How Stirling Builds Organisational Learning For The World

Stirling is not just a beautiful place to visit, it is a place that can teach businesses how to learn. I’m joined by Alaa Gerad from the Stirling Centre for Strategic Learning and Innovation, a Scotland-based think tank and act tank working with organisations across more than 20 countries to build real capability in organisational learning, innovation, and futures foresight.

We talk through Alaa’s practitioner-academic path, from quality management in industry to consultancy and assessment work with major organisations, and why that experience convinced him that learning has to be designed as a system. He explains the centre’s LIFE model: Learning, Innovation, Futures Foresight, and Excellence, and why excellence should be the outcome of consistent learning practices rather than a separate initiative. If you lead a team, run an SME, or support performance in HR and L&D, you’ll hear how different roles need different learning interventions, not one-size-fits-all training.

A highlight is the centre’s work with the British Standards Institution (BSI), including a newly launched organisational learning standard and the practical support around it: certificated programmes, capstone projects tied to real business needs, and six months of mentoring to help people actually implement. We also get into partnerships with universities and colleges, immersive learning through visits and retreats, and what it takes to connect academia to industry problems at pace.

To finish, Alaa offers a direct challenge to the local business community on customer service and responsiveness, and a practical way for listeners to get involved through the centre’s membership and events. Subscribe, share the episode with a founder or manager who cares about culture, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Studio King Street

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi, my name is Neil Munday and I'm your host for the Sterling Business Podcast. The podcast is brought to you from Studio King Street here in the Hall of Sterling. You can book our wonderful studio by going onto our website and making a booking that way, or sending uh an email to inquiries at studio kingstreet.com. Or you can simply pick up the phone and give Laura a call to make your uh make your booking. So over to this week's episode of the Sterling Business Podcast.

Meet Allan Gerard In Stirling

SPEAKER_01 0:46

So Alan Gerard, uh Sterling Center for Strategic Learning and Innovation. Thank you for joining us at Studio King Street today.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Thank you. Thanks to you, Neil, and for your uh initiative and to your audience as well. That's great. So um Sterling Business Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Uh we have uh listeners and viewers from across the Fourth Valley uh in business, academia, uh we have startups, entrepreneurs in a number of different uh demographics listen to our podcast. So I thought the topic of uh the Sterling Center today would be a very apt one given that it's based here in the heart of Sterling. Um so I want to talk to a little bit about the genesis and the background to that. But before we get started, Allah, uh, why don't you share with uh our listeners um a little bit about you and where you come from?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Um thank you. Um uh I'm originally from Egypt and I used to work in the Middle East. I worked over 13 countries, traveled, and uh used to have a franchise from a British uh organization uh for the MENA region. Uh in 2012 I visited uh Scotland for the first time. And the first city I visited in Scotland, guess which city it was Stirling? And the very first minute um I saw Sterling and I was walking around here in King Street specifically. I I told myself someday if I I moved to another you know country or city, it would be Scotland. And uh since that day I really uh fell in love with Scotland and specifically in Stirling. And what happened um five years from that year, I made the move with my family, and we made Scotland our second home from home. Uh when I decided to start the business last year, and I came to Stirling again, and uh we started with the Innovation Park at the University of Sterling, established Stirling Center for Strategic Learning and Innovation. So this is the quick background, but I'm happy to answer about more details about what we do.

Practitioner Academic And Global Work

SPEAKER_00 2:54

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

So um so your background before starting the Sterling Center, you're you're a professor. Um what is your uh doctorate in and and where have you specialized?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

That's a nice question. I hope I can uh resist the urge to talk a lot about it. Uh but I call myself academic. I'm a practitioner and academic. Uh I started my career in the industry as a cost accountant. Uh then I um got a master's in quality management. I worked in airlines and banking sector. Uh so I gained uh a good industrial experience. Then I moved to academia, where I have become assistant professor in quality management. But since that date, I almost kept a leg in the industry and the other leg in the academia. Uh the areas of um knowledge or interest or expertise are basically around uh, you can say three topics: quality management and standards, uh organizational learning, how companies, organizations learn, and uh people, human capital, or as we traditionally we call them human resource. But uh we don't like to use the word resource when we describe people, so we say people. So this triangle or these three areas that formed my career, my interest, uh, and all I do is about these three areas.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

