Ivan Gladkow: Are your staff AI Literate or AI Capable?

speaker-0: Welcome to Talent Talks by Be Impact, the podcast where we speak with leaders across professional services, technology, and consulting about what it really takes to attract, grow, and retain top talent. I'm your host, Julian Bushmas, the CEO and co-founder of Be Impact. And our software enables employees to teach what they've learned to teams and nonprofits and startups because we believe teaching is not only the best way to learn, it's also the best way to create, or as we say, To be impact. And in each episode, we explore how firms are rethinking development, leadership, and culture, and what it takes to build teams that stay and thrive. And today I'm joined by Ivan Gladkov, head of enterprise sector at SPS in the UK and Ireland. And what stood out to me about Ivan's story is how early he was thrown into the leadership game, managing teams before he had ever had any formal management training. How much that shaped his belief that people grow fastest when they are trusted, when they're coached and stretched in the real world. And Ivan's great guest for today's show because he spent nearly two decades turning strategy into execution, running large PLs, leading digital and operational transformation, and mentoring people across very different backgrounds. And he's also seeing firsthand how leadership, culture, and talent. Are being reshaped by automation and AI in large complex organizations. And today, as always, will be a relaxed, practical conversation and we will cover four parts culture, employee development in the AI transition, purpose and impact, and then a quick fire at the end. So, Ivan, to get us started, tell us a little bit about your journey to where you are now. ⁓ and maybe what's the one line of your role today and what are you focused on this year?

speaker-1: Sure, hi, thanks for inviting me along. So a bit about me, I'm from a large family. I'm one of five children, a multicultural background with a Russian father and a British mother. Again. heavily into sports and big friendship groups and so on and so forth. I started out my career as a lot of people did following university on a graduate scheme. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do so this scheme enabled ⁓ me to experience different types of role in a relatively safe environment trying different positions in different locations which was fantastic so I got great exposure from day one. with a lot of training and investment in me and us as graduates. I started out as Julian mentioned earlier, I started out in a management role, a team leader role, from as soon as I finished university. So I was thrown in the deep end and was supported with managers and leaders but not with formal training before getting to know a team and managing them. So that was certainly a steep learning curve. And then again, my development learning continued in that type of trajectory. So I was eager to learn as much as possible and learn from other people. I think that's standing me a good stead for getting me to where I am today. In terms of one line of what I do, I suppose the easiest way is I run or manage a business on behalf of a business. All aspects that you would think of running a business.

speaker-0: Fantastic. And what's the focus in two thousand twenty six?

speaker-1: ⁓ Growth, retention and client satisfaction are all jostling for position as the most important strategic objective.

speaker-0: Fantastic. And then let's move right into your company culture or the way that that you see the the business. When when you think about your career or the teams that you manage, ⁓ what kind of behaviors do you value ⁓ as a leader? Within your teams, within the people that you're working with. What is important to you essentially?

speaker-1: Sure, there's lots of things that are important, but I suppose the thing that sticks out is people that are willing to learn, willing to try new things, to adapt to change, as if all environments were ever changing. So those people who are saying, yes, I'll take on that new challenge, I'll roll with the punches, I will happily learn more and do new things, seem to be the people that are most successful along the way. And that's regardless of the different levels of people that I've

speaker-0: Mm.

speaker-1: led over the years.

speaker-0: Now culture is also always a bit not necessarily defined by what's written in the in the employee book, let's say, or on the website. It's more like what what's rewarded on a day to day and and and and how does this challenge. What are the small things or the big things that are informally rewarded in in your teams that you're working with? Beyond like might be similar to what you just said, but ⁓ how how does that show up in in on a day to day essentially?

speaker-1: Sure, and I totally agree. I companies have a published mission statement or culture saying this is how we operate. But then really working for the organization is really seeing what it's like. Our organization, which I'm thankful to be part of, is very people-orientated. it's easy for people to say that. It's only when you experience it. It is about doing the right thing and people being rewarded. And I'm talking about rewarding being a pat on the back and a well done. then there's more formal recognition of awards and promotions and money but just people acknowledging you're right that is the right thing to do this is how we should treat this person or this is what we should do for the customer so it seems quite basic and simple but doing the right thing is the culture within our organization and I think we're able to have a small company culture in a large organization. And it really feels like that. It feels like a small organization.

