Jack Cowan
Chartered Manager Fast-Track Degree Apprentice, McDonald’s
JACK COWAN, AWARD-WINNING APPRENTICE, SHARES HOW HIS PROJECT BROUGHT POSITIVE CHANGE TO MCDONALD’S
Meet Jack Cowan, a recent graduate, who has just been named a McDonald’s Global Ray Kroc Award winner. These awards celebrate the top 1% of Business Managers globally, recognising those who are truly excelling in their roles and epitomising McDonald’s values. Each winner demonstrates a strong commitment to inspiring their teams to provide the very best employee and customer experience.
In our interview with Jack, we talked about his experience and how the programme has helped him make a positive impact in his workplace and improve his professional skills.
CHOOSING A DEGREE APPRENTICESHIP
I applied for the Chartered Manager Fast-Track Degree Apprenticeship as a newly promoted business manager in 2020. At the time of applying, I had only been in my role for around nine months and wanted to do something that would help to improve my knowledge, particularly around financial controls. I approached my line manager and franchisee and expressed my desire to be a degree apprentice and they agreed that it would be a good way for me to grow in confidence.
GAINING MORE CONFIDENCE AS A MANAGER
I think the main benefit of the degree apprenticeship for me has been participating in an open cohort with people from many different businesses and industries. I have only ever worked for McDonald’s, and I think that being able to build relationships with people from different working environments has been really useful in helping me to approach things in a different way.
I also feel that the topics studied throughout the programme have been good in helping me to approach any issues that arise in a more methodical way.
The programme has given me the confidence to excel in my role as a Business Manager.
I feel that completing the degree apprenticeship has given me the knowledge and skills to approach any situation in McDonald’s with confidence as well as leadership skills. I think that my understanding of financial controls has improved significantly, and this has helped me enhance the profitability of my restaurant.
HANDS-ON SKILL DEVELOPMENT
In the unit ‘Managing and Leading People’, we spent time looking at the differences between management and leadership and when both styles would be applicable. Before starting the apprenticeship, I would have said that ‘people’ was one of my strongest areas, but now I have a better understanding of how different things motivate people in different ways.
This was especially useful when completing my synoptic project as it relied heavily on being able to motivate others. Also, completing the project has given me a better insight into the planning and execution of ideas and I think this has helped me to implement new ideas to drive operational results.
WINNING THE GLOBAL RAY KROC AWARD
I think that the work that I did as part of my synoptic project helped towards me receiving the Ray Kroc Award. My project focused on the training and development of shift managers.
The work that I did for my project helped to promote several new managers within my franchised organisation and contributed in establishing a strong culture of high performance and recognition in my restaurant.
Mid-way through my apprenticeship, I was moved to a new restaurant and I think that it was the skills and knowledge that I had gained during my time at Manchester Met that helped me move this new restaurant forward and motivate the team.
SUPPORTING THE PROGRESSION OF OTHERS
One of the main things I have done is advocate for more apprentices within my organisation. Two of my Assistant Managers are now participating in a Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship at Manchester Met. I think that the skills acquired on the programme have been essential in helping me to get to where I am in the business, and I want others to have the same opportunities that I have been given.
I have kept in touch with the other apprentices from my cohort and we continue to support each other. It is nice to still have that network of support, from both my peers and the University.