Learning at a Learning Organisation

Therese Coyne, Learning Pool’s new Enterprise Account Director, reflects on the first two weeks settling into her new role.

Full of first day nerves, I headed for Stansted to spend my first week in Derry and wondered how it would go. When I posted on LinkedIn I was joining Learning Pool, I received a stream of encouraging messages.
My excitement was fuelled by the direct flight -as one of only three people on board, it felt more like a private jet than a convenient BMI flight!

Climbing the flight of stairs to the Learning Pool office, I couldn’t help but feel anxious. What will it take to do this job well? Will I fit in? Am I too old to start over?

Well, by lunchtime I realised there was nothing to worry about. Wandering into the lovely communal dining space for lunch, I found a bunch of my new colleagues including the senior managers. Everyone shoved up a bit, so I could just sit down and join in.

As the week progressed, the office was just buzzing, preparing for meetings, demos, webinars and future events; this activity all taking place in the open office that sits within the beautiful Old City Factory.What really struck me, was that at every meeting, colleagues and often, our clients were working in teams and enthusiastically exchanging ideas. Coming from a huge Irish family and gradually gravitating back towards home in Ireland, sometimes it felt more like one of my family gatherings than a place of work!

At the end of the week, Paul McElvaney (who is incidentally, also the CEO) casually pulled up a chair to ask how the week had gone – I told him straight, I really like it here! Having been on the delivery end, way more than the receiving end, I sort of knew what to expect – or did I? At Learning Pool, it’s a blended self-service approach. Of course, there was the obligatory walk to complete the fire safety bit, but what I did not expect was to find my laptop ready to go. It was full of engaging online content, and access to Learning Pool’s Academy, all designed to help me in my role.

I was thrilled to discover the programme also gave me hands-on experience with our own products. The LMS is provided with Learning Pool’s award-winning delivery and support; the content has been built in Adapt, the fantastic AI- driven chatbot, Otto is even able to tell corny jokes!

Finally, I was given a test drive of our NextGen offering which will be officially launched at Learning Technologies next month. This new tech delivers a modern look and feel to learners, making it super-easy for them to engage with learning. To say I’m excited is an understatement!Week two, back in England the learning journey continued this time in our Nottingham site. There has been a flurry of activity – updating the current Hospitality Catalogue and launching the new Retail Catalogue. So, lucky me, as I head out to the first of client meetings next week – I already have something new to talk about!