speaker-0: Hmm. And you as a senior leader, what what do you do personally maybe to motivate your peers or to set the the right tone for how people show up at work? Is there some small rituals that you have or some certain characteristic that that you'll be like, okay, this is this is how I'm I'm getting this done?

speaker-1: tried to remember what it was like when I was just starting out in my career and it seems quite moralistic in terms of treat others how you wish to be treated and you weren't always treated in the way that you wanted to be treated but now if you're in a position of power or responsibility you have a chance to do the right thing and therefore treating people how you want to be treated is I think the number one thing I try to put into everything I do when I turn up. I would like to be told I'm right. to be told you could have done that a bit better fine I would love to hear feedback so so trying as a concept just trying to treat people fairly but but treating people how I wish to be treated seems to be appreciated by others.

speaker-0: Yeah, makes a lot of sense.

speaker-1: Simple things maybe, simple context.

speaker-0: you've also been leading teams then for a long time, I guess, in different sizes and in different shapes there. How do you spot a high performer early? What do they do differently in their first six to twelve months?

speaker-1: I think ⁓ again this is difficult when we're talking about different levels of team because at the most basic level teams are assessed in a kind of a quantity and qualitative approach to their outputs which is quite simplistic whereas as you get more senior I think people judge on their results rather than how they do the detail of achieving them so that's quite difficult to do but across the board do we achieving their number one objective of doing their job whatever that may well be. So you've got to do that job well first of all but then it's what you do on top of that. It's asking for more, it's doing more, it's wanting to learn about your boss's job or your boss's boss's job, it's wanting to learn and being open to hearing about things equally feedback as well. ⁓ just waiting for a pat on the back saying you've done really well, great. But I also want someone to be picky and tell me, right, you're happy with my work, what else could I do though? To be better, pushing that envelope, if you like. They're the people that at any level when they're showing those type of signs, that's what I'm looking out for and saying, right, okay, that's one to watch.

speaker-0: Yeah. Okay, fantastic. And now we've identified somebody to watch, and they're doing great in their current roles. And now they climbing up the ladder, as you might wanna wanna say, especially from junior to maybe more senior roles. Where do you see the biggest danger? Or not necessarily danger, but where where where where are people mostly challenged when it comes to stepping up ⁓ essentially in in their roles?

speaker-1: Yeah that's good one, it's tough to answer but throughout my career watching these rising styles and these high performers, self-awareness is a really really important thing to have because it opens up so many other doors for development and progression. Knowing where you are asking for feedback, understanding what the perception of you is, what the reality is, what you think you're good at, identifying those blind spots. Those are really key because you're not always as good at something as you think you are unless everybody else agrees that you're good at it. So being self-aware and aware of people's perception of you is really important, especially for high-fives who seem to progress very quickly, you can suddenly find yourself out of depth and if you are... not performing you need to know about that so that you can do something about it so yes probably no

speaker-0: Yeah, the self-awareness. I I I like that. And it's a been it's basically opening up yourself to to grow and to develop and accepting that you're probably not just there yet, ever.

speaker-1: I think when you're there on number of different levels or capacities or different areas, you can always do a bit better. So if you're doing very well generally, would think, what about the next step? You can do a little bit better and learn from others so not to be closed off. Learning doesn't finish in 44 in a relatively senior role and learning doesn't finish here. Discover new things all the time.

speaker-0: In twenty twenty-six, is there something that changed from the employee perspective, what they're wanting from their employers?

speaker-1: 2026, maybe 2026 or more recent than the last couple of years, there seems to be a shift not just on salaries, people always want more money and that's fine, that's understandable, but working environment, the culture, flexibility with work, the hybrid working is definitely the mega trend that people are talking about in fixed business, but these... what used to be ancillary perks or benefits seem to be quite core to people now. The value of the organization, the how, the how that you do things seems to be very important people. People want to know they're working for an employer who care about them and or care about their customers or what have you or their impact on society. And I think that's where people are kind of shifting and why people like tech firms as well because they're a bit more flexible and they want to benefit the community. So I think there's... There's a shift over the last couple of years that people are looking for more in their employer.

speaker-0: And if you could change one thing about how people experience work in your organization today, w what would that be and why?

speaker-1: Flexibility ⁓ remains a conversation because of COVID and the hangover of COVID where everybody was able to work from home, within reason, work from home permanently and there is a shift in a lot of organisations, a lot of industries back to the office. whatever people are experiencing, five days a week, three days a week, must be Monday and Wednesday. So people are still hanging on to that flexibility and that the benefit of being able to work from home. So that seems to be quite a key area that people are focused on. So I think for 2026 that will continue to be something that people are discussing.

