What is your Name?
Joanne Gray
What do you do?
Principal Consultant - Design and Change, Socitm Advisory
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?
I was born in Cornwall and now work remotely for an independent consultancy firm, improving public services through delivering technology solutions and change. I love the flexibility of working remotely from anywhere, and living in the County I grew up in.
What was your favourite subject at school?
Art and graphic design for the creativity, and religious studies to understand different people perspectives. I completed 11 A* to C grade GCSEs, then went straight into an apprenticeship with my Local Council in St Austell.
What do you do in your role at the moment? What does your day to day work look like?
My role is to act as a subject matter expert as part of the Organisational Design and Change team for our clients, delivering a variety of programmes. I’m responsible for identifying opportunities for new and existing clients and developing our toolkits. I also manage a team Senior Consultants across a portfolio of Design and Change Projects.
What is your favourite thing about your job?
My favourite thing about my job is meeting new people and making their lives easier through better design of public services and great user experiences.
How did you get into the job your are doing now? What did you do to get started?
I started as an IT Apprentice in my local Council back in 2007 at the age of 15, and naturally moved towards analysis, design and change roles in Local Government. After over a decade of Business Analysis and Service Design roles, I made the move into Consultancy to apply my skills across a wider range of sectors and a bigger portfolio. A brilliant challenge and lots of opportunities over the last couple of years!
Have you faced any challenges along the way and how did you overcome them?
I have been placed in new roles on many different projects, some were new areas or Sectors that I had little prior experience of. I overcame this through reading lots of books, asking peers for guidance and just giving it a go!
What advice would you give to young girls?
Never be afraid to just give something a try, you might surprise yourself. There are always people around who will support you and guide you if you ask. If you ever doubt your abilities, just pick up a book, watch a video and give it a try!