Young talent recognised

November 2, 2020

At GDM we believe that investing in our youth is absolutely key to the success of our business. One such young person who started working with us straight from school is Victoria Newland (on the left in image above). Recently Victoria was acknowledged as a rising star in the retail interiors industry, receiving a Red Star Award at the 2020 RED Awards for her attitude, skills and leadership potential.

Victoria began her career at GDM five years ago, fresh out of school. She was in a time of limbo, as she did not know what sort of career path she wanted to take, although she was looking for work experience to aid in her decisions. Fortunately for Victoria, GDM were contacting schools, specifically looking for young people to take on roles within their organisation. Victoria thought she would give it a shot and proceed with the interview process. It turns out this leap of faith was the best decision for both parties.

After spending time in administration and the finance team, Victoria has spent the last three years as a project coordinator for GDM. She looks after some of the company’s biggest clients such as The Warehouse Group and Foodstuffs NZ.

Victoria is a problem solver, negotiator, multitasker, record keeper and expert communicator. She ensures all projects under her responsibility are completed on time and within budget. She tracks projects through each stage of their lifecycle and makes sure critical information is shared amongst team members so the right decisions can be made at the right time. Even when life threw curveballs such as a global pandemic and a nationwide lockdown, she ensured her client’s needs were looked after, with critical customers first in line when production could begin again.

Brendon Lock, Store Development Manager at The Warehouse Group (TWG) speaks highly of Victoria.

“Over the past three years Victoria has taken on TWH stock, ordering and managing from GDM’s end as well. Vic is a huge asset to the team at GDM and also for us at TWG. She makes our day to day lives incredibly easy with her maturity, calmness and the patience she displays at all times which is a real asset and credit to her due to some of the pressure her role can be put under. Her detailed knowledge of our respective stock across both brands, stores and processes, and her ability to then combine this with GDM’s own processes makes efficiencies for us both.

She is an integral part of GDM’s success delivering TWG Project related equipment as well as our day to day requirements.”

As part of GDM’s continued commitment to learning, Victoria is currently studying a leadership programme through the BMINZ course where she is learning about leadership styles, effective communication and managing a team. She has been able to apply the skills learned, particularly when training new staff, communicating with team members, and progressing project work for her team.

Victoria especially enjoys the training aspect of her role, as a leader she works to ensure those she is working with have the levels of support required to learn and achieve. She aspires for a leadership role within GDM and believes a clear pathway exists for her to achieve her goals.

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