speaker-0: Hmm. And then in our intro conversation, you mentioned that learning by doing, mentoring, and being thrown into responsibility quite early on in your own career. and how that naturally leads maybe to the bigger question for us to discuss today, which is how you help more people get there faster, especially those with huge potential who just need the right structure and practice. ⁓ which means we can talk a little bit about ⁓ employee. development now and Most firms they are trying ⁓ of course to to to ⁓ help people move faster, ⁓ but it's also about less time but then at the same time also higher expectations. What what are you guys already doing today to help people learn and grow ⁓ in in in when they join your company or as they progress through their through their career?

speaker-1: Yeah, that's a very, you know, broad question because learning is so big and different people require different things and levels and so on and so forth. Mandatory training that we all have to undertake. Trying to make that fun is a challenge because we all have to do it. You're told you need to do it.

speaker-0: How formal versus informal is training? ⁓ when you say you have mandatory training, ⁓ if you if you had to give like a percentage to it ⁓ f throughout the your your employee years, how much of that is formalized and how much is that my own initiative, like you know, the self awareness we talked earlier about that says, Okay, I would like to to get some support there.

speaker-1: Yeah, mean the form of forced, mandatory training is relatively small in comparison to in my experience, but that's that minimum requirement that everyone must achieve, know, IT security, manual handling potentially. These are small elements that are important that need to be done. But that's where it stops for people who don't want anymore. So that's they need, so that can be a small element. And those people who want to progress, want to do more, want to learn, to your point that's where that element of training becomes a bigger part of your life and career because you're constantly pushing. Now the mix of that training and development that's what can be very very different for people and I think getting the right mix is important. Online training has its place ⁓ but remembering that training and putting into practice I think can sometimes be lost quite quickly after you've finished your training. Right done it I can move on forget about that. So I think there is a real important place for in-person training, not on that. In groups sometimes. Practical learning I think is really, really important. How do you learn about what your boss does better than your boss showing you and telling you and exposing you to that training? This is a proper day in the life of.

speaker-0: So and that means also having training across different seniorities. So it's not just I don't know, the training for the juniors or the training for the seniors. is that is that lived in practice today?

speaker-1: Absolutely and that's what's good and I suppose in the organisation I work with today I have influence upon that. I see what we do and listening to what our employees are saying about what works and what doesn't work. mean the leadership team can sit around the table and say we think that should be done this way but you're making a decision on behalf of the employees and different levels of employees and bearing that in mind is difficult sometimes and importantly. courses some people require different training and different forms and that's really difficult in exploring what people need and what they like so it's difficult balance.

speaker-0: I'm conscious that you might have given some of these answers already, but if if you could summarize for you, where where does development work well today and where does it fall short?

speaker-1: I think time and money are factors that are at play here, depending on what organization you work for in terms of how much money you have, who you're owned by, if you're in a private equity and where you are in a cycle, these are all important things because money is often required, especially for external planning. Time is the other thing. because you can offer training, but when you also require your employees to do the job that they're paid for, they start saying, well, can I do the training within working hours? So now if you put a large team or everyone within a team on a training session that you give them working hours to do, then they're not as productive because they're not doing the work. So balancing, are you happy to do training but outside of working hours? And so this is a challenge as well when you say, yeah, let's give training to everybody. all the same training ⁓ it takes away from the day job which is ultimately paid to do. timing and money are big factors at play when we're about training.

speaker-0: That that ties perfectly into the next convers well question that I had. And it is really this. It's in one way, how do you see that the training is successful? Like in and in that sense, how do you defend a budget for training? When at the same time we do talk about the the the time ⁓ that people need to spend on it. And ⁓ every time spent on training in that sense is also basically part of the budget or then than money spent, especially ⁓ in this podcast we talk a lot in professional services. It's it's often billable hours, so it's time educated to a to a project. ⁓ which also needs to have some form of return on an on investment. How how do you view a success in a in a in a training? Is the how how would you measure it in in that way? But then also are there any current regulations or rules within the teams that you experienced throughout your career or right now that protect that time and say, okay, if ⁓ if Ivan and Julian spend time training now on this because we identified that that is a need, ultimately they should be able to do their job better, faster, more confident, more secure. I don't know, ⁓ whatever we wanna look at, ⁓ that then hopefully would I guess protect that time. And I think it's protecting that time that where it where the where it often falls short in many programs and in many ⁓ businesses that I'm looking at.

