1 March - June 2015 Welcome to your Spring Edition Features | Interviews | Tips | Networking | News | Development | Career | Inspiring | Role Models | Aspire | Respect Don’t miss our double- page spread on Internaonal Women’s Day 2015 #IWD 16 pages of inspiring interviews and special features - including interviews with senior leader Steve Murrells and Angela Laa PLUS Features about This Girl Can and Office Polics and so much more!
This issue features International Women's Day, Exclusive Interview with Steve Murrells, This Girl Can Campaign + much more...
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1
March - June 2015
Welcome to your Spring Edition Features | Interviews | Tips | Networking | News | Development | Career | Inspiring | Role Models | Aspire | Respect
Don’t miss our double-
page spread on
International Women’s Day
2015 #IWD
16 pages of inspiring
interviews and special
features - including
interviews with senior
leader Steve Murrells
and Angela Latta
PLUS
Features about
This Girl Can and
Office Politics and
so much more!
2
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3
Welcome to your Aspire newsletter
An introduction
from Sharon Pegg
Chair of the
Aspire network
An introduction
from Sharon Pegg
Chair of the
Hi guys, we are delighted
to bring you this special
Spring issue of Aspire
Magazine! We hope you
enjoy reading it as much
as we’ve enjoyed creating
it!
Please feedback to us at
Aspire@cooperative.
coop
Production Editor: Lisa Loftus
Copy Editor: Amanda Dillon
Writers: Phaedra Patrick,
Emma Barrett, Sharon Pegg
Hello everyone,
Just as I’m starting to pen this intro, it strikes me we’re already a quar-
ter of the way through the year… Where does the time go?? Easter
holidays are just around the corner, so let me take this opportunity to
wish you all an ‘eggstra’ special Easter break with friends and family!
It’s been a very busy start to the year for Aspire. Network promotion is
taking place at Angel Square on a regular basis, our development
workshops are underway – the first focusing on ‘Self Belief’, not to
mention a packed week of events at the beginning of March showing
our support for International Women’s Day (IWD). For the first time, Re-
spect (our internal LGBT support network) hosted its own event IWD
event, inviting a couple of amazing speakers - Ruth Hunt and Jacqui
Gavin to speak from both ‘gay’ and transgender perspectives.
Aspire were supported by Sonia Bates - CEO of Edit and our very own
Fiona Linton-Forrest – Social Media Analyst. Both speakers received a
tremendous amount of positive feedback!
I’d like to thank our Aspire Steering Team for their continued, enthusi-
astic support planning and co-ordinating these events. Remember,
we are always looking for ideas for new events, so why not email us
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2015In celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day , colleagues and members
were invited to The Aspire Career Network’s ‘Make It Happen’ networking event
held in at Angel Square, Manchester on Monday 2nd March. We were joined by
The Co-operative Choir who sung their hearts out as attendees arrived, Sarah Mason
from Barefoot Wines kindly sponsored the evening providing a selection of wines to
sample and we were privileged to have inspirational speaker Sonia Bate - founder of
EDIT Development, who lead an interactive discussion, exploring the power of
personal branding and how to package your authentic self. Our very own Fiona
Linton-Forrest who is Social Media Content and Planning Manager at The Co-
operative, who demystified social media terminology, telling us how to maximise the
impact of our own social media profiles and how to avoid standard pitfalls!
"Think about what you spotlight about yourself. Focus on your gifts and strengths."
Some photo’s from the evening
Above: The Co-op Choir kicking off
the event
Above: Sarah Mason greeting our
guests with wine
Above: Members networking with
each other
Above: Selection of tasty
Barefoot Wines
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Celebrating International Women’s Day 2015
Above: Sarah Wakefield who
was our Master of Ceremonies
"Think about what you spotlight about yourself. Focus on your gifts and strengths."
Above: Sonia Bate—Founder of EDIT
Development giving a talk on personal
branding
Above: Fiona Linton-Forrest Social
Media Content & Planning Manager
giving tips on social media
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An initiative designed to empower women working in the co-op movement is going from strength to strength
The Aspire network was launched in 2012 as a result of a pilot consultation in Manchester to find out if there was a need for a women’s career network to empower more female employees in the Co-operative Group.
Aspire is run by a team of seven volunteers led by Sharon Pegg, who has worked in learning and development and HR. She headed up the equality department within the banking group at Bradford and Bingley, before moving to Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, achieving recognition from the Times Top 50 Employers for Women and a number of LGBT awards, as well as an acknowledgment of achievement under the Equality Framework for Local Government.
Ms Pegg now leads the Co-operative Group’s diversity and inclusion strategy and represents the organisation on the board of inclusive employers.
