Puja Partani (Assoc CIPD)’s Post

One Year at Ardent : Reflections 🪞 Twelve months ago, I joined Ardent—a business of around 180 people—as a Senior Director and Head of Planning & Engagement services across the UK and the island of Ireland. Reflecting on the past year, here’s what stands out: 1️⃣ Embracing the SME Experience and Spirit We’re not trying to imitate our larger competitors. We’re Ardent. The SME mindset is part of our DNA—it’s about agility, identity, and a clear purpose. We stay in our own lane and dream big. 2️⃣ Walking the Walk When It Comes to Innovation Being an SME means we’re built to innovate. We don’t have layers of decision-making slowing us down. Ideas come to life quickly, and we’re not afraid to take risks or do things differently. I knew this was possible, but Ardent has shown me just how much can be achieved. 3️⃣ Values That Really Mean Something Many businesses talk about their values, but at Ardent, they’re embedded in everything we do. Our CEO, Richard Caten, has driven a culture where values are lived and inform who we recruit, what we measure, where we work, who we work for, and more. We have plans to take this to a whole new level in the future. 4️⃣ Investing in Leadership and the Concept of Leading One of the biggest surprises for me has been the investment in leadership. There’s a big focus on developing the best leadership team in our sector through coaching, group learning, and consistent development opportunities. It’s an area where SMEs are often (wrongly) perceived as lacking, but Ardent is the complete opposite—we do more, and we see the difference it makes. It has helped me grow personally. 5️⃣ A Forward-Thinking Business We don’t just know who we are—we know where we’re going. The commitment to our 2030 vision is clear, ensuring we are a business for the future, not just the present. Few businesses dare to think this way or are capable of delivering it. 👏 To everyone at Ardent—thank you for making this first year one to remember. #SME #leadership #values #innovation #growth #visionnt

Addicted to continuous learning? Yes! and loving it. Just got my certificate as a Strategist in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the London Intercultural Academy | LIA Even when you think you know... there's still much more to learn. I will implement the insights from this course on all our clients. Thank you Hadi B. for devising this platform to achieve happier workplaces. We both share this vision. 💼💼💼 Did you know? I am the founder and CEO of an HR tech startup: WhomLab 🧩 Our technology is AI-driven and BIAS-free to help managers build winning teams. Send me a DM to know how we can help you achieve your goals. #dei #leadership #business

**Sharpening the Saw: The L&D Key to Personal AND Organizational Growth 🧠⚙️** Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" includes the transformative principle of "Sharpen the Saw." It's about continuous renewal of the self – physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. But here's the twist: this principle isn't just for individuals... **Highly Effective Organizations Sharpen the Saw, Too!** 📈 How? Through a robust L&D (Learning & Development) strategy. Think about it: * **Physical Renewal:** L&D promotes well-being initiatives, ensuring employees have the energy and resilience they need to perform. 🧘♀️🍎 * **Mental Renewal:** Training programs, skill-building workshops, and knowledge sharing keep your team's minds sharp and adaptable.💡📚 * **Social Renewal:** L&D fosters collaboration, mentorship programs, and team-building activities, strengthening relationships vital to success.🤝 * **Spiritual Renewal:** Not in the religious sense, but L&D programs can connect employees to a sense of purpose, alignment with company values, and meaningful work. 🌟 **The Results? A Sustainable Competitive Edge** Organizations that invest in continuous renewal create: * **Adaptable Workforce:** Employees equipped to navigate change and embrace new challenges. 🚀 * **Innovative Culture:** Learning fosters curiosity and experimentation, driving new ideas. 💡 * **Improved Performance:** Upskilling translates to better results across all levels. 📈 * **Engaged Employees:** Feeling valued and supported boosts retention and morale. 😊 **L&D is the organization's "Sharpen the Saw" program, ensuring it remains effective and resilient in an ever-changing world.** **Do you agree? Like and share your thoughts on how continuous learning transforms both individuals and organizations! 💫** #SharpenTheSaw #LearningAndDevelopment #OrganizationalGrowth #EffectiveOrganizations #StephenCovey #7Habits #ContinuousLearning

Wrapped up my last trip to Mexico of 2024 with a wonderful dinner with our leadership team! One year ago, I took on a role I wasn’t sure I could handle—but as they say, growth doesn’t happen in your comfort zone. This year has been a journey of learning, leadership, and self-discovery. Here are some of my key takeaways from this transformative year: 🌍 Building Trust Across Cultures Navigating cultural nuances has been both a challenge and a gift. Embracing the warmth, resilience, and creativity of Mexican culture has been crucial in fostering strong relationships. Listening to understand, mutual respect, and open communication have been essential in building trust across cultures. 💡 Adaptability and Learning in Leadership It became clear early on that the leadership playbook I used in previous roles needed a refresh for this new chapter. Whether adapting to new ways of working, navigating a different political and regulatory landscape, or diving into language learning, this year taught me the importance of being agile, empathetic, and open to new ideas. 🎉 Celebrating Wins, Big and Small Working in Mexico undoubtedly comes with its complexities, but it's all worth it. It’s easy to focus only on the road ahead, but each success—no matter how small—is a hard-fought victory. We’ve made incredible progress this year, and it’s important to pause, celebrate, and then keep pushing forward. 🤝 Team Strength = Collective Success The magic happens when everyone plays to their strengths, collaborates seamlessly, and works toward a common goal. I’ve been fortunate to lead some of the most talented individuals of my career, and I’m excited to continue building a strong team culture with them. I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished in 2024, and I’m even more excited for what 2025 will bring. Muchas gracias to my team, mentors, and partners for your unwavering support, commitment, and dedication. Here’s to even greater success ahead! 🎉 #NMDPMexico #NMDP #Mexico #EndOfYear #Gratitude

