Case study

Joanne Lamberti, UK Operations Colleague Training Lead, Princes Group

Published: 18 September 2026 Updated: 17 September 2026

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When Joanne joined Princes, she quickly rose through the ranks from line operative to team leader and due to her passion for training and compliance, made her the natural choice to develop and deploy the Princes colleague training framework into all our UK sites in the new role as ‘Colleague Training Lead’.

After successfully completing an apprenticeship in Professional Coaching (Level 5), supporting her team of site-based training coordinators, and becoming a trained mentor in schools to find and support year 6 students, with their potential career plans in the food and drinks sectors.

Joanne has successfully taken a pro-active approach, with improving our colleague’s knowledge development, helping them become improved shop floor colleagues, making them ‘fit for the future’ with new products coming on-line and in their career pathways. She has a clear focussed pathway on her own career development with Princes and has the full support of the business.

Colleague Testimonial

“In addition to her role responsibilities, Joanne has achieved a coaching qualification and has proactively supported multiple colleagues across a range of development topics over the past 12 months, delivering tangible added value. Her willingness to support others without being asked, combined with her visible drive for continuous improvement, clearly distinguishes her as deserving of this nomination.”

Barry McDonnell, COO

Judges' Comment

“This was an excellent application, demonstrating Joanne’s career progression and the impact that her role has had internally and externally to potential recruits. This clearly demonstrates the growth Joanne has made from a retail clothing background to UK Operations Training Lead in under three years, and the various aspects she is now involved with. The examples show how well Joanne gets to grips with the real issues, and how her can do attitude produces sustainable results.”

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