What a strange few months this has been.  We're no longer learning in lockdown but we're still learning through the impact of lockdown.   As we head into the summer it's not just A level students thinking about starting a new learning journey in September but more mature students investing in themselves.   In this episode I catch up with Ian Whilby about his choice to return to university and embark on updating his personal leadership skills and capabilities - a mature apprentice financially supported through the UK levy transfer scheme

In this episode of Take 5 I catch up with Caroline Denton from MAP Engineers.  We look at business life during lockdown, how we're adapting our ways of working and our approach to investing in skills and apprenticeships for the longer term.

I make these recordings because during this period of coronavirus we're all in business learning to adapt and develop new skills and it helps to share.  If you'd like to tell your story, get in touch.

In this episode we're off to Wales, well not literally because at our time of recording we're still in lockdown but we pick up with Hannah McCartan founder and director of McCartan Lettings in Swansea about how 2020 has brought about dramatic changes in ways of working for businesses in residential and short-term lettings.   We look at how quick adaptations to new technologies has helped the team work effectively yet at a distance and how to support clients who still need homes during this period of lockdown and reflect on the learning curve we all face into when trying out new ways of working

So far during Learning in Lockdown we've looked at skills from a business leadership perspective, what we're all learning in new ways of working and how we're investing in others.  But how about if you are the only person in your business?   In this episode Ian Browne talks to Kathryn Clarke, Director of Crafty Fox web design about how as leaders we never really stop learning.   We discuss the opportunities presented by funding for apprenticeship development and training and the prospect of returning to learning as adults after some time away from the classroom. 

What's your impression of a career in engineering?   Are you thinking oil, dirt and danger or white lab coat and precise eye for detail.   Engineering is a much misunderstood sector and yet the UK has and is likely to continue to experience a shortage in skilled engineers.   Adam Tipper joins me in this episode to look at how he's helping parents and students understand engineering careers.  And since 2020 has forced new ways of learning in lockdown we talk about how he's shifted his business model, adapting to online tools and techniques to continue to deliver his message to the audience that matters

In this episode Ian Browne talks with Val Heatley from Beech Holdings in Manchester about how lockdown and the events of 2020 have affected the construction and property sector, new ways of working and how the change in the economic landscape affects the way we think about investing in skills and new ways of working.  We discuss opportunities presented by the Apprenticeship Levy Transfer in the north west and how we need to think longer term when it comes to growing complex skills in the workforce

In a slightly different twist to Take 5 for this episode we focus on the need for skill development amongst charities and social enterprise yet the perennial challenge of how to invest in skills during times when budgets are always in scarce supply.   In this episode Ian Browne talks to Catherine Sharrocks from the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, a grant-giving charitable foundation about apprenticeships and the apprenticeship levy in the UK and how big corporates are gifting funds that charities and socents can use to pay for valuable training.