Gathered Minds 101
Hi,
I’m Mike, the Founder of Gathered Minds and I want to provide a quick introduction to let you know what we’re all about and maybe answer a few questions you have.
Why name the company Gathered Minds?
Because it’s what I believe in!
The most powerful learning experiences occur when we collaborate. And while that can occur in a traditional training room environment, it can just as easily happen when you ask a trusted mentor for help, watch an instructional video a former colleague made, or participate in a Slack or Teams channel when someone asks for advice.
Even when I reflect on things I’ve learnt reading a book (which seems like an individual activity), I remember the conversations I had with managers, team-mates, or friends as I excitedly share what I’ve learned, use their questions or comments to challenge how well I understood it, and start to brainstorm ways to take these new ideas even further.
So that’s the Gathered Minds way: No matter how we work together, I’ll be championing an environment where everyone can share ideas, learn from each other, and ultimately thrive at work.
Why now?
Information is everywhere these days, and it’s never been easier to find the knowledge you need. Yet, one of the most common things you’ll hear from team members is:
‘We never get any development’
This can feel frustrating, especially if you have provided development opportunities for team members, but it is ultimately a symptom of a world where we learn so often (you genuinely can’t help but learn something new every day) that it’s lost some of its meaning.
It’s time to go back-to-basics with learning & development. Consider:
How you embed and recognise the informal learning that occurs every day
How you build a team environment where people can share what they’ve learned or ask for help if they’re not sure where to start
Whether your need-to-know learning is accessible, memorable, and in the language your team members use
What skills your team members actually need to succeed
It’s no secret that technology will continue to advance, roles will evolve, and team members will need to continuously upskill (or reskill) themselves to stay current and fully leverage the benefits new technology is going to present.
But, in this changing landscape there are a few things we know:
Our personal effectiveness, and inter-personal skills are more important than ever
The role of the leader will be to guide team members through uncertainty and to champion growth
Embracing learning is critical to stay ahead of the curve
Having a learning strategy that encourages innovation and new ways of working will keep your business current
What we do
I believe that every single organisation, regardless of size, has the potential to provide meaningful learning opportunities for employees that:
Make them great in their current roles, and
Set them up for longer-term career success
There are several ways Gathered Minds can help you achieve this:
Workshops
Coming together to learn with, and from, each other is still one of the most effective ways to learn. But it needs to have purpose!
We know that team members today are often feeling more time pressure and are wearing more hats than ever before. So, taking time out of their day to learn needs to have clear benefits.
Every workshop we run has:
A clear why: Every single person knows why the training is occurring, what they’ll think, feel, or do differently by the end of the workshop, and how this is going to help them succeed in their role
Practical content: Everything that’s covered can be applied straight away when participants get back to the day-job
Collaboration: Participants get the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences, ask questions, and ensure that the learning experience is exactly what they need
An appropriate length: Any workshops or training should only be as long as they need to be to meet the learning outcomes. It’s better to cover one or two topics well and let participants go away to practice than to cover every possible scenario and have people forgetting the important bits
Learning Strategy
Having a clear approach to learning, which leaders champion and team members understand, ensures that learning is an ongoing process – rather than an annual workshop to spend the training budget.
It means that everyone in your business is clear on what skills they need in the future, and how they can go about building these skills.
Learn to learn
Sometimes it’s as simple as learning to learn again. We can work together to:
Turn your subject matter experts into great trainers
Teach leaders how to support development and build environments that cultivate learning
Take complicated policies and processes, and turn them into learning that resonates with the team
Who am I?
I’m Mike Jones, and I’m the Founder/Learning Lead at Gathered Minds.
I’ve been lucky enough to have built my career around helping people to succeed at work and in their careers. I’ve spent time as a Trainer, leading Trainers, and in Organisational Development and Learning & Development roles across several organisations.
I’m also an advocate for lifelong learning. In an act of practicing what I preach, I graduated with a degree in Business Psychology in 2024 after several years of working full-time and using my studies to inform my approach towards work.
Studying this qualification reinforced my belief that if we can understand how people think and feel in the workplace, know what drives their success, and then set up the learning environment accordingly, we can’t go wrong.
That’s why I’ve set up this company.
I believe in learning, I believe people are the key to the success of any business, and I believe in the power of Gathered Minds!
Let’s chat!
If there’s anything here that resonates with you, if there’s any areas where I can help, or if you simply want to talk about learning at work, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
A partnership with Gathered Minds will lead to a workplace where your people will thrive.
And when your people thrive, so does your business!
