Berlingieri, who leads HR at Source UK Services, an ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) provider owned by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BAML, JP Morgan, and Nomura, was speaking at Learning Technologies 2015 in London.
She said that people must come first. “Don’t grow a business, grow people,” she said. “People will grow the business.”
She added that, while many organisations are spending lots of money on the technology, they are not training their staff to use the technology to its full capability.
“Put people first,” she said. “What is underlying people's performance are the processes, technology and the culture surrounding it.”
To engage staff in learning to use new technologies, she advised creating “a buzz in the office about the new system or technology you are going to launch”, and also suggested offering an incentive or competition to encourage and motivate employees to learn to use the new tools.
Also speaking was Halogen Software regional sales manager Scott Russell, who worked with Berlingieri on learning initiatives at Source UK Services. He said it’s important HR and L&D professionals “link learning to [their] culture”, adapting technologies and training to the organisation’s environment.