The Importance of Team Working and Building a Strong Team, 21 May 2015

The SWWE Branch was very pleased to be given the opportunity for members to attend Corporate Member, Lloyds Banking Group’s internal event looking at team working, at their main offices at the harbour side, Bristol on 21 May.

Lloyds Banking Group has four established diversity networks. The Breakthrough network supports the progression of women in the business by sharing knowledge and supporting women to reach their potential. Footprints in the Snow is a series of events lead by Breakthrough which provides insights into the journey and experiences of successful professionals within LBG highlighting the stepping stones for other individuals to follow and succeed.    

Lloyds Banking Group invited APM members to attend a Footprints in the Snow event lead by Jo Maxwell. Jo has a varied and successful career within the financial sector, most recently transitioning from a contractor role within the group to permanently lead the Commercial Testing team. In 2014 Jo won the Groups Change Excellence Award for her work leading the test brief of 8 interdependent projects, with 6,500 test scripts and 16 direct reports. Her really effective risk management and control resulted in a number of very successful projects. Jo attributes a great degree of this success to the support and efforts of her team.

During this round table discussion Jo spent some time talking through her career journey so far, calling out the highlights and key lessons learnt. Among other points the group discussed the methods for effectively leading a team, the opportunities in contracting and how to manage a work life balance. It was a great opportunity to network and experience how Lloyds Banking Group is helping to support diversity.

Alison Aderyn
SWWE Diversity Rep