So prior to the Sterling Center, we'll come on to that specifically. Uh, were you consulting in all of these areas? Is that typically what you were doing from a with an academic hat on as well as uh a business, a business hat?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yes. Uh I've done consultancy to big organizations such as Jumeira Group and Dubai, Cleveland Clinic, uh uh Emirate Airlines, several international organizations. Uh done consultancy, but also helped them to codify their knowledge and uh put it in in manuals, standards. And that's what helped me now to develop international standards is the British Standard Institution. We just got one uh launched on 10th April on organizational learning. So it's not only consultancy also, but we do assessment. I used to do assessment for against uh frameworks such as uh EFQM, European Foundation for Quality Management, Investors and People. So I'm the only Arabic-speaking uh investors and people assessor and advisor. And I I I help to Arabize and translate the version of investors and people in Arabic. Uh so I can I stopped counting after the number 600. So in my career, I assist and co-assist over 600 organizations. Wow. Yeah. You don't go enough fellow. I love the assessment because it gives it gives me a lot of uh insights and understanding when you see the good practice, and you also see, I don't say poor quality practice, but when people do it wrong. And I believe that we can learn from our mistakes as as much as we learn from success and learning from others' experience. Which formed uh a good chapter in my book called The Learning Driven Business about benchmarking.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

So learning from others, regardless if it is a good experience or bad experience, that contributes a lot to knowledge. And what is the name of your book? Uh it's called The Learning Driven Business How to Develop an Ecosystem Organizational Learning. It's published by Bloomsbury and it made six times one of the top-handed books on Amazon. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah. Okay, so the Sterling Center, I think it's pretty obvious why it's in Sterling, depending on what you previously

Why The Stirling Centre Exists

SPEAKER_01 6:44

said. So explain to the audience what that is, Allah, um, and the genesis behind the project uh and why you created it.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Absolutely. Um Sterling, I mean, since like millions around the world who watched the Brave Heart, William Wallace uh film, I'm always like I always got inspired by by Wallace and uh Scotland in general. Uh so when when I started the center, I wanted it to be something from Scotland to the world. As simple as that. Uh so why Scotland and why Sterling, uh, if you look into the history, Scotland is really has a very rich heritage of innovation. If you look in the most you know, inventions that changed the world, it it came from Scotland. TV, telephone, TV, telephone, uh radio, uh MRI, you know, uh the cloning, the dolly, yeah, steam engine. So Scotland has a very rich um, and and not only in inventions, but in philosophy and and and thinking and the common sense school of thought by um Reeds, Thomas Reed. So I thought this is very inspiring, and I I personally um get inspired by by Scotland. Most of my writing and things, uh I just come and walk around in Sterling and go to Edinburgh, just walk around just enough to be inspired. So I thought to build on this legacy and to contribute to reviving the legacy. Uh so we are based in Stirling, but we cater for at least 20 countries. Uh and and the good thing being in Stirling and having an ecosystem around the university, Forest Valley College, and and of course other universities also uh around Scotland that gives us really uh wings and leverage what we do. The center basically is a common, uh not sorry, uh uh a think tank and act tank as well. So we have a team of, if you look into our advisory board, we have a 31 subject matter expert from over 20 countries. Uh they guide us, they help us, sometimes they work with us as well. In addition to other 40 associates, we work around four

