General Manager Review

My role is to keep my pub running, while driving sales and profit keeping high standards throughout the business and to manager a team of around 20. This includes any and all in house EMployee relations issues. I also stand in for our area manager on occasion and will manage an area of 18 pubs.

Yes, may management skills have changed and developed a lot over the time I spent doing my course. The way I approach large tasks is different and so is the way in which I handle my team. I also am more confident in meetings and I am happy to speak up and make my point.

I learnt a lot while I was completing the programme, which is the reason I wanted to do it. However there is a lot of work to balance with an already busy work life, and on occasion this did feel like it was becoming too much. However my tutors were great and always took the time to help me through it.

The programme was really very well structured. We had a series of classroom days and study days that allowed us to spend time with our tutors and our peer group. This was excellent I. Helping with ideas. My assessor also came religiously every month which really helped to keep me on track.

I received a good amount of support from my direct line manager, who checked in frequently to see how I was getting on and offer help and support if I needed it. There was however little to no support from my ops manager or the company who would continue to make demands on our already stretched time.

Everything I needed to complete my qualification was accessible. The flow website was helpful and I had numerous presentations that had been emailed out. There was a lot of support from all of the tutors who were always on the phone or available to ask questions at the study and classroom days.

I think my qualification was extremely relevant to my role and I am now able to tackle new tasks, and take on new challenges feeling confident that I have learnt the skills required to complete them to a high standard. I believe completing this qualification will help me to progress in my career.

There are not extra curricular activities to get involved with at greene king. We all run individual businesses and it can be quite isolating at times. Especially as there is a lot of pressure to deliver labour and profit. I think these sorts of activities would make a big difference to how people worked if they were available.

Yes

The team that I work within is very supportive. I work in a lovely area with great people. There’s a lot of training available if you want to progress further in your career. I am however really aware that this is not a lot of people’s experience with greene king

Be prepared to work really really hard. Think to the future, always be planning the next event/party. Be ready to defend your decisions and always know your figures. Understand what pub work is like. You will lose your evenings and weekends and you will work a lot of hours.