Learning in technology

1. What was the objective?

Black Ai are a tech start-up company that were looking to gain deeper insights into how to understand each other’s ways of working and turn their leadership strengths into super strengths to drive growth and performance in the wider organisation. Using the Gallup Strengths profile (which each leader completed prior to the session) we focused on how to unlock and activate their natural talents to maximise their potential.

2. How did we do it?

In a 4-hour in person session we explored how to move a talent to a strength by intentionally understanding both the productive (balcony) behaviours and unproductive (basement) behaviours that may show up. We started to understand the interplay and collective talents within the team and how to leverage them to achieve group goals. And finally, we focused on building powerful partnerships in the team to increase communication, innovation and to drive results.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

As part of the post-work, leaders were provided with a link to short videos describing the balcony and basement behaviours for each of the 34 Gallup strengths and an Edutainment module (eLearning), providing them the opportunity to continue their self-paced learning. The team continue to build their knowledge and understanding of their own strengths and the strengths of their colleagues.

1. What was the objective?

The carsales Marketing team play an integral role in the organisation, servicing every department. However, there was a lack of confidence in the team and an opportunity for stronger stakeholder relationships. So, the objective was to empower the team to become pillars in the organisation.

2. How did we do it?

We worked closely with the GM, Consumer Marketing, to understand more about the diverse team. Drawing on the GM’s experience and their insights from the team’s latest feedback survey, we identified the team’s needs and developed a 2-hour virtual workshop on enhancing influence and collaboration.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The content in the workshop focused on how the Marketing team could build influence through trust and lead outcome-driven collaboration in all situations – even with challenging stakeholders. Through reflections and facilitator-led discussions, participants were able to explore how they wanted to grow as individuals and as a team. Then, we challenged them in group breakout activities to bring the models and strategies they’d learnt to life. The team left with key insights (about themselves, their team, influence and collaboration) and actionable strategies.

1. What was the objective?

carsales had been forward-thinking and launched a ‘work from anywhere’ initiative when COVID-19 began. This program was designed to support leaders to consciously champion their team members through the new challenges of being a consistently-moving team that could work fully remote, hybrid or from the office.

carsales wanted a bespoke workshop focused on inclusion, belonging and high performance to support this new change. They wanted to engage their leaders with a framework they could use with their teams and actively apply inclusion and belonging strategies to uplift engagement and results.

2. How did we do it?

Thinka designed a unique three-hour virtual workshop that would be rolled out six times across the organisation.

Due to the workshop’s length and the topic’s depth, the content needed to be interactive, informative, and practical. Each session would be made up of 25 participants from various sectors within carsales, including its incubator programs; so, the workshop needed to create an environment of psychological safety quickly, as the group may not have worked together before.

The workshops included understanding bias, overcoming the challenges of working in a hybrid environment, knowing how to be an advocator and what challenges can stop us from being our most supportive selves. A key part of the workshop was focusing on the future leadership need of being an inclusive leader, and how this is a key skill moving forward in their careers.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

In addition to the workshop, Thinka created a ‘Leader Meeting Pack’, which included a guided meeting plan, tools and assets that any leader could pick up and utilise with their team. The language and visuals in the assets were all in carsales branding.

The learnings from the workshop, along with the Leader Meeting Pack, allowed the participants to feel supported in driving initiatives focused on inclusion and belonging. There was a consistently positive response post-workshop from the leaders. carsales consequently engaged Thinka after the roll-out to design a workshop on Inclusion and Belonging aimed at their team members.

1. What was the objective?

In 2021 Carsales requested a program of work be designed and developed by Thinka that focused on the female employees within the technology department to develop their soft skills and increase their confidence.

A pilot 90min workshop, followed by small group coaching was delivered in late 2021. If this program saw that there was engagement and positive feedback from participants then a further body of work could be delivered.

The outcome of that workshop was positive and the full ‘women on the move’ (WOTM) program was then launched to the wider business at the beginning of 2022, with females being selected from multiple departments by our key stakeholders.

2. How did we do it?

The WOTM program consists of four big-group workshops that are 2hrs in length and then followed up by a small group coaching session (60mins) with only 10 participants per group. The key outcomes for the four workshops were team members to:

• Understand the value in knowing their purpose
• Who can authentically combine organisational and personal values with purpose
• Who can apply a range of strategies to refine, change or strengthen their leadership brand and career
• Who authentically communicate, seeking the win-win

All workshops and coaching sessions were opt-in and team members were unable to self-select themselves for the program. This created a level of prestige and exclusivity that helped elevate the value of the program.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

This program is a stand-alone learning program and there has been strong anecdotal feedback that the confidence and connection from participants to each other as well as the business has increased because of this program of work.

