TGt Meets...Nicola Newman, a Dorset LEP Board Member and a Governor of Kingston Maurward College

Meet our latest TGt Meets...Nicola Newman, a Dorset LEP Board Member and a Governor of Kingston Maurward College. She is currently leading the Dorset Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) on behalf of the Dorset Chamber for the Department for Education. The plan is pan-Dorset, collaborative strategy which intends to support Dorset businesses to have the right people doing the right jobs with the right skills.

You are currently leading the Dorset Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) on behalf of the Dorset Chamber for the Department of Education. How is it going?

Really well. It’s new to have an employer representative body like the Dorset Chamber leading a national change programme locally, but it’s obvious really. Helping local Dorset employers to understand how publicly funded training can work for them, and helping training providers like colleges to understand what employers’ developing needs are, is interesting and satisfying.  

This is not to say nothing has happened before, it has, it is now about more and better-targeted communication and engagement. It’s also about people…and peoples’ needs have changed massively lately too, so employers and trainers are having to review how they recruit, who they recruit and adapt to encourage and enable more people to work for longer.

Can you share your hopes for the future of business in Dorset?

I find the diversity in the business community very exciting. There are so many businesses of every size impacting globally. I’d love Dorset to be better and more widely known as the global centre of innovation it is, not just as a coastal visitor attraction. Being so close to France and therefore Europe, but also in reach of London, plus a wonderful place to live with easy access to ferries and planes makes it a dream location for every business and personal aspiration. 

How important do you believe collaboration and networking within the Dorset business community is?

It’s vital. I remember I was once told every leader should spend 60% of their time out of the office! That is probably a bit extreme, but I have never regretted making the effort to attend an event in person or online. I always meet someone interesting and learn something new, and frequently new people become part of my work process or are referred to others. Sharing knowledge of who does what and why is a great feeling when you know you are matchmaking a potential new business relationship.

Who inspires you?

Passionate, positive people. You don’t have to like or agree with everyone, but I always respect commitment. I love going to the office for the conversations, the ideas, and the laughs so the Chamber team inspire me, who also happens to be passionate and committed! At the moment we have space in The Foundry as well as in Tower Park which is double the fun.

When you’re not busy working, what do you love doing with your time off in Dorset?

I live in Swanage and walk a lot with the local WALX group across a wide area. It’s a walking club with a small monthly membership that gives access to a huge range of activities. I like I can book on and off at short notice which fits well with work commitments, and I always have people to walk and often network with. The sea is hugely important to my whole family so swimming and boating happen a lot, in the bay and Poole Harbour.  

Tell us about your favourite restaurant in Dorset?

Rick Stein. I’ve been quite a few times since it opened. I love you can have a great experience and spend loads or a little. The menu options, especially at lunchtime, are very price considerate. It’s a favourite trip out to get the bus over the ferry, have a beach walk, a lovely long meal and hopefully a top deck open top bus ride home dodging the branches.

Where’s your favourite place to go walking in Dorset?

This is a really hard one as I have been introduced to so many in the last few years. When it’s not busy I choose a sea view.  I think the evening walks we take to Heaven’s Gate have always been special, the views over Kimmeridge to Weymouth and Portland as the sun lowers are breathtaking. We often see amazing flowers and wildlife like hares and deer who are also in their dream location it seems. If it’s busy with visitors, and I welcome them, inland is always tranquil.

Wareham Forest, Rempstone Forest, and Aggelestone Rock never fail and are cooler too when it’s baking.  The Purbeck Cider Farm on the edge of Rempstone forest is a great place to start and finish. Walk the old clay tramway, picnic in the trees out of sight and sound of everyone and everything, followed by an ice cream or similar back at the farm.

It’s a joy to have all Purbeck offers to walk to, cycle to, or a short drive to. We do need more people to move to Dorset however, of working age, that’s what I’m also hoping for. We can’t plan an idyllic work life and then retirement and assume anyone will come when we push our emergency buttons if younger people aren’t encouraged and enabled to live and work here too. The population in Dorset is ageing, the working population is shrinking, and affordable accommodation is limited, not unique issues but ones that the right policies could address.

If we all work a bit differently too, maybe less but for longer, and work is proven to be good for mental health and happiness, Dorset will thrive.

Find out more HERE!

Nicola will be speaking at Dorset’s Business Festival Conference on 10th October at the Hilton Hotel in Bournemouth.

There will be five thought-provoking panels and five topics.

• AI & Tech for the Future
• ESG: Adopting ESG (environmental, social, governance) for business growth
• Place: Regenerating our town centres for the future
• People: The Future Workforce
• Skills for Future Growth

“The ultimate networking and thought leadership event of 2023”

Tickets are available. To find out more CLICK HERE!

The Dorset Business Festival is supported by Premier Festival Partner, Lester Aldridge, and Festival Partners, Blue Sky Financial Planning Ltd, Bournemouth and Poole College, Dorset Council, The Dolphin, and YMCA Bournemouth.

Would love to find out more about The Dorset Business Festival panellists, then check out our interview with Jake Moore HERE or our interview with Adam Greenwood HERE.