Keen to understand more about employee experience and progression, we interviewed Jonathan Hough, Training Lead at MSI UK. We spoke with him about his route towards his current role, which included working in three different countries across multiple industries, as well as his different roles at MSI.
“It’s definitely a company where there is space for growth, so why not?”
How and why did you start working for MSI UK?
“I knew working somewhere I could give back would get the best out of me.”
After moving to the UK (I’m originally from South Africa), I was looking for a role that would be based in healthcare, something where I could give back. I had been working in in Project Management, and it was very profit-driven and quite stressful. I knew working somewhere I could give back would get the best out of me.
So, I began applying for a couple of jobs in the NHS and it was by pure chance that I saw a post in a South African Facebook group advertising this job. After I found out what the organisation actually did, I was sold.
Would you mind telling me a little bit more about your experience before MSI UK?
When I was younger, I never really knew what I wanted to do – not like some children who wake up and know they want to be a lawyer or something. That was never me. I decided on a Business Management course at university as I knew it would give me the widest range of opportunities.
Then, I decided I was going to go and teach English in China, so I moved there and lived there for three years. I loved to teach, and I did eventually become a manager of the foreign language teachers there. My degree played a role here to some extent, but I enjoyed the training and teaching more than the management side, that’s for sure!
“One of my biggest skills I would say is my patience.”
COVID happened, so I went back to South Africa and was doing online teaching for two years. It was quite taxing because I was still in the Chinese time-zone, so I was delivering classes at 3am, going to bed at 6pm! It wasn’t ideal. I was anticipating returning to China, but because of COVID and further lockdowns, it didn’t seem like this was going to be possible.
I decided to move on from teaching and go into Project Management. I got a job at a company that bought houses at auction and renovated them. Quite different from teaching! One of my biggest skills I would say is my patience, and that’s not necessarily as important in Project Management. You need to be constantly ‘on it’, organising people, and giving them directions. It was a learning curve.
“I’ve gained important skills from each and every role that I have done”
Later, I emigrated to the UK and I was aware that most of my life was changing. I thought: why not change everything? I wanted to get into healthcare, so I applied for mostly admin roles, as I’m not clinically trained. I would say I was occasionally worried because I don’t have one ‘specialised’ role or field in my background – I have a few. However, I’ve gained important skills from each and every role that I have done. Also, I now know what working life looks like in three different countries and cultures!
Once you started with MSI, what was your position?
“It had always been my intention to get into something that was training oriented.”
I started on the phones as a Client Care Coordinator (CCC). I did my training to first become a booking agent. I did two weeks of training, then two weeks processing online bookings. From there, I trained further. I was then on the phones for a month and a half, before seeing a job advertised to become a Training Lead.
“I went to my manager straight away (probably in our first 1-2-1) and spoke about my goals of training. I was immediately listened to.”
It had always been my intention to get into something that was training oriented. I’d previously worked as a teacher for five years, so I thought it aligned well with my skills. The position opening as soon as it did was a bit of a surprise! When I had first joined, I went to my manager straight away (probably in our first 1-2-1) and spoke about my goals of training. I was immediately listened to, and she was the one that came to me and let me know about the position opening up.
I thought I would try my luck – I wasn’t expecting to get the role right away because I thought I may not have as much experience within MSI, but I did have valuable skills from my teaching experience that aligned well with the role.
I’ve been working as a Training Lead for three months now.
“Colleagues will stay, grow their career, and this can only make the organisation stronger.”
One thing that I’ve come to notice at MSI is that a lot of people are in different roles to the one they started in. You’ve got people that are managers who were in Safeguarding, people in Safeguarding who were on the phones. There’s a lot of movement. I knew that I wanted to be in training, so the fact I was able to get those opportunities is something that I can see is built within the company. Colleagues will stay, grow their career, and this can only make the organisation stronger.
Is there any advice you would give to someone who wants to progress in their own role or career?
“Having a clear understanding of how you want to progress is helpful.”
I think first having a clear understanding of how you want to progress is helpful. It’s great to say you want to progress but if you’re not sure of the path you want to take, and your strengths, that might be a little more challenging. Personally, I really liked the idea of getting into Safeguarding because I wanted to help people in a vulnerable situation. However, I knew my strengths lay in becoming a trainer.
The other advice I would give is to speak out and go for it. I had been here for three months, but I had nothing to lose. You can only learn from wins and losses, so I thought if it was a loss, I would learn a lot.
“It’s definitely a company where there is space for growth, so why not?”
Don’t doubt your experience. Even if you have three months experience within the company (like me), it’s still three months more than someone externally. Your previous roles and your life experience is bound to add to the role too – those transferable skills are valuable. Back yourself and go for it! It’s definitely a company where there is space for growth, so why not?
Is there a usual day-to-day as a Training Lead?
I’d say it depends on what we’re delivering. If it’s preparing, we’re learning content ourselves, ensuring it’s up to date, coming up with fresh approaches on how we can do this. We want it to be exciting – and, for most people, training is their first introduction to the company. We want to really be able to get the best out of our new starters and make a good impression.
As you can imagine, most preparation is on the computer, or in team meetings, and we’re hybrid, either on Teams or in the office.
“You realise you’re a part of something that is very big.”
The other side of preparation I can speak on within MSI are the different training sessions and inductions that we attend. For example, we have the VCAT session (Values, Clarification and Attitude Transformation), roadshows, awards. This is another side that I see a lot of. It builds community and you realise you’re a part of something that is very big.
“A little bit of travel is nice, especially as I’m new to the UK!”
The day-to-day as a Training Lead can be in person with new starters or introducing new services for people who do work at MSI already. If we have a new project we have coming soon at MSI, then we’ll go to do training in person at our hubs across the country. These are in Manchester, Maidstone, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, and most recently South Yorkshire. A little bit of travel is nice, especially as I’m new to the UK!
Travel can be a big part of my role, but we’re also rolling out hybrid working where we can. There are advantages to delivering these sessions both in-person and online. I’m open to travel, I’m happy to be in person, and I like getting into the office and seeing people so we can be hands-on.
Do you have a favourite part of your role?
“If I’ve trained 10 people and each of them speak to 50 clients a day, I feel like I’ve played a small part in helping 500 people access care that day”
Yes. As a trainer, seeing people grasp concepts and then being able to deliver it themselves. It’s really satisfying. You get that same satisfaction by helping a client, and then on top of this you’re training someone to be able to do that as well. There’s a knock-on effect, and the most rewarding part is knowing they’re then going to go and help our clients. It’s all part of being client centred. If I’ve trained 10 people and each of them speak to 50 clients a day, I feel like I’ve played a small part in helping 500 people access care that day.
What makes you proud of the work that you do?
“Staff members are genuinely accountable, and everyone is looking to grow in their role.”
Companies frequently talk about their mission and values, but often it’s just something ‘nice’ that’s been written down. The one thing I’ve found at MSI is that it’s very much value-driven, and these are at the centre of everything we do. Staff members are genuinely accountable, and everyone is looking to grow in their role. What we do is not always easy – it calls for people being resilient and courageous. I think the fact that we’re incredibly value-oriented would be my proudest thing about working for MSI.
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