In her current role, Sandra is working closely with the IET’s Chief Executive to implement the organisation’s Strategy 2030. This focuses on how the IET can best inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community going forward.
The development of this strategy was led by her predecessor, with Sandra coming on board for the next stage of the project.
“This phase is all about bringing people together, facilitating conversations, helping to mentor people and change perspectives. I’m a people-centric person, very much a team builder, so this is the perfect role for my skill set,” she says.
“If you take an interest in what’s going on in the organisation there’s so many opportunities available to you. You’ve just got to be curious – get out there and talk to people.”
“It’s a really interesting position, as my team and I are continually monitoring the progress we’re making. New pieces of work will come out of this all the time, for example we’re currently focusing on making sure everyone in the organisation understands the strategy and is playing their part in delivering it.
“This included putting together a ‘Strategy Week’ where we facilitated sessions that highlighted the different elements of the strategy and got everyone thinking about the strategic themes and the ways we as an organisation can help with societal challenges.”
There’s a world of opportunities within the IET
In 2022, Sandra will mark her 21st year working for the IET. Coming from a business and marketing background, her first role was within the organisation’s Professional Development team.
“Having worked in engineering companies’ training and development departments I slotted in perfectly as they were looking for someone who could promote professional development and registration using language that everyone could understand,” she says.
Her early days were spent developing the organisation’s narrative around professional development, using her natural curiosity to take in what was going on across the business and build a coherent strategy.
This also put her in a good position to jump into new roles across the organisation when opportunities appeared. Not only does the IET support the professional development of its members, it’s also keen to nurture its staff, who often have the chance to expand their skill sets through secondments.
When her manager took such an opportunity, Sandra was given the chance to step into their role temporarily. This began to raise her profile and when the manager moved on, she took on the role permanently.
Follow your curiosity
“Throughout my time at the IET I’ve built relationships with my colleagues and different departments which has led to new opportunities. I’ve also taken any training on offer, including project management, neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and coaching. I just want to grow and learn about things and this has led to new positions,” she explains.
“I got the chance to get involved in a big change management programme and through the relationships I nurtured here I moved into a position within the Volunteering team. I later applied and took a secondment to project manage creation of the UK’s Cyber Security Council.
“If you take an interest in what’s going on within the organisation there’s so many opportunities available to you. You’ve just got to be curious – get out there and talk to people.”
With this mindset, Sandra’s got involved in a wide variety of ‘side projects’ including supporting the HR department as an investigator and mediator, which has also enabled her to expand her skill set. This in turn has opened even more doors for her.
“It’s all about curiosity – I find something that interests me and I go off to learn more about it. At the IET people are more than happy to share their time and experience with you and new opportunities just present themselves.”
Infinite variety
What Sandra loves most about the IET is the variety of work being undertaken by the organisation and this has kept her engaged for over 20 years.
“There’s an infinite variety of interesting skills, people and activities you can draw on and you can multiply that by ten if you include our volunteers. It’s amazing what our members are doing!
“I’ve always said that anyone bored at the IET needs their head tested,” she laughs. “it’s never a chore here as there’s so much to get engaged with.
“I’ve met some amazing people along the way. I’ve had lunch with the UK’s top bomb disposal experts, met the chief engineer building Heathrow’s Terminal 5, been to GCHQ and met some of the smart young brains coming into the sector through apprenticeship and graduate opportunities.
“When you link the work the IET is doing with everything that’s going on in the world of engineering its absolutely fascinating, and that’s what kept me here all these years!”
