Proudly supported by Lidl
ISSUE 12 | Spring ‘14
Interview
Carole Stewart,
Head of People Development, Large Customer Sales, Google EMEA
IITD NTA 2014
Dublin Airport Authority takes
the overall award for 2014! Who
won the category awards? Find
out all the category winners
and check out the fab photos
from the night
TECHNOLOGY
Mobile Learning: Are we there
yet? People stuck to their
mobiles might actually be
learning! How can you get
started in delivery?
Peter Carlin
TECHNIQUES
Clickers and Learner
Engagement: Universities
challenged with engaging
today’s students are using
Student Response Systems,
to enhance learning
Dr Paul Donovan
LEARNING
Young children learn by doing
and have fun in the process.
What can we learn from this
approach to make workplace
learning more fun as well
as more effective?
Paul A. Slattery
Contents
Spring 2014
ISSUE 08 | SummerISSUE
‘12 12 | Spring ‘14
Proudly supported by Lidl
Abbott
Ireland
Interview
2012 Overall Winners
IITD National Training Awards
Carole
Stewart,
An interview with
Margaret Morrissey,
Head
of People Development, Large Customer Sales, Google EMEA
Country HR Director
SMART BUSINESS
IITD NTA 2014
Life’s a Pitch: Advice on the
tendering
process and
tips to
Dublin
Airport Authority
takes
ensureaward
you are
the overall
forsubmitting
2014! Who
tenders
quality
won the
category
awards? Find
Peter
out all
theBrennan
category winners
and check out the fab photos
from the night
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
LEAD is a new interactive
eLearning
programme
has
Mobile
Learning:
Are wethat
there
beenstuck
launched
in Irish
yet?just
People
to their
promotes
universities
mobiles
mightand
actually
be
equality
andcan
inclusivity
learning!
How
you get
MarieinConnolly
&
started
delivery?
Karen
Campos McCormack
Peter
Carlin
INSIGHT
TECHNIQUES
Building Resilience: Some
peopleand
dealLearner
well with problems
Clickers
while othersUniversities
don’t. There are
Engagement:
resilience
ways you can
challenged
withbuild
engaging
and become
stronger
and
today’s
students
are using
better able
to cope
Student
Response
Systems,
adversity.
towith
enhance
learning
DrAnn
PaulO’Mahony
Donovan
p5
IITD National Training Awards
p23
Let’s have fun at work
Dublin Airport Authority takes the overall
award for 2014! Who won the category
awards? Find out all the winners and
highly commended organisations & see
great style, everyone looking fab in
photos from the night – yes, training
can be glamorous!
Young children learn by doing and have
fun in the process. Can we learn from
this approach in order to make workplace
learning more fun and effective?
Paul A. Slattery
p11
Interview: Carole Stewart
News p4
T&D speaks to Google’s Head of People
Development, Large Customer Sales, at
Google EMEA based in Dublin, about
learning and development in one of the
world’s most successful companies
Mary-Rose O’Sullivan
PERFORMANCE
LEARNING
Employee Engagement:
Why are
some workplaces
Young
children
learn by doing
more
energetic
and
have
fun in and
the vibrant
process.
than others?
What
can we Employee
learn from this
engagement
is theworkplace
difference.
approach
to make
What is itmore
and why
does
learning
fun as
well
it matter?
as
more effective?
Jenny
Paul
A.Hayes
Slattery
Training and Development
© 2014 is published by the:
Irish Institute of Training
and Development (IITD),
4 Sycamore House,
Millennium Park,
Naas, Co. Kildare.
Tel: 045 881166
Fax: 045 881192
E-mail: info@iitd.com
Editor
Mary-Rose O’Sullivan
Rose Communications
Tel: 021 482 3346 / 086 811 4944
E-mail: editorial@iitd.com
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Zachary Harpur | zak@silvau.com
Advertising
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E-mail: advertising@iitd.com
Annual subscription
€44.44 + vat
Tel: 045 881166
p16
Business Planning
Where to you want to be in a few years?
Whatever your business size, an ongoing
‘live’ plan is key to achieving your
business goals
John McSweeney
p18
Think you’re a thought leader?
Think again
Is ‘thought leadership’ a business holy
grail, or just more meaningless business
jargon? And are companies who claim to
be thought leaders nothing of the sort?
Nick Kirby investigates
p20
Mobile Learning:
Are we there yet?
People stuck to their mobiles might
actually be learning! Distributing content
to a mobile device is now an essential
element of a modern learning toolkit.
What does it all mean and how can
you get started?
Peter Carlin
DISCLAIMER: The Council of the Irish Institute of Training and Development
and the publishers do not guarantee the accuracy of statements made by
journalists, contributors, or advertisers or accept responsibility for any
statement which they may express in this publication. ISSN No: 1649-1599
3
Also inside…
Trainer Techniques p25
Clickers and Learner Engagement
Universities challenged with engaging
today’s students are using Student
Response Systems, like those used by
audiences in TV game shows, to
enhance learning
Dr Paul Donovan, NIUM
Feedback p26
Ready for management?
How do you know when someone is
suitable and ready for a manager role?
Derek Fox, IMI
Insight p28
Reducing Stress with Mindfulness
Mindfulness, meaning being fully present
without judgement, has become a buzzword. Can you practice it at work and
how would it make a difference?
Joanne O’Malley
Careers p30
Tracy O’Mahony, Program Manager, EMC
IITD National Training Awards
Dublin Airport
Authority wins
overall 2014
IITD National
Training Award
Dublin Airport Authority has won the
overall award this year, presented by
Minister of State for Training and Skills,
Ciarán Cannon TD, at Killashee House
Hotel on Friday 7th March. The judges
chose this organisation “for strong,
site-wide learning opportunities and
maintaining a consistently high standard
in training and people development.”
Speaking at the awards dinner, Minister
of State for Training and Skills, Ciarán
Cannon TD, said: “Quality, innovation
and excellence in people development
empowers individuals and organisations,
gives opportunity and builds a talented
workforce that can compete globally.
When we ask those that choose to locate
in Ireland why they come here, they
consistently say it’s because of our
exceptional and talented people ... I
congratulate you, recognise your achievement and wish you continued success.”
James O’Neill, President of IITD updated
300+ guests on new services and resources
for members of the Institute and said:
“you are leading the way in training and
people development; together we are
getting Ireland moving again.”
Now in their 16th year, the IITD National
Training Awards are established as the
premier award in Ireland for training and
people development. Entries are judged on
criteria including the level of resources and
investment relative to the size of the
organisation; innovation in the delivery of
T&D; evidence of the sustainability of
learning initiatives, programme design and
evaluation of outcomes from T&D activity.
The Pearse Walsh award for Innovation in
the Transfer of Learning was also presented
to Calor Gas by Harvest Resources.
Dublin Airport Authority wins overall IITD National Training Award 2014; l-r: Michelle Treanor, Mick Byrne, Laura
Lawless and Sinead Gaynor, DAA’s HR Organisational Capability Team with the 2014 IITD National Training Award.
Awards were presented for excellence in training and people development in 15 categories by Minister for Training
& Skills Ciarán Cannon TD, at a gala dinner in Killashee House Hotel on Friday 7th March
IITD President’s message
It’s been a busy first quarter of 2014 for
the Institute following the fantastic
launch of our new website and events
for members in early December.
Over 250 people attended Professor
Tom Garavan’s talk on Improving
Organisational Performance through
People and a great discussion followed
on talent management and retention
(if you missed it, you can download the
presentation slides from IITD’s website,
www.iitd.ie).
We partnered with the Laya Summit in
early January, which had fantastic feedback and since then we’ve had Lidl
present as part of our Industry Expert
series and Declan Coyle in the Guru series.
This is all part of IITD’s proactive, practical
programme of events for members in
people, learning and development roles
in all sectors.
It’s great to meet you at these events
and hear about your concerns and your
4
achievements. Please feel free to share
email notices and updates with
colleagues – our goal is to support you
with knowledge, best practice and
learning and networking opportunities.
Together we are making the profession
stronger.
As we’ve just had our show-case event
of the year, the 2014 IITD National
Training Awards at Killashee House
Hotel with over 300 members and
friends, I congratulate Dublin Airport
Authority on taking the overall award
this year and all organisations that were
shortlisted and category winners. You
are blazing a trail in learning and people
development - keep up the good work!
I’m keeping my message shorter than
usual to bring you a flavour of the great
night via a selection of photos in the
pages ahead!
James O’Neill
IITD President
IITD National Training Awards
2014 Winners
Overall Winner:
Dublin Airport Authority
Category Winners:
Calor gas were winners of the the Pearse Walshe 2014 Award for Innovation in the Transfer of Learning
Pictured (l-r) from Calor Gas, Julie Lowry; Anne-Marie Murphy; Catriona O’Toole; James O’ Neill (IITD);
Richard Alexander; Caroline Corr and Andrew Sands.
Micro Enterprises:
Bid Management Services
Small Enterprises:
Age Action Ireland
Medium Enterprises Manufacturing:
Dulux Paints Ireland
Medium Enterprises All Sectors:
Acquired Brain Injury Ireland
Large Enterprises - Financial Services:
State Street Global Services
Large Enterprises - Customer Services:
Dublin Airport Authority (DAA)
Large Enterprises - Retail & Sales:
Grafton Merchanting ROI
Large Enterprises - Manufacturing:
Lake Region Medical Ltd
Large Enterprises - Other Services:
Teagasc
Independent Training Consultancy:
Helix Health
Networks & Groups:
First Polymer Training Skillnet
Excellence in Coaching sponsored by
Association for Coaching Ireland:
Co-operation and Work Together – CAWT
Most Innovative Use of Technology:
State Street Global Services
Individual Recognition:
Ciaran Connolly, Abbott
Best Workplace Programme Graduate & Non Graduate:
KPMG
Pearse Walsh Award, sponsored by Harvest:
Calor Gas
Shortlisted organisations
The cross-border team from CAWT (Co-operation and Work Together) were the winners of the Excellence in
Coaching category. (l-r) James O’Neill IITD President; Rosarii Mannion, HSE DNE; Ciaran Cannon, TD, Minister of
State for Training and Skills and Eilish McKeown HSE DNE.
