Bernadette Floyd
Instructional Design Consultant and Project Manager
Hudson IT Learning & Development Contractor
Q: Can your responsibilities make or break the success of an IT project?
A: Absolutely. If the end-users don’t know how to use the system, how successful can the project be? My job is to ensure that the end-users know the correct and most efficient way to complete each task based on their job function.
Q: On a typical project, how do you collaborate with the IT world?
A: It all depends on the type and stage of the project. Often training is not involved at the very beginning of the project. Usually there is some document about the system. I try to read up on that before approaching anyone in IT so that I have a baseline level of knowledge. From there, there may be someone from IT assigned as your point person who will answer your questions. If there is a training database, I’ll work with IT to get the data needed for hands-on practices loaded.
Q: How does someone in your role get up to speed on the various aspects of an IT project?
A: There’s usually some documentation on the system, so the first thing is to review the documentation. From there, I try to get access to the system so that I can try out the functionality. Sometimes there are system walk-throughs that I’ll participate in along with the technical developers.
Q: What was the most unusual IT project you have worked on? Why?
A: In over 10 years, I’ve worked on a lot of interesting projects, not just IT related. I don’t know that I can pick just one and label it unusual. But if I had to, I would say a multi-year project (which many may say is unusual in itself) where I worked in a small room with 8 other consultants. The room was made of cinder blocks and in the back hallway (tornado shelter) of the building. I had the opportunity to develop training for a lot of different in-house systems as well as designing and developing an EPSS, orientations for new employees, and a web-based portal for the customer service group.
Q: How has off shoring effected your work?
A: I’ve had some clients who have opted to offshore. In most cases, the training development has been brought back local. I am happy to say that the quality of our work and our ability to react quickly to changing needs has proven our value to our clients.
Q: What is the most important skill set in order to be a successful Instructional Designer in a systems related project?
A: I think the most important skill is to be flexible. On every project that I’ve worked on, priorities are ever changing. If you can’t adjust then you aren’t going to last long. As a consultant, you must be able to adapt your working style to that of the client and the rest of the team.
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Bernadette’s customers have given us some feedback on what it is like to work with Bernadette and here is what they said:
Anne Rigby:
Bernadette has been more than a consultant to us at McDonald’s - she’s part of our team!
Bernadette is our Lead Designer for much of our crew e-Learning, which is used by crew in 14,000 restaurants. If you figure that there are at least 6 crew members in each restaurant, that adds up to at least 84,000 people who use the courses she designs for us. We trust her to create well-designed, informative, and interesting courses for all those folks!
Our team at Hamburger University enjoys working with Bernadette. She is knowledgeable, intelligent, practical, and creative, and she gets the job done, no matter what. Want an example of how she gets the job done?? She recently spent some cold hours inside the freezers of a McDonald’s restaurant, taking photographs to demonstrate proper freezer storage with our Subject Matter Experts. These photos were taken to ensure our e-Learning had EXACTLY the right pictures for our crew. If that isn’t dedication, I don’t know what is!
She also helps us stay up to speed on the latest e-Learning technology, ensuring we are using the best e-learning tools for our restaurants.
I don’t know what we would do without her!
From Anne Klonsky, Design Manager:
What would we do without Bernadette? I hate to imagine. At McDonald’s, she was on the team that won the prestigious Circle of Excellence Award. I’m glad to see that Hudson also recognizes her amazing contributions. Hats off, Bernadette!
From Samantha Heflin, Design Assistant:
It is a great experience to have Bernadette on our team. She sets an example for what it means to be a team player. Bernadette is always willing extend herself to help out at any time. Even when she has a full schedule with crew e-learning, she is more than willing to lend a hand to any other projects that may need her valuable expertise. We are very fortunate to have Bernadette Floyd with us at McDonald’s.
Comment by Rose Pagliari — May 29, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
I worked alongside Bernadette on the “unusual” IT project she describes above and I’m happy to share that several years later MANY of the processes, models, and bodies of content/documentation that Bernadette either created or contributed to are still in place today. This speaks volumes both for her contributions and for the service level to the client. A partnership between learning solutions and IT is foundational to the work that as consultants we perform everyday. Bernadette not only clearly understands this, but she models it daily and shares this knowledge with others.
Bernadette has a strong foundation in IT and an even stronger one in learning and performance solutions wiht a technological spin. She wears more hats than anyone I know in this business, and among her million responsibilities, she helps to support and teach those of us in the field. Knowing that Bernadette is knowledgeable not only in learning solutions, but also in IT makes her a go-to person for our consultant base, sales and recruiting, and an invaluable resource to our clients. We are all lucky to have her on our team.
Comment by Wendy Buehlman — May 30, 2009 @ 8:00 pm