Learnlight interviewed Gabriela Weglowska, interculturalist and skills expert about her cooperation with Learnlight customers and the creation of tailor-made skills programs that are personalized to the needs of companies.

Tell us about yourself

My name is Gabriela Weglowska, I’m a learning and development professional, and an interculturalist.  At Learnlight, my role focuses on designing intercultural training solutions for our global clients, content development for both the digital platform and the live sessions, and I also deliver training, both face-to-face and virtual.

How do you help Learnlight’s clients?

I work very closely with the sales team. We organize diagnostic calls with clients so that I can conduct the learning needs analysis prior to building training programs. This initial conversation is key because it allows us to deeply understand the organization, its goals, challenges, expectations, and also to discuss potential solutions that would fit the needs. So, based on this initial audit, I design solutions and programs.

Can you share with us a recent challenge?

I’m currently working with a client whose business priority is to develop cultural intelligence amongst their global staff population and also to become an inclusive employer. This is an interesting challenge because we are looking not only at the cultural competence amongst employees and leaders but also diversity and inclusion maturity of the organization and building an inclusive culture. So, this requires, for example raising awareness of the challenges and benefits of diversity, understanding what culture and inclusion means for this particular organization, and how it could be illustrated in business processes and people’s behaviors. So, we are developing a series of solutions to foster cultural sensitivity and an open-minded approach to work. There is no quick fix. This is a long-term partnership and I’m really excited to be a part of this client’s learning journey.

Further reading

Why is D&I such an important topic?

I think that diversity and inclusion is extremely important because it allows employees to bring their full self to the workplace and allows them to thrive and this is how organizations can thrive too.

What inspires you?

I believe that education changes the world and that my purpose is to spread awareness, especially about cultural intelligence and diversity and inclusion, which are increasingly important in today’s business world. Also, for me learning is an experience – it should be inspiring, informative and impactful. And that’s what I aim to deliver to our clients, using experiential learning and blended learning methods, coaching, and some insights from the neuroscience of learning.

At the end of the day, what makes you happy?

What makes me happy is knowing that I played a role in changing somebody’s mindset and helping to perhaps think differently, maybe be more inclusive in their practice and acquire some of the skills that they will need to be more comfortable and more confident working in an intercultural team.