5
Abbott Ireland, Abbvie, Bank of Ireland, Belfast Health
& Social Care Trust, Biznetcork Skillnet, Bose Ireland,
Calor Gas, Commission for Communications
Regulation (ComReg), Dairygold, Dell Inc., Derry City
Council & Aurion Learning, Electronic Arts, Fingal
County Council, FIT Ltd, Health Service Executive, HR,
Leadership, Education & Development, Hothouse
Programmes, HSELanD & Aurion Learning, Hyperion
Ltd, ICS Skills, Innovation Enterprise Network, Irish
League of Credit Union, Law Society of Ireland Diploma
Centre, Learningzone (Bank of Ireland &
Accenture), Liberties Press, Lidl Ireland GmbH,
Logicearth Learning Services, MSD Carlow, Oracle
Corporation, Paradigm Learning Europe, PayPal Europe
PM Group, Quickstep Consulting, RCI Ireland Call
Centre, Role Players for Training, SouthWestern
Business Process Outsourcing Ltd, Tourism Ireland.
IITD National Training Awards
2014 Winners
Pictured (l-r) Peter Brennan, Bid Management; Ciaran
Cannon TD, Minister of State for Training and Skills;
Joanne GIllen, Bid Management and James O'Neill,
IITD President. Bid Management were winners in the
Micro Enterprises Category.
Pictured (l-r) Pat Power, Age Action Ireland; Ciaran
Cannon TD, Minister of State for Training and Skills;
Pauline Power, Age Action Ireland, and James O'Neill,
IITD President. Age Action Ireland were winners in the
Small Enterprises Category.
Pictured (l-r) Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister of State for
Training and Skills; Eileen Forde, Dulux Paints and
James O'Neill, IITD President. Dulux Paints were
winners in the Medium Enterprise Manufacturing
category.
Pictured (l-r) Ciarán Cannon TD, Minister for Training
and Skills; Joan O'Dwyer and Carol Rogan both
Aquired Brain Injury Ireland and James O'Neill, IITD
President. Aquired Brain Injury Ireland were winners in
the Medium Enterprises - All Sectors category.
Pictured (l-r) Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for Training
and Skills; Fong Hayes; Garrett McGrane & Gerry
Fitzaimons, all Grafton Mechanting and James O'Neill,
IITD President. Grafton Mechanting were winners in
the Large Enterprises - Retail & Sales category.
Pictured (l-r) Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for Training
and Skills; Alex Fisher; Sarah Judge & Sinead McShane,
all State Street Global Services and James O'Neill, IITD
President. State Street Global Services were winners in
the Large Enterprises - Financial Services category.
Pictured (l-r) Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for Training
and Skills; Mick Byrne; Denis Smyth; Sinead Gaynor;
Laura Lawless; Michelle Treanor; Niamh Flood (all DAA)
and James O'Neill, IITD President. Dublin Airport
Authority were winners in the Large Enterprises Customer Services category.
James O'Neill, IITD President; Noel Hennessy, Inga
Levickyte, Paula O’Brien, Eliza Gruska, Louise Deane,
Mary Kiely, Katrina O’Keeffe , Niall Harris, all Lake
Region Medical and Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for
Training and Skills. Lake Region Medical were winners
in the Large Enterprises - Manufacturing category.
Pictured (l-r) James O'Neill, IITD President; Simone
Frewen & Catherine McCague of Teagasc and Ciaran
Cannon TD, Minister for Training and Skills. Teagasc
were winners in the Large Enterprises Cross Sectoral category.
Helix Health won the Independent Training
Consultancy category, (l-r), James O'Neill, IITD
President; Amy Lewis; Jeanette Kelly and Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister of State for Training and Skills.
Pictured (l-r) James O'Neill, IITD President; Elaine
McGlennon; Cheryl Thucler; Sinead Kennedy all KPMG
and Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for Training and Skills.
KPMG were winners in the Best Workplace Training
Programme category.
First Polymer Training Skillnet won the Networks and
Groups category, (l-r), James O'Neill, IITD President;
Katherine Collins; Edel Garavan and Ciaran Cannon TD,
Minister of State for Training and Skills.
6
IITD National Training Awards
2014 Winners
Pictured (l-r): Hannah Farrelly, Learning & Development
Manager Abbott Cootehill; Alan Magovern, Site Director,
Abbott Cootehill; Ciaran Connolly, Engineering
Calibration Coordinator, Abbott Cootehill ; and
Brendan Lynch, Engineering & EHS Manager,
Abbott Cootehill.
Pictured (l-r) James O'Neill, President IITD, Michelle Treanor, Laura Lawless, Niamh Flood, Sinead Gaynor, Mick Byrne,
Faith O'Driscoll, Emma Kelly, Brian Drain, Denis Smyth and Ciaran Cannon, TD, Minister of State for Training and Skills.
Dublin Airport Authority were the overall winners at the IITD Awards.
Pictured (l-r) Ciaran Cannon, TD, Minister of State for
Training and Skills; Eoin Costello, DIT Hot House
Programmes and Sinead Heneghan, CEO, IITD.
Pictured (l-r) Alan Farrel and Orlagh Moore from
Quickstep Consulting with an Outstanding
Achievement for Independent Training Consultancy.
Pictured (l-r) Flavia Nmakwe, IITD, Adrian Beatty,
Dairygold, with an Outstanding Achievement in the
Large Enterprises - Manufacturing category and
Sinead Heneghan, CEO IITD.
Pictured (l-r) Brendan Doyle, BOSE; Pascal Roche, BOSE
and Sinead Heneghan, CEO, IITD. BOSE Ireland were
awarded an Outstanding Achievement in the Medium
Enterprises - Manufacturing category.
Pictured (l-r) Mary Cleary, Deputy CEO, ICS Skills; James
O'Neill, IITD President and Dr Michael O'Connor,
Chairman, ICS Skills. ICS SKills were awarded an
Outstanding Achievement in the Networks and
Groups category.
Pictured (l-r) Colm Macgiollara, Paradigm Learning
Europe; James O'Neill, IITD President and Rory Coll,
Paradigm Learning Europe. Paradigm Learning Europe
were awarded an Outstanding Achievement in the
Independent Training category.
Pictured (l-r) James O'Neill, IITD President; Anne
Forsythe, Southern Health and Social Care Trust;
Siobhan Patten, HSE West; Eilish McKeown HSE DNE;
Ciaran Cannon TD, Minister for Training and Skills; Edel
O’Doherty, CAWT; Ursula Doherty, Western Health and
Social Care Trust; Marianne Walsh, Western Health
and Social Care Trust; Pauline Dunlop, CAWT and
Grattan Donnelly, Coaching Association
Electronic Arts were awarded an Outstanding
Achievement in the Most Innovative use of
Technology category, were (l-r), Conor Galvin;
Christopher Doherty; James O'Neill, IITD President
and Louise Butler.
Pictured (l-r) Anne Forsythe SHSCT; Grattan Donnelly,
Coaching Association Ireland; Niamh Shiells, Coaching
Association Ireland; Eilish McKeown HSE DNE; James
O’Neill IITD President; Johanna Fullerton, Coaching
Association Ireland and Niall Hogan, Coaching
Association Ireland. The cross-border team from CAWT
(Co-operation and Work Together) were the winners of
the Excellence in Coaching category.
7
News
IITD Connects new members’
services
Institute members from all sectors
attended the IITD Connects seminar in
early December which saw the launch of
www.iitd.ie, the Institute’s new website
as well as a comprehensive calendar of
new events and learning opportunities
for members.
Professor Thomas Garavan presented
latest research on Talent Management
while Sinead Gaynor of Dublin Airport
Authority presented a case study
Managing Talent to Drive growth in DAA both presentations’ slides are available
on www.iitd.ie).
Richard Cotter of Allianz and Mary Collins,
Deloitte, joined the two speakers for a
lively panel discussion on the topic with
many of the over 240 strong audience
participating.
IITD’s GURU series
The next speaker is Dr Paul Donovan on
10th April in Dublin, on ‘ROI and the
Transfer of Learning’. To book online,
visit at www.iitd.ie
Pendulum summit
exceeds expectations!
Amanda Cahir-O’Donnell FIITD, shares her
views on the Laya Healthcare Pendulum
summit on 9th January
“The promotional brochure had promised
a ‘Business and Self-Empowerment
Summit’ with wisdom from inspirational
minds. Big promises! I decided to attend
because I had heard Colonel Chris
Hadfield (Canadian Astronaut) interviewed on Newstalk in December and it
was so inspirational that I really wanted
to hear him in person. He was the
Pendulum Summit’s keynote speaker.
Coincidentally, I also won a signed copy
his book, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life”
from Newstalk that December morning!
At the IITD Connects seminar in Dublin in December were Professor Tom Garavan; Ciaran Canon TD, Minister for Training
& Skills, Sinead Heneghan, CEO, Irish Institute of Training & Development and Sinead Gaynor, Dublin Airport Authority
The Pendulum Summit exceeded my
expectations from beginning to end. We
were treated to outstanding speakers;
each one better than the next. The
atmosphere was electric and the time
was managed brilliantly by Kingsley
Aikins MC. It’s impossible to do justice
to all speakers in this brief article so I
will mention a few of note.
Gurra Krantz was highly entertaining as
he spoke about his experience of being
the captain for Team SEB in the last Volvo
Ocean Race. The key learning he highlighted was the need for absolute trust
in your team members to become the
winning team. Minister Simon Coveney
was also a truly inspirational speaker, as
he spoke honestly about the challenges
of managing a political career and
having a young family.
