Shauna Caskie

Studying with The Open University in Scotland has helped to support third sector manager Shauna Caskie to gain valuable new skills and confidence moving into a new managerial position.

Stepping into a line manager role for the first time, Shauna, now aged 28 and living in Edinburgh, was keen to develop her management and leadership skills.

She studied for a short course in Developing strategy to manage uncertainty with The Open University (OU) in Scotland, followed by a microcredential in Business management: people management and leadership.

Shauna says: "The course helped me to give more consideration to leadership and management and what distinguishes them from one other. 

“There are so many different definitions of both and they require different things from us depending on context, current needs and priorities.

“It challenged my thinking and previous assumptions about management and helped me to think more deeply. It also helped me to think about what good leadership is and how this can change in different scenarios. 

“Some of the core aspects of this for me are being transparent, having and communicating a clear vision, and supporting individuals.”

‘Written by experts’

Working with children’s mental health charity Place2Be at that time, the flexibility and quality of the OU’s business courses offered were key to Shauna’s decision to study, along with the opportunity to interact with other learners.

She explains: “I really appreciated the flexibility of the course. Otherwise, I would’ve struggled to find the time to complete it. 

I liked the quality and variety of the content. It felt up-to-date, applicable to lots of different sectors, and as though it had been written by experts."

“Being able to access the content at times that suited me and being able to flex was really helpful in managing work, study and my personal life.

“I also liked the small interactions with other learners which were built into the course, such as being asked and really encouraged to share our own specific experiences about leadership topics, and there were incentives to comment on each other’s inputs too.

“These interactions helped to make the course feel a bit less impersonal, which I think is important when it is an entirely online course with no live interactions between you and other learners or tutors.”

Most of all, she says: “I liked the quality and variety of the content. It felt up-to-date, applicable to lots of different sectors, and as though it had been written by experts.”

‘Empowered’

As well as boosting her career, Shauna has found that her studies have benefitted those around her.

She explains: “My own upskilling has helped me to support a small team of two people who had very different roles, responsibilities and approaches to work. 

“This began during a period of change in the organisation when there were lots of changes in more senior management and an organisational restructure taking place.

“Improving my skills and being able to manage them in this time has provided some more stability for those staff members, which I would’ve struggled to provide to the same extent without the course. 

“The course also empowered me to take on more of a leadership role.”

Shauna says her learning was applied when she temporarily took on some director-level responsibilities, co-leading the wider Scottish team, and delivering on the charity’s strategy in Scotland.

Undertaking the studies has also indirectly helped the children and young people the charity supports. 

The OU course helped me to develop my skills and confidence in management, which is part of what made this career progression possible."

She observes: “There’s no question that the leadership skills I’ve been developing with the OU have helped me to develop new projects, providing mental health support to more children and young people.

“Being able to secure and lead those projects means we’ve been able to reach more children and young people in new ways and through more innovative projects than we might have been able to before.”

Since completing her learning with the OU, Shauna’s started a new role with the children’s charity NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) as a Partnerships Development Manager, managing a team working on different projects across the UK to prevent abuse in the early years and child sexual abuse.

She concludes: “The OU course helped me to develop my skills and confidence in management, which is part of what made this career progression possible.”