🏆 Today marks a major milestone for AceUp: we’ve secured 22.5M in funding. While the number itself is exciting, what this accomplishment allows us to do next is electrifying. With the development our Team Transformation Engine® and TalentOS, we’ve built AI-powered tools that don’t just track data. They provide practical, meaningful insights that leaders can use to support their teams, drive meaningful change, and improve their bottom line. We’re continuing our mission of going beyond the typical leadership development playbook. 🚀 And we’re just getting started. We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated team, to our confident investors at Launchpad Venture Group, Techstars, Gaingels Ventures, Water Bear Ventures, and PJC (Point Judith Capital), and to our brilliant partners and advisors. 👉 Access the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/dFWERtfa Will Guillaume Foussier, Joshua Templeton, Rohit Begani, Institute of Coaching, Carol Kauffman PhD, Marshall Goldsmith, Professor Peter HAWKINS, Linda Hill, Gianpiero Petriglieri, Harvey Floyd II, Eileen Rudden, David Martirano, Michelle Randall-Berry, HR Leaders, International Coaching Federation, EMCC Global, Leadership Circle, Hogan Coaching and Consulting, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching, Renewal Associates Ltd, 100 Coaches Agency,From Day One, Harvard Business Review, Gartner, Josh Bersin Academy #HumanCenteredLeadership #LeadershipCoaching #Teams #TeamCoaching #TeamTransformation #AI #AIcoaching #EmergingTech #Leadership #Management #HR #HumanResources

Thrilled to share that AceUp has secured new funding, propelling us to the next phase of revolutionizing coaching! Huge thanks to PJC and our incredible investors for believing in our mission to make coaching accessible to everyone across organizations. When Will Guillaume Foussier first introduced me to the idea of leveraging technology to make coaching accessible to everyone across organizations, I was immediately drawn in. As an immigrant navigating a new country with limited means, I know firsthand the transformative power of a strong support system. In this sense, I have been very privileged. Over the years, we’ve scaled individual coaching across large organizations, but something was missing. Despite our success, there was a gap between individual growth and organizational goals. This led us to create our AI-powered Team Transformation Engine—designed to drive change not only for individuals but for the entire ecosystem they operate in. Today, this solution is being deployed globally with Fortune 500 companies, bridging the gap between teams and organizational goals through personalized, scalable coaching. Our internal innovation hub, AceUp Labs, continues to push boundaries by experimenting with novel solutions that deliver coaching and awareness in-context, personalized to the individual, and aligned with organizational objectives. With this new funding, we’ll bring these innovations to market, democratizing equitable access to coaching and enabling real-time feedback across organizations. We’re breaking down silos and personalizing the drivers of transformation across teams and individuals—ensuring coaching is delivered in the flow of work. And we’re just getting started. As we scale, we’re looking for top talent to join our journey! We’re hiring across the board in Product and Engineering. If you’re passionate about using AI to transform how people learn and grow, reach out! I’m beyond excited to be leading the AI revolution in coaching and learning and can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish next. Join us as we transform how individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their full potential! #AI #Coaching #Leadership #TeamTransformation #SeriesA #Innovation #AceUp

🕰️ Outdated and forgettable. Not the words you want your people to describe their workplace. 🚀 If you want your best people to feel seen and valued, you gotta keep up with the times. Thousands of organisations have already implemented this modern approach to recognising talent. That's why Exceed Excellence has partnered with Credly to create our very own digital credentials! With our digital badges, you can: 🎯 Showcase commitment to growth 🎯 Attract talent seeking rewarding careers 🎯 Boost morale and motivation 🎯 Encourage continuous learning 🎯 Keep workforce future-proof 🎯 Enable smarter talent allocation Click https://bit.ly/4a52gxa to explore digital badging for your team now! 🤔 Do you think continuous learning is crucial for success? Share your thoughts in the comments! #EmployeeRecognition #EmployeeRetention #TalentManagement #EmployeeEngagement #Leadership #HumanResources #Credly

