Time to Shine Leader and her journey

My name is Bhabishya Paudel, and this is my journey so far as a Time to Shine Leader.

I love being creative, I write poems, create contents therefore, I had been looking for a Comms job by taking what I love doing and turning that into a career. Luckily, I discovered a Brand and Comms Assistant job at The Rank Foundation. It was part of the Time to Shine programme. It was an exciting job and a challenge.

Within the Time to Shine programme, Rank helps individuals by funding a 12-month paid leadership and placement opportunity in the social sector. I immediately applied for the role because I always wanted to work in the social sector and have a background in working for a non-profit. This coupled with my ambition to develop a career in communications felt like the perfect opportunity.

I passed my interview stage, and on Monday, 6th February, I started a new role as a Brand and Comms Assistant. My job role entails helping with content creation and writing posts for the website, sending out email campaigns and engaging with RankNet members.  As the Rank Foundation is undertaking a rebrand exercise, I also get to be involved in the Brand refresh project.

On Wednesday, 8th February, my journey as a Time to Shine Leader began with my first residential event. I stayed in The Royal Foundation of St. Katharine, a beautiful hotel in Limehouse, East London. It was peaceful and quiet, and I did not feel like I was in London!

I was nervous on the day I arrived, but Kai Wooder Rank’s Director of Programmes and Helen Stockdale Rank’s Partnership and Events Manager were very welcoming and friendly.

The residential was a 3-day programme that involved:

• On the first day, we did icebreakers, an introduction to the cohort, and memory games, which helped us remember names.
• On the second day, we had a session, Leading with a Growth Mindset with Jen Mackay I found this session interesting; how a positive attitude can change the way of thinking. We were introduced to our Action Learning Set (ALS) facilitator who helps us in our peer- peer learning experiences.
• On the third day, we did a laughter yoga session in the morning; it made me giggle and helped me ease in as we were having a session with all the group and the line managers in the morning. Afterwards, we had a ‘well-being at a work’ session held by Sam Anderson before heading home.

Action Learning Sets

As part of the Time to shine programme, leaders meet regularly for Action Learning Set sessions. These sessions provide a supportive and trusting environment enabling leaders to grow with peer learning experiences. By sharing our experiences we get to learn how to deal with certain issues and take that learning into our workplace. Recently I had my Action Learning Set. I learnt about time management and how to prioritise  work. ALS also helped me develop listening skills by listening to my peers and asking them open questions to organise their thoughts.

So far, my journey has been truly exceptional. I learnt a lot and am still learning every day in my role. I have support from my colleagues and managers. My Action Learning Set cohort is very friendly. This programme has really helped me build my confidence and given me a chance to do my best.

I can’t wait for the Time to Shine mid-year review next week; I will be writing another blog after the review.

To learn more about The Rank Foundation’s Time to Shine programme click here.