all in providing the best possible care, service and outcomes for those individuals that need us.

Most recently I’ve undertaken courses to become a designated safeguarding lead, a menopause advocate and to be able to deliver training myself. I like to ensure I lead by example where possible so if I’m asking my teams to undertake training, I always try to complete it first so I understand the content and can support them with their questions or support where needed.

The challenges thrown our way during the pandemic led to a lot of changes in the way we deliver trainings and although I think the changes can support development moving forward, feedback from our teams highlighted that people also missed a good old-fashioned face-to-face session.

I love delivering training face-to-face with members of our teams and the best days are when I have a group who engage, ask questions and want to soak up all the knowledge I’ve gained over the years as well as share their knowledge with each other. In spite of all the training I’ve done there’s never a session where I don’t walk away needing to research an answer or wondering how I can further improve an element of our service.

I was asked how I find time within my day-to-day role to also create and deliver training, the simple answer is I don’t have time, but it’s so vital that I make it regardless. It isn’t just an opportunity to teach and support development it’s also a chance to spend time with our teams who are out there day-to-day experiencing all the many challenges our industry has to offer. I cannot even begin to imagine how I would truly support my team if I wasn’t fully available to them. With hybrid working models and teams covering the whole county, training is the perfect way to bring people together.

To me watching someone in my team grow, develop and progress because I’ve been able to support them with training is the highlight of any of the roles I’ve held since becoming a manager in the care sector, seeing a team member go on to bigger and better is such a special feeling.

I remember an old manager I had saying “The only thing worse than training someone and having them leave is not training them and having them stay” and that’s always remained with me. I love to train, and I love to learn there’s nothing more important.

Find out more about learning and development with our #KeepLearning spotlight.

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