The LIFE Model Explained

SPEAKER_00 9:05

areas. We summarize it in the acronym, life, L-I-F-E. It's learning, innovation, future for sites, uh, and uh excellence. So these are main areas of knowledge we work around. And these areas, if you think of it, it cuts across every industry. Every industry needs to learn. They need to be more innovative, especially with the challenges we have nowadays. And uh maybe the topic of futures for site, my mentor Professor Jeff Gold, the CLI is not only one future, it's multiple futures. Uh so with futures for site, uh we help organizations to try to predict and see what the future looks like. Not only this, but we can create the future. We can shape the future. So they're quite proven techniques that can help organizations to shape the future, to make it happen. And as Deming said, people do not mind to do their best, but they need to know what to do. So that's the remit of the center that we help uh leaders, organizations, and governments uh to see the good practice and we guide them how to get it done. But not as a typical consultancy, like we go and do it for them. Actually, we do it with them. That's why we have a very mature uh mentoring system. We have uh approval and accredited certification to have internal consultants so they have their own capacity to maintain the momentum and thrive. And if we do these three together learning, innovation, future for site, we don't need to do anything about excellence because it will it will come naturally. That's what we do.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

And is it typically countries and very large corporate institutions that you're typically working with?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Uh so far we we do have larger institutions, but uh we have a special interest in SMEs, small and medium enterprise, and we focus on SMEs. Uh, even we established a learning forum called Thomas Reed Learning Forum, it's catering only for SMEs. Why is that? Because uh I find the SMEs sometimes really want to do things, but they don't have the capacity, they don't have the expertise. And if you look around, uh over 90% of companies around the world are SMEs. Yeah. And some countries in the UK, it's even more than 90. I don't I want just to be accurate. It's the same. Exactly. So these uh organizations really need uh support. And um because they are small, they are agile. I find it even more rewarding to work with SMEs because they thrive to improve, they want to get things done, and uh I enjoy working with SMEs. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Okay.

Courses Mentors And Capstone Projects

SPEAKER_01 12:04

So that kind of leads us to some of the course content and the deliverables that uh the Sterling Center uh delivers. So um can you talk a little bit about you know the number of specialized courses and the types of courses that you deliver and how they would effectively scale down into that SME sector as well as obviously what you're doing in the corporate space.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Okay. Uh we have a set of uh certificated uh training courses that baseball courses. We develop them on need basis to get uh specific gaps. So it's not a traditional, you know, kind of soft scales courses or one size fits all. So, for example, I would say our flagship course called COLP, Certified Organizational Learning Professionally. And uh from the title of the course, you see how like we we help professionals to learn that learning techniques that can solve problems, that can improve their performance. And would there typically be directors and leaders of those businesses? There are levels of of the versions of the course. One is we call it the vanilla product that fits for learning and development professionals, HR, uh performance uh professionals, those who get the job done and they learn how to learn. That's basically it's a 48 hour course plus 75 uh self-learning, uh AI enabled. Uh, those people who will do the work, they get the hands dirty, get the job done. But we have a lighter version for uh leadership, because we know they don't have much time to spend two months training. So I have a short course of uh 12 hours for the senior management. Uh they need to understand this because if the senior management does not appreciate the learning or the culture change, it will be hard to the second and third layer to get the job done. So there is a uh alight version for senior management, and there is a condensed version for the professionals who do the job. Okay. There is also a version in between the middle management, the level two management. Exactly. The middle management. There is another version for the middle management. Um, and the good thing, after we finish the training, there is no exam. There is a capstone project where professionals say what they are gonna do after they finish the course. That's their assignment. So they write a project on which tools they plan to use, why they want to use these specific tools, and how this aligns with the needs of their business. And once they finish this, we assign them a mentor for six months. Okay, and the mentor works with them closely to help them implement what they said they want to implement. And this is complementary, it's part of the training. And to give you a flavor of mentors, we have AI experts from Cambridge University, from reputed organizations in our pool of mentors. We have three former ministers. One of them is a digital transformation minister in Slovenia. So we have quite uh subject matter experts who are keen and passionate about learning and helping others to get the job done. And that's why I don't want to brag, but I'm proud that we don't spend much on marketing because our our graduates, our alumni, they are our marketers.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Okay.

