Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week - Steve Avann

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we ask some of our staff to reflect on their experiences with apprenticeships and how it has created a pathway to work and their progression.

In this episode, we sit down with Steve Avann to get his views.

1. What apprenticeship did you choose to complete?
   Team Leader or Supervisor Level 3.
   
   
2. What made you choose an apprenticeship rather than another form of qualification?
   I’ve completed several qualifications while at Synectics, professional and personal. I enjoy learning and this offered an opportunity to improve my skills.
   
   
3. What skills have you learnt whilst doing your apprenticeship and have these benefited your role?
   I enjoyed the varied syllabus especially the management theories such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt. It helped me to identify areas where I could focus more development, such as project management skills. I wrote a personal development plan too which helped me to identify immediate and long term aims which has been really useful. I’ve also enjoyed working with my fellow students from Synectics and this has helped us to form bonds that have continued after the course has ended.
   
   
4. Were you always aware that you could do an apprenticeship whilst being employed and doing your day-to-day role?
   Not really. The course was presented as an opportunity for all team leaders and managers by the L&D team.
   
   
5. Can you tell us more about your journey at Synectics?
   When asked this question I always say that “I started at Synectics in the last century”, late 1999 to be precise. I began in the IT department in desktop support and evolved my role into looking after the data centres for over a decade. I now concentrate on business continuity and risk management for the organisation.
   
   
6. What are your hobbies?
   Spending time with family. Running, especially parkrun. American football. Geeky stuff like board and card games.
   
   
7. What is your favourite coach house meal?
   It used to be ham, egg chips and beans but now I’m more likely to opt for a Cajun chicken salad.