Sakthi Norton arrived at the NSTA as a Senior Business Delivery Manager for the New Ventures directorate in November 2023 after spending 10 years in various roles at OEUK.
First Impressions
I had worked with people from the NSTA before I arrived and from the outside it looked good. The job itself called for skills and responsibilities that appealed to me, and I haven’t been disappointed in either respect.
The organisation stresses the importance of being a Great Place To Work, and it is. The approach to flexible working is very healthy. Everyone is treated as an adult, expected to do the job and do it well, but with the freedom to do it in a way and at a time that suits everyone. My work-life balance is where I want it to be.
Senior leadership talk about the importance of being kind to each other and I know that sounds a bit trite, but it’s a good thing.
The job itself
It’s challenging and it asks a lot of me, but I really like that. Really the job boils down into four main parts.
Business planning is one part. This is what appealed when I first applied; the opportunity to work in a role that wanted information management, project management and stakeholder engagement skills; and it really does. My role is to support our Director and Leadership Team in setting the business agenda for the year, ensuring that we are joined up in our various goals, and then coordinating with the teams to ensure we are on track to achieve those goals. I also support the teams with things like planning projects and facilitating workshops.
Second is budget management. Here too I work with the Director and the Leadership Team to allocate our programme budget to get the most value from everything we spend. This is challenging as we can’t afford every project, but it is very satisfying to work as a team to reach the best outcomes while managing the money responsibly.
Thirdly is admin really. I enjoy it. Working with a colleague, we do all the behind-the-scenes jobs such as updating spreadsheets, raising purchase orders, checking when subscriptions run out, and so on. It’s important that it is done efficiently, and it takes the burden off the technical teams.
And then there’s my role as a member of the wider Business Delivery Managers group. We keep each other informed of what our directorates are doing, so we can identify areas where teams could benefit from working together, and we work on cross-directorate projects as directed by the Leadership Team. This peer group is a really enjoyable aspect of the job, and a big part of why the BDMs exist to draw the organisation together and look for opportunities for improvements or developments.
Outside work
My work-life balance has never been better. My husband and I look after our young daughter, and with any time left over I like to read, knit and play the veena, which is an Indian instrument, a bit like a sitar but much bigger.
The future
No one knows what the future will bring, so I’m not going to guess. But I can say that I really like that the purpose of the NSTA is to do the right thing and ensure that industry is doing the right thing for the good of the nation. And, when you add in that I enjoy the work and like my colleagues, I am very pleased that I applied for the job.