Colonel Chris Hadfield was exactly as we
had all expected him to be. He was
articulate, entertaining and serious in
equal measure. In telling his personal
story, I was really struck by the fact that
he never wavered from his goal of
becoming an astronaut. He always kept
his personal vision in mind from a very
young age. The resounding theme
throughout the day was about setting
your personal vision and making it
8
happen. As an executive coach, I know
that individuals can be reluctant to
articulate their personal visions in case it
doesn’t happen. The clear message from
all of the speakers was: set your vision
and go for it.
The person who stole the show for me
was Paul McNeive. He talked about how
he turned a tragic accident into a lifetime
of positive achievement. Paul talked
about the power of taking small,
deliberate steps in the right direction
every day; and how he has personally
applied that principle throughout his life.
He was the first double-amputee in the
world to gain a helicopter pilot’s licence. I
have applied Paul’s thinking since January
9th by asking myself: ‘What small steps
will I take towards my personal vision of
success today?’ This is a simple but highly
effective tool for making change happen.
Finally, as an executive coach, consultant
and author, I left that evening feeling inspired, empowered, energised and ready
to drive my own business forward in 2014
with Paul McNeive’s words echoing in my
mind: “Everything is Possible.”
Amanda Cahir-O’Donnell is Managing
Director of TIO Consulting Ltd.
E-mail: amanda@tioconsulting.ie
Tel.: 045-486180
News
Review recommends
more apprenticeships
Seven new training
networks
UK cuts funding
for skills
The Minister for Education & Skills, Ruairí
Quinn TD, has published a comprehensive
review of the system of apprenticeships.
The review was undertaken by an independent group chaired by Kevin Duffy,
chairperson of the Labour Court.
Among the recommendations of the
group are an expansion of apprenticeships to new business and industrial sectors. The role of employers in such an
expansion is key, according to the review,
and they should identify the occupations
which would be suitable for new apprentices.
Skillnets - the enterprise training and
upskilling body - reported a busy and
challenging year for 2013. Skillnets has
developed seven new training networks
and it is being tasked by the Minister for
Finance, Michael Noonan TD, to deliver a
new programme “Building Financial
Capability” for the SME sector.
The UK government has announced plans
to cut £463 million from the adult skills
budget, forcing colleges to make “difficult
decisions” about cutting jobs and courses
according to further education experts.
The overall skills budget increases by £56
million for 2014-15, before falling by £271
million the following year to £3.87 billion.
While many parts of the budget will see a
slight increase for 2014-15, the adult skills
budget will be hardest hit. It faces major
cuts for two consecutive years, equating
to a 19% (£463 million) drop in funding by
2015-16 to just over £2 billion.
An Apprenticeship Council should also be
established and employers should pay
apprentices in the new areas for both on
the job and off the job periods. With
regard to existing apprenticeships, the
Review Group, recommended that
programmes should be continued and
adapted over time, with issues such as
duration and the level of qualifications
being decided on a trade by trade basis.
The curriculum for trades should be
examined and updated as a matter of
urgency and, where feasible, common
modules across apprenticeships should
be provided. Other skills such as literacy,
numeracy, maths, science and ICT should
be integrated into courses.
Minister Quinn said: “Apprenticeships are
essential for the future economy. They
should be seen as a partnership between
education and enterprise. In order to
produce an apprenticeship system fit for
the 21st century, we need to have the
business community on board."
Alan Nuzum, CEO of Skillnets said they
were delighted to welcome the new
networks to advance their commitment
to dealing with the jobs challenge by
investing in a range of new sectors. This
includes manufacturing/engineering,
media, motor industry, gaming and
leisure, languages and international
trade services.
“The announcement in the October
budget of a new state subsidised training
initiative - aimed at enhancing the skill of
SMEs in putting together more robust
credit applications to lenders - is
welcome.” he said.
Over 3,000 people participated in
Skillnets’ Job-seekers Support Programme
(JSSP), in 2013 when many of the courses
delivered addressed ICT, sales & marketing,
communications, financial services and
technical skills requirements. Industry
feedback indicates that the profile of skills
training offered in 2014 will be similar. ICT,
Services and Healthcare were found to be
the top three sectors providing employment in 2013. Since 2012, Healthcare has
replaced the Food & Beverage sector
within this top three.”
The number of trainees securing full-time
work increased significantly by 14 percent
during 2013 whilst there was a 6 percent
decrease in the number of trainees
securing part-time employment. It is
understood more people are securing full
time positions as a result of Skillnets
Job-seekers Support Programme (JSSP).
10
“That is a sizeable cut; it will have a real
impact,” said Julian Gravatt, assistant
chief executive of the UK Association of
Colleges. “It will mean there will be fewer
unemployed people going on courses.”
It is understood that tough decisions are
inevitable and there is a real danger that,
with institutional budgets under pressure,
the most disadvantaged adults will be
squeezed out.
Cover Interview By Mary-Rose O’Sullivan
Interview: Carol Stewart
Head of People Development, Large Customer Sales, Google EMEA
A glance at Google in Ireland
Google is based in what’s become known
as Silicon Dock, a once derelict area of
Dublin city that is now home to many of
the world’s top technology companies.
Employees, known as Googlers, come
from 65 countries and number about
3,500 across four buildings, including the
tallest commercial building in the capital.
Dublin is Google’s centre for sales in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which
includes working with a broad range
of businesses and markets – small
businesses, multinationals, AdWords,
AdSense, Display, Mobile advertising and
more. In addition, Google’s engineers
here have managed the infrastructure
for products across the region, from
Search to Chrome to Google+.
11
Cover Story
First, tell me about Google’s
growth and development
in Ireland?
“2013 was a very special year as we
celebrated our 10th anniversary. We
started in 2003 with just five employees
and then it just scaled and scaled and
now we have over three and a half
thousand employees.
When did you join Google?
I joined Google in 2008. Before that I was
in London for 10 years, five with Starbucks
and five with Disney – both big US
multinationals. I’ve been a HR business
partner for most of that time. I moved
into learning and development when I
started my current role in September 2012.
As a HR business partner, I did a lot of
organisational design work and
facilitation and leadership development.
It’s always been a massive passion and as
a HR VP in Google, I developed one of
our biggest programmes, Google
Business Academy.
What were your first
impressions here?
The culture shock from Disney to Google
was massive. Disney works on very long
time lines and it’s perfection when it
meets the customer, whereas Google has
the engineering philosophy of always
looking for feedback, that is, get the
product out, get feedback from the end
user, and keep improving it and have a
continuing dialogue. That was the biggest
culture shock for me, to come into that.
Google is very non-hierarchical so it’s the
best idea wins. It’s a culture of constant
feedback and constant listening to
new ideas.
Describe your role
I’m head of People Development for LCS Large Customer Sales, which is based here
and it is over 630 people. My key senior
sales leader that I work with is Ronan
Harris, a Vice President.
How many work in a training
role here in the Dublin office?
We don’t necessarily look at it that way. I
see it as part of a global team so one of
my frames of reference is to look at
solving global business operation
problems, as well as the problems of my
key people in front of me. I don’t think
I’m part of an Irish team, I’m part of a
global team.
We’ve worked very hard on the people
development team to agree on things
that we can have global impact on. There
are three areas: on-boarding; sales and
business acumen skills and, lastly, sales
and performance coaching. We have a
consistent global curriculum. The
nuances that are required for regions
are functional-specific in the sales
organisation, so we do them on a local
basis. There’s a consistent approach and
model whether you’re a sales person in
our enterprise business, in our small
medium business or in large customer
sales. Our sales leaders talk a lot about
more wood behind fewer arrows. So, it’s
about focus. Think about what you’re
going to have big impact on as opposed
to doing a plethora of things and having
very little impact.
Tell me about on-boarding
It’s about a Googler’s (new employees)
first four to six months on the job and
about how we can help to make them
job-ready and successful. Google is not an
easy place to join. It’s very fast, there are
200+ products and features and it’s a
matrix organisation. Google’s got a very
high hiring bar so everybody who joins is
very smart and they enjoy the challenge.
It’s a stimulating environment and the
fact that it operates at such a fast pace is
a draw, not a hindrance.
Tell me about Google’s
approach to learning people
development.
There are four things that we do:
1) We need to get the right development
at the right time at the right level with
the right person. Learning or development
that happens at the wrong time does not
get used and if it doesn’t get used and
applied immediately it’s as a waste of
time. So, how do you prevent that? It’s
every L&D person’s challenge and it’s
not unique to Google.
12
2) We’re looking to do it by individualisation
of scale so we’re using technology. In
October we launched a programme
called Grow which uses some of our
sophisticated technology around Search
and Google Plus to suggest and
recommend development, based on what
you’ve identified. It can also be used to
make recommendations to peers.
3) As an L&D person, you’ve got to be
sitting in the future. You can’t be just
solving, and taking orders from what
customers want today; your focus needs
to be on the future and on what’s critical
to the business agenda. In other words,
you’re solving the business problems and
the critical agenda for them as opposed
to just solving basic training and
development needs.
4) The final thing that’s really big for us
is measuring our impact. What are we
setting out to do and are we doing it?
How do you measure impact?
I’ll take an easy example: if we’re
specifically training people on how to
sell or implement a certain product, when
you track the revenue against that
product with their customers, is there a
difference between the revenue uplift
depending on whether they were on the
training or not on the training?
Also, one of the key things is having great
managers and we’ve done a lot of work
on that. How significantly are employees
impacted by having great managers?
Through intense data research we have
identified eight areas that make a great
manager. When you see improvements on
those scores you see improvements on
employees’ engagement. In other words,
people want to stay here so that means it
all filters down. More engaged employees
lead to greater performance and better
results. It’s about how you connect all the
dots together and measure the impact.
