How the Achieving your potential programme reignited my ambition

As a career changer, Social Security Scotland’s Ashley Jamieson says the Achieving your potential programme was the catalyst behind her recent promotion to a senior performance officer.

“It kick-started me into thinking about going back into a management role and gave me the confidence to apply for the job I have now,” said the mother-of-two from Glasgow.

Ashley joined the Civil Service during the pandemic, taking up a role as a  work coach for DWP for 12 months and moved onto Social Security Scotland as case manager.

Her early roles centred around working with clients, one-to-one, which she felt was a welcome change after two decades with British Gas which saw her rise up the ranks to leading a change management team.

An opportunity to reflect

The AYP programme gave her the opportunity to reflect. 

The first module on the programme is called  ‘Managing yourself and working with others’ and it gave Ashley a framework for appraising her strengths, preferences and aspirations - to a degree she had not had in quite a while.

“It reminded me about the elements of work that I’ve consistently loved throughout my career,” she said.

“I feel I’m at my best managing teams of people, so after completing the programme, that’s what I set out to do.”

New performance management role

Now Ashley manages a newly-formed team of six who, together are now focussed on delivering an entirely new performance management service to colleagues across her organisation.

But once they’ve all got the basics under their belts, Ashley says she will be encouraging her colleagues to follow in her steps and do the AYP programme too.

“It’s a full-on experience but it was a brilliant refresher for me, extending my knowledge and insights on how to be a good line manager,” she said.

For civil servants, by civil servants

AYP is a ground-breaking course developed for civil servants, by civil servants. It is delivered entirely online and can be done at your own pace.

It is the only course available to all civil servants that has been subject to a randomised control trials - so that those who take part can be confident that it shows proven results.

Find out more

Find out more about the Achieving your potential programme and how to apply