Abu Dhabi, March 24, 2010. Xpert Learning hosted a seminar for Learning and Development Professionals at Park Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The Xpert Learning team included Janine Croft, Managing Director, Paul Michael Gledhill, Director and Co-Founder, William Spindloe, Business Development Director and Riham Khoury, Account Manager. During this informative and practical workshop, presentations were delivered to the audience by the Xpert Learning team on the following key learning and development topics:
– Building the vision and mission of L & D
– Success Criteria – What do you measure?
– ROI calculating practices
– Justifying Budgets – Learning to love the CFO
– Doing more for Less – Hints and Tips
The event included lunch and a networking session which allowed the attendees to get to know each other and share ideas and best practices about the industry.
Paul Michael Gledhill, addressing the audience, emphasized on the importance of the ability for Learning and Development professionals to converse with finance professionals using their language. “Success and measurements need to be translated to business impact and return on investment,” said Mr. Gledhill.
William Spindloe, during his presentation entitled ‘Justifying Budgets – Learning to love the CFO’, highlighted the dynamics involved when requesting for a training budget for learning and development. “If you don’t get the training budget you think you need and deserve, you need to ask yourself why. How well did you justify the need to the CFO? Did you put together a robust return on investment analysis? If not, then you will definitely get the budget you deserve, but not necessarily the one you need,” said Mr. Spindloe.
Through these probing questions, Mr. Spindloe got the audience to interact and engage in discussions and brainstorming sessions.
Shabbar Sheikh, Career Planning Coordinator at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of the Government of Dubai, loved the seminar.
“It was a pleasure meeting the Xpert Learning team and being a part of the workshop. I really feel as if I’ve benefited from the experience and look forward to hearing more from your team and organization,” said Mr. Sheikh.
Ariel A. L. Atabug, Talent Manager at Habtoor Hotels, shared the views of Mr. Sheikh. “The workshop was definitely helpful and I’m sure all of us who attended picked up more than just a few points for our respective Battles of the Budget,” said Mr. Atabug.
Sonali Bahri, Talent Acquisition and Development Manager at AstraZeneca – Gulf FZ-LLC, found the session very useful and thanked the Xpert Learning team for organizing and facilitating.
Given the success of the seminar and positive feedback received from the audience, Xpert Learning plans to organize similar events within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), more specifically Dubai, in the near future.
