| Liz Barlow | Ben Bennett | Ian Cunningham | Graham Dawes |
| Anne Gimson | Rob Shorrick |
Liz developed an interest in Self Managed Learning through completing an MSc in Managing Change using the SML framework and has been a member of the network since 1994 and joined the board in 1997.
She spent 11 years with 1996 UK Quality Award winners Mortgage Express (now part of the Bradford and Bingley Building Society Group), in several Management roles including Head of Collections and Legal & Recovery Operations Manager. Liz started her career with Lloyds Bank and went on to spend 12 years with the Employment Service, in a variety of line management and developmental roles including time at Head Office designing a Professional Development Programme specifically for the needs of Head Office staff.
Following a secondment to Mortgage Express, she joined the company to set up the first in house counselling service run by a mortgage lender, and was an operational manager for 9 years. She was involved in company-wide initiatives such as changing the culture; Business Excellence; staff development; and improving leadership abilities in the organisation.
Liz is now using her experience to help businesses to improve their performance as a Management Consultant, and is an assessor for the British Quality Foundations Business Excellence Awards.
Liz feels that she gained a lifelong approach to development by using self managed learning and is keen to promote its benefits to individuals and organisations. She has a current strategic learning contract and continues to use the SML approach personally.
Ben Bennett is a Director of the Centre for Self Managed Learning, a Director of the consultancy Strategic Developments (International) Limited, and an independent consultant. Ben has worked in the personnel and training functions in the oil and brewing industries. He has been a researcher and Assistant Director at Roffey Park Management Institute and the Director of its Self Managed Learning MBA programme.
Ben has researched interests, publications and consultancy experience in the field of individuals' learning patterns, particularly in relation to people assisting others in their learning, eg. the manager as coach and mentor. This includes the links between individuals' styles of learning, work effectiveness and career development and the impact of organisational cultures on these. He has also directed two UK government funded national development projects in this field. Recent clients have included Abbey National, American Express, Amersham International, Music Services, East Susses Family Health Service Authority, ICL, KPMG, Leeds University, Prudential Assurance and South Thames Health Authority.
Recent activities have included: research on organisational culture; the evaluation of Self Managed Learning programmes, and the creation of materials and exercises for the development of coaches and mentors, including collaborating with Ian Cunningham and Graham Dawes in producing and publishing comprehensive packs of learning materials with accompanying commentaries, eg 'Coaching for Capability', Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 1998, and 'The Coaching Skill-Builder Activity Pack', American Management Association, 2001. With Ian and Graham he is co-editor of 'Self Managed Learning in Action', published by Gower in 2000. Currently Ben is also a faculty member at the Harrow Business School, University of Westminster, where he researches and provides Masters programmes in individual and organisational development.
Ian Cunningham works with organisations at various levels including assisting with organisation-wide change, with Boards on strategy development, with teams (on their development) and through individual mentoring and coaching of managers, directors and CEO’s. He also writes, researches and organises Self Managed Learning programmes.
Ian Cunningham currently chairs Strategic Developments International Ltd. and the not-for-profit Centre for Self Managed Learning. He is Visiting Professor in Organisational Capability at Middlesex University and he is on the Adjunct Faculty of the Fielding Institute, California. He was Chief Executive of Roffey Park Management Institute (UK) from 1987 to 1993. He has worked in business schools (as a Head of Division and as a Senior Research Fellow). He has also been a trainer, a manager and a research chemist, and he has served on the boards of companies in the travel and the insurance sectors. He has been a Visiting Professor in the USA (at the University of Utah) and in India, and a Visiting Fellow at Sheffield Business School. He was a founding director of the UK Training Centre for NLP and of the Centre for the Study of Change. He has recently worked on the MS (Organisation Development) at Pepperdine University, California; the PhD programme at the Fielding Institute, California and the MBA at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
He has published over 100 books, articles and papers on organisational change, learning, strategic development, strategic management, leadership, management development, self management and cross-cultural management. He is also a member of the editorial board for ‘Strategic Direction’ and for the Croner’s ‘A-Z Guide for HRM Professionals’.
