The role of Development Lead at the Local Government Apprentice of the Year event is varied. Development Leads provide support to apprentices, take on a mentoring role, facilitate the activities and assess apprentices as they work through a series of activities in groups.
Joe Siggins, who currently works as a Management Trainee at Norwich City Council, decided to volunteer at the 2023 Apprentice of the Year event hoping to gain more experience in leading and facilitating group discussions whilst sharing his own broad understanding of local government processes and ways of working and the event certainly didn’t disappoint.
For Joe, being a Development Lead helped him to develop on a personal level through facilitating and assisting the teams. Since the event he has reflected that his participation increased his confidence in his own ability to facilitate and manage group activities looking to solve big problems in a strategic way. It also helped him to understand how to engage young people in local government topics as well as giving him ideas for skills and activities that could be used in his day-to-day role.
Working as a development lead on the Local Government Apprentice of the Year event is a fantastic opportunity to put yourself out there, share your knowledge of local government working and contribute to the development of the next generation of local government professionals and leaders.
In addition to his personal development, Joe felt that participation in the event also gave him real hope for the future of local government. He described how rewarding it was to observe teams who were meeting for the first time, go on to develop effective working relationships over the course of the day and produce some innovative ideas and well-considered strategies for how their councils could achieve net zero targets.
When asked how he felt at the end of the event, Joe said he felt a sense of pride to be working in the local government sector with such talented and professional individuals.
Joe intends to volunteer again at the next Apprentice of the Year event and strongly recommends it for apprentices who are thinking about attending, and also to anyone interested in volunteering as a Development Lead.