Tell me about opportunities for
learning in Google.
There’s no specific set time per year but
there’s certainly an expectation. You must
think about what you need to know to do
your job. How do you broaden out your
capabilities to be more sophisticated in
Cover Story
how you do your job? There are also other
things that we offer for example, building
resilience and other personal development programmes. There are things that
bother people and when people are
distracted with stuff that stresses them
out, it impacts their productivity. We have
the capabilities to help people in those
areas and it stops them getting stressed
out and in turn that means happier
people. One of the things we would like
to address in the future is making people
aware early in their Google career how
they actually learn and to then think
about their learning path. In Google you
own your own career. We are here to
support you 100% but you’re the captain
of your own ship. There is ample
opportunity but you need to be
proactive and take control.
Can you give me two examples
of programmes from the
past year?
Yes. First I want to talk about a
programme I called Dublin Sales Manager
Curriculum. I approached it with the ‘get
the 50, get the 500’ approach. In other
words, if I get the managers so confident
and sure about what they’re doing, the
impact on the wider population is really
significant. I wanted them to see the
value of the role they were doing on
behalf of the organisation. It was a 5-day
programme. The first day we put the role
itself on trial. We had two teams with a
prosecution and defence in both teams.
We had senior leaders as legal teams and
the two most senior sales leaders were
judges. The idea was to look at the role
objectively as opposed to personally
taking on the challenge of the role and to
look at it as a collective leadership – what
does this role do on behalf of Google?
The four areas we looked at were:
Coaching for performance and coaching
for development
Managing across complex stakeholders
Lean - managing projects using Lean
methodology
Driving revenue through insight.
Questions were asked such as:
What do they need space to do?
What does the senior leadership
need to do?
What needs to go away?
What do we need to do in terms of
the business plan?
We ended up with a very powerful
sophisticated conversation between
middle management and senior leadership. We instantly saw the change in
behaviour. The following Monday we
had a meeting and the difference
was palpable.
to where a person does their role is the
most powerful learning that can happen.
In-classroom learning is great, but if it’s
not reinforced by coaching and on-the-job
experience, how much is retained?
70 (% percent of learning) is our on-thejob training and development; 20 is the
coaching space – we’re working very hard
in developing our managers’ coaching
abilities and, finally, 10 is classroom-based.
When people are learning at the moment
of need they get to apply it then and it
actually gets learned.
Tell me more about Go Grow.
Tell me about the other
programme.
It was a global programme called
Unconscious Bias. Google has been
looking at diversity for many years. It’s
such a data driven company so we know
exactly where our challenges are. One
place to start is to make people aware of
their unconscious bias. Over 7,000 people
have gone through it plus many other
people. It really addresses the prejudices
that you have that you’re not aware of. It
comes from an independent piece of
research a few years ago. Google is very
conscientious in addressing and
reviewing data in this area.
There a big mix of nationalities here and
we really want to keep an eye on our
gender balance too, which is not as good
as where we want it to be, so we’re really
going after it.
What are the emerging trends
in how employees like to learn?
We’re getting smarter on how quickly
people can access knowledge at the
moment of need. We’re developing a lot
of tools with instructional videos which
explain how to use the programme. We’re
also working on foundational sales skills
where you interact with a game
simulation along with video and it will
lead you one way or another and a
manager can map where you are.
We’re really gung-ho in the 70/20/10
approach. Learning that happens closest
13
Go Grow is a technology in beta mode
for Google employees. You can look for
learning opportunities, for new jobs, or
you can become what we call ‘G to G’
(Googler to Googler). The G to G
programme could be applied to other
organisations too. It makes recommendations, taking your role in Google into
account, so it would recommend, for
example, coaching performance,
conversations for managers etc. When
you click into the programme it tells you
who’s running a session, what the wait
lists are like, what it covers, what levels it’s
aimed at and when you can join. Some of
the sessions are taught over Hangout
which means they can come out of
London, Dublin or Paris and you can just
click in and watch. It’s interactive as well.
I can look for job opportunities or 20%
projects and your performance review will
also be on the system. This is for everyone.
It’s new and we’re continuing to develop
it. 20% projects enable me to go and do
something that’s not directly connected
to my role, for example, with engineering,
with a social action group or with one of
my sales teams. Gmail came out of a 20%
project. It’s amazing what can happen if
you give people the space to innovate.
Our engineers are just incredible.
You can search it for things you need to
address so it’s completely enabled from a
search perspective. It doesn’t just throw
out development programmes; it throws
up articles and videos. What we hope to
do is connect the outside world and the
inside world as well so that whatever
would help you, whether it was a TED talk
by somebody or an article or case studies,
Cover Story
14
Cover Story
it will be accessible. It’s a very powerful
tool and it’s going to continue to develop.
Let’s talk about learning preferences
It’s good to be aware of research when
you’re thinking about motivating people
and thinking about the kind of work
environment that makes them successful
but learning and development will not
solve attrition. Having a great job; feeling
like you’re contributing to the organisation’s success and doing interesting work
are the key things that keep people in
roles. My job is to ensure that people are
developing the skills, capabilities and
behaviour to successfully deliver our
business plan and you need to be pretty
firm on that.
What are the keys to
Google’s success?
We’re never satisfied with what we
deliver. We’re always looking to improve.
We’ve got a people analytics team that
purely focuses on digesting data which
really helps us make informed decisions.
It’s not that we assume that we have all
the answers. We think our Googlers have
all the answers. If you listen well enough
they’re going to tell you what’s wrong and
what needs to change, for example, we
changed hiring. They did such a great
piece of research on what’s the optimum
number of interviews and found it was
four interviews. We were doing nine. By
getting it down to the four critical interviews, it sped up the process. We’ve also
got rid of programmes based on feedback
that are no longer relevant. It’s as smart
to sunset stuff as to develop new stuff.
The idea that something stays around
forever doesn’t make sense. “But we’ve
always done it this way” is just not something that you would hear in Google.
What can other organisations
learn from Google’s approach?
One of the things we do very well is our
G to G (Googler to Googler) view of
learning. Thousands of people are
involved - I’m a G to G person myself and
teach on the Leading through Change
programme. One of the things that’s
critical to me is that a senior sales person
is involved in a sales programme, so
there’s always context. You’ve got the
leader believing in it and setting the
example as well as giving”.
We also used to run that programme
through an external vendor and what
we’ve just done recently here in my team,
is accredited 12 senior account managers
for the Insights programme. From a
financial point of view, we’re able to
double the amount of people who go
through it. Once you’ve paid for the
upfront costs of accreditation, the
continuing sustained cost is zero.
Find out who’s brilliant in your organisation. Is there an ability to work with them
to co-facilitate on things? It’s not always
external people with the expertise. You
can utilise people you’ve got internally.
People love to teach. There’s such a
reward from doing that. It’s cost effective
and it’s powerful. If you’re getting the
right person and you partner them with a
great L&D facilitator then you’re away.
What about the contrast
between global organisations
and local SMEs?
What connects us is that we both need to
be looking into the future. You need to live
in the future, not just think in the future.
It’s the same for smaller companies. It’s a
completely different scale, different kinds
of problems, but it’s the same philosophy.
If you’re not thinking of the future and
living it, opportunities pass you by. You
have to have your finger on the pulse,
thinking of the future, making some
mistakes, having some spectacular
failures, but you’ve got to be courageous
and that goes for small organisations as
well as big. I keep pushing my guys to
keep thinking two years out and five years
out. It changes their frame of perspective.
If you’re not on the front feet and you’re
not awake to seize the opportunity, or
even imagine it yourself, it’s not going
to happen.”
Mary-Rose O'Sullivan is Editor of T&D
15
"It’s as smart to
sunset stuff as to
develop new
stuff...'But we’ve
always done it this
way', is just not
something that
you would hear
in Google".
Smart Business
Business Plans
Whatever your business
size, a plan is important
because it is an integral
part of achieving goals
A business plan is a statement by your
business on the goals you wish to
achieve and how you will achieve them.
Businesses who do not have a business
plan don’t know what to do when they
reach their goals! No matter how big or
small your business, a business plan gives
you focus and helps you to reach short
and long term goals.
next time period. Set new targets and
regularly monitor how you are doing to
maintain your focus and stay on track.
Structure of a plan
The following is an outline of what to
include in your business plan. If you are a
sole trader/professional services business,
some of these may not apply:
Executive summary: An overall view of
the business and what you hope to
achieve – a summary of what is detailed
in the other sections. This may be the first
introduction a prospective investor may
get of your business so it should be clear
and captivating.
The business plan is the blueprint of how
your business works: the history, the staff,
the product, the customer, marketing and
financial information. It is also a live
working document that needs to be
constantly reviewed and updated. It is
not something to put hours of effort
into and leave to sit on a shelf just so
you can tick the box – yes, I have a
business plan.
Approach
Start with setting short term or specific
goals, say for one year. Remember, your
goals need to be realistic: just think what
you would like to achieve over the coming
12 months. List these goals and the
actions needed to achieve them. Identify
what possible obstacles might be in
your way and work out how you will
overcome these.
Draw on past experiences of what worked
and what didn’t. Things you could have
done smarter or better – you have a
history and data to draw on. How detailed
is your financial information? Good
financial information will help guide your
decisions. Identify the most profitable
services/products as well as the loss
leaders or most risky areas of work.
Your goal might be to increase sales of
one particular service by X% in Y number
of months. If you don’t achieve this goal,
don’t lose focus but work out why. Use
this knowledge to adjust the plan for the
Description of the business: The industry
you are in, the background to the
company and your plans for the future.
Management & organisation structure.
This is how your company is set-up and
the management roles and responsibilities.
If you are a Sole Trader, you will occupy
most of the roles here but note any
external consultants used.
