The Partners
Current Role:
Career Development Specialist & Director of Potential At Work
Qualifications:
BComm Hon (Accounts) – University of Witwatersrand
MBA – Henley Management College
Professional Certified Coach with International Coaching Federation with over 1,500 hours in mentoring and coaching Key Talent and Emerging Talent in South Africa.
Background
After completing her studies, Kerry was involved in the establishment and management of one of the largest employee benefit consultancies in South Africa, namely NMG Consultants & Actuaries. She became Managing Director of the South African operations and subsequently worked in their operations in Singapore and Australia. During her time at NMG, she became aware that many people were unfulfilled in their work or undecided about what career they would like to follow. With this in mind and after selling her shares in NMG, she went looking for tools to assist people to find fulfilling work. While living in London, she completed an MBA (with Human Resource Management being her strength) and thereafter obtained her basic coaching skills and knowledge through Results Coaching Systems.
Interesting Roles
As lead mentor, mentoring programme co-ordinator and career advisor to 120 graduates of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Kerry plays a key role in Oprah Winfrey’s vision. Her expertise has also seen her take on the challenge of advisor and coach for numerous Key Talent and Emerging Talent programmes including Dimension Data, Merchants and Internet Solutions. She’s also implemented company-wide Coaching and Mentoring Frameworks including a coaching framework that was applied by a multinational in its six global regions. Kerry is also a facilitator, mentor and coach for graduate programmes at many large SA corporates including MTN, Standard Bank Leadership Programme and Dimension Data. Her role as Career Navigation advisor for SA Career Focus and Career Junction, SA’s largest online careers portal, has been a step into the digital era for Kerry. In addition to all these dynamic career projects, Kerry recently co-authored a book with Graeme Codrington entitled “Navigating your Career in the New World of Work”.
Current Experience
Kerry is the founder of Potential at Work, a consultancy specialising in the development of Emerging Talent. As senior mentor and mentoring programme coordinator for the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, she has had an incredible opportunity to understand the challenges faced by South Africans as they travel on the journey of Education to Employment and then into the workplace. She has seen first hand that knowledge acquisition is not sufficient to ensure career success. As an advisor, coach and mentor to corporates on Key Talent and Emerging Talent programmes, she has gained understanding of the need to retain key talent while raising levels of thinking, connectedness and on-the-job effectiveness. She uses a combination of coaching approaches to achieve positive outcomes in particular in the areas of improved thinking, resilience and value-added stories.
Current Role:
Learning Consultant
Qualifications:
M. A. (HRM) – University of Johannesburg
CPLP (Certified Practitioner in Learning and Performance) – American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
Registered Industrial Psychologist (PS0061077)
Background
After completing her studies, Alison conducted basic and applied research in the Organisational Development division of the National Institute for Personnel Research (NIPR). Three years later, she joined Boston City Campus, and lectured to full- and part-time students in the fields of Industrial Psychology, Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. She assisted students with all their course work, assignments and exam preparation.
After 10 years, a friend challenged her to ‘get a real job’, and so she completed her internship at a Credit Underwriting company where she was responsible for general HR functions (recruitment, selection, training and development). After registering as an Industrial Psychologist, she joined Hi-Performance Learning (HPL), a small learning company of diverse, new-South African professionals who were innovative thinkers and performers. There, she learned to work as part of delivery-focused, performance-based teams, leveraging off the unique talents of each individual and the collective wisdom acquired in collaboration with clients on very successful projects. These principles and values remain an integral part of her professional make-up, and inform her approach to learning design and development.
Interesting Roles
Alison’s career has seen her take on different and interesting challenges, pushing her to grow and learn through these experiences. From developing full learning solutions, including workshops, e-learning and performance assessments, for a variety of clients, to conducting an impact analysis following the implementation of an induction programme, Alison’s roles have taken her on interesting paths. She also counts leading a small team on a proof of concept project that involved analysing current training and designing an integrated curriculum to halve the time to competence for agents in the call centre of a major South African Bank, as a career highlight.
Current Experience
Alison gets a real “kick” out of what she does and she believes in what Potential at Work is trying to do – make a difference in the lives of 21st century employees who are trying to make a life rather than just a living. Her greatest reward is positive feedback from participants, be they mentees from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, graduates joining the corporate world, or managers who want to be more effective.