This year’s GlobalEnglish Kickoff meeting was held at the end of January in Phuket, Thailand where around 200 members of the GlobalEnglish team flew in from around the world to participate in the annual meeting. The 4 day event included the unveiling of exciting new product updates, interactive sales enablement sessions, team-building activities, as well as plenty of opportunities to network and interact with the GlobalEnglish team. The annual occasion also provides an opportunity to recognise the achievements of both GlobalEnglish employees and their numerous partners around the world. This year, XpertLearning were delighted to be awarded ‘Partner of the Year’, retaining our title that we have held since the award was introduced. This reflects the successful partnership we have had with GlobalEnglish over the past eight years. The overall focus of the event was the year ahead, with the theme “Leading The Charge”. The acquisition of GlobalEnglish by the world’s leading learning company Pearson last year, as well as the revolutionary changes to the report generation and rewarding system with the introduction of RPM (Rewards, Progress, Management) is sure to make 2013 an even bigger and better year for GlobalEnglish and its customers.

Xpertlearning hosted its second workshop in Oman for corporate HR & Training professionals entitled “ROI for Corporate HR/Learning and Development Professionals” on the 18th of February 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Muscat.

The workshop which was presented by William Spindloe, Business Development Director at Xpertlearning, was attended by twenty-two HR/Training professionals representing various industries from Oman; some of them are XpertLearning clients. Interestingly, three of the delegates were from academic institutions.

Dr. Ramin Mohajer, Consultant at ITA (Information Technology Authority) who attended the event as a guest stated “The program highlighted an issue which we all know exists but pay little attention to. I am looking forward to implementing this in ITA and enjoying the results…..an excellent awareness session”

The workshop addressed some of the key challenges that HR/L&D professionals face – particularly the challenge of communicating a cause and effect correlation between training investments with business results.

William emphasized his argument with the message, “Change can only happen when HR/L & D professionals take responsibility for the relative insignificance their opinions have in determining the strategic direction of their organization”. He later added, “If you need to convince the CFO, you need to think like one”

The introduction to Kirkpatrick-Philips model for training evaluation was an eye opener for several of the delegates. They conveyed that they were able to appreciate how the 5th level of evaluation – the ROI level, logically took its place importantly above the rest.

Mr.Rashid Al Nasri, Acting Vice President – Corporate Affairs, QLNG – a client of Xpertlearning since 2010 commented, “a training strategy prepared from the ground up with focus on measuring and communicating ROI has helped Qalhat L & D demonstrate greater efficiency and effectiveness in its training operations”

Delegates form Oman Oil Group – another of Xpertlearning’ s clients, also attended the event. Ms. Safiya Al Jaradi and Lakshmi both Lecturers from Sohar University, yet another client of  XpertLearning mentioned, “Congrats for organizing this event and I hope this will be the first of many more fruitful interactions with the Higher Education & Professional  Training Groups in Oman and Dubai”

The event ended with a group exercise where teams demonstrated the value gained by applying them in solving a complex realistic hypothetical problem. Certificate of Participation were given to the attendees towards the end of the event.

For more about XpertLearning visit www.xpertlearning.com.

For more pictures from the event visit our Facebook page.

The 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon broke all records this year. With the wonderful backdrop of the Burj Khalifa and the temperature cooler and with fog in the air this year for the run the XpertLearning participants took to the road.

Paul Michael Gledhill, Co-Founder and Executive Director, responds when asked about why he runs, “There are almost as many reasons as runners for why people participate in these events. This year was really special and the venue spectacular, taking part in the Dubai Marathon for me is very personal but at the same time the emotional connections to all of the charities and wonderful stories are the motivating factors. For whatever the reason, I hope that even more people will run again next year to keep the record books breaking”.

Ailene Mojado, Research Analyst, on joining the 3k fun run: “I have always wondered how it feels to join a marathon and since I am not very athletic 3k fun run seemed to be suitable. It was a happy and inspiring event joining quite a big number of people running for a cause. The gathering of people exuding high energies and excitement was memorable. I will definitely run again next year aiming for the 10k”.

