Brian Donaldson
Brian was the first person in Wholesale to sign up to an apprenticeship, making him a guinea pig of sorts!
As a Regional Sales and Business Development Manager, he has been taking part in the Operations Manager Level 5 training.
“I’m one of the RSM’s, reporting to Sally Fyffe (Head of Wholesale) and I have five direct reports.
I’ve been in management positions for about 8 years, and although I knew how to carry myself as a human, I wanted to learn proven techniques to make myself a better manager.
I need to be a bit more disciplined with my time management, you know what the pace can be like here. Ironically, time management is one of the modules now!
I understand more about the importance of self-reflection and about learning styles. For example, some people learn better by doing rather than seeing, or vice versa, and delegation is now my favourite word!
Before I thought it was ‘sloped-shouldered’ to delegate, but it’s empowering for the team. If there’s a small project or problem that needs thought and collaboration with other departments, I’m comfortable to delegate now.
You have to undertake maths and English at the start. I can tell you how to calculate the volume of a cylinder now! You have a 1:1 with a coach every month and a group session once a quarter and hear other people’s experiences. There’s also online resources and videos and every so often you have to write up your understanding of certain topics.
It’s really flexible and you can work at your own pace. I’m loving it, so much so that the management team roll their eyes when I talk about it!”
Garages 
Tyres 
MOTs 