speaker-1: Sure, so in terms of training and return on investment and know whether the training's been successful, ⁓ I think you can tell straight away as soon as you finish the training and whether people are implementing some of those learnings, one of those learnings straight away the next day, that's when it's successful. So in a nutshell, that's the high level point is as people come out and say, ⁓ my God, that's changed my world, tomorrow I'm gonna do this differently. then already you won. Now how to prove that, substantiate that, the return on investment element, that can be more complex. And funny enough, I implemented training in external organization, let's just call it soft skills. Soft skills, particularly focused towards negotiation. the introduction from the external providers about ROI on it. And it was a bit fluffy. and it wasn't very clear and I was the only part I wasn't convinced about but we went ahead with it anyway. The training was fantastic, the impact on the team that went on it, was senior managers and above that went on it and the impact was immediate straight away the next day people were already implementing the learnings which is my point about knowing of success but we did a wash up and I circle back around and had a call with all of the people who have been on it and said, right, talking about return on investment, what have you done that maybe has had a financial reward for our organization, because it cost a fair amount of money? Each, let's say, nearly three quarters more of the people were able to give an example of how they did something in that week, only a week, that saved multiple times the amount of money we spent per head. And that was impressive. Exactly and that was where we knew not just in behavioural impact but financial.

speaker-0: And on on on on the flip side, so I I'm going to a lot of conferences with L and D managers and and they always there's always a big discussion, how do I tell my boss that or the board or thing that there is this return on investment? So I I I I like that practical question that you just put in, which is ask them afterwards on that. But is that is that Is that just one example or do you guys have formalized that? So let's say you you with the next external training provider you're working with, is that an ⁓ a a standard question that just comes into the the questionnaire for the evaluation of that?

speaker-1: Yeah, it's always something we're looking at in business. Every business decision we are weighing up the untangibles and then the financial impacts. We always are. It's money being spent that could either be in profit or directed in another area. So it's always important. think... We have a whole training academy, know, send you a function and look after training. But as I said about the organization where we are able to influence and bringing ideas about what I feel my team or our team's needs from an account management perspective. And that's why people are able to flexibly look at these things and things think what would work best. But we would always look at return investment. There's some things aren't always as clear. And to your second question, you know, coming back to finding the time, did it benefit their job? This is the way up. Will it benefit their job tomorrow and make them more efficient? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The return is much longer. It's mainly closer to retention because the employee is just feeling valued. by us investing time and money in them and makes them more motivated the next day to do their job better. But it's not potentially directly related to whatever the training course was, it's just the fact that you feel valued. then we have a training scheme called the Employee Development Programme and the Manager Development Programme where they were interviewed and selected to be on this, think of it like a graduate scheme in an organisation. to get onto it and I remember someone who said, ⁓ I got on the scheme, I feel valued already just getting on the scheme.

speaker-0: The scheme. I like that. Yeah, it makes it makes a lot of sense. It ⁓ it does make a lot of sense. We all Yeah, we all want to feel valued and appreciated, I guess, in that way. And recognized. I guess it's recognition and and and

speaker-1: Yeah, and think that's interesting. Sometimes the manager training, you're forced to go on, you don't have an option and say, I would like to learn something in this area that you're offering and can I do it? Yes, we can. It's not for everything, but you can do it.

speaker-0: And I had somebody on the on the on the podcast that also spoke about that they that they in their communication when they bring in a new program, they limit the spaces and they kind of make it exclusive. Not not because it is exclusive or because of that as planned, but it makes the people feel basically better. So in in case they would have more applications that they can give out, they would extend the program and be like, ⁓ we we brought you in, but essentially just saying that it's exclusive. they get more applications for it and then the people that are on it are also more happy on going through with it. So instead of buying basically licenses for everyone, they were just like, No, ⁓ we have ten spots, twenty spots, first come, first serve, or I don't know, depending what challenge you put on that. It was very interesting to see.

