APRIL 2018

Q&A:
with Pete Fullard, MD of e-learning
company Upskill People
WHEN WAS UPSKILL PEOPLE SET UP AND WHY?
It all began in 1994. I wanted to do something
different that would help people learn new skills
in an engaging way. I’d been involved in the
technology industry and I could see that there was
real potential. If you could make learning easy and
engaging it would be really powerful.
HOW DID YOUR COLLABORATION WITH THE
CO-OPERATIVE SECTOR BEGIN?
We started working with co-op clients about a
decade ago. The initial introduction came through
a referral when one of the team from another
retailer moved to Southern Co-op. Since then we’ve
worked with a number of different co-ops in the
food and funeral sectors.
We are the e-learning partner for the
Co-operative College. With them, we develop and
deliver e-learning programmes that are designed to
meet the needs of different parts of the co-operative
sector – from community shops, pubs and cafes to
football clubs, worker co-ops and retail societies.
Today we work with organisations around the
world. We launched Upskill People Asia last year,
which is based in Singapore, and our platform is
available in over 25 countries and languages.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEARNING STYLES?
and culture of co-operatives. This is reflected in our
learning and also how we do business. Our courses
range from giving great care to customers through
sales and service, to the recruitment and retention
of members. We also provide a range of courses to
help people comply with legislative requirements.
Our library now includes a great series of unique
courses develop by the Co-operative College.
Every organisation has specific needs and
one size doesn’t fit all, so we also work with the
Co-operative College and other partners to tailor
existing courses – and create new ones – to fulfil
the requirements of different organisations.
WHICH CO-OPS HAVE YOU WORKED WITH
INDIVIDUALLY OR VIA THE COLLEGE? COULD YOU
TELL US MORE ABOUT THESE PROJECTS?
There are so many different projects. One example is
a project for Radstock Co-op. We worked with them
to actively increase sales through merchandising
and reduce shrinkage and loss of fresh produce.
A current project is measuring management
development impact with the Channel Islands
Co-operative. The aim is to prove return on
expectation and demonstrate that training delivers
a measurable benefit. We link management skills
and competencies to the organisation’s
strategic themes. These in turn link
directly to how they deliver their mission
and values.
We recognise that people learn in different ways.
So our courses support different learning styles –
everyone is an individual. Our courses are highly
interactive and engaging; we measure that they
actually deliver behaviour change, not just
tick a box.
We’ve all been on training courses, which might
have been brilliant, but then after a couple of weeks
tried to recall what we’ve learnt and not had much
success. Teams need to be trained at the point of
need. This is where online learning really help.
Because it’s always available and ready to be used,
people can quickly get upskilled.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CO-OPS +44 HAVE (0) 8707 DIFFERENT
66 94 33
www.upskillpeople.com
NEEDS. HOW CAN E-LEARNING BE TAILORED TO
RESPOND TO THESE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS?
We’ve developed a library of courses that are readily
available. Some of these have been developed
in partnership with co-ops. From a business
perspective we understand the unique benefits
That’s all folks!
Remember we’re just at the
end of the telephone, always
online and there to help,
whatever you need.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? ARE
YOU WORKING ON ANY NEW COURSES THAT
CO-OPS COULD USE?
What’s exciting is that co-ops can collaborate on
different courses to deliver shared benefit. Also
we’ll be launching a market place this year where
co-operatives can buy into high-quality online
learning courses for only a few pennies rather
than pounds.
46 | APRIL 2018