Organisations with whom he has worked recently include: - Abbey National (UK), Anglian Water (UK), Arun District Council (UK), Barclays Bank (UK), Beiersdorf (Germany), Birmingham City Council (UK), Birmingham Midshires (UK), Cable and Wireless (UK and North America), Debenhams (UK), Ericsson (UK), Finland Post, Goldman Sachs International (UK), Granada Group (UK), ICL (UK), the Irish Management Institute, KPMG (UK), Liverpool Victoria (UK), NHS, NOP Research Group (UK), PPP healthcare (UK), Prudential Assurance (UK), Rába (Hungary), Sainsbury’s (UK), SOK (Finland) and Zurich Financial Services (Italy, Spain and Switzerland).
Conference presentations have included: - World Future Society, Washington DC, USA (managing change); Learning Company Conference, Boston, USA (strategic learning); Self Managed Work Teams Global Network, Perth and Sydney, Australia (self managed teams and learning); Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado, USA (the impact of leadership); Management Centre Europe Global HR Conference, Vienna (implementing learning organisations); Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Harrogate, UK (how managers learn).
I didn't like school. Even before going I didn't like the idea; and found nothing in the next eleven years to change my mind. I was lured back into education only through the opportunity to do a first degree in a Self Managed Learning manner. Subsequently, I did a post-graduate diploma in management, also in the SML mode, and then went on to get a doctorate. SML worked for me and I saw it work for others.
I have been a director of two training and development organisations. My earlier career spanned hospital administration, managing a wholefoods store, and TV and film production. (That was a 'career' in the sense of 'careering about' rather than proceeding according to a fixed plan.)
I have ten years experience of working with the Self Managed Learning approach. During four years working with Roffey Park Management Institute, I was one of the team which designed and ran the Self Managed Learning MBA, accredited by the University of Susses, and was, subsequently, one of the designers and organisers of an MSc in Managing Change (also an SML programme), accredited by the University of Sheffield Hallam. For in-company SML programmes I have worked in many capacities, including developing both line managers and human resource professionals to take the role of set adviser.
Apart from the SML focus, I have researched into managerial excellence, the effects of organisation culture on implementing change, managerial learning in organisations and my doctorate explored the nature of personal development. I have also contributed development materials and papers on the subjects of organisational culture diagnosis, culture change, the learning organisation, cross-cultural management development, developing entrepreneurs, learning, assessment of qualification programmes, personal change, and even the Self Managing Organisation.
Anne Gimson is a director of Strategic Developments (International) Limited, a director of the Centre for Self Managed Learning, a non-exec director of the Stackpole Centre and an independent consultant.
Anne has spent over twenty years in general management, human resources and development roles. Her experience has been in small, medium and blue-chip organisations, both in the UK and Europe and she has operated within the motor, insurance and electronic industries.
She undertook a Masters degree in managing change through the self managed learning process and since then has organised SML programmes, acted as a learning group adviser and been involved in the development of others as learning group advisers. She has spoken and published in the areas of Self Managed Learning, coaching and mentoring and self managing organisations.
Her particular interests lie in the fields of individual and organisational learning and how these are of fundamental importance in creating strategies for business and personal success in a rapidly changing environment. She works with organisations in the private and public sectors, assisting with organisational and cultural change, team development and individual coaching and mentoring.
She lives in Monmouthshire (amongst wonderful hills and plentiful rain!) with her partner, Andrew, and daughter Natasha, from whom she continues to learn, unlearn and relearn much about what is important in life.
Rob Shorrick is a non-executive director of the Centre for Self Managed Learning and Group HR Director for the Avionics Business of BAE SYSTEMS PLC, the aerospace and defence company.
Rob has spent nearly 20 years in general management, human resources and development roles. His experience has been in large blue chip and medium size organisations with service in the leisure, business equipment, healthcare, professional services, automotive/aerospace and packaging sectors.
He undertook a Masters degree in Management Development at Roffey Park Management Institute (Masters degree awarded by University of Salford), which had the basis of its structure, designed around the Self Managed Learning model. Since then, believing strongly in the value of the approach, he has introduced Self Managed Learning, particularly at senior levels, to 3 major organisations. Most recently, he has worked with Dr. Ian Cunningham on the development of a Self Managed Learning process that sets up global learning groups and then develops the process of 'meeting' using the organisation's intranet.
Rob has spoken at the IPD conference in Harrogate on the success of SML in PPP healthcare and has the principles of SML to a multi-business delegation from the Norwegian School of Management. His particular interests lie in the areas of leadership and organisational change and how by developing approaches that encourage learning, the change transition process can be more effective.