speaker-1: The psychological impact of that, as you say, about being valued, that's what we talking about earlier, retention, ultimately retention and talent. Small times, you know, retention, again, it comes about money. I don't think it's dirty words to talk about, okay? People want them, people leave sometimes for money, sometimes for the right, sometimes wrong. And you've got to see the bigger picture. And I had opportunities over the years to move if I wanted, but the value of, I know how much time and effort people have put into me they value me they've invested in me yeah you know maybe it'll be a later on down the line that I'll change job but at the moment I'm getting so much from this organization and that value is a real thing and you ask people in an organization

speaker-0: No, absolutely. I want to look a bit in the future or in the right now, which sometimes feels a bit we are in the future essentially. ⁓ looking ahead two four or three years, ⁓ what do you think will matter what skills will will matter more than they do today? And what's driving that shift?

speaker-1: This is the time for the buzzword, isn't it? The AI buzzword ⁓ is everywhere in every conversation I'm having with clients inside the organization with our employees. We may as well just nearly tick this one off. it's important. ⁓ It's in our everyday lives. are ⁓ whatever chat you do, whatever your preference, are using it your everyday life. Now that it's mainstream, then it needs to be applied at work. Thankfully we work with AI for our customer solutions, but we're also looking and telling us how can we make our employees more efficient. I think that's the key is supporting people in their work, applying it at the right time and not just blankly saying let's just get AI to do all of our work and trust it. AI is the big thing, but I think what people are missing is the soft skills, people elements to all of this. So where automation, where technology can support certain roles and tasks, that's great. But where people as humans are still involved in the chain, be it purchasing, selling, it doesn't do all of that for you yet. And therefore those soft skills, this human interactions, these are really, really important. And I don't think we should be sighted that. And even when we're talking about a very complex situation of technology and how fast it's evolving, being able to articulate that and explain it to people or teach people about it becomes even more important because if not, people just get lost and left behind. So I think remain human interaction and those soft skills are going to be key alongside technology.

speaker-0: I think we we we agree on that or share share that kind of view on that ⁓ and and it's also a shift of calling soft skills, I guess now human skills, ⁓ to differentiate further from the machine, let's say in that end. And ⁓ how is AI already changing the work in your teams today, even if it's in in in small ways, then and and where do you think your organization is? on the on a on a spectrum where you on the AI journey, let's say we have curious experimenting, ⁓ starting to scale and and scaling, just to get a bit of a feeling and understanding where organizations are today.

speaker-1: Yeah, we are using it now. We've implemented the policies structure behind things around what's our preferred ⁓ AI tool that's safe and secure for our organization so that we can use our information as confidential and not put it in the ⁓ ether so people can see it. So I think that's important to have those structures and security around it first, which we have, and now we're actively applying it. we are applying to our day jobs to make us more efficient. As I talked about, efficiency, that's how you should use it, in my opinion. Making our outputs a better quality, so improving emails we've written, the RFP responses, improving what we've written and not getting it done for us. Making our time more efficient, also by speeding up. processes, the work that we're doing by applying AI and other softwares. So that's also important and freeing up time for us to do the other bits that AI can't do, which again is our customer interactions and team interactions, doing more face-to-face things. We talked about development and making sure our employees are happy and spending time with their customers to understand what they need. So that's just freeing up more of our time to put our efforts into the right places.

speaker-0: What are the biggest blockers you experience? Is it ⁓ skills on using it? Is it trust and risk, which seems to maybe be in out of the way now for the for the policies? Is it data quality or what you put in, put out, or or maybe lack of time of experimenting more with that? Do you see any of those?

speaker-1: Absolutely, mean all of the above really but it depends on the people and what the job role is and their appetite to change and their aspirations. So we talked about those people who are in a job and they've done their mandatory training or what haven't they're happy doing their job and that's fine. We need people to just want to carry on do their job that they're good at. Other people who are looking to progress they need different skills, they need different training. That's what's difficult to assess what people need across the base. But being open to change is probably the most fundamental thing. There is something new out there. Do you want to learn about it? Yes, I do. So making that step, then comes the complexities of being taught something and learning something else and being able to put all these different learnings together or technology sometimes and then applying the right tool. So the option, so really knowing about what's going on. is really key and you have to have people who are curious and interested so you can tell them about what they're AI champions, champions, performance improvement champions, can call it whatever you will. Some things are process, some things application of technology but it's all the same mindset around

speaker-0: And they can bring others on

speaker-1: being open to understand what's going on and then understanding what works well for your role or for your ambitions and applying that when necessary.

