Deb Birkin – Senior Talent Partner

Deb works in our Head Office in the talent team where she makes sure that all team members are learning and growing with their potential, skills and knowledge at work.

As the Senior Talent Partner for our Head Office Functions, my role is to create enriching learning experiences for our employees which includes helping to identify leadership potential. A part of my role is to build programmes for our team members which will strengthen their knowledge, skills and behaviours and therefore improve their performance at work and in turn make them happier and more content in their roles.

I’ve been in this role for the past three years. I love the variety and the fact that I get to help people succeed. The relationships I’m able to build with great people are fantastic and I also love the challenges that the team bring to me. The team also make me laugh and that’s important.

I work from different locations depending on my schedule; I have two children so a typical day involves getting them off to school and then travelling to either Head Office or one of our branches. I always connect with my team wherever I am and we look at ways we can help each other, share ideas and talk things through.

My day will usually involve meeting with or talking to one of the function leads in the business, the aim is to understand their needs and those of their teams. Our functions are areas such as Marketing, IT & Change or Risk – the different areas of the business that all work together and separately as their own functions and have their own teams.

I try and plan meetings for the morning and give myself some thinking time in the afternoons, this is just the way I prefer it and how I feel I work at my best. I also try and reflect on the day and think about my plans for the week ahead and who I need to talk to. I get a lot of energy from sharing ideas with other people so I try and build that into my plans so I can be at my best.

I like to make the most of my commute times by listening to podcasts and making notes in my phone of any ideas I have had so I don’t forget them.
As well as day to day tasks, I also work on long term projects which are delivered over the course of the year, these will include learning experiences for our team members, and preparing to welcome new starters into the company as well as helping people succeed with their goals.