1. What was the objective?

Pepperstone are an Australian group of experienced traders and are one of the largest foreign exchange brokers. They have a global team, with leaders supporting team members across multiple time zones. As COVID-19 began to scale down, the company wanted to re-focus on elevating its humanistic skills whilst also achieving great results from its team members.

2. How did we do it?

Thinka delivered three 2-hour workshops, across APAC and EMEA, to equip their 70 leaders with the tools to drive accountability within their teams. These changes would assist leaders in having robust conversations in the lead up to their performance review cycle, as well as an awareness of potential bias that could creep up from working in a hybrid environment. Creating a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment meant that leaders could relate, collaborate and learn from one another outside of their usual work practices.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

After delivering the workshops, the Pepperstone Learning Team were given a follow-up email and resources to support the skills as they embedded them in their day-to-day. This, along with a robust retrospective, meant that Pepperstone engaged Thinka again to deliver their other key learning areas in 2023.

1. What was the objective?

Sales IQ approached Thinka to partner with them in supporting a luxury sales team to upskill in presenting. The sales team wanted to be able to pitch themselves and the products to the designers and architects they partnered with.

2. How did we do it?

Thinka delivered a two-part virtual workshop on presentations that were two hours in length. The first workshop focused on the skills and strategies to prepare and organise an engaging presentation. At the end of the first workshop, the participants were told they needed to create an original two- to four-minute presentation, including a PowerPoint that would be delivered back to the group.

The second workshop focused on creating a safe and interactive space for all the participants to deliver their presentations. Each person received guided feedback from their peers and the facilitator.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The participants were unbelievably creative and diverse in their approach to the presentations. This included live demonstrations on their current products, interactive workshops, dramatic storytelling and factual case studies.

The presentations highlighted the different strengths and opportunities within the business and allowed the group to see each other from a new perspective. The group bonded through the learning of a new skill together, further embedding the learning.

The interactive process allowed the client to see some blind spots, such as being able to quickly utilise new digital tools, that they wouldn’t have otherwise known through a conventional learning method. This two-part workshop method was successful in embedding and actioning the learning in a short time. 

1. What was the objective?

To work with the leadership team across all levels of the organisation to help embed the newly introduced carsales behaviours. To take the behaviours from ‘the wall to the floor‘ and make them relevant and real for everyone. Also, providing leaders with some tips and tools to help keep the behaviours ‘alive’.

2. How did we do it?

In phase one, we developed a 2-hour virtual workshop where leaders unpacked each behaviour through small group activities, understanding its meaning, relevance to the organisation, and the leader’s role in embedding the behaviour. The behaviours were then brought to life using storytelling, looking at them through the unique experience of working at carsales.

In phase two, we developed five meeting packs for leaders to use over the following months to run 45-minute meetings with their teams. The packs included an agenda, reflection questions, a suggested activity, and follow up linked to the relevant behaviour.

In phase three, we developed a 2-hour virtual workshop where leaders could share stories about the behaviours that had shown up, both desired and less desired, what’s worked, and the challenges they had faced embedding these behaviours with their teams. Scenario activities were designed around each behaviour to encourage leaders to utilise feedback and coaching to drive high performance.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

carsales continue to make sure these behaviours matter and embed them daily through incentives, policies and procedures, engagement strategies and the performance management cycle. The leadership team have committed to becoming advocates for the new behaviours by making sure they are providing consistent feedback and coaching to help the behaviours stick and ground them in their everyday work and day-to-day rhythms, using the tools provided.

1. What was the objective?

The Commercial team at carsales took their annual conference online during lockdown.  With 200+ team members dialling in from their Sales, Product, Insights and Support divisions. With a mix of sessions from department experts and some dynamic sharing sessions designed to support their business in ‘Teaming up to Win in 2021’ and achieve GPS 22!  

2. How did we do it?

Using a purpose-built online platform to create a conference destination, we crafted a week-long journey that combined live events and pre-recorded videos.  The week-long event consisted of business announcements, strategy updates, workshops on resilience, solutions and full service, aligning to purpose, and a powerful keynote address from Nadine Champion. To give each of the online events the excitement of an in-person experience, we had a master of ceremonies hosting each experience (thank you to Wade Kingsley). The live Q&A sessions allowed participants to ask questions and seek expertise from leaders within their business.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

By using an application-based formula where conference sessions were supported by pre and post activities, we were able to see application of the learning over the week. The involvement in Q&A sessions and the overall participant rate confirmed that the virtual format worked for the audience.

