Raising Aspirations Assembly (Managing director)

Date: 12th Sep 2019 @ 3:46pm

We were extrememly fortunate and privileged to welcome our guest, Mrs Elly McFahn, who joined us this morning for our Raising Aspirations assembly. We learnt all about her job as Managing Director at Brio Leisure, leading over 700 staff working in 11 centres across Cheshire.

Elly had a keen interest in sports and PE when she was at school although her current role is mostly office based.

Her typical responsibilities include:

  • managing budgets
  • organising fitness activities or programmes
  • maintaining statistical and financial records
  • developing new facilities
  • promoting and marketing the business
  • ensuring compliance with health and safety legislation

Qualifications and training required:

There are various routes into this career path for both university graduates and school leavers. Employers often prefer graduates with relevant qualifications in subjects such as management, sports science, recreation, health management, physiotherapy, business or leisure studies.

Key skills for managing directors:

  • Teamwork and leadership skills
  • Literacy and numeracy skills
  • Physical fitness (or at least an interest in fitness and sport)
  • Excellent problem solving skills
  • Customer service skills
  • Organisational skills
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Verbal communication skills

It was an absolute pleasure to listen to Elly share her interest and passion of the leisure industry and how it proved to lead to a most rewarding and successful career.