MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Maureen Ewing
Learning Specialist—Sole Proprietor: Dynamic Delivery
by Michael Doody, President, ISPI-Vancouver Chapter, April 2007

One of the comments from our January survey was a request to profile our members. The executive created a series of questions that provides some insight into the personality of the member as well as highlight some of their talents and expertise.  Our objective is to provide to the membership a cross section of members both seasoned and new from different working environments and experiences. 

First to be profiled is Maureen Ewing, a member who can be seen in attendance at almost every meeting and whose energy and passion is appreciated by those whose table she participates at.

Here is how Maureen describes her interest in performance improvement and reveals her theme song and other interesting information!

ISPI History (and interest in performance improvement before joining):

I have been a member since 2002 after being encouraged to join by an employment counselor and David Cory following a major career transition from Corporate Buyer to Educator/Trainer and Employment Practitioner.

I have always had an interest in performance improvement while not consciously being aware of it or even knowing that there was a formal term to describe it. In my previous formal designated role as a Buyer, I was keenly attuned to the issues of employee engagement and relationship and how these impacted both team and organizational performance. While I witnessed how much performance potential was wasted as a result of poor relationships and in individual strengths not being acknowledged or utilized, I also saw how motivation and performance improved when these were addressed. Through my personal experience and involvement with those that I worked with, I became passionate about wanting to make a difference and to see others have the opportunity to exercise and develop their strengths and to realize how their performance impacted upon organizational goals.

The best thing about my ISPI involvement:

The wonderful shared diversity of experience, skill sets, and learning. There isn’t an ISPI session where I do not walk away with some sort of an “aha” after engaging with other members.

Most interesting performance improvement job/project? And why?

This has to be my thesis project around learning and engagement at an organizational level in a post secondary institution that supports learning in the community. Structured dialogue sessions that brought members from diverse business units together proved to support the value of learning and development of strategies through the sharing of experiences and “community”. While we might think that a learning institution would practice what it preaches, like most other organizations business silos often create a barrier to shared knowledge and learning is just as often confused with training. What I found most exciting in this project was how the research actually became an intervention. Bringing the employees together in structured dialogue using a tool called the Learning Edge ™ created a foundation for the development of shared insights and strategies for improvement.

Accomplishments I’m most proud of (personally and professionally):

It’s sometimes difficult to separate personal from professional as I find both feed one another. I guess my two greatest personal accomplishments were traveling for two years by myself through Europe and Israel and the completion of my Masters Degree in Leadership and Training later in life.

At a professional level, there is no doubt that my greatest accomplishment was taking hold of opportunity while facing severance from a company and job that I had worked at for over 18 years. While I was losing my job I supported the company by liaising between employees and management to ease transition during restructuring and became proficient in the database that was being implemented in order to train employees on it.

What ProComm(s) interest you/do you work with the most?

Fueled with a passion around learning; how we learn, how we can learn better, and how learning contributes to performance, the ProComms of Instructional Systems and Motivations, Incentives, & Feedback interest me most. The research and literature around “informal learning” resonates with me. If we can make the amazing amount of learning that is done on a daily basis more conscious, intentional, and directed I think we are taking a huge step in addressing existing potential for performance improvement.

Something hardly anyone knows about me:

You would ask this wouldn’t you…Throughout High School I was a rather chubby, robust cheerleader.

Who (actress/actor) would play me in the story of my life:

If you mean who I would want to play me, guess that would be Anne Bancroft (spelling?) if she were still alive. While I was in Israel, I saw her shadowing Golda Meir before playing her in the film “Golda”. Would say that she did great justice to that portrayal.

If I had a million dollars, what charity would I give it to? Tell us why.

United Way of the Lower Mainland. I thoroughly support their work and the distribution of services and funds to local not for profit organizations. I believe that making a difference begins at home and that the United Way does a great job with this.

My “theme song”-:

A toss up between Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and Diana Ross’s “Do you know where you’re going to”. Dancing Queen because I’m so compelled to express myself through movement and this one drives me to the dance floor whenever I hear it. “Do you know where you’re going to” cause it’s a question that I continually ask myself and others.

Favorite movie of all time:

“To Sir With Love” The teacher inspiring such a difference.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s:

The power of a positive attitude and perspective.

What will your life legacy be (hopefully!)?

Actually pretty simple…seeing that in others I enabled inspiration through learning, that I challenged their assumptions and broadened their perspectives, and that it made a difference!