speaker-0: So so looking ahead six to twelve months now for most teams, what what should they prioritize? Spending time with the tool, spending time on training, finding clear use cases, doing more on the governance side of things? or is it maybe for the leader themselves to to change their habit ⁓ and lead by example?

speaker-1: Yeah, think governance and structure, especially in organization or complex large organization is necessary to make sure people aren't just going off doing whatever they want that isn't in a safe and secure way. And in an age or an organization where data is and data security is paramount, I think there's maybe a progression. There's steps that need to be followed and that's where that structure and governance and security comes first. And then it's guidance and... learning again for the different people with different types of training and development that people need. So giving them options but also giving them guidance around this might be more relevant to what you're doing, you might want to look at this first even if you think you want to be doing that. So let's just you know take baby steps and understand more about what doing. ⁓ But all of the other things she said as well are necessary. ⁓

speaker-0: Yeah. Have you across came across already yet an AI champion in in in the ⁓ in in the in the organization that were like, ⁓ wow, Ivan, look, I built this. ⁓ have a look at that. ⁓ that that's that's what we could do.

speaker-1: I think we're lucky. Yes, three people come to mind straight away. One's an architect, one's UK head of solution design, and one's the global head of solution design. All of these people are constantly pushing the envelope. So whilst we're getting used to ⁓ something that's, they'll probably consider fairly basic and has been around for a long time. Then a number of us will say, ⁓ it's only brand new and we're getting used to it. So yes, there are people that are... They would blow my mind when I talk to them about what's up and coming and what large language models can do these days and we're just doing what's on. Some people are even calling AI but it's really just automation. And people just using the buzzword and throwing it out there without really understanding the difference between the two and what things can do. But yeah, we're lucky, but we're depending on how you define our organization, technology company, data company. ⁓ We're lucky that we have these people ⁓ that are supporting us in our solutions.

speaker-0: Fantastic. but that also means that most people today I guess are not just there yet. And I think what we talk about is the difference between being AI literate and genuinai capable, I guess. Or which means more like did you come across those words and ⁓ how to define them on your in your in your way?

speaker-1: Yeah, I think so. yeah, getting to know, just being aware of AI, again, it's quite broad around what that means. But as I said, in our everyday usage now, we're aware of that element of AI. But there are so many different tools out there that is changing so quickly. To keep abreast of the changes is difficult. But then it's about understanding what's out there in all their different capacities, all these different applications that can be used and picking the right one for what you need, which again comes back to being open and understanding about what's out there. then, I think that's probably for me the difference between I I litter and AI capable. So you understand how then you're open to using it and do it, but truly understanding all of the different types and then being able to select like a tool belt if you like and selecting the tool belt for the right problem and even identifying the problem which isn't going do with AI, but understanding what you need to achieve and then understanding whether it's a people, process or technology solution that you're looking for, a combination of the three normally.

speaker-0: No, that makes that makes a lot of sense. And if you had then to name one meta skill that makes all others work better, what would it be and why?

speaker-1: Adaptability again encompasses that being open, understanding different things, being willing, but adapting to how the world changes. And it won't just be ⁓ this new shift on AI at the moment. There's going to be another shift soon again and another one. So you're always met with different changes and it's whether you embrace this change and adapt to that you'll be successful and if you are the laggard, the last mover then you're going to be left behind and it could be anything that you left behind so yeah so keeping abreast of these changes and that's what we talked about learning if you stop learning I know it's a bit of a cliche but if you're not willing to jump in and understand about something new then you might be the person left behind as the only one not willing to learn and then it's too late.

speaker-0: Have you thought about then already formalizing this kind of new way of training or moving people from literacy to capability essentially through practice, peer learning? We talked about it, mentoring. are there things in place now that you that you guys thinking about how to how to roll that out from the three ⁓ people you mentioned to the rest?

speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely. And that's what we're doing currently. So I mentioned earlier about the EDP, MDP schemes, management development program, employee development program. And part of, we also give them a project so they have learning with themselves. But they are on a project also. And we focus them on AI and AI learning and what people need. So I've already seen, you know, they did a survey actually about the sense of everybody and said, you know. 15, 16 questions, you can just give us your insights and your thoughts completely anonymous. Just about what you need, how comfortable you are with it, what you think you require. So they're actively gathering so that we can do more, but we've already put ⁓ groups of employees on an AI training program as an externally run one. so that they're up skilled to be able to support the work that they're doing today. So we're doing that but we're discussed all of the time in our leadership meetings around what we should be doing, ⁓ what can we do, how do we support our employees, how do we make sure that we are pushing the envelope and that we aren't left behind because a lot of organisations talk about doing things. and AI and being AI capable, but that's where it stops and it does require the time, the effort and the money to go behind in doing this, what are our actions and executing all the things that we discussed.

