In June 2020, Julie Cook appeared on a Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland podcast, discussing the importance of leadership and the impact it has had on her career to date.
As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, I think there will still be an appetite for returning to classroom because the face-to-face experience is difficult to replicate on-line. In the classroom learners can experiment, make mistakes, and learn through that experience. It will also very much depend on people’s personal circumstances, as to how they choose to study with us. However, we are well prepared with a super flexible timetable and plenty of study options, which learners can mix and match to suit their own schedule and work life balance. This includes options to study either in the evening, at the weekend or in the day in the week to suit both work and personal circumstances. We also have flexible start dates throughout the year and options regarding speed to completion. Additionally, it is possible to take short study breaks to fit around busy periods at work or significant life events e.g. getting married.
Positive learning from this experience has been trusting my valued employees to adjust to working from home and continue to deliver to a high or even higher standard than before. We are a small family-run business and fortunately we were able to move all our programmes on-line in March. We have learnt to change much faster and to be prepared to change without compromising the high quality of our delivery. We had to train the classroom tutors with no previous live on-line experience to ensure they were proficient in delivering sessions live on-line, which they have all embraced wholeheartedly. Fortunately, Acacia Learning has five years’ experience of live on-line delivery under our belt and the tutors with lots of experience of this did a great job of coaching those less confident with this method of delivery.
The next 12 months is an opportunity for HR/L&D professionals to take a vital role in influencing managers and senior business leaders within their organisation. They will also need to take a longer-term view on L&D with renewed emphasis on well-being, health & safety, IT skills and leadership and management. The world of work has faced and coped with an unprecedented pace of change with both the HR and L&D functions taking a significant role in both the current pandemic and new normal world that we are starting to anticipate.
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