Top Tips for Aspiring Leaders and Regional Network Awards 2025

With fierce competition in today’s job market, candidates need a lot more than a good CV and interview skills to stand out from the crowd.

Based on her own experience of progressing to a senior project role and leading a team of 35 project professionals, Sacha shared not just how to land that dream role, but how to be successful in it and most importantly, how to enjoy it!

Sacha included her top tips for aspiring leaders – the things you really need to know but people rarely tell you!

We also celebrated our Midlands Regional Network Awards 2025, and presented the award for Midlands Student of the Year 2025 to Rebecca Cuttiford, Arden University.

This session provided the opportunity for personal reflection on areas attendees are currently focussing on in order to be successful versus what really makes a difference.

Sacha answered some common questions about what it takes to thrive at a senior level in a fast-paced project environment: Do I need a degree? How do I balance work with family and life outside of work? How do I get leadership experience before I become a line manager?

The session was full of practical takeaways and the audience also had the opportunity to get their questions answered on the evening with a live Q&A session.

Attendees hopefully came away feeling more confident, motivated and empowered to progress their careers.

Speaker:

Sacha Hind, Senior Programme Manager, Network Rail - Linkedin

Sacha is a Senior Programme Manager delivering complex change programmes in the railway and is a member of the APM People Interest Network.

As a Chartered Manager with over 20 years experience in people leadership in male-dominated industries, Sacha believes in the importance of inclusion within the workplace and the benefits diverse teams bring. She has a particular interest in gender equality, supporting young people into work and social mobility. As the parent of a 12 year old son, Sacha understands the rewards and challenges of juggling work and home life.

Sacha has very kindly allowed her presented material to be made available for viewing. The slides on Slideshare is now available in our APM resources area and also embedded below for reference.

Sacha also shared the following link she mentioned during the session: Act Like a Leader Before You Are One