The Stirling Learning Clan Community

SPEAKER_00 15:38

And if you allow me, I want also to add that after they finish, we invested an app, uh, but it's not ours. We we we subscribe to uh uh an app and we created a virtual community called Sterling Learning Clan. So we have our clan of learners. So all the graduates, alumni, they become part of this network. So they can talk to each other, they can get some experience from another country. Irrespective of what they've irrespected to learn or irrespective of training. And now we're getting it wider because we have a membership scheme as well at the center. So it's for individuals and for organizations. So also all members, they become part of this learning clan. Uh and and you can see I I watch like I am there and I see people from South Africa talking to others from Brazil and from Scotland. Um last month we all got inspired by someone who came from South Africa and said, guys, I started the business at the age of 65, and now I have five hotels recruiting more than fifth twin 250 people. And just told us the story, and really we all got inspired by this. And and you can form your own space. So anyone can form a space and get people. So it's quite interactive and useful,

Standards Revenue Model And Grants

SPEAKER_00 16:58

really. So, how does your commercial model work then?

SPEAKER_01 17:01

So training courses? Oh, yeah. Cust custom price or consulting? Right, daily rental.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That's a very good question. That keeps me on track as well. Uh, we our commercial model mainly is uh from our products, key products, the training courses, uh, plus the consultancy, bespoke consultancy and advisory work. We do some side revenue from conferences and forums, but I would say our flagship product, which just launched uh a few days ago, is the uh capacity building that includes consultancy and training on the standards that we developed. So we developed the first ever standard in the world on organizational learning, and it is our standard exclusively. Uh we partnered with BSI, British standard institution, to be the exclusive certification body. So, what we do, we uh conduct this. If you remember, I mentioned the call, the training. So we do the versions of call. We have also versions for healthcare, education, government, industry sector, industry sector version. So we do a lot of training, and it's of course paid training. Uh, but then we have a network in other countries, our uh trusted delivery partners. So they deliver the consultancy, the advisory for uh on organizational learning business excellence for companies to help them meet the requirement of the standard, and we work on um uh royalty basis. So we license them to deliver uh the services and we share the revenue. Uh but also we also bet for um projects. So there is uh initiative with the UK government called Tech Local, where we plan to bet for Fourth Valley, for example, on AI education. So we get also some grants and some funds for especially AI education and capacity building. And of course, the good news now was Erasmus coming back, where UK re-entered, rejoined Erasmus. Uh so that will open so many doors for uh Erasmus funded projects.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Very good.

University Partnerships And Talent Pathways

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So I kind of noticed uh so we talked a bit about partnerships and how you the ecosystem that you've developed. Um touch a little bit more on your uh interaction with the universities across Scotland in particular, and you mentioned UK, you mentioned Cambridge there earlier on. So how do you work with the universities in your program?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Um the um the first uh uh training we conducted that was last January with Cambridge Service Alliance, part of Cambridge University, where we bring um a C-level uh um professionals, uh senior management to uh attend the training here in the UK, where they can also have the chance to get immersive learning. So we visit companies and we see the practices they have. Uh one of the important initiatives on our radar, where we last February we visited Edinburgh University Bay Center, where they have incubator, and um it's like the park we have here for mainly for informatics and uh AI robotics technology. So we try to link the academia to industry, and uh sometimes we work as a matchmaker. For example, a company in Dubai wants to learn some technique about um uh narrative, so sovereign narrative or specific AI tools. So we we find the right partner here in Scotland, either from the technology park uh in in Glasgow or or at Edinburgh, and now we approach the University of Sterling as well for some topics. Uh so we have this network from universities but also from colleges. So we work closely with Forest Valley College uh to cater for the industry, but there is something long-term we started to plan as well, which is pathways. So the center works with Forest Valley College to develop uh pathways where students from around the world can study in their respective country a year or two, and they receive equivalent to higher national certificate or diploma. And then they can come to Scotland with the universities that has articulation with the college to get a top up and do.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, a degree or master's on.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, that's not uh immediate, but this is something in in in on the long run.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Nice pipeline for for uh for students.

