An interview with Sarah Riches, Audit Director at Crowe UK LLP - DLiP™ participant

Sarah Riches

Audit Director
Crowe LLP
DLiP™ participant

Why did you choose DLiP™?

I was recommended the DLiP programme by the partners in my firm and my line manager who had also previously been on the programme and had since been promoted to partner. Having been promoted to director in my firm, I was keen to further develop effective leadership and management skills, understand more fully what it means to be a partner and to develop strategies to be successful through changes in the business and industry.

Did you have any reservations about joining DLiP™?

I’ve been on many courses over the years and have always found some to be more useful than others, whilst requiring quite large time demands. Although the partners and my line manager had recommended this, I had a slight reservation of how much I would actually gain from DLiP – however this was not the case and I found DLiP to be one of the most useful programmes I have been on to develop my leadership and management skills.

Past participants describe the DLiP™ programme as a transformative journey, do you agree? And if so, how has it changed you?

I feel I greatly benefitted from the programme, becoming more confident, a more effective leader and developing a better ability to deal with and manage change in our firm and wider industry. Personally, it also provided me with a much clearer progression route to partner.

One unique element of DLiP™ is the coaching participants receive. How did coaching benefit you?

Having never been coached before, I found the 1:1 coaching sessions with Sue very helpful. I found this to be one of the most useful aspects of the programme in terms of identifying the key areas for me to focus on and creating a clear progression pathway.

DLiP™ is renowned for its blended approach to learning, particularly, for its peer learning groups, how did you find them?

I also gained a lot of useful insights, tips and beneficial feedback from the other participants on the programme and benefitted from the peer learning groups. We additionally all got on well and have kept in touch after the programme.

What has been your biggest takeaway from DLiP™?

Overall I have a much greater understanding of how to be an effective leader and manage changes appropriately as they arise. Personally I also feel more confident and have a clearer understanding of the key areas I need to focus and progression route to partner.

Would you recommend DLiP™ to others?

I would definitely recommend DLiP to others as I feel I have greatly benefitted from the programme in both developing more effective leadership and management skills and helping my longer term career progression.