speaker-0: ⁓ we made it. ⁓ Yeah, no. Well fantastic to hear that there's a lot of movement already in in in your end. ⁓ I wanna shift the conversation now a little bit to purpose and impact, essentially. Also some of the things that of course in on on our mind and we talked earlier already a little bit about when it comes to retention or that well, money is really important, but it's also more the the values, I guess, within the business and ⁓ how it's lived. When you hear the words purpose, social value, social impact. What do they mean in practice to you?

speaker-1: Yeah, and it comes back to something else talking about kind of responsibility. Yeah. When you've moved up an organization and you have more influence on the organization. I think this is where it comes back to where you feel you have a responsibility and therefore you have a responsibility to give back essentially to society where you can. So we employ people, we deliver service or solution. That's great. We are an organization. So we are trying to make money as well, but doing so in a responsible way and therefore also helping the community that we're operating in. Everybody's part of their own community, so what can we give back and what can we do? And we're really getting a lot better. I think we were maybe slow. in adopting this, say five years ago, but in the last five years we've made fantastic progress, not just in our diversity and inclusion groups and understanding about what our employees do outside of work, what they're involved in, but also again supporting people into the workforce. work with a charity, Central London Borough, it was actually a charity I worked with a long time ago, that help people with mental disabilities. ⁓ get work experience because people in the community are struggling to get a job. It's very competitive out there and if you have dyslexia, if you have autism, ADHD, sometimes the traditional interviews just aren't accessible to people. and they don't have experience also to rely upon on their CV so they can't get one without the other how are they going to get job so we're actively working with charities we're able to support learning and apprenticeships and so on so forth so we're doing a lot better at it and I'm glad we are because it's the right thing to it sounds simple but it is the right thing to do and when we can we should do it.

speaker-0: And how does that relationship with these non profits work? Is it selected basically by the by the by the employees that say, Okay, this is the nonprofit we want to work for this year? Or was it ⁓ how does that come about and then what's the relationship with the nonprofit? Is it are you guys mostly involved with providing donation or how or you basically take also the interviews from the from from those employees ⁓ or from those people in the program to to to do internships with you guys?

speaker-1: Yeah, well, we work with different charities and we try and raise money for different charities doing different corporate events and cake-offs and so on and so forth with different charities. Because of the divesting groups that we have, they also run their own schemes to make money and impact whichever group they're looking to support, be it mental health, be it women at work, it so on and so forth. There's lots of them. So we do different things with charities, but also as said this one was slightly different because it wasn't just about giving money, it's about giving time, it's giving knowledge, it's giving access to our organisation. So this particular organisation we select sites in conjunction with the charity to select the right support network and the right team. to have these often young people with disabilities coming in to get work experience. And our people, it comes back to our people, our people are fantastic because we can come up with a concept and say we'd like to work with someone but the employees in our organisation are the people often that are doing the doing. after we've said we'll work with the charity, they support these young people at work every day. Sometimes you have situations where they're not looking after themselves in terms of cleanliness and so on and so forth. And our employees are just going, you know, extra steps and saying, oh, I bought in a towel and soap and stuff that they can show at work. I've bought in a tie for them. Oh, my son's roughly the same size. I've bought in a shirt for them to wear. So they've got two shirts. They're these little things that you don't realise.

speaker-0: Yeah.

speaker-1: But that's our employees really doing the real world stuff after we've agreed to work with Genity. But so we go through a process to make sure that these people are in the right place that we can support and we can give them the experience. ⁓ we get a lot back from it as well. Amazing.

speaker-0: And do you see a link between meaningful contribution engagement, performance, or even retention then with the with the employees as you as the company went through that change maybe in the last five years?

speaker-1: I think our attention ⁓ has been pretty good, even over the last five years. I don't think it's something we've suffered with and I hope that's down to the culture of the organisation. But I think therefore it just compounds it with what we're doing these days. So I can't really answer it definitely around whether it's...

