“It’s also not just about formal learning – informal and social learning are increasingly important. Many employees want to choose how and when they learn. Again, this requires organisational support and resource for learning – whether building time in for learning or facilitation of informal, social and digital learning.” Creating learning cultures: assessing the evidence CIPD Report (2020)
Marshall Centre writes:
Within our learning culture we want to encourage people to expand their knowledge and skill sets and then to share what they have learned with others. We recognise that we have a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills across our organisation and so it makes sense to create opportunities for staff to teach each other.
Every Friday we have a HiveMind session, which is an opportunity for everyone in the business from entry level to senior leadership to teach us something new. The sessions last between 30 – 60 minutes and include some sort of practical/interactive element. Each week a different person volunteers to lead the HiveMind and the sessions can be about anything that others might find interesting or useful. It is a great opportunity for the participants to learn from their colleagues, it creates an inclusive, level playing field as it is open to all and it helps build confidence in presentation skills for the person delivering. So far, this has been a great success and we have covered a wide variety of topics such as:
- Active listening
- Servant leadership
- Emotional intelligence
- Tips for email organisation
- A stretching session
- Reading body language
- How to use Instagram
- Guided meditation
- How to deliver virtual presentations
- Injury prevention
These sessions are optional so the team can decide which ones they want to attend and all the sessions are recorded for anyone who is interested but unable to join due to prior commitments.
We have now decided to start inviting external guests to join us for some of our HiveMinds, so if you would like to attend to learn something new or to lead a session, get in touch and let us know what you want to teach us. These sessions are completely free of charge and a positive way to end the week.
Our first guest is Dr Yvonne RidleyOur first guest speaker will be joining us on Friday 5th February. Dr Yvonne Ridley is a journalist, published author, TV presenter and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She worked for several Fleet Street newspapers including The Sunday Times, The Observer, Independent on Sunday and The Daily Mirror. In 2001, she became the headlines when she was captured by the Taliban two days into an undercover mission for Express Newspapers. Few expected her to survive the ordeal but she emerged unscathed 11 days later after being released on humanitarian grounds.
In 2019, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her work seeking justice against war crimes committed against refugees and for helping Syrian women who had been brutalised and tortured in the Assad regime’s prisons. Yvonne was also involved in leaking a GCHQ document whistleblowing against the legality of the 2003 war in Iraq, which formed the plotline for the film Official Secrets released in 2019, in which Yvonne was played by Hattie Morahan.
Today she is working on a Scottish historical fiction trilogy called The Caledonians. The first title: Mr Petrie’s Apprentice was published in January 2020 to rave reviews and critical acclaim. The second title: The Sinclair Curse is coming out soon.
When she’s not writing, she spends her time giving lectures on humanitarian and women’s issues at university campuses and conferences around the world.
We are extremely lucky to have her join us and share some of her knowledge and experience.
Yvonne’s talk is entitled:
Fake News and Conspiracies; a talk by former Fleet Street journalist.
As a journalist, Yvonne is fascinated by this subject and keen to share her knowledge about fake news, how it started, who is affected by it, and, in the wake of the Capitol Hill riots, what sort of threat it can pose. Now that there's a new president in The White House will it still be as prevalent?
If you would like to join us for this fascinating session, please register your interest here.