Market research: If you are looking to
grow or expand the business, what
information is this goal based on? Have
you looked at the demand for your service
/ product? Who are your target market
and competition?
Product range: Detailed descriptions
of all the products or services you offer,
including any potential new offerings or
expansion in the future.
Operation: This applies to the manufacturing process including, materials – type
& sourcing, quality control and protection
& packaging.
Pricing strategy: How are your services
or products priced? Where is it positioned
in the marketplace? Identify all factors
that impact on establishing the price.
Distribution: What is the area in which
you plan to offer your products/services?
How will you reach your customers and
potential new customers?
Marketing and promotion: How will you
let your customers know who you are and
what you have to offer? Decide how you
will promote and/or advertise.
16
Financial Plan: What does it cost to run
the business? Is there a need for funding
for expansion? Ensure you have a cash
flow plan and forecasting set out.
Accurate and up to date financial
information is key in decision-making.
Prepare one section of the plan at a time
and ask for help with specific sections if
needed. Also, you’ll find templates or
sample business plans online but a word
of caution: a template or sample is just
that and while it is good to follow a
structure, it is very important that the
content of the plan is all yours, so that you
are 100% familiar with every aspect of it
and can react accordingly. Also, it means
that your energy and enthusiasm for the
company comes across in the plan and
will shine through in any future
discussions about your business.
The path to your goals may not be as
straight or smooth as you initially
planned; but when you have a business
plan you have the tool to review where
you are and get back on track as quickly
as possible.
About the Author
John McSweeney, Project Manager, Small
Business Advice Programme
www.smallbusinessadvice.ie
Lo Call: 1-850-763-763.
E-Mail: applications@smallbusinessadvice.ie
Trends By Nick Kirby
Think you’re a thought leader?
Think again
Is ‘thought leadership’ really a business holy grail, or just
more meaningless business jargon? And are companies who
claim to be thought leaders nothing of the sort?
Want to be a thought leader? You’re not
alone. It seems like every company these
days wants to ‘demonstrate thought leadership’. It has become quite the marketing
buzzword in recent years. If you’re not a
thought leader, it seems, then you are
completely out of touch, mired in the
past, a veritable dinosaur. But as with all
buzzwords, the more it is used, the more
its value becomes diluted – after all, it just
isn’t possible for everyone to be a thought
leader, even if they claim to be one. “I
think the phrase has been utterly
devalued,” says Joel Kurtzman, Senior
Fellow at the Milken Institute (a US-based
independent economic think-tank) and
Managing Director of the Kurtzman
Group. “It’s used for everything now. There
are thought leaders of ice cream flavours!
Every company has its thought leaders.
And in many cases, the thought leaders
have no real experience in the industry
they are supposedly leading. They have
barely scratched the surface in terms of
their reading, their knowledge or ideas.
And they are rehashing the past. At best,
the term has really been watered down.”
Having received the Global Indira Gandhi
Prize in 2000 for his work on thought
leadership, and having served as Global
Thought Leader at PwC, there’s no doubt
he knows his thought leadership onions.
So just how does he define the moniker
‘thought leader’?
Quite a cutting assessment – but
Kurtzman is a man who should know,
seeing as he is widely credited with creating the phrase ‘thought leader’ in the first
place back in the mid 1990s, while he was
Founding Editor of strategy+business.
What’s in a name?
18
“We decided one of the showpieces of
strategy+business would be a feature on
someone really influential in the world
of ideas, whose take on the world was
important and whose influence was
growing. The first of those was CK
Prahalad – a great management thinker,
economist and analyst,” he explains. “For
me, a true thought leader has to have
some new important ideas that are worth
sharing and that have real application. We
aren’t talking about academic ideas that
might be brilliant but don’t have a direct
application. When I think of thought
leaders, I think of people who are coming
up with creative new insights that can
be applied.”
And herein lies the rub. Not everyone has
the same definition of thought leadership. Michael Brenner, Vice President of
SAP Global Marketing, says: “To me,
thought leadership is simply about
Trends
thought leadership is simply about
becoming an authority on relevant topics
by delivering the answers to the biggest
questions on the minds of your target
audience. While it can include your unique
perspective on hot topics relevant for your
customers, the key for me is that the
agenda is set by your audience. They
determine what the questions are. You
simply need to answer them. So your
level of authority is really determined
by how well you answer those most
important questions.”
from a business perspective, it ought to
deepen the conversation between the
company and the client or customer,”
he explains. “It should deepen that
conversation in a way that the client has
never thought about before. And it should
cause a reaction like ‘I need to have a
deeper, closer relationship to that firm
because these guys are smart, they can
really help me, have thought about my
problem and how to solve it’.”
Cynics would argue that if the most
important question to your client is ‘
what is going to be the hot new colour in
interior design this season?’ then how can
you really call yourself a ‘thought leader’.
Are you on top of fashion trends? Yes.
Are you a thought leader? Maybe not.
Blowing your trumpet
That said, one of the common strands
that often comes up when looking at
so-called thought leadership is Brenner’s
point about relevance to the target
audience. It is one that is echoed by
Andrew Haigh, Executive Director, Client
Propositions at Coutts & Co, who takes
the point one step further.
“There are a lot of organisations that set
themselves up as thought leaders, where
their customers have no real need for
that,” he explains. “We don’t expect our
local supermarket to be a thought leader,
for example. Assuming you have a real
need from your customers for thought
leadership, you need to make it relevant
to them. You need to bring people
together to have the ideas, and then it
needs to either start a dialogue or be
used as an ongoing dialogue with your
customers.”
This thinking is similar to that of Daniel W
Rasmus, strategist and author of Listening
to the Future. “Thought leadership should
be an entry point to a relationship,” he
says. “Thought leadership should intrigue,
challenge and inspire even people
already familiar with a company. It should
help start a relationship where none
exists, and it should enhance existing
relationships.”
Kurtzman agrees. “I like to think that
when you’re using thought leadership
While there is some disparity between
different people’s ideas of what thought
leadership is and isn’t, simply claiming to
be one isn’t enough without something
to back it up – and yet this seems to be
a common mistake made by some
companies. Kurtzman believes that far
too many firms go around trumpeting
about how they are thought leaders,
when they are nothing of the sort.
“There’s been such a huge degradation of
the term that, for example, people often
consider brochures as thought leadership
publications,” he explains. “They’ll do a
very minimal case study without analysis
and call that thought leadership.
Obviously you can use thought leadership
to sell ideas or products or services, but
it has to be real thought leadership to
qualify.”
In some cases, companies who claim to
be thought leaders are merely taking old
ideas and dressing them up, pretending
they’re new and useful ideas. Equally,
some are merely giving opinion and
making out that this is a kind of thought
leadership. The plain and simple fact, in
Kurtzman’s view, is that if you want to be
a thought leader, merely rehashing old
ideas simply won’t cut it.
This all begs the question whether
companies are so desperate to be seen
as thought leaders and ahead of their
closest competitors that they could
actually be damaging themselves and
their business if they don’t deliver. In a
time when companies are under pressure
to emerge from the economic downturn
in as strong a position as possible, should
they really be putting all their eggs in the
thought leadership basket?
19
“Right now I think, more than ever,
companies are in need of ideas that work,
that are innovative and that differentiate
them,” says Kurtzman. “And if they don’t
get that, there’s going to be backlash
against the organisation that’s just selling
rehashes of all it has sold in the past.”
“There’s a danger that thought leadership
becomes something like a must-have
handbag,” says Andrew Haigh. “You need
to have that fashion accessory for your
business. There’s a bit of a herd instinct –
companies think they need to do it
because other firms are doing it. But
unless it’s relevant and what your clients
expect, it’s pointless. Companies have to
look at whether this is a fundamental
part of their business. It can’t be something they want to do just to look smart.”
Kurtzman is of the opinion that companies
need to have a reality check when it comes
to thought leadership. “I would say that
organisations can be thought leaders for
short amounts of time, just like individuals,” he says. “You simply can’t have an
individual that is continuously coming up
with brilliant new ideas that are groundbreaking one after the other. They may
come up with some every few years, or
one or two in their lifetime, say, but not
all the time – brilliant new ideas are not
a commodity. And that applies to
businesses too.”
Haigh points to the fact that Coutts
actively avoids using the phrase thought
leadership. “We try not to use it if we can
– there’s a danger that it can come over as
arrogant. There is no monopoly on good
ideas, so any organisation that believes
they have somehow got that monopoly
is blind to the realities of the world.”
If you’re not sure whether you’re a
thought leader or not, there might be one
simple statement to consider: ‘To be a true
thought leader, you need to be sure
someone is following’.
About the author
Nick Kirby is Editor-in-Chief of Businesslife.co,
www.businesslife.co
This article was first published in issue 28
of Businesslife.co
Technology Peter Carlin, Director, Logicearth Learning Services
Mobile Learning
Are we there yet?
Distributing content to a mobile device is now just one of the
essential elements of a modern learning toolkit. What does it
all mean and what practical steps can you take to get started?
20
Technology
There can be no doubt about the
exponential growth of the adoption of
mobile technology, both at consumer
and corporate level. Organisations are
providing tablets and smartphones to
employees and many companies now
have a “bring your own device” (BYOD)
policy. It is clear that the appetite for
having learning content on a mobile
device is real and tangible.
A new term has emerged: “web responsiveness”. Web responsive content will
adjust its layout automatically to fit to
the screen size of the device on which it
is displayed. Wizardry indeed, providing
an effortless user experience. Mobile
learning content needs to be both
device-independent and responsive and
these topics continue to be the source of
much debate and confusion.
In a recent 2013 Learning &Development
study, “Mobile Learning at Work” by
Towards Maturity a well-known and
respected eLearning research agency
(http://www.towardsmaturity.org/
static/about-us/), 47% of respondents
(learning professionals) used mobile
devices in the workplace and 25%
developed and used mobile APPs for L&D.
