TRAINING
Hotseat – Sean Johnston is enjoying his role as NETA director .
“ I ’ ve never lost the thought of what it ’ s like to be a young kid in overalls , knocking around a training centre . I think when you start losing empathy , you start becoming detached .”
thought ‘ that ’ ll do me – I ’ m four miles from home , I get my own pillow every night and it ’ s a great organisation !’”
A recent Ofsted inspection rated NETA , and the wider Etc ., overall ‘ Good ’ with ‘ Outstanding ’ features . And as he takes over from former MD Phil Blewitt , Sean has plans .
He said : “ The long-term goal is a brand new NETA , because we ’ re working out of some outdated buildings . But for the time being , I want to maintain our fantastic offer and standards of service – we ’ re renowned for our quality , responsiveness and for serving industry .”
He feels the Teesworks development on the old Redcar steelworks site could be “ huge ” for NETA , saying : “ It depends what ’ s going on there , of course , but the early whispers indicate that all the skills they need , we ’ ll be able to provide . And we ’ re in the vicinity – a good cricketer could throw a ball from our scaffolding centre into Teesworks because we ’ re just over the road .”
Being part of the Etc . is massive for NETA , he believes . “ Although we ’ re four sites , we operate with the same overarching ethos and the same tone of voice . We sing the same hymn , if you like , and why would we operate otherwise when the power of the group is magnificent ?”
Sean ’ s keen to develop NETA ’ s approach to diversity and inclusion , saying : “ There ’ s about 12 per cent females in engineering but we ’ ve seen a 200 % increase in female applications this year , so the message is getting out there that it ’ s a viable career for anybody .”
And while he looks to the future , he ’ s keen to embrace NETA ’ s illustrious past by setting up an alumni project . He explained : “ I had this idea that I ’ d get all the captains of industry who ’ ve trained at NETA to come in and do a talk to inspire our young people . They can tell them ‘ I run such and such a business , I earn this kind of money ’ – you can put it on a bit of paper and hang it on the wall , but to actually listen to someone say ’ 20 years ago , I was where you are now ’ makes it seem real .”
Kicking it off was Paul Oliver , project director of Swedish hygiene and health giant Essity , who returned to the workshops where he cut his teeth in the early 1980s .
And Sean is keen to hear from more alumni . He said : “ NETA graduates are absolutely everywhere – and if we ’ ve been training since 1975 , imagine how many are out there .”
He ’ s been married for 33 years to Tracey , a staff nurse clinical lead at James Cook University Hospital . They have two daughters – Samantha , 33 , who owns Chicago ’ s hairdressers in
Yarm , and Beth , 23 , who studied law and now works at Northgate in Darlington . And when he does get some rare downtime , Sean says Boro and music are two passions – and one musician in particular .
Sean smiled : “ I love Ozzy Osbourne . I ’ ve seen him over 30 times , all over the world . I once went to every date of an Ozzy UK tour – and my guitar ’ s a signed replica of one Ozzy ’ s guitarist , Zakk Wilde , played .”
But what ’ s really music to Sean ’ s ears is the sound of former NETA students singing its praises .
He said : “ I get such satisfaction in meeting people that you ’ ve trained , them shaking your hand and saying ‘ it ’ s good to see you , NETA did so and so for me ’.
“ Winning awards – and our people have won plenty – is the icing on the cake but satisfaction for me is everybody turning up , doing what they need to do for that day and NETA helping them on their way .
“ I just want everybody to succeed – I want them to get up on the morning and think ‘ good , I ’ m going to NETA ’. If the bulk get something out of NETA and end up at uni , or employed or even just better people , if they have been enriched by a visit to NETA or working at NETA , that ’ s brilliant .”
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The voice of business in the Tees region | 57