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Sam Grayston

Published on Nov 19, 2015

A short resume of my work, skills and achievement

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Sam Grayston

Communications and Engagement Strategist

MY COMBINATION OF UNIQUE SKILLS

  • Drama has given me the empathy to live and breathe the customer experience
  • Teaching has honed my skills for communicating complex ideas in easily undertandable terms
  • Management has developed the strategic skills to put thinking into real life results

current position

Communications & Engagement Strategy Manager, The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group, Feb 2013 - present

Key member of the National Membership Team (c.80 colleagues working across the UK) commissioned to create and implement national member engagement and communications strategies focused on deepening engagement of our members to generate loyalty, trust and advocacy in our co-operative for business success and for the continuation of the co-operative movement. Key achievements include:

Successfully devised a Member Engagement and Communications Strategy which has been adopted by The Co-operative Member Services function - influencing c.80 peoples jobs and c.£4m spend

Facilitated consultation workshops throughout the process with: senior management, stakeholders in other parts of the business, independent societies and elected member stakeholders - seeking articulations of success, their vision of three years time, what engaged members 'do' and collated all feedback into three goals under three headings each

Coordinated distance consultation with 48 area committees, 7 regional committees and colleagues via paper and online surveys and collated responses to contribute to and back up assertions of the goals

Established a values-based marketing strategy with vision, mission and goals that are supported by all stakeholders

Developed a strategic approach to member services activity - away from 'scattergun' events to focused projects that maximise communications and marketing impact and provide the potential for Member Services to punch above their weight

Re-imagined a communications philosophy to encourage teams to think differently about communicating with members which was developed into a national communications manifesto for Member Services

Designed a team manual which provides overview and in-depth analysis of all strategy information presented in a beautiful format which is easy to refer to

Created and delivered presentation of engagement strategy to 120 colleagues at a national conference and subsequently ran workshops to develop understanding

Established and facilitated a delivery team of 15 people to implement the strategies which involves creation of resources and online and print communications and marketing materials.

skills

  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Leadership
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Communications
  • Compelling Public Speaker
Creativity and Innovation having developed and seen through inspirational ideas to age-old problems - always seeking the next big thing

Leadership through passion, enthusiasm and learning have developed a high performing team

Strategic Thinking met and exceeded expectations of stakeholders to deliver a solution-focused communications and engagement strategy

Communications experience creating and commissioning traditional print, digital and social communications

Compelling Public Speaker having presented to Executive and Senior Mangers, committees, stakeholders, conferences of 50-150 colleagues

Previous Roles

REGIONAL CO-OPERATIVE & MEMBERSHIP MANAGER
The Co-operative Group, May 2009 - Jan 2013
Managed a high performing team of six Membership Officers across the South West of England to deliver Community and Member Engagement activities on behalf of 1.25m stakeholders with a budget of c£300k
Successfully integrated national priorities with local committee priorities to create a regional membership strategy focused on communicating a journey of member engagement. The model was adopted nationally and was applauded by national and senior management as ‘the way it’s done’
Invested a significant amount of time and effort in team development

CO-OPERATIVE & MEMBERSHIP OFFICER
The Co-operative Group, Feb 2008 - May 2009
Responsible for engaging members in the Cornwall area and was quickly made responsible for covering the Devon and Somerset areas too
Developed a member engagement booklet, ‘Being Co-operative’, which was distributed to 10,000 members across the UK through the stores, websites, email and direct mail
Ran creative workshops for the team to encourage development of ideas and engagement plans

HUMAN RESOURCES TEMP
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Sept 2007 - Feb 2008
Responsible for RGN (Registered General Nurse) applications within three weeks of starting
Managed the process with the Head of HR for the Hospital, including taking part in several interviews

TEACHER OF DRAMA & MUSIC
Kingsbridge Community College, Sept 2006 - Sept 2007
Taught over 200 students aged from 11-19 in mixed ability classes in Drama and Music
Learnt Kagan’s co-operative learning styles and incorporated them in teaching (and since)

achievements

  • Successfully created, designed and delivered a member engagement strategy
  • Strategy approved by over 600 stakeholders and influencing 80 jobs and c£4m
  • Presented to Executives, Senior Managers, Boards
  • Devised workshops for 150 colleagues to implement strategy
  • Managed high performing team of six officers for over four years

In the past year...

BA (Hons) Drama

University of Hull, 2004, 2:1

outside work

Performing Arts (Theatre and piano), Technology, Blogging
Enthusiasm for Blogging (mrgrayston.wordpress.com), Tweeting (@mrgrayston) and Google+

Keeping up to date with new technology, social media and following management, leadership and creative blogs online (99u, Mindtools, HBR)

Enjoy taking part in performing arts including playing piano, bass, acting, directing and writing

how to reach me

07739 021915  |  sgrayston@me.com  |  @mrgrayston
Call 07739 021915
Email sgrayston@me.com
Tweet @mrgrayston