Assistant Manager Review

I am an Assistant Manager. My role involves the daily running of the Pub, with a focus on front of house leadership and organisation. I work alongside the GM in our office and support our KM in the kitchen. On a daily basis this typically means working on the bar leading, training and coaching the team; performing key compliance tasks, and maintaining standards throughout the business; managing the cellar; liasing with stakeholders; and co-ordinating social Media responses, actions, and communications between the PLT and team.

In the course of the past few years, and as part of my Apprenticeship, I’ve developed my understanding and experience of fulfilling a leadership and management role. In particular developing my own management style and emotional intelligence when working as part of a diverse team. I’ve a more detailed understanding of the role, and confidence in handling it’s expectations. The Apprenticeship has given me further tools, and the knowledge to enhance this process, and my organisational skill set, along with the engine to further develop myself independently. These include new skills for analysis and implementing management processes. It has also been a huge confidence boost, in terms of personal achievement.

I enjoyed the programme very much, and found the seminars and self directed learning interesting and thought provoking; it is a rare privilege to have time set aside for structured learning and reflection. Although this was very fulfilling, there were organisational gaps between the seminars, tuition and learning goals; to the point that I wasn’t clear on the focus of what I should be completing until very late in the course. This is because my personal tutor changed three times, along with a gap of a few months between the last two. There were also a few conflicting messages. However, my final tutor was enormously supportive and willing to work with me. And there were still a few months for me to find time to accomplish the necessary work to the standard I wanted to achieve.

As I mentioned in my previous reply, it felt as if the content was there, but it was not especially well organised; with gaps between what we were learning, and how to develop and present that, in order to achieve are academic learning goals. Along with clarity over what those girls were. Further, I was passed between 3 tutors, including a gap of a few months where I had no support. However, the support and assistance of my last tutor had a big impact in correcting this, and helped me prepare and present my learning for assessment.

My Line Manager was extremely supportive at all stages of the process and supporting me with personal development meetings and coaching. I had help with time management as well; and the Greene King organised seminars were well run, except for some venue changes. There was no financial cost to me and I was made aware of the resources available to me as a Student.

The Training Provider had a learning website filled with useful information and links to other learning resources. However, I found this difficult to use, and felt there should have been more support around this and understanding the curriculum, and our academic goals. The personal tuition sessions were all positive, and mostly frequent, but it wasn’t until my last tutor that I felt I had someone willing to work with me in the way I needed, rather than fit me into an existing mould where sufficient was enough. She pulled out the stops to answer my questions and meet up for reviews, when she realised I had a very solid knowledge base, but no clear sense how I should be articulating that.

I feel it has given me more confidence and greater tools to reflect and analyse the knowledge I’ve gained in practice; with additional insights that have enabled me to better develop my skills. This has been most relevant in how we manage the people within our team, and how I lead and role model at the Front of House. But it has also improved my understanding of the corporate role, and the wider business.

We don’t have any extra-curricular activities at work per-se. There is obviously a social element to working within a pub and community, that we are all involved in, but the location of our pub and the abundance of resources in London means that is the extent of what occupies us in house. However, Greene King provides many learning, networking and personal development opportunities, as a wider business, and we do co-ordinate as a team for regular charity fundraisers.

Yes

Although it is a big, successful company, with all the accommodations and understanding to go with that; if you want to develop yourself within the hospitality industry, and earn some money, it’s a very people focused business that is constantly testing and developing itself to be a more transparent, fair and inclusively modern environment with a clear training path and personal opportunities. It leads the pub business, from a corporate and an ethical standpoint, in this respect: I am extremely proud of how they’ve stood by their employees in the pandemic crisis.

Find the right role for yourself: these vary across the company, from pub to pub, even when you are simply applying for a Front of house team role. There are many ways pubs and individuals specialise, in terms of service style, environment and role requirements. Think about what skills you have, that you’d like to capitalise on or develop, and be serious and straightforward about your own goals. If you communicate your expectations and you are reliable, trustworthy and conscientious, people will be glad to work with you and you’ll really enjoy your time in the business.