‘The Support Relations Team started life on the 3rd January 2018 and was initially made up of myself as Manager and three SRT Assistants. I had almost five years experience as a Supporter Relations Manager in a larger charity and when the opportunity came up in Blood Cancer UK to build a new team from scratch, it was both terrifying and exciting!
The first few months as a team were challenging as we tried to find our feet and our place in the organisation. As a manager, I often found myself frustrated, as I felt unable to support my team or answer their questions as I was just getting to grips with how processes should work. SRT also inherited large backlogs of work, as well as taking on newly centralised processes such as income processing and fulfilment. I knew we needed more resource to deliver all of the centralised services, but didn’t have a way of quantifying it. Within the first six months, two of the SRT Assistants left; this meant I often had to get involved in day-to-day delivery, rather than supporting my team members develop and strategically planning how SRT could support the wider organisation.