Dubai, UAE, 31 May 2009 – Over 15 senior managers from Aptec Holdings Ltd, one of the region’s largest technology distributors covering Middle East, Pakistan, Turkey & (English-speaking) sub-Saharan Africa, underwent and completed a special program to develop behavioural and soft skills related to each manager’s position and responsibility. Hosted by Xpert Learning, an e-learning solutions provider based in Knowledge Village in Dubai, the courses were selected based on input by Aptec’s HR department, management, senior line managers and the participants themselves. The graduation ceremony was held earlier this month to mark the occasion.
Aptec Distribution’s Managing Director, Bahaa Salah presented SkillSoft certificates to all participants who completed and mastered courses with a 70% score or higher. E-learning champion, Manoj P K, was presented with an Outstanding Participation Award for completing the most number of courses, assigned to the Aptec participants.
Dr. Ali Baghdadi, CEO at Aptec Holdings Ltd said, “People are the key to the success of any company. I am proud that our team had given up their own time to develop their skills and look forward to them applying these skills in the workplace to enhance the business. We will continue to invest in our team and help our managers develop the right skills to provide the infrastructure that, in turn, helps our business partners.”
The strategic elements and implementation of the program were designed by the Xpert Learning team and Aptec’s Human Resource Manager, Arti Chopra Chhibber. Participating managers had a selection of 20 different topics, the majority of which were behavioural and soft skill courses apart from the functional skill courses like Selling Techniques, Promoting creative thinking, Communication & leadership, Planning a Business Strategy, Business Case writing, Time management, etc. Each participating manager, together with HR and their line manager, selected the courses (a minimum of 10 per manager) that were best suited for their job and personal development.
Aptec’s Human Resource Manager said, “We found E-learning a great investment tool, because it was convenient as the programs are available to the executives round the clock, 7 days a week. Working with Xpert Learning has truly been a productive experience and we hope to continue this for some time. The course provided a monitoring mechanism that can be viewed in order to evaluate the learning curve of each participant. 15 of our senior executives have completed the program successfully and we have ensured that the teachings are imparted to other staff members by way of connecting the course content to our business scenario.”
Paul Gledhill Director and co-founder of Xpert Learning described the program as a resounding success. “I believe when you combine online learning with targeted and connected debate, social interaction and relevant business application, the learning and impact works most effectively. In these days of global financial crisis, companies are looking to cut training costs while still maintaining employee satisfaction. E-Learning is one way of doing this by conveniently, reducing travel and classroom costs. Providing there is a solid deployment strategy and executive support, return on investment can be measured and truly justified.”