The SME Advisor Stars of Business Awards 2012 recognized and celebrated top SME’s achievers from across the region.

In all, twenty-four companies were named winners at the glamorous awards ceremony organized by CPI and presented by ADCB, with du as the exclusive telecom partner. This year, more than 3,500 nominations were receive and audited. Of these nominations, a total of 120 candidates were shortlisted by Morison Menon. A distinguished judging panel were then tasked to score each of the finalists and select the winners.

Paul Michael Gledhill Co-Founder and Executive Director was quick to praise the organization of CPI for managing the logistics of such a recognized event “We are delighted and proud to receive the award, and thank our team, partners and customers for their continued support. Online Learning and performance continues to be a sought after provision as technology enables us to learn at our own pace 24×7.”

List of Industry Achievement Awards

1. Trade
2. Hospitality and tourism
3. Retail
4. Media, marketing and events
5. Professional services
6. Health and wellness
7. Technology and online
8. Manufacturing
9. Construction and real estate
10. Green business of the year
11. Admirable woman entrepreneur
12. Emirati entrepreneur of the year
13. Arab entrepreneur of the year
14. Business star of the year
15. The one to watch (best new business)
16. People’s choice

Technology and Online Award – Final Nominees were

XpertLearning (Winner)

Bayt

Nhanc for Cloud Technology

CashU

Intelligent Business Technologies

XpertLearning hosted their annual CAFÉ-ME (Customer Advisory Forum Event-Middle East) at the Grosvenor House in Dubai on 20^th November.

Leaders in Learning and HR from over 50 of the regions premium organisations were entertained through a series of client case studies demonstrations and interactive technology sessions. The event culminated with the EL OSCARS (e-Learning Oscar award ceremony).

Both international and regional speakers spiced up the day with details of the challenges and innovative solutions they implement from a technology and learning perspective.

One of the highlights of the event was getting to experience the new Augmented Reality apps and looking at the future affordances for learning intervention.

Paul Michael Gledhill, Co-Founder of XpertLearning and host MC said “The event was the best yet and we look forward to the challenge of getting even better in 2013”.

Congratulations go to all our Award Winners

Best Overall Marketing Concept – AXA

Most Improved User Engagement – Gates

Rookie eLearning Company of the Year – Tanfeeth

Best Leadership Engagement Program – Oman Oil

Best Learning Life Cycle Management – ENOC

Best Innovation – Morpho

Some comments from the event

Tim Walker, Channel Account Manager from SkillSoft and Event Sponsor

He expressed his delight in the participation and energy from both the audience and staff and was extremely complimentary about the organisation and engagement of everyone involved.

Jijie C. Zablan, Systems & Training Director from Great Minds Network

“It was 3 am, I could not sleep…I was so inspired & full of ideas generated after attending the CAFÉ-ME 2012.  The speakers and choice of topics were so interesting, up to date and very useful. The venue & food was superb! It was a joy to see the whole team of XpertLearning aligned together to provide a wonderful experience for the attendees. The MC – Paul was a “Rock Star” – a real celebrity with appropriate attire for every segment!”

Rajith Rajagopal Nair, Regional Director EMEA from GlobalEnglish

“Congratulations to all of you – what a wonderfully organised event! The best ever Café ME!!     Great crowd. Beautiful venue. Spectacular organisation. And I particularly liked the ‘Try Me” kiosks! The whole event had the feel of having been planned like clock-work. Precise!”

For more about XpertLearning events and services visit www.xpertlearning.com for details

It was some lonely out of the way converted barn in the middle of Wales, in the middle of winter. The barn was also barely converted. My company’s CEO had felt that the best way to fuse the staff into a team,  was to drop us in a field, miles away from intended destination and with the aid of a map, compass and each other, we would find our way triumphantly there.  We were told in advance that we may argue and fight, but we would see how if we all worked together, as one, we could battle the elements and reach our goal. We did bond as a team on that cold November evening, as we trudged back to the drafty, cold barn, wet and muddy. We bonded and agreed that we hated the CEO and that there must be a better way of making a living than this.