It also states that “many organisations
not already using mobile devices are
planning to start mLearning in the
next two years.”
There are a number of emerging authoring
tools offering course designers the ability
to rapidly create HMTL5 and responsive
content, to be published either as SCORM
(the worldwide eLearning publishing
standard, SCORM objects are used within
the Learning Management System) or as a
web page object. These new tools are easy
to use and negate the need for any hardcore HTML5 or CSS development thus
allowing any learning professional to
quickly create and publish content.
mLearning, mobile learning, m-enablement
and many more mobile-terms had been
discussed at length for quite a few years,
yet their implementation still seemed so
distant. However, given the pace of rapid
change in technology and content over
the last few years, the modern learning
toolkit is now bulging at the seams with
learning methodologies, techniques, tools
and processes. The simple fact is that
distributing content to a mobile device is
now just one of the essential elements of
that toolkit. We ask ourselves, what does
it all mean, what do I need to watch out
for and what practical steps can I take to
start on this journey?
Why technical matters
At this early stage it is useful to understand the technical side of online content
development and why it matters. HTML5
and CSS3 are the standards being implemented for creating content from a device
independent perspective. They allow the
idea of “create once, use on any device”
without the need for Flash. It is still early
days in the adoption of these technologies
and one should expect initial challenges
such as the immaturity of learning interactions and the need for an inventive
design approach.
“These new tools
are easy to use and
negate the need for
any hard-core HTML5
or CSS development,
thus allowing any
learning professional
to quickly create and
publish content”.
This is a necessary and important
development: however, the design
principles are very different to old style
eLearning. The Instructional Designers or
the outsourced provider needs to think
differently about the user experience and
how they will learn through this medium.
The available range of learning interactions, such as clickable diagrams, hot spot
areas, etc. will not be as advanced as one
might like. Access to a good graphics
designer is always important.
Learning designers now have a chance to
up their game, move out of the drab old
world of eLearning and catch up to the
high standards of the world’s new digital
creative industries.
21
Looking forward
Setting your strategy and dealing with
legacy content need attention. Looking
ahead, there are many questions to
consider before starting on a modern
online content and distribution strategy:
What is it I want to achieve? How will
it help the business?
What is the most practical plan for
legacy content?
Do my team and vendors have the
appropriate technical and design skills?
Do I have support from the business?
Do I leave historic content in its
current form?
Can I assume my learning communities
want and need a solution?
Are there technology barriers /
contractual barriers?
Who can I talk to for practical and
honest advice?
These are just some of the questions that
could help formulate your plan. But often
the simplest, most practical idea is the
best place to start. Pick a project that
the business will value, start with new
content and try to bring that wow factor
to the learner. Keep topics short and don’t
make a big fuss of a project. Keep it low
key and watch out for the positive feedback as learners enhance their knowledge.
One of Logicearth’s first projects was to
create a course for a large company in the
Caribbean. The content was developed as
a sales tool to assist their sales team
while out in the field. The fact that the
sales person could bring their tablet to a
meeting and discuss real life problems
and scenarios with a client was such an
advancement of mobile learning content.
At some stage, legacy content may need
to be converted to a mobile experience,
but rehashing old content from one
platform to another runs many risks.
Consideration must be given to the
mobile user’s experience and to new ways
of design. Our job as learning professionals
is to continuously innovate and improve
the learner experience so much care
should be taken to find the style recipes
that suit your learners.
Technology
Another one of Logicearth’s current
projects is with a global payment processor.
The content is to help their customers world banks - understand their eCommerce
products and services more fully. This
content was developed from the beginning
with the mobile user in mind. The fact
that it will run on any device does not just
mean it is mLearning. At Logicearth, our
philosophy is to focus on creating well
designed, modern, online content that
just happens to be mobile capable, and
thus provides more options for learners.
My top tips:
Spend time understanding how the
mobile experience is different to the
traditional eLearning course
Ask for advice, most vendors are happy
to share this knowledge for free
Try a new topic for your first project
and keep it low key
Content is great, but make sure you
have a way to distribute it
Have a great graphics designer on hand
at all times!
“Let’s lose the e from
eLearning; lose the
m from mLearning
and just get on with
delivering engaging
and effective
modern learning
programmes”.
Dealing with Vendors
If you need to outsource development for a
mobile learning requirement, then start by
asking your vendors these questions:
How does your content work on
my devices?
Can you show me examples (on
a browser, LMS or APP)?
So, let’s lose the e from eLearning, lose the
m from mLearning and just get on with
delivering engaging and effective modern
learning programmes.
About the author
Peter Carlin is Director, Logicearth Learning
Services www.logicearth.com
How have you adjusted your learning
design principles for the mobile
device experience?
What type of content works better on
a mobile device?
Are there any reasons why I shouldn’t
consider mobile learning?
Can you deliver device independent
AND web responsive content?
Are we there yet?
In my view, yes we are there. The content
authoring and distribution technology has
finally passed a tipping point, albeit with
room to improve. It is up to us as learning
professionals to clear our minds and
approach design with a fresh pair of eyes.
We need to aim for the high design
standards as set by modern creative
industries and properly tackle the poor
image of legacy eLearning.
A good example of mobile learning, albeit
for the consumer market is available at
www.duolingo.com. This is a great APP
and online experience for learning
languages.
22
Logicearth Learning Services provide practical
advice and support to learning professionals,
product owners and project managers.
Let’s have fun at work By Paul A. Slattery
Let’s have fun at work
Young children learn by doing and have fun in the process.
Can we learn from this approach in order to make learning
more fun as well as more effective?
In 2009 I was working with a telecoms
client in Milan. I was prepping for the
delivery of a Sales Communications
programme with their global sales team
and I was looking for a solid icebreaker.
“Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” was a
major TV craze at the time, prompting me
to ‘Phone a Friend’. I called a fellow iSpeak
Certified Master Instructor, Cynthia
Oelkers and explained I was looking for an
activity that would create a web between
the participants. My telecoms client was
moving up in the Internet rankings and I
was looking for an activity to link their
industry with the icebreaker and the Sales
Communications training programme.
Cynthia told me about a game that was
played in her son’s kindergarten that used
a ball of string to introduce the kids to
one another in an attempt to form new
connections. After the call I adapted and
designed the activity. I split the group into
teams of five competing against each
other to unravel the ball of string. Best
team wins. Off they went. What energy
this activity caused.Then I linked this simple
activity to business, the competitive
environment and of course internal and
external communications. In our debrief,
the web became a metaphor for how they
can tie-up the organisation in knots by
inactive listening and lack of questioning
to understand others.
To end the programme, I brought everyone together as one group to create one
massive web and asked the participants
to share their thoughts about the programme, their team and the company. I
was completely blown away by the outcome. The support, collaboration, emotion
and positive energy from the heartfelt
comments to one another was breathtaking
to witness.
Since then I have used the activity countless times and now called it “We Emulate
Brilliance” or the WEB activity.
It became a turning point for me. I started
to study the use of experiential learning
and I found RSVP Design Ltd, a Scottish
23
based designer of Activity Based Learning
tools. Ann Alder, Consulting Director at
RSVP Design recently told me about why
these tools make such an impact. Ann
works with adult learners, from corporate
environments on serious business issues.
She explained a past experience on one of
her corporate training programmes
designed for the internal L+D team.
It was a 'trainer training' day, set up with
the aim of re-energising the team and
introducing them to some new experiential
learning approaches that could be
integrated into the face-to-face elements
of their induction, customer service,
team development and management
programmes. This lively and relatively
young, creative group understood the
principles of experiential and accelerated
learning and were reasonably confident
about using innovative methods.
Like all the best workshops do, this one
developed a life of its own. Over coffee,
the discussion turned to young children.
They were discussing what their children
Case Study
were doing, when someone commented,
"My children have so much fun at school wouldn't it be great if we could generate
some of that for our learners?" Eureka!
Fun at School
She asked the group to spend a few
minutes thinking about every activity
that their children did at nursery school deliberately concentrating on the early
years, before exams take over. Using a
large 'graffiti sheet' on the wall, they
collected as many ideas as they could.
These ranged across many different
themes: singing, dancing, playing with
sand and water, playing outside, dressing
up, reading and telling stories, 'pretending',
doing puzzles, counting, artwork, going on
trips and visits ... the list was enormous.
They then used a simple 'clustering
process' to bring together similar
activities into categories.
Each group took a category of activities
and a simple brief: to explore the learning
focus of each type of activity, the teachers'
purpose in using it and the value to the
child in taking part in that experience. Her
goal was to help the group to use the
stimulus of these 'childhood' learning
activities and to re-interpret them to be
relevant and applicable to professional,
adult learners. Here are examples of
some ideas that emerged.
Seeing the world differently:
“Let’s pretend”
One theme that emerged was of children
‘pretending’ to be other people – parents,
teachers, or shopkeepers. Ann explained
how some of the group went down welltrodden paths - role-play, for example,
while other ideas were more innovative
and challenging: identifying difficult
customer situations, or types of
customers they found difficult to deal
with, and using activities such as NLP’s
're-framing' or the concept of 'positive
intention' to learn how to understand
in more depth the customer's position
and purpose.
A Work of Art
REALS have four design principles:
Another group took the idea of 'drawing
and painting'. The connections were clear.
Like these facilitators, I can recognize the
power and value of a great image or a
metaphor. I also know that it can be 'safer'
to talk about a difficult issue through the
medium of an image. When we can't
describe easily in words how we are
experiencing a difficult situation, we
often choose analogy or imagery to
help us express how we feel.
1) They are learner-centered, that is,
relevant to the needs of the learners and
driven by what is important to them.
2) They offer collaborative learning:
learners work together with others in
groups, action learning sets, project
teams or other co-operative relationships
in which they can learn together and
from each other.