The initial consultation ahead of Aspire’s launch, she says, wanted to “find out what barriers women perceived there were in the workplace [...] and how a network could help females within The Co-operative Group.”
The results of the findings from focus groups highlighted three main areas of concern for women: support; confidence; and work-life balance. Initially, the research was aimed at lower role band employees – but it found that barriers were much the same for women at all levels.
“In my own personal experience, after I had my son I did not seem to have time for anything else other than my day job and home life,” says Ms Pegg. “When I was ready to kick start my career, my confidence
seemed to have disappeared and I did not know how to get my career moving again. I was very lucky that somebody identified the talent I had and supported my development.”
Aspire now aims to provide a safe space where women can talk through concerns with other colleagues within the Co-operative Group or with other groups it is linked with. It also organises regular events for members to support their development as well as a chance to dip in to other resources within the Group.
The steering group produces the quarterly Aspire Magazine, which has diverse editorial content ranging from role model features to articles about employees and key dates on the calendar. It also co-ordinates membership and online activity, with a growing presence on Twitter.
According to Ms Pegg, one of the major challenges is the fact most networking events are still held in the capital. “Outside London there are fewer events and one of the ways we are looking to overcome this is by working more closely with other networks to offer a wider choice.”
Aspire is also committed to hosting a number of learning events designed to enhance members’ personal professional development. The majority of these are ‘lunch and crunch’ sessions – held at a time during the day which fits in around members’ work commitments.
Topics have ranged from developing communication and presentation skills to discussion forums about managing power and politics in the workplace.
One of the main channels for communication is the internal intranet site where Aspire has its own pages where employees can find out
more about the network. There are also regular emails about news and events.
In the year ahead, Aspire’s team aims to expand the network across the UK and grow its membership.
“We have looked at how we can make our communication more accessible,” says Ms Pegg. “For the first time the next edition of the magazine will be available to all to download.”
“Everyone involved in coordinating the network is a volunteer who believes in what the network is all about. They all have an input into the strategy and moving the network forward.”
Aspire works closely with the Group’s LGBT network, Respect and REACH – a new race, ethnicity and cultural heritage network.
“The Group’s new purpose – championing a better way of doing business for you and your communities – reflects that, for the Co-operative Group, how we run our business is more important than merely maximising our profits,” adds Ms Pegg.
“It takes us back to our roots, and the very reason we developed our co-operative approach. It encapsulates our aims to be commercially successful while continuing to implement our commitment to the communities in which we operate.
“Equal rights for women have been part of our foundation. As a co-operative movement we need to ensure that women are heard. Aspire empowers women with that belief that they can achieve that. Aspire not only provides that voice for women but also empowers women to be the best they can be.”
Group’s
commitment
to women’s
voices By Susan Press
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Aspire Woman Of The
Year
Emma Barrett
Planning & Consents Officer
The Co-operative Group
Are you on Twitter? Why not follow us @aspire_co_op
500g strong white flour 320ml warm water 10g fine salt 10g fast action yeast 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
For the filling:
100g thinly sliced Spanish Serrano ham
130g roasted red pepper cut into 1cm wide strips (the type that comes ready to use in a jar in oil or brine)
160g pitted green olives coarsely chopped
100g Spanish Manchego cheese cut into fine 3mm strips
Coarsely ground black pepper Extra Virgin Olive oil for drizzling Rice flour for sprinkling on
worktop to roll out dough
Ingredients
15
1. Make the bread dough first. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and 3/4 of the water. Start to bring the mixture together with your hands or a dough hook. Add more water as required until all the dry ingredients are absorbed. You may not need all the water.
2. You don’t want a dough that’s too wet. Knead for around 8 minutes until smooth and elastic.
3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to prove for one hour or overnight in the fridge.
4. Preheat the oven to 200c fan. 5. When the dough is proved tip it
out on a well-floured surface (use rice flour to prevent sticking) and knock it back slightly.
6. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a rectangle approx 60cm x 25cm.
7. Tear the Serrano ham into strips and place on the dough in 2 stripes on the dough.
8. Place the red pepper strips onto the ham stripes followed by the Manchego cheese.
9. Sprinkle the chopped olives even-
ly all over the dough followed by a sprinkle of black pepper.
10. Starting along one long edge roll the dough into a giant Swiss roll.
11. Cut the roll into 12 rounds and place each one with into a tulip muffin case with the spiral visi-ble.
12. Prove for about 50 minutes until puffed up.
13. Place in the centre of the preheat-ed oven for around 20 – 25 minutes until golden.
14. Drizzle each muffin lightly with extra virgin olive oil.
Serrano ham &
manchego cheese spiral
bread muffins Baker and Great British Bake Off Finalist 2014