1. What was the objective?

This workshop was designed to help people managers understand how to make unbiased decisions around all areas of the employee life cycle. Partnering with the P&C team, we worked to understand the current trigger points within this cycle, driving unconscious or even conscious bias leading to missed opportunities. We needed to create a ‘safe space’ where leaders could understand their biases and find practical ways to mitigate them.

2. How did we do it?

In a 2-hour virtual session, we explored conscious and unconscious bias and its role in workplace decisions before applying a range of strategies to hire for culture-add rather than culture-fit. By using a series of learner-driven activities and providing space for smaller groups to share their lived experiences, leaders were able to authentically talk through their own experience of bias, gain different perspectives and build practical strategies to mitigate and change these behaviours. During the session, we used a digital whiteboard to document all the ideas and commitments from each group, providing data points for the organisation to continue their work in the Diversity and Inclusion space.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

As part of a post-work application task, leaders were asked to complete the ‘Harvard Implicit Bias Test’ and to pay forward their learning to their wider teams during one-on-ones and team catch-ups. This program is now part of carsales’ core offering within their Diversity and Inclusion portfolio and will continue to run with all leaders throughout 2022.

1. What was the objective?

This team’s core responsibility is to take the organisation’s strategic direction and enable it through the frontline. The team had been through significant business change and leadership change over the years and it was time to re-group and set some foundations for future success.

2. How did we do it?

We began by taking the entire Leadership Team, including Senior Leaders, through the CliftonStrengths assessment, then debriefing them on their top natural strengths and how these show up in their leadership. With these strengths acting as the foundation of the program, we then ran four virtual workshops on understanding strengths and using them to drive results, execute strategy and enable innovation.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The program ran over five months – with each month having its own focus. The program helped leaders understand how and why they lead a certain way, and increased strategic leadership through communication, collaboration, accountability and courage. The leadership team now have collective ownership of the strategy, people and work and a universal rhythm they are working towards.

1. What was the objective?

To work with the Executive Leadership Team to understand how the Gallup Strengths tool could be used to further enhance the performance of the team. Understanding how to leverage their collective strengths to drive their end goal of Customer Centricity so that both their team and customer’s stay at the heart of everything they do as a leadership team.

2. How did we do it?

In a 4 hour in-person session we explored themes of building a culture of trust and self-awareness, encouraging and exhibiting collaborative leadership and finally, having an enterprise and entrepreneurial mindset. We achieved this through a series of experiential activities set up in ‘zones’ in the room, around the central theme of ‘True customer centricity’. This provided a visual exploratory learning journey.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

Leaders left the session with a new tool to enable them to have more productive conversations with others leaders using Strengths-based language. A series of short post workshop tasks ensured the leadership team continued to apply the learning within their current team business rhythms, including team meetings, one-on-ones and strategy sessions.

1. What was the objective?

This program was designed to give the Leadership Team specific skills for leading a virtual workforce. This program was delivered in a short and sharp 90 minute format to target specific areas in each session.

2. How did we do it?

Working in collaboration with the People & Culture Team, we defined key areas that needed to be developed in the Leadership Team. Focusing on topics like ‘lifting motivation’, ‘delivering feedback’ and ‘applying coaching’, we analysed the context and considered how to do this effectively while leading remotely.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

As each leader worked through the challenges of leading a remote workforce, the content from each session was integrated into their everyday roles to boost capability. They worked on specific techniques and tools to support the leadership of virtual teams and maintain engagement.

1. What was the objective?

Using a 90 minute online workshop format, we targeted key skills that needed to be developed as a result of people moving to virtual working. This format allowed us to target specific skills in a succinct and practical, hands-on way.

2. How did we do it?

Each 90 minute online session was broken into two halves. This allowed us to focus on two main subject areas. For example, the session on ‘Presenting Online’ was focused on ‘becoming the anchor’ and ‘using time to create momentum’. This targeted approach to skill building was carried through all topics like Priority Management, Self-Awareness and Understanding Strengths.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The sessions were easily integrated as they had a focus on the tools each participant could use when back on the job. The results were seen in the increased effectiveness of online presentations and the ability to manage priorities in a virtual working format.

1. What was the objective?

Focusing on a range of technical skills that were required in new employees, we created a series of modules that centralised important information and intelligence. This complemented the existing knowledge the team had and created an additional point of truth for ways of working.

2. How did we do it?

In a series of eLearning modules, we created a ‘how to’ approach in line with the ways of working at Bluedoor. We presented information on topics like Navigating Confluence, An Introduction to Jira and the System Development Life Cycle to support the Bluedoor team in project management, information sharing and collaboration. These modules gave each new employee a consistent understanding on how to approach their employment at Bluedoor.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The modules were integrated into the induction journey for each new employee. Complementing the on the job training, they received these custom-designed modules to have a resource to further their understanding or return to when required.