Webinars Retreats And Conferences

SPEAKER_01 22:00

And I noticed from your website that you regularly run conferences, events, webinars. I guess is that more from an educational point of view? And if so, how can we get people across the Ford Valley and still get a particularly involved in those?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Absolutely. We we keep updating the website and our also social media, especially LinkedIn. We have uh several uh forms of of uh events. Some are webinars that run online, like the one I mentioned, Thomas Reed Forum, that caters for SMEs and selected topics. So we get subject matter experts to deliver two-hour seminars, actually one and a half hour uh webinar every month. But then we have the transformational traveling training. This is a paid training, uh, but it happens like a retreat. The one we're running next month in Albania, for example, it's for health tourism. So it's about the standards and the best practice and health tourism. And we keep moving, like sometimes we have it here in Sterling, we bring people to Sterling, sometimes we take people to other countries to see other practices. So we have this uh immersive courses, the retreats. Uh, forums and conferences uh can be hybrid as well, online or uh in person. Uh the next one we have will be in uh Pristina in June. We have another one in Malta. We have one here in October in in Sterling. Uh but uh conferences is more about awareness, is more about education, and we do our best to get it sponsored by some organizations so delegates do not need to pay so they can attend and gain the knowledge uh and meet people and networking.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Great. Okay.

A Challenge On Local Customer Service

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So in terms of um just for our listeners and viewers, uh, are there are there any asks of the Sterling and Fourth Valley community that you would uh like to put out there? Uh where can people find out more about what we do sterling and road?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Okay, uh that's a good question. Thank you, Neil. Uh of course, in terms of at presence, we are based in the Innovation Park at the University of Sterling campus. Our website is sterlingcenter.org.uk. So I I encourage uh the audience to have a look on the website to see also our social media, uh especially LinkedIn. Uh but I have actually a call for the business in Sterling. Uh we look for more uh flexibility. Um like comparing to other countries, for example, I can I can book hotels on a short notice, I can have uh more flexible uh policies for refund, uh more response. Generally speaking, uh it takes a lot of time here uh to get a confirmation from a hotel. And you are an exception, Neil, with uh King Street apart hotel. We get very responsive, very immediate response. But when we approach other entertainment providers like booking a cruise in Loch Lomond or Booking a hotel, uh it takes time to get a response, and also the refund policy and policies are a bit rigid comparing to other countries. Where, for example, I book hotels in the Balkan, I can book just using a WhatsApp message or email, and they they are more keen. Uh to like, for example, I was in Pristina last week and I was staying in a hotel, and they called me before I go, said how are you gonna to come from the airport to the hotel? I said, I didn't even thought of it. Say we can come and pick you. And they do things this way, like they're proactive. Proactive and exactly, and and uh preemptive. Absolutely. So that's what I like the way, and they came and asked me about your opinion. How did we do? Smiling, they don't expect anything. Uh and I was in the business center, it's open, like everything went smooth. And 1 a.m. the guy from the reception went and printed something for me. I said, I can wait till the morning. He said, You never know what happens in the morning. Let me do it for you now. That kind of attitude that will make me go again and stay in the same hotel in the same way. Exactly. Exactly. You would expect to get that everywhere, surely. That's it. And and we and it's a very mature area. I mean, one of our products where partner was International Customer Experience Institute. And there are standards on customer experience and customer service. So but it's more about attitude. Yeah. But I don't it didn't happen in Scotland, but other parts of the UK where the receptionists were just sitting in their seat in the Five Stars Hotel. He doesn't even stand up or acknowledge the presence of the guest. So these things, it makes a difference. It makes a big difference. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Absolutely.

Membership Offer And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Okay, well, thank you for your time, Allah. Uh very intriguing topic. And uh Sterling Center sounds like it's gone from strength to strength.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

And uh I would like to offer something for your audience. Uh we have a membership scheme. Uh, there is a fee for this, but for your audience, if they mention King Street Podcast or your name, we're happy to give a one-year complimentary membership for for the for the audience of this. That's a very nice offer. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yeah. And we should uh we should definitely promote that together and get the message out on uh on the channel too. It's my pleasure. So, Alas, thank you. Thanks. Um don't be a stranger, come back again. And uh yeah, let's uh take care of some of these guests for you. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure. Thanks a lot. So that brings us to another end of an episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. Thank you again to our guests this week. Remember to follow us on the YouTube channel, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Until next time, stay safe.