Vote 100

Her communication skills, grit and determination are just some of the reasons why senior performance coach south-west, Katrina Pook, has been nominated for our Vote 100 campaign.

Alan Pugh, revisions lead, south-west, said: ‘Katrina started at Royal Mail as a lorry driver, and has worked her way up from there. She worked for me as a revisions manager before gaining promotion to an opti-champion role, which then developed into the performance coach role.

 ‘She has a great understanding of how the operation works and she uses her knowledge as a planner to judge how best to improve a unit’s performance. She is both approachable and supportive to all stakeholders involved in her remit, and I really admire her for her grit and determination to achieve her goals.

‘She has developed a great working relationship with the area CWU reps in the south west and she is often used by the delivery leader to negotiate deals with the local union.

‘She has also been part of Springboard, and is a shining example of how women can succeed in the modern workplace. Katrina is seen as an integral part of the senior leadership team in the south west.’

‘I have worked for Royal Mail for 23 years, during which time I have had a very varied career which has taken me in many different directions,’ said Katrina. ‘During my time with the business there is one thing I can say with confidence – “I never thought I would progress into senior management, performing my current role as a senior performance coach”.

‘Like many of my operational female colleagues, I started as a part-time postwoman sorting mail on the late shift in Plymouth mail centre. Whilst raising a young family, I would go to work in the early evening when my partner returned from working during the day. As is the case for a lot of families, it was difficult balancing a young family and my job at the time.

‘I believe I got the balance right. Being there for my family and, with the support of my partner, pursuing a career with Royal Mail, has been a recipe for success.

‘My career then saw me move on to a full-time role which progressed to driving 7.5 tonne vehicles around Devon and Cornwall. A turning point for me was completing the Springboard programme in 1997. This spurred me on to complete several different courses to improve my knowledge of the business over subsequent years. 

‘When I moved into the delivery function my career took off, starting as a planner deploying new delivery methods in units across the South West. This gave me a fantastic opportunity to build working relationships with delivery office managers and the CWU. Moving into my next role working closely with the CWU I became the south west optimisation champion delivering joint workshops such as the new Indoor Work Tool.

‘Under Delivery Simplification I successfully passed the assessment for a performance coach role. A significant requirement of this role was to complete the ILM Level 3 in Coaching. I passed this in 2018 and was the first woman in my cohort to pass – an achievement that I am very proud of.

‘A further achievement that I am also very proud of is being given the opportunity to perform the senior performance coach role for the south west, leading a team of coaches and supporting all managers, 72 units and the south west leadership team across all scorecard measures.

‘Being inspired and self-motivated to learn, achieve and progress throughout my career, I have been privileged to be able to coach, lead and develop others in all of my management roles. Knowing that I am helping others to deliver results and develop personally, fills me with a great sense of pride.

‘Coaching gives me total job satisfaction as I can see performance improvements in myself, our people and across the business scorecard – a result that I am very proud of, helping secure the best possible chance of continued success for me, my colleagues and the business.’

Vote 100

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Our Vote 100 campaign is your chance to help us showcase the enormous contribution Royal Mail women make each and every day both to colleagues and customers, ensuring we remain the UK’s most trusted postal operator.

If there is someone in your workplace who you admire for their outstanding work ethic, their drive to improve their own and others’ skills, their knack for supporting or mentoring others, showing kindness, overcoming obstacles, or influencing positive behaviour – we want to hear from you!

Please send your name and contact details plus the name of the colleague you wish to nominate, and your reasons for doing so, to vote100@royalmail.com. We will then be in touch to obtain further details.