Friday July 30, 2010
Meet our team
Joan Stewart
Joan is a well-qualified and experienced learning consultant specialising in business communication and personal development. Her background in teaching English, literacy, communication, counselling and presentation skills in secondary, further, higher and adult education, combined with experience in other sectors, allows her to offer a unique blend of expertise. She has undertaken organisational development, facilitation, coaching and training assignments in the public sector, including local authorities, and private and voluntary sectors.
Joan takes a flexible, open and pragmatic approach to business issues focusing on solutions that relate to both individuals and groups of employees, while being culturally sensitive to the organisation. Her expertise lies in her ability to encourage her clients to increase their level of self-awareness and develop new skills, enabling them to communicate with others more effectively. The belief that we can only be truly effective when we have a greater understanding of ourselves and our impact on others, underpins her approach. Success is achieved by using a variety of learning approaches that explore client perceptions and remove self-imposed limitations. Praise for her coaching and facilitation skills is consistently high.
Her recent assignments have included working with local government service and project managers to reach performance targets and develop their soft skills, and coaching medical staff in the NHS to prepare for examinations that assess their communication skills in dealing with patients. She has designed, delivered and evaluated a wide range of business communication skills courses and workshops for the public, private and voluntary sectors. She has also trained and mentored teachers in further and adult education as part of a national project in exploring e-learning methodology to improve adult literacy.
