IT’ S PEOPLE WHO FIGHT A PANDEMIC
No question, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world. Our lives are not the same; constrained by disease and restrictions designed to help stop its spread. The Government’ s COVID-19 Task Force was created to mount a coordinated response to the pandemic and Godfrey Atuahene Junior BA( Hons) Business Studies & HR Management’ 11 is at the heart of it, working as a Secretariat Task Force Lead at the Cabinet Office.
Godfrey joined the Cabinet Office in September 2020, mid pandemic, and was instantly thrown into assisting with everything from testing and guidelines for the public, to mass vaccination. He manages a team that, to the extent possible, ensures ministers have the right papers, at the right times, to make the right decisions. This means gathering and sharing information from across all areas of the response effort.
He explains:“ The Cabinet Office is like the mothership of the response. My role is very much central, working with a number of different teams to ensure we get the right decisions administered. I’ m talking to the vaccine team almost every day, and understanding how we can respond, to get vaccines in people’ s arms. It’ s super busy and very much all hands-on deck but I really enjoy it. It’ s great seeing the results of the work we do, helping the public. We’ re like the nerve centre that coordinates all mass testing and vaccines, which is absolutely amazing.”
Delivering at pace, communicating and influencing, working together, leadership. These are all skills Godfrey uses on a daily basis and he believes he owes many of them to his time at the University of Portsmouth. At the University, he gained the confidence and grew the competencies he now needs to do his job well.
“ Studying human resources was all about the people; ensuring that people are empowered to be our best resource. People make things happen; people make things change.
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