Each month we bring you behind the scenes to put the well deserved spotlight on our staff that help us make a difference to communities throughout the North East. This month meet Jenny Lee, Marketing and Communications Manager.
Can you give an overview of your role?
I’m Jenny and the Marketing and Communications Manager at the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP). In my role I lead and support the marketing team, or as we call ourselves, the Power Rangers (since there is now five of us – and there is five Power Rangers… apparently!). I’m lucky to have Alison, Charlie, Danny and Emma in the team – and together we look after PCP’s marketing and communications, which also includes support for many of PCP’s projects and services, including Adult Wellbeing Services that Alison and Charlie focus on. Like HR and I.T., we’re a core service to the charity and here to support internal teams and handle relevant external enquiries.
My role is full time on a hybrid basis at PCP. I spend one day with the team at the Pioneering Care Centre and another at the Workplace in Newton Aycliffe. In the week I can sometimes have full days at home, but other days I could be out and about going anywhere in the North East – it depends what’s on.
My role has changed since I started at PCP as Senior Marketing and Media Officer in March 2021 (which feels like such a long time ago now). The team has grown from two to five, we have a marketing and communication strategy in place, and I’ve joined the Management Development Team. It’s rewarding to work for an organisation that promotes development and encourages skill sharing. I’m also appreciative of my line manager, Vicky Browning, who has supported me with taking on new tasks and challenges – but also been there to answer any of my daft questions!
Describe a day-to-day in your role
Day to day, I manage the workflow that comes through for marketing and support the team with their tasks. Behind the scenes I could be working on developing and updating our marketing strategy, looking at tactics to implement to meet our goals, working on guidelines or meeting with colleagues to go over ideas. As a team, we all muck in where we need to when it’s busy, so I’m about to hit you with the cliché ‘no two days are the same’, but it really is true!
Each day can be different – it depends on what’s going on that week. We try to plan ahead, but don’t always have that luxury as things change and need be done quickly – so we have to be reactive. As a team, we speak every day to ensure things are ticking over and we’re all on the same page with requests and enquiries coming through.
But for a bit of a light-hearted daily ritual when working at home… someone in the team will message on Teams at about 11.30am to ask what everyone is planning for lunch. We’re all very nosey you see! It’s great to be a part of team that all supports each other and has a laugh along the way.
What do you like about working for the PCP?
One thing that I’ve found from working at PCP is that ideas are appreciated and listened to. It’s nice to work in an environment where people feel comfortable to challenge and let their voice be heard. It leads to the best work and ideas being generated.
But ultimately, the best thing is the people - not that I’m bias at all. It’s nice to come to work with a nice bunch of people, who really care about making a difference.
What is the most rewarding aspect of the role?
Although my role doesn’t directly work with clients and support them, through marketing we ensure the messages reach and engage people. I like to think we make a difference in ensuring communities know PCP and our services are here to support them.
Has there been any additional training you’ve done since you started working for the PCP?
PCP advocates for its staff to take part in training and develop their skills. I’ve done training with the Media Trust on developing a charity marketing and communication strategy, and this supported me in developing our current draft. It was a fantastic course as I got to connect with others working within charities in a similar role to mine and talk through any ideas.
I have taken part in an Internal Communications course with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and I plan to use this knowledge to draft an internal communications strategy.
I’ve taken part in internal training at PCP, which was for line managers around delegation skills. It was useful, as this is my first role as a line manager and beneficial to have time with others in the organisation in similar positions to support each other.
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