I joined Chartwell in 2014 after completing a four year Masters in Chemical Engineering at Cambridge. I have always been fascinated by how things work and I still get that child-like buzz every time I walk into a new factory!

I chose to work at Chartwell because I wanted to keep using the technical skills I had learnt at university but in a more varied, fast-paced environment and Operations Consulting ticked those boxes.
I have always been a keen traveller and during my time at Chartwell, I was lucky enough to take a year out to travel the world and do some crazy things such as taking pumas for walks in the Amazon, volcano boarding and white water sledging.

One of the reasons I joined Chartwell was because it was the complete opposite to the standard multi-year graduate scheme presented by many competing employers, where progression seems to be measured by jumping through artificial hoops.

At Chartwell, I have been given opportunities which constantly stretch and challenge me – whether it is reducing the cycle time of a machine, helping a COO put together a plan to deliver substantial savings in their factory or coaching another consultant through their development goals, I am always put in a position to learn more and develop myself. I have quickly moved from managing my own workstream as an associate, to managing the entire engagement with multiple consultants as a Lead Consultant. Even though every company and industry is different, you learn invaluable skillsets which can then be used on any project.

I am proud to have been a part of the growth of Chartwell and always love the exciting ideas that new employees bring. As a SMO, everyone in Chartwell gets a chance to develop not only their consulting skills, but their internal business skills too.

Every day and week is different but this hopefully gives a taste of the kind of things I do.

Monday-Thursday, I will be on site with the client and the consultants in my team. I may attend their daily meetings or have some of my own on the project workstreams. On Mondays, I will be reviewing the KPIs from the previous week and ensuring that all people involved in the project have a clear direction for the next few days to work on the top priority areas. Throughout the week, I will meet with people on site to help them progress their actions and provide coaching for the senior clients, the on-site improvement facilitator or the Chartwell consultants I manage. There is usually some Excel analysis throughout the week to help people make all their decisions based on facts.
Once a week, we will have a steering meeting with the client team where the current project progress is reviewed and actions are put in place to ensure continued improvement at the fastest possible rate. Even though as a Lead Consultant my work is more focussed on the overall improvement plan, I still never miss a chance to get on the shop floor to speak to the operators or solve a technical problem!

Once a week I will have a 1:1 meeting with the people I manage to give them the chance to get support on any problems, review their development goals and check that the project is set up to support their wellbeing. We will have dinner as a Chartwell team then if I can find the motivation, I will hit the hotel gym before catching up on my latest TV show addiction and a bit of crochet.

Fridays dedicated to staff development and are spent in the office doing training, Chartwell steering to support our internal business development or Office days where all members of the team present the work they have been doing to share ideas as a business.