Introduction
Good ideas come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. At Cloudaeon, we’ve found that the best ones are sourced internally from our engineering and technology teams – but sometimes the ideas get lost in busy day-to-day operations. When it comes to communicating with business stakeholders and customers in today’s global environment, it’s not good enough for us to understand our ideas.
“We must be able to communicate with clarity, purpose and sensitivity across cultures and borders.”
At Cloudaeon, we recognised a communication gap. After all, a message sent does not constitute a message received, let alone understood! To address this head on, we launched the Rising Stars Program, a dedicated programme to recognise those with leadership potential within our teams. The first module for our Q2 cohort focussed on intercultural business communication, but it turned into something much deeper… it became a way to build confidence and leadership skills too.
This six-week programme was designed to simplify complex technical concepts, understand the needs of a business audience, and effectively communicate our ideas or messages. Starting with understanding the unique challenges faced by our team and concluding in a reflective session with concrete ideas, the programme brought a new level of confidence and practical skills.
Here's a sneak peek into our exciting sessions:
Rising Star participants expressed appreciation for the collaborative and engaging nature of the sessions, highlighting the shift from traditional presentation methods to more dynamic, role-based learning. Importantly, they noted these techniques were immediately applicable and impactful in their daily communications.
They valued practical exercises like:
- Role-playing from stakeholders' perspectives
- Simplifying technical language
- The IABI presentation strategy
Key takeaways included:
- The importance of understanding stakeholders' needs
- The power of storytelling and techniques to aid comprehension
- The effectiveness of building rapport through non-work-related conversations.
In conclusion, a heartfelt thank you to Tris Burns, our Data Leadership Coach for the Rising Stars program at Cloudaeon. Tris played a vital role in transforming our team's approach to business communication. His enthusiasm and expertise were instrumental in helping the participants transition from initial shyness to comfortable communication, and provided a safe and confidential learning space.
Reflecting on the experience, Tris says "Working with the team at Cloudaeon Technology on the Rising Stars program for Simplified Business Communication was amazing. I absolutely loved getting to know the participants and helping them to discover ways to become more effective communicators with Cloudaeon's clients and partners. The members of the group were initially a little shy and quiet, but by the end of the sessions, they had made incredible progress. It was great to see them applying much of the things they'd learned in previous sessions to the activities and exercises we worked on as a group. I think these individuals managed to come a long way in a short amount of time with their stakeholder communication skills. Well done to everyone who participated!"
Our CMO, Frank Khan Sullivan, remarked “The first credit goes to our first cohort participants. This is a new programme and the first of its kind. I am so impressed with the dedication of the team, the support of the senior leadership team in sponsoring their chosen Rising Stars, and what this means for our ability as a fast-growth company to upskill and build confidence in sharing our great ideas.