3) They are problem-based. Adult learners
benefit from 'applied learning' - working
on problem-based scenarios in which
they can use the motivation that comes
from an inherent desire to solve problems
in conjunction with their newly
developed learning.
4) They are 'generative' - they use the past
and current experience of the learners as
important content within the learning
process. Adults will seek to integrate new
learning into existing patterns. If they
can't make it fit, it will almost always
be rejected.
The power of metaphor
So, how can we use 'drawing and
painting' in an adult form? Many of you
reading this article will be familiar with
graphic facilitation and other ways in
which pictures and diagrams can
support learning.
For example RSVP’s “Images of Organisations” is based upon commonly used
descriptions (spinning plates, reaching a
crossroads, pulling in different directions
etc). By offering these images as a stimulus
to dialogue, and then encouraging our
groups to develop their own, I have found
they open up rich discussions, allowing
people to address concerns that they may
have struggled to bring to the surface
without the pictures as a reference point.
These amazing learning tools made
such an impact that I decided we would
become a local distributor, the first in
Ireland, and enable L+D departments as
well as independent training practitioners
to understand how they can refresh tired
classes and energise newly designed
interventions.
The 'playful' learning activities, developed
as adult versions of childhood learning
experiences, all apply these vital
principles. So, if you are interested in
offering creative, engaging learning
activities, consider:
1) What can you do to re-connect your
learners with that time in their lives when
they were most creative, open and able
to remember and retain what they
have learned?
2) How can you do this in a way that is
respectful, intellectually challenging,
'grown-up' and yet taps into the sheer
joy of childhood play?
Enjoy the challenge!
Getting REAL
All of the learning activities are designed
in accordance with sound, well-proven
principles of adult learning. RSVP Design
Ltd has based their learning designs
around four key methodologies which,
when combined, help to create what is
known as REALS: Rich Environments for
Active Learning.
24
About the Authors
Ann Alder, Consulting Director at RSVP Design
& Paul Slattery, Founder and MD, NxtGEN,
specialists in Experiential Learning Workshops,
Instructor-led Training and Curriculum
Customisation from iSpeak.
NxtGEN is the first company in Ireland
dedicated to the supply and delivery of activity
based learning tools from RSVP Design and
HRDQ. Email: paul.slattery@nxtgen.ie
Website: www.nxtgen.ie, Tel: 01 2393200
Techniques By Dr Paul Donovan
Clickers and Learner
Engagement
Universities challenged
with engaging today’s
students are using Student
Response Systems, like
those used by audiences in
TV game shows, to boost
interaction
Learner engagement is becoming a hot
topic in universities as students shy away
from classes, multitask during lectures
and vote with their feet if something does
not stimulate. Attendances are low and
students are alienated in large lecture
halls with poor atmosphere.
students in a game like atmosphere in
the classroom.
and this was acceeded to by lecturers
leading to even more student approval.
Most of the literature has welcomed the
use of SRS in classrooms saying that it
leads to greater learner engagement.
There is evidence to show that it leads
to better attendance, performance and
involvement of students. There is some
caution, however, in that some
researchers complain that little is known
how about how clickers work in practice
and what social infrastructure is needed
to support them. What seems clear
however is that students like them as
long as they are used for learning
purposes and not for grading or for
complying attendance.
Clickers are in widespread use in
universities today but they are used
much less so in corporate situations – an
imbalance which perhaps should be
remedied. The research carried out in
Ireland by Heaslip et al shows that
learners become more involved with the
use of clickers than they were in the non
clicker state. Learners appreciate the fun
element of the tool and they like being
able to try out answers to questions
without fear of humiliation. In group
settings they are motivated by the
competition between groups and
encourage their lecturers to organise
this feature.
Trainers have to keep learners attentive
for eight hours while university lectures
rarely go beyond two. One of my challenges
on joining the university was to convince
the Academic Council that it was possible
to engage students for a full day’s activity
in one sitting. The corporate world could
not afford the ‘inefficiency’ of the university system and so corporate trainers had
to learn how to teach in lengthy sessions.
And teach well they did, and still do.
Recently we conducted some research at
NUI Maynooth to examine how clickers
are so successful in fostering student
engagement (Heaslip, Donovan & Cullen,
2014). 120 students used clickers in their
university classes engaging with their
subject using the new technology. Each
student had their own personal handset.
Data was gathered through surveys at
three points, pre- clicker, midpoint, and
post clicker situations. There was also
some qualitative collection of data.
But now the shoe may be on the other
foot and corporate trainers may be able
to learn something from their academic
colleagues. Lecturers are fighting back
with a new tool – clickers. Clickers, also
known as student response systems (SRS),
will be familiar to anyone who has
watched the TV show, Who Wants to be a
Millionaire. Basically each person gets a
handset and can interact with a set of
questions on the screen, allowing the
tutor to pose alternatives and to engage
The results were unanimously positive.
Survey data showed strong increases in
involvement and interactivity between
the non clicker and clicker situations.
Students commented on how much fun
the clickers were to use. They agreed that
it increased their involvement in the
classes and yet they liked the anonymity
provided when putting forward ‘risky’
answers. In a focus group discussion,
students anticipated the fun of having
group scores compared between groups
25
Clickers are inexpensive to purchase, need
no maintenance and are quite easy to use.
The final implementation is up to the
creativity of the trainer / user. They
provide a different ‘angle’, look modern
and give the event an ‘edgy’ feel. Tutors
should beware that putting up lists for
simple polling will get boring even at the
best of times so trainers need to learn
different schemes of use. One example
is to pose a question and to allow group
discussion in small group and group
discussion in the larger group before
reverting to individual choice using the
clicker. Such variations keep the students
guessing as to how the tool is going to
be used and keep the initiative fresh.
Author
Dr Paul Donovan, School of Business & Law,
NUI Maynooth
Feedback
Ready for Management?
Question: How can you tell when someone is suitable and ready
for a manager role?
Answer: Look for the behaviours, attitude and values that align
with what great managers do.
By Derek Fox
The Challenge:
Executive Learning Director,
Irish Management Institute
Promoting managers from within has a
number of benefits and a number of
potential risks. The benefits include:
1) The individual has a proven track
record (they deliver results)
2) They have tacit knowledge of the
products/services/systems/processes
(they know how things work)
3) They know and understand the culture
of the organisation (they know how
things get done)
4) They have a ready-made network
of contacts (they know who to go to)
These benefits can help the transition
into a management role go more
smoothly. These benefits however must
be compared to the potential risks. Time
and time again I have seen organisations
fall foul of the ‘Peter Principle’, where
individuals are promoted to their level of
incompetence. Just because an individual
is an excellent performer does not
automatically mean they will make a
great manager. If we look at the world
of sports there are hundreds of
examples where a great player does
not transition into a great manager.
26
Why does this happen, well among other
things the top reason is management is a
different role, it requires a different set of
skills. Individuals deliver results, managers
deliver results THROUGH people.
When assessing an individual’s potential
and readiness for a management role, HR
and training specialists should look for
key indicators that the individual has the
talent and/or potential for a management
role. A three year study of the ‘essential
skills of management’ conducted in
Ireland identified a set of competencies
that directly influence the effectiveness
of a manager.
The Skills/Competencies
Based on this research the following
skills/competencies were identified as the
critical items a manager should focus
on/develop to increase their effectiveness.
These items can be used as a checklist for
assessing potential managers. The items
fall into three main areas:
Managing Self Personal Skills
Time Management
Problem Solving
Decision Making
Flexible Style
Feedback
Managing Others Interpersonal Skills
Communications
Influencing
Motivation
Delegation & Empowerment
Influencing
They use a range of influencing techniques.
They are skilled at getting others to ‘buyin’. They know how to change their tactics
for different people and situations.
Managing Work Business Skills
Planning
Goal Setting
Managing & Aligning Resources
Managing Performance
Motivation
They know how to get people engaged.
They take time to understand other
people’s needs and interests. They look
for creative ways to connect work with
what people value most. They reward
good performance.
To identify potential managers HR and
training specialists should look for the
behaviours, attitude, and values that are
aligned with these areas. The following
are examples of what to look for in
each area:
Managing Self
Time Management
The individual manages their time and
tasks effectively. They prioritise what
matters most and use effective criteria
to differentiate between urgent and
import items.
Problem Solving
They demonstrate the ability to solve
problems effectively. They define the
problem fully and use a range of problem
solving tools/techniques to identify
solutions.
Decision Making
They make decisions based on the bigger
picture. They take ownership and
responsibility for their decisions. They
communicate their rationale for decisions
and they use balanced criteria to make
decisions.
Flexible Style
They adapt their style and approach to
suit the situation. They are open to
changing the way they do things to
increase effectiveness.
Managing Others
Communications
They listen effectively. They are able to
suspend judgement while listening to
others. They communicate with clarity,
brevity and impact. They adapt their
communications to suit the situation.
Delegation & Empowerment
They are able to ‘let go’, they are
comfortable with releasing responsibility
while retaining accountability. They trust
others to deliver. They make sure others
know and understand what they need
to do.
Managing Work
Planning
They plan effectively. They look at the big
picture and define the details. They plan
for contingencies. They show good project
management skills. They understand
what is needed to achieve the task/goal.
Goal Setting
They set clear goals, monitor and follow
up. They align goals with organisational
objectives and strategy. They ensure
people understand what they need to
do and why it is important. They set
SMART goals.
Managing & Aligning Resources
They identify what is needed and align
the available resources to achieve the
goal/task. They look to use resources more
effectively. They focus on what matters
most. They make sure the right people are
in the right place at the right time.
Managing Performance
They help people improve their performance by coaching/developing talent
and potential. They are comfortable
addressing underperformance in a
pro-active manner.
This is not an exhaustive list, however, it
will help to identify potential and talent.
HR and training specialists should look for
these indicators when assessing an
individual’s potential and readiness for a
management role.