I’m sitting on my train, reflecting on a brilliant few days with my colleagues at Defankle Innovation, delivering the Innovation Academy with Scottish Enterprise. I’m loving my visits to Scotland! This week’s retreat has been a vibrant opportunity to discuss culture, process, design and disruptive innovation, finance, funding and IP, amongst many other things. It was terrific to see the delegate companies' work come together in the pitch session. The brilliance of these meetings is a lot to do with the companies involved who go headlong into the creative thinking process and make it collaborative and fun. And as Colin Meager said, lots of opportunities to make friends. I certainly feel like I did! I have so many conversations swirling around my head! But perhaps my favourite bit was a really frank, open and valuable discussion on how strong feedback cultures are critical for innovation, and what they should include. Ideas the group contributed included: 🗣️ Try and remove your own biases from the feedback process (it’s hard!) 🗣️ Be honest 🗣️ Consider the timing of your feedback 🗣️ Aim to give feedback little and often, make it routine and don’t wait for year end 🗣️ As a leader, model behaviours of seeking feedback 🗣️ Feedback should be actionable 🗣️ Follow up is important – if someone gives you feedback, let them know what you did with it 🗣️ If you see an opportunity, recognise a person’s strengths. I also add: 🗣️ Caring for the other person is important and that care can be demonstrated by honesty 🗣️ When done well, feedback culture contributes to psychological safety – which is not abut being nice all the time, but is about being kind and honest. Until next time, Dundee! #feedback #innovation #leadership #sme Paul Cross Abigail Hird Laura Hay Tony Doherty Dave Holt Deborah Maxwell

Being lucky enough to work with some of the best innovators, problem solvers, sponsors and friends on the worlds most challenging issues is a privilege. So I’ve bullied them into letting me embarrassingly thank them in public and shine a light on their amazing work. First up is an absolute legend of a man and one of my favourite corridor jumping partners - Keith McCambridge a partner based in London and Head of the People and Organisational Performance capability for Europe. Here’s what he said about the issues affecting his clients and what excites him about the future. ____ “Clients are grappling with the challenges of accelerating change, emphasising the importance of continuous learning and the shift in leadership from knowing to enabling others. My passion for this industry stems from the belief that organisations are fundamentally about people; even the best strategies or technologies fall flat without a unified, focused, skilled, and energised workforce. Advances in technology and AI now allow us to gain insights into the human condition that were previously unimaginable. Looking ahead, I am excited about the potential to leverage technology to diagnose whether culture is either enabling or disabling performance in organizations. Our ability to now align and optimize performance culture in the service of a chosen strategy is powerful, especially in those moments when our clients are choosing for forced to transform. Outside of work, I cherish my family and friends, who continually teach me. I was diagnosed late in life with ADHD, which fuels my love for adventure, whether it's riding motorbikes or embarking on desert expeditions, as I constantly seek to learn and discover new experiences.” #OliverWyman #Consulting #Leadership #LeadersofOW

How do you make sure your #team can effectively work on the team mission? Well, you can empower the team. The corporate rebels have crafted a masterpiece that gives guidance on possible changes you could implement to build a more progressive organisation. I've been following their blog for quite some time and finally read their book on my flight back home from #AACR2024. Really a nice compilation. In my team, we have been working in a #rebellious way from the beginning, with more and more progressive forms of work over time. I personally think that this was the secret sauce of the success of the #PROxAb Shuttle project. So how are we working? - #democratic #decision #making for major decisions where we try to reach consensus. - I tried to move more and more to #supportive #leadership. I have excellent scientists in my team. Hence, they have their own responsibilities e.g. to drive certain parts of the project. I am there for advice as needed. - #upskilling. everyone in the core team can do everything. I try to make sure that we are all in a situation where we can do the tasks of the others to ensure a high speed. - budget #ownership. We discussed in the team what we would like to achieve with the given budget and needed no additional approval. Every 2-3 months we did a budget review in the team so that we knew how our financials developed. This feeds into the next point: - high level of #transparency. Any decisions are explained and all the reasons for the decision are disclosed. - we #distribute #tasks based on interests. This way we leverage our strengths. Here a couple of additional examples of our working style: - we have a #rapidprototyping mentality. This #failforward approach brings along reasonable handling of mistakes. Obviously, we can always do better. Aside from many already implemented learnings of the #corporaterebels and many others, I got to know one key aspect: keep experimenting. A couple of experiments in my head: - walking brainstorming meeting. There's scientific evidence that walking activates your brain. - and my favourite one: assign more budget control to the team. One example: let's assume we have 20 k€ of budget not assigned to specific activities (to pay e.g. our CROs). Everyone in the team gets access to a fair share of the 50 k€ (fantasy number). Then the team members may fully autonomously decide what to do with the money (work related of course). Spend it on their super cool, innovative idea? Or use it to accelerate their own project by additional activities at a CRO? I would be so excited to see what happens 😁 Let's see if we can keep this momentum in times of change. #makeworkmorefun #progressive #modernwaysofworking #newwork Thanks goes to Michaela Fesenfeld Hendrik Schneider Andrea Geist Sebastian Jäger Nicolas Rasche Christian Schroeter Dr. Doreen K. aaaaaaaand Corporate Rebels for making work fun 😊