Team Talk from Claudia - our Head of Central Operations
Over the course of the next few months as we continue our #ReturnToPlay across England and Wales, we wanted to give you a flavour of what it is like being a member of the Dallaglio RugbyWorks squad.
All of our squad are fiercely committed to supporting the young people we work with and guiding them on the right path to success – whether that be in further education, employment or training opportunities.
For our latest TeamTalk, we handed over duties to Claudia Carrington King, our Head of Central Operations to explain more about her role and some of the changes that have happened at RugbyWorks over the past few months!
We’ve been through some really big changes, as many organisations have, in the last few months and we’ve had to adapt to a completely new way of working and face challenges we have never seen before.
Our team has coped fantastically, and I believe we have come out the other side stronger and are well set for a successful future. I am excited to continue to see our Mentors getting back into schools and hearing stories of our work with young people.
My role encompasses HR and infrastructure, I have a big passion for people and culture. I see my job as looking after the back of house and ensuring it runs smoothly so that the rest of the team are equipped to get out there and do their jobs effectively. I also look after a small but fabulous team that focuses on delivering the best events and marketing to help us reach as many young people as we can.
The last six months have been challenging, as they have been for many other organisations since the pandemic took over our lives. One of our main challenges has been ensuring we have the resilience to respond to the changing circumstances that the pandemic presents. We expect to continue to have obstacles thrown in our way that might make it harder to run our interventions, but we truly believe we can combat this through collaboration and learning from other organisations, as well as building a positive work culture within our team.
The pandemic is not the only priority, addressing diversity and inclusion within Dallaglio RugbyWorks is paramount. As an organisation that uses rugby as a tool for developing young people, we need to acknowledge that the stereotypes of the sport are not relatable for many of the young people that we work with. We need to be honest about what that means for us as an organisation and take the right steps to address it in a meaningful way that enables us to ensure we are providing the right interventions for our beneficiaries.
We’ve opened up some brilliant new roles to come and join the RugbyWorks squad and I’m on the lookout for some fantastic individuals who will strengthen what we do. To me it is important that you have a passion for supporting the lives and futures of young people, but you don’t need to be rugby mad to work for us, that is my number one message.
We have a playbook (our word for guiding principles or values) that support the way we work on a day-to-day basis; so outside of a potential candidate having the relevant skills and experience, I would be looking for people that can align with our playbook.