27
Do they need to have ALL of the skills
before they are a manager? No, again just
like in sports some people will have
natural talent in areas, while other will
show the commitment and dedication to
develop the competencies they need to be
successful. It is important therefore to
assess both the current ability and the
potential for development. Look for
individuals that show signs of these
competencies and develop a transition
plan to support them developing the skills
they need. The critical phase of becoming
a manager is the transition from
individual contributor to manager.
The Transition
A good transition process will include a
tailored development plan to help the
individual identify and develop the skills
they need to:
START: New skills they need to develop
to increase their effectiveness in the
role of a manager.
STOP: The skills they no longer need as
a manager. These are the areas they
need to delegate to others now. They
need to STOP doing, and START
Managing.
CONTINUE: Skills that are transferable
and will serve them well in the new role
In addition to the development plan,
assigning a ‘mentor’ for the new manager
is also highly recommended. The mentor
acts as a ‘sounding board’ and ‘advisor’ for
the new manager while they are finding
their feet in the new role. The mentor can
also ‘check in’ with the new manager
to make sure they are transitioning
effectively and discuss any challenges
that there may be so they can identify
solutions.
About the Author
Derek Fox, Executive Learning Director,
Irish Management Institute
Email: derek.fox@imi.ie
Insight By Joanne O’Malley
Reducing Stress
with Mindfulness
Mindfulness, meaning being fully present, has become a
buzzword. Can you practice it at work and how would it
make a difference?
Mindfulness is
defined by
Jon Kabat Zinn as:
“Paying attention,
on purpose, in the
present moment,
non-judgementally.”
‘Mindfulness’ is a word we hear more and
its practice is growing in popularity. What
is it? Mindfulness refers to simply being
fully present and conscious, giving your
attention to what you are doing instead
of ‘lost’ in the ‘whirl’ of thoughts and
emotions. So, when you are working on a
particular task you can focus on just that
without being distracted by emails, text
messages, colleagues or the thoughts in
your head!
Perhaps you’re ruminating over what
happened yesterday – “How could he have
said that, it’s so unfair”? Maybe, you’re
worrying about something coming up, a
dentist appointment or an exam? Or you
28
may just have feelings of inadequacy –
“I’ll never finish this,”“I can’t get it right,”
“what will they think about me?” Around
and around the thoughts and feelings go
and the result leaves us feeling overburdened, confused and stressed.
Sound familiar? Research shows that most
people in the workplace are in a state of
‘continuous partial attention’. The downside is not only do you miss the only
moment you really have, NOW – to be, to
do, to choose and to act, but in addition,
that state of distraction where the mind is
all over the place is unpleasant, unhealthy
and unproductive.
Insight
Being mindful, moment by moment, is an
incredibly simple way of relating to all
experience that is not stressful and it
helps to change perception. Everyone has
this ability naturally – think of a child and
how present he/she is. Adults tend to lose
this ability and spend more and more
time absorbed in daydreams and personal
stories. So, the capacity to stay ‘present’ is
a skill that requires training.
Are there specific benefits
for the workplace?
Practicing Mindfulness trains us to stay
with ourselves and our experience as it is
happens moment by moment with
curiosity, openness and acceptance. So,
instead of our typical tendency of getting
into the story and worrying about what
has taken place or what might transpire,
we learn to deal intelligently with what
is actually taking place, whether good
or bad.
So, Mindfulness Training makes strong
business sense and evidence shows:
Why is it getting a lot of
attention now?
Steve Jobs of Apple said his meditation
practice was directly responsible for
his ability to concentrate and ignore
distraction. The truth is that the 21st
century in an ‘always on’ world. Digital
technology is splitting everyone’s
attention and there is no sign of this
abating. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD),
exhaustion, anxiety, lack of focus have
become the norm in many workplaces
and stress is at epidemic proportions.
Mindfulness is becoming widely
recognised as an antidote, an indispensible
training to enable people control their
attention, manage their minds/hearts
and cope with the daily onslaught.
Neuroscience and MRI imaging show
exciting positive changes to the structure
and function of the brain after participation in an eight week mindfulness course;
including a reduction of gray matter in
the brain’s amygdala, which is connected
to anxiety and stress, and increased
activity in the areas associated with
positive emotion and learning / memory.
Yes, empirical research shows
documented benefits in:
Focus and attention
Self-awareness and awareness of others
Resilience and emotional intelligence
Cognitive function
Creativity.
Reduced costs of staff absenteeism
caused by illness, injury, stress
Enhanced productivity and improved
overall staff and business wellbeing
Less staff turnover and associated costs
Superior employer/employee and
client relationships
Obvious and real corporate
responsibility position.
How can it help reduce stress?
When people practice Mindfulness, they
bring calm and alert attention to each
moment of their workday. Positive improvements to how they work / interact
occur naturally. Participants report that
they are less captive to automatic conditioned reactions, more focused, open, collaborative and discerning.
How to practice it at work
1. Eliminate multitasking:
Research shows it is inefficient and
ineffective to be constantly sidetracked by
what seems urgent, reacting to emails /
texts instead of focusing full attention on
the task in hand.
2. Communicate mindfully:
Being present in mind as well as body
enables real listening and dialogue in
meetings / interactions. This means
phones and devices are put aside and
time / attention is given to open dialogue
that builds rapport, enables understanding
and co-operation.
3. Organise your schedule mindfully:
When you pause and become present,
that allows more intelligence about the
best use of time.
29
4. Create Mindfulness Triggers:
Choose everyday things that you do
routinely and decide to do them
mindfully. So when you walk, answer
the phone, eat, answer an email - be fully
aware of what you are doing.
5. Participate in a mindfulness-based
stress reduction course:
This eight week course has been
rigorously tested by science to give
participants tremendous benefits in stress
reduction. Life-changing skills and habits
are learned that change how one relates
to and perceives moment by moment
experience.
Part of the organisational
culture
It is not how long we sit at a desk but the
attention we give to the task in hand that
determines the value we bring. Mindfulness gives us the possibility of mental and
emotional rest, despite whatever external
stressors emerge in the workday. This
inner resilience and ability to respond
intelligently enables you to:
Listen attentively
Communicate clearly
Focus consistently
Empathise readily.
All of which makes for greater all-round
effectiveness and self-awareness, which
benefits you, the team, colleagues, clients,
and your business /organisation.
About the Author
Joanne O’Malley, BSoc.Sc, HDip Psychotherapy
is a qualified Mindfulness Facilitator who gives
Mindfulness training courses and workshops in
organisations, as well as one to one coaching.
Email: info@mindfulnessandcompassion.ie
www.mindfulnessandcompassion.ie
Tel: 087 961 590
Careers By Olivia Kelleher
Tracy O’Mahony
Program Manager, EMC
Tracy is a Program Manager at
EMC in Cork. A native of
Riverstown, Co. Cork, she
undertook a BA and HDipED in
English and Italian at University
College Cork (UCC) and taught for
a short period at Scoil Mhuire
Secondary School in Cork city. She
subsequently worked for The
Hope Foundation having spent
ten years in Italy where she
managed an office with in excess
of 40 employees. Tracy started
working at EMC Corporation in
2009 as a sales talent training
coordinator.
What does your job involve?
I am nearly two years in my current role
as program manager. I specialise in
program delivery, education, training
and management. I work in the Inside
Sales function and am responsible for
developing targeted training programs
for Inside sales reps to build key sales
competencies. Our Inside Sales department supports eight countries and Reps
sell EMC solutions over the phone and
collaborate with Field Reps and Partners
based in each country to grow revenue.
As part of the Inside Sales Enablement
team, I help to build and deliver training
programs - from New Hire training
programs to ongoing training. Since
September 2013, I have been based in
Citygate Mahon, on the east side of Cork
city. The main EMC site in Cork is in Ovens
and about 2,500 people are employed
by EMC in Cork. We have 60,000
employees globally.
What is the most challenging
aspect of your job?
The pace of change can sometimes be a
challenge. Technology changes all the
time which is great but you have to keep
on top of it. I am lucky to work with a lot
of talented people so my job is very
collaborative; we work together towards
one goal. An integral part of EMC’s
success is that it provides us with great
training and development.
Explain what EMC does
EMC is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform
their operations and deliver Information
Technology as a service. Cloud computing
is fundamental to this transformation.
EMC accelerates the journey to cloud
computing through innovative products
and services, helping IT departments to
store, manage, protect and analyse their
most valuable asset - information - in a
more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way.
We work with organizations around the
world, in every industry, in the public and
private sectors, and of every size.
What do you enjoy about
your job?
The great possibilities to learn and
develop. It’s often described as a five star
restaurant – there is so much on offer but
it is self-service! You have to make things
happen yourself.
After 10 years in Italy, was
the change difficult?
Obviously there was the change in the
weather! I worked in a business capacity
30
in Italy and knew that I wanted to work
for a multi-national when I got back
because I was so used being around
different cultures. Italy is a fantastic
country and I loved my time there but
chose to come home to the green grass!
Are you undergoing any
learning and development at
the moment?
I am currently attending a Diploma in
Project Management course in UCC
through the Institute of Project
Management. I am doing the exams soon
so it’s very busy at the moment but I am
really enjoying it. It’s a great course and it
will be well worth the time and effort.
What would you consider your
personal achievements?
I am part of an organisation called the
Women’s Leadership Forum. We fundraise
for a lot of different charities. This year I
managed a fundraising drive for breast
cancer, building awareness of breast
cancer and gathering funds for the Irish
cancer society with different activities
and events in EMC.
Who do you admire?
That would be my dad, Michael, who
passed away in 2012. He was 65. He reared
us on his own because he became a
widower at 42. He was selfless. He did it
all himself. I have an older sister and two
younger brothers. It can’t have been easy
for him. He was an outstanding man.