I definitely believe the Challenge Worldwide programme developed me both personally and professionally. Aside from the team work and leadership skills which I enhanced on the trips, my confidence and tenacity improved and I definitely feel these qualities helped me gain my subsequent promotion to a manager position.
Jody Ryan, BT Innovate & Design, (Challenge Africa 2007, Challenge Kilimanjaro 2008, Challenge Peru 2009)
Going to Kenya in 2007 on the first ever BT Challenge Worldwide event played a part in changing my life. When I left the UK I was an ambitious 21 year old Apprentice with high hopes of a successful career but with a very limited view of the bigger picture of BT. When I returned I was still 21, however, I now had a network of friends and mentors who in a very short time opened by eyes to the adversity and diversity of careers within BT. Taking my newfound knowledge and confidence I drove myself to complete my Apprenticeship, and within a year I changed job family from service to capacity planning as a band 1 manager. I am now actively seeking a place on the next Challenge Worldwide trip to continue my personal development. It is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who feels they need to experience the world and at the same to give something back.
Patrick Henry, BT Operate (Challenge Africa, 2007)
I feel my experience relates to the BT values by:
Trustworthy – a team relying on you for information and coming to you for support or advice
Helpful – making sure everyone in your team is getting involved and making sure they’re ok
Inspiring – learning new skills in less than an hour with people you have known for a few days in a welcoming and humble community
Straightforward – being set tasks and challenges and doing them without second guessing it
Heart – coming together as one to change people’s lives!
The trips I’ve done in the past have been through BT and have really inspired me and broadened my horizons. The most recent being my trip to Ecuador in 2011. I always come back with a renewed determination to succeed and hunger to push my boundaries, encouraging me to challenge myself and test my limits. This is not only applied personally but also professionally, giving me the confidence to achieve things I didn’t previously think possible. For example, whilst working on a customer project I have been faced with a lot of challenging situations. It has meant that I’ve had to use my initiative and empowerment in order to keep the delivery on schedule to meet the customers’ expectations. This is helped by keeping in close collaboration with the customer, and the team work on my trips has definitely helped to improve this.
Caroline Woodall, BT Innovate & Design (Challenge Tanzania, 2008, Challenge Ecuador, 2011)
The skills I learned have made me much more confident in the workplace, and as a result I have secured a recent move to a bespoke contract for a very prolific client of BT, as lead project manager. This I can attribute to the skills, confidence, ambition and motivation that Challenge has presented to me.
It has been reinforced to me that working effectively as a team allows almost any obstacle to be overcome, and also the importance of each member of a team, not just the leader. Each person is valuable and without them things would not work. This was made very apparent with community projects and working across language barriers too.
Kyle Wells, BT Innovate & Design (Challenge Tanzania 2008, Challenge Tanzania 2010, Challenge Ecuador 2011)