Sam Jones Email and Phone Number

In a time of major growth, my role as Talent & Learning Development Manager is to support the growth of the business by identifying, nurturing, and developing the talent within the organisation, ensuring alignment with business objectives and fostering a culture of continuous professional growth. My role focuses on creating talent development strategies, implementing effective learning strategies and initiatives, and preparing the workforce for future challenges whilst aligning L&D and Talent functions strategically with business goals.My main responsibilities are to:• Build and execute an L&D strategy aligned with organisational goals.• Develop talent strategies to nurture internal talent and support career growth.• Identify high-potential talent and align their development with business needs.• Drive employee engagement through targeted learning and leadership initiatives.• Address skill gaps and enhance organisational capability through L&D initiatives.

Purpose: I’m responsible for the successful implementation of circular economy projects within my store, and I support the store team in the transition from a linear to a circular model through developing our repaired/ re-used/ re-sold/ rented products and servicesKey Responsibilities:1. I fully implement the circular projects (repair, rental, buy back and 2nd life) in my business unit2. I develop the existing offer to become more profitable and increase the value created for my business unit from a circular model3. Animation of the project in my business unit to ensure all teammates understand the sense and importance of a circular economy model4. I communicate the sense of the project to our customers through social media and community engagement events both in and out of the store5. I manage the operations of the in store workshop, and workshop team, to facilitate the expansion and growth of all circular business channels6. I am connected to the wider sustainability community both inside and outside of Decathlon UK, in order to shine the light on sustainability

I manage the national repair direction for ITIWIT products in the UK. Responsibilities include:-Improve brand sustainability by increasing the repair rate of the network delivering repair training sessions and support for the U.K. Improvement of over 60% and growing seen in the repair rate since 2019-Decide, create and implement the training strategy to increase the skill level of our workshop technicians across all business units in the UK-Implement a strong support system to assist our workshop technicians in performing repairs to a high standard-Manage the network of regional repair workshops in the UK to faciliate more complex repairs to our smaller branches

Dual role alongside my Circular Economy Leader role.Responsibilities include:-Increase brand notoriety of Itiwit, Decathlon's paddlesport brand, across the UK-Engaging with the local and national paddlesport community through wide use of social media, Decathlon's play.co.uk platform and participating in local and national events-Providing product training for teammates on paddlesports-Responding to customer reviews on decathlon.co.uk and supporting our online customer service team with technical enquiries

Responsible for managing the Watersports and Ski department at Decathlon Stockport, the most profitable store within the U.K. network, and leading a team of 4 highly passionate and motivated sport advisors with an achieved gross result of £2.8 million in 2022 and an achieved gross result of £2 million in 2021. Notable achievements:- Lead a major change in the commercial policy for the department boosting the share of the kayak & SUP, Surf and Swimming by making strategic decisions to reduce the sailing offer in line with market needs- Strong stock management and inventory checks, ensuring one of the best availability rates in the U.K. and lowest stock lifetimes (around 34 days) thanks to decisive and commercial range choices. - Recruited and trained a brand new team, to be autonomous in their day to day role and self development- Team and store workshop team trained in after sales care and repair for kayaks and SUPs, helping Stockport to achieve a 100% repair rate with 0 products being sent to waste. - Creation of a regional repair hub in Stockport for advanced kayak & SUP repairs to support the wider store network in sustainability.

Responsible for leading an energetic team of 3 sales assistants and a multi-sport business finishing with a gross result of £1.1 million in 2019 and a forecasted 13.5% progression for 2020.Responsibilites include:-Functional management of the profit and loss account and forecasting for the business-Recruiting, inducting, developing and coaching team mates in line with the company values -Leadership of seasonal department changes-Building the best commercial policy, product offer and department mass plan for the local sport usersSuccesses include the implementation of a strong markdown action plan with excellent results reducing the markdown % from -0.57% to -0.22%, plus 11% turnover progression in quarter one of 2020, and strong human leadership results shown by the progression of team mates in taking extra responsibilities on a store level.

Responsibilities include:-Increasing market share for paddlesports in Warrington, through adapting the commercial policy and product offer-Creation of the mass plan for paddlesports in Warrington-Planning, organising and running free paddlesports events in the local catchment of the Warrington store