speaker-0: The

speaker-1: impacted the retention rates even further. But I just know from feedback from employees, from people, from the teams that just say, ⁓ we love doing it, we love supporting them, they're proud that we are helping them support other people. It's just providing that facility to it. So they maybe didn't have the idea of can I work with this charity, can I bring people in? But when the opportunity is there, they grab hold of it. and they get the benefit out of it as well and they like to help people. it's down to, again, the culture of people wanting to do more. And I think that does help them feel even more valued in the community because they know they're doing a good thing and they're helping out. And also they can bring new ideas to the table. I think that helps them say, hey, I've got a new idea. Can I bring that to the table? And we can say, yeah, let's discuss it.

speaker-0: Yeah, I really I really like the last bit of bringing us a new perspective. No. It's always good to just look outside of your day to day in in what's happening. ⁓

speaker-1: And I think that's good leaders are if you listen. ⁓ Being a leader doesn't mean that you have all the best ideas and all of the answers. It's about listening to the contributions that everybody has and say, that's a great idea. You're a specialist here. Diversity of thought. We're all different and therefore you've got a different idea. So embracing that is, I think, fundamental to everything we do.

speaker-0: And with that, I think we can move to our last part, which is our quick fire. So short answers are perfect. It can be a word, it can be a one sentence. ⁓ Just shoot, essentially. What do great leaders do more than anyone else?

speaker-1: ⁓ well that's good, because that's what I was implying before. I think listening, I think that's probably bit odd, but listening to what's going on around them, to specialists, people.

speaker-0: What's one talent mistake organizations keep making?

speaker-1: online learning.

speaker-0: What's the biggest leadership mistake you've made? And what did it teach you?

speaker-1: not being self-aware enough. you know, failed, people have got the wrong perception of me, I've come across in the wrong way, it's hindered me, I've had feedback around that was a mistake. that's absolutely the one thing and that's what we were discussing before. So yeah, self-awareness and being open to feedback.

speaker-0: What's one thing you would stop doing in employee development tomorrow?

speaker-1: forcing people into development and learnings when they don't want to and just establishing people aren't all open to the same thing.

speaker-0: What's one thing you would double down on?

speaker-1: good training, think that works well.

speaker-0: In two thousand twenty six, the most valuable skill at work will be

speaker-1: One, openness to change.

speaker-0: Magic went question. If you could change one thing about your organization, grow people, what would you change? In the industry, ⁓ basically across the business. Doesn't need to be

speaker-1: Having more time if we all had more time ⁓ We'd be able to do so much more and relook at learning and development so much more but

speaker-0: Time. I like that. last question. What's a belief about leadership or talent that you've changed your mind about in the last couple of years?

speaker-1: ⁓ did I change my mind about? I can't actually say that anything comes to mind that I've my opinion of. think I've maybe been around the block a little bit and my views on things haven't really changed in the last couple of years.

speaker-0: Fantastic. Ivan, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. ⁓ thanks so much for sharing so openly ⁓ about your experiences, about the way you you see ⁓ learning and development. I think ⁓ there's a lot of things that I can take away from this, and I hope so our listeners as well. And ⁓ yeah, if people after this episode feel like, ⁓ wow, ⁓ Ivan. I wanna connect with you. ⁓ there were some things that I thought ⁓ related with me or that I just want to learn a little bit more about. How can they get in touch?

speaker-1: Sure, there is my LinkedIn, Ivan Glavkov. There's not many Ivan Glavkovs on LinkedIn, but SPS Global is our organization. It's a great organization to look into. But thank you very much for your time. It's been a pleasure. I I've said the odd thing that's of interest to people or to yourself. So thank you again for inviting me.

speaker-0: I'm sure you did. And if you're listening and enjoyed this episode, please follow the show and share it with anyone who cares about building teams that stay and thrive. ⁓ yeah, and a quick note at the end: why do we run talent talks? ⁓ at B Impact, we focus on the big challenge leaders are facing right now, the AI transition. And most organizations don't just need people who can use the AI tools. They need people who can work well around AI, communicate clearly, frame problems, apply judgment, and influence stakeholders and take accountability. And we believe those human skills really decide whether AI creates value or chaos. And that's where we come in and help by supporting organizations to build AI champions and by using teaching as a way to turn learning into real capabilities. ⁓ so yeah, thanks again, Ivan. It was a real pleasure having you on Talent Talks. Thank you.

speaker-1: you