For me this was my first experience of someone’s idea of a Team Building weekend. I have been on many more since. Some worse, some a little better, but not much.  One was organized by a Human Resource Director/Drill Sergeant, who felt that a good physical test in the great outdoors would be good for bonding. It was good for a broken leg (not mine), a mild heart attack (also not mine) and a bee sting (yes that one was me).

Team Building for many people is an Oxymoron, like Government Initiative or Happily Married. I am of course joking about the last one. Especially, if my wife is going to read this. As she always tells me we are very happily married. I however digress. The one thing I discovered on that night in a cold field in Wales, and that I have found on every subsequent ill-conceived weekend away since, is you simply cannot make teams of people this way. The facts are simple, when you bring everyone back from the woods, after they have been learning to pitch tents and build campfires, nothing at work really changes, and it shouldn’t be a surprise.

So what can you do? Well it’s a big subject. It’s gotten to be way more complex also since many of us are working with virtual teams, different time zones as well as geographies and some companies have a complicated matrix structure. Cultural differences also play a very big part in the dynamics of teams.  So let’s concentrate on one aspect – A virtual team spread over 10 countries.  When you do bring everyone together, perhaps once or twice a year, what do you normally concentrate on? Well I know from experience that this tends to be some presentations or discussions on numbers, or a new initiative followed by some drinks in the evening. How about gearing the time together to ensure that those conference calls and WebEx sessions are more productive in the coming 12 months. Rather than spending this valuable time together largely doing what could be done on those conference calls, how about you spend a little time talking about the idea of the team.

Get everyone to give the team a score out of 10. Add them up and find the median. So if the team scores 6, ask them all to write down some of areas that will bring that score up to 8. Throw these up on a flip chart there will likely be areas of agreement. In one such meeting I held, it was agreed that we all receive simply too many emails.  People were getting bogged down reading mails. In many cases they did not really apply to them, but only discovered this after reading them of course. We had a consensus to have a good think before sending mails. To use the phone when it was more appropriate. We followed up and month on month and we kept track. The mails got better in terms of size and number and there was less confusion in general.  I even know of one company who now has a rule that no emails are to be sent on a Friday. If you want to talk pick up the phone or organize your communication for another time.  It was one simple aspect of thinking as a team that paid off.

You need to keep talking about teams. You don’t have to spend forever on it, but how about once a month dedicating a meeting to tracking proposed improvements through feedback? It’s a few minutes each month that could save you a fortune in all kinds of ways.  It’s got to be better than dragging your employees out to a cold Welsh field in the dead of winter and telling them to be a team, and they might not hate you quite so much!

- William Spindloe

This morning  the official distribution of the goods donated by Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates and the Emirates Company took place at the SOS Village N’Djamena Tchad.Twenty seven boxes with clothing,toys,bags,blankets were handed out  to the Village’s children.
Thanks to the generous contribution of the Mall of the  Emirates’ staff and the Emirates Company, the children were surprised  with beautiful new clothing,dolls,flashy
(toy)cars etc.. It was great to see the happy kids’ faces and to experience the deep appreciation expressed by the Village father and the Village mothers.
The event took place on the lawn of the Kempinski Park which is taking shape.Also in the Park’s corner, which is dedicated for trees, there have been by now 15 trees planted.The last tree was planted yesterday by the Chadian Minister of Sports and Youth and  which event was broadcasted on the local news channel.!

Additional to all of this XpertLearning donated a laptop  which will be placed in the communal Village room to enable all kids to go on line!You will be surprised how many of the teenagers have already a Face Book account!

Herewith. we  here at the Kempinski Hotel N’Djamena Tchad and the SOS Village family  would like to thank all hotels and its staff members  who have contributed so generously in our  strife to improve the life of these disadvantaged  children .We hope to receive soon  the Kempinski Park’s playground equipment(which is all paid for by Kempinski Hotels’ staff members) and promise to keep you updated when it is placed!