News & Events

No, this is not another HBO movie. Our founder of the IT GROW Center, Olesia Ulianova, recently has participated in the event “The Future of IT Outsourcing: what has changed and what needs to be prepared.” In the framework of which the participants were presented the educational programs of IT Business School in Kharkiv. 

The atmosphere was unforgettable. Olesia Ulianova together with her colleagues-speakers discussed

• how important it is to master soft skills competencies;
• what skills and qualities need to be developed in order to successfully start their own business;
• why communication with the client should come first, etc.

After all, the deep knowledge of the industry is not a guarantee of professional success. First of all, you should pump up your soft skills in order to get a boost, to promote your business, to beat the competitors like an expert. And even if you are like a fish in water in your business, but you don’t know how to present yourself, find contact with people or conduct negotiations, then it’s unlikely that you will be able to keep afloat for a long time. These are the facts of life.

After the discussion, each participant could ask the questions to the speakers. The most active participants received gifts from our partners Balka Book, and, of course, discounts on educational courses of IT Business School.

People with good communication skills have an impressive personality. Communication is a key to success. The IT GROW Center helps IT-people to master their ability to communicate with different personalities, present themselves, freely express the intentions, conduct negotiations and, of course, come to aimed agreements.  So, if you want to master the communication skills, stay with the IT GROW center.

Olesia Ulianova is a partner of the master’s program Business Analysis School, which is started on the basis of Telesens Academy  in September this year.

The training program for the training of future business analysts will consist of two parts: the first part is technical, highly specialized area, the second one is Soft Skills. At the invitation of Eduard Rubin, the school’s founder, Olesia Ulianova headed the unit for teaching flexible skills.

From the new school year, she will help future business analysts develop the professional skills necessary to work in modern international IT companies.

These are personal and interpersonal qualities:

• Activity,
• Self-organization,
• Creativity, creative initiative,
• Teamwork,
• Organizational skills.

 

Analytical competencies:

• Analytical thinking,
• Work in the face of uncertainty,
• Work with large amounts of data.

 

And finally, business skills:

• Negotiation skills,
• Coping skills,
• Communications in the broadest sense.

 

In addition, it will help them strengthen existing competencies, such as:

• Self-reliance, independence,
• Willingness to learn,
• Clarity and consistency of the presentation of information and their own opinions,
• Mental abilities are the ability to filter the flow of information and to remember the most important thing.

 

In the process, the business analyst interacts with the technical team of the project and with the customer. At the initial stage of his work, he will have to overcome internal barriers and fear of talking to an almost stranger, if not even more – be ready to defend your point of view, be persistent, asking a lot of questions. This is what the course participants will learn at Olesia’s trainings.

A good business analyst is situationally aware. He always keeps an ear to the ground and knows what the IT industry is currently living and what experts and even futurists predict.

Today, even with a very great desire, it is impossible to live in an information vacuum, everyone reads news reports. However, a business analyst is focused on technology and can immediately say, for example, which standards for the data transmission exist in countries around the world, Europe, Asia and specifically in Ukraine, which technologies are trending, and which only have gained popularity. In addition, you need to know the basic professional terminology in order to successfully blend into the profession.

And although this range of skills is universal for many professions in the IT field, they will be considered in the context of the profession of business analyst.

Olesia has over 5 years of work in IT companies, so she knows how the processes are built from the inside: the work of project teams, resource allocation, evaluation of the results, work with trackers and reporting. Olesia is sure that the training of future business analysts will be complex and fundamental with the Soft Skills block.

A series of corporate trainings was started to teach middle managers at Intetics.

Traditionally, the first module is an intro to a new role, forming a list of tasks and generally understanding who a mentor is.

Broadly defined, a mentor is a senior or more experienced specialist who helps a beginner master the basics of the profession. He gives advice, and his point of view helps not to step on the famous rake.

Mentor is an advisor and a tutor. That is why he must prove his professionalism, build confidence and inspire people to take complex steps. Along with this, he takes responsibility for his mentee, his professional growth.

At the training, listeners developed the basic skills necessary for a mentor, and also learned to build a strategy for training juniors and to build a trusting relationship with their mentees.

Leadership is a kind of magic, chemistry. A leader inspires and motivates people to pursue common goals, and uses positive emotions for good.

6 workshops, 6 steps to successful leadership and 6 groups of techniques that listeners learned.

Step 1 – to define your leadership style. Someone more comfortable manages a microcompany or a startup, someone masterfully builds large organizations with a clear hierarchy. The company tastes differ, choosing your own is the first step to success.

Step 2 – to motivate employees, to understand what motivates employees to do what they do and switch their motivation from financial to non-financial.

Step 3 – to use the laws of persuasion and choose a communication strategy depending on the situation. A true leader is always looking for a win-win solution from which everyone will benefit for themselves.

Step 4 – to distribute the powers of employees. Even, rather, to determine their roles in the project or team, providing the necessary tools to complete tasks and monitor the results.

Step 5 – to give an adequate feedback, praise employees correctly, dose criticism and make it constructive.

And finally, Step 6 – to help employees cope with stress and prevent conflicts in the team, maintain a favorable atmosphere in the organization.

 

P.S. Despite the fact that many talk about the innate leadership qualities and that they manifest themselves in childhood, Olesia Ulianova is sure: each of us has a chance to become a leader. At 20, 30, 40 years old. There is a time, place and project for everything, and perhaps your talent is still sleeping. The main thing is to see your strengths and upgrade leadership skills. For example, at trainings and workshops from IT Grow.

All people tend to make mistakes.

Remember your last fuckup, how did you feel?

What would you like to hear at this moment from the leader, mentor, customer?

At the recent workshop only 3 of 10 participants mentioned that at that very moment they would like to hear criticism, even constructive. The rest would prefer to hear, there is still the opportunity to make it right and show the best result.

Most of us, somewhere inside, feel that something has gone wrong, and are already introspective before we are called for a conversation.

 

What is criticism?

Praise. Praising is always pleasant and helpful; the lack of praising demotivates even the most productive and highly paid employee.

Developing feedback. It is used in setting goals, results corrections in order to eliminate minor faults in the work of the employee.

Constructive criticism

It is aimed at pointing out a person’s faults in work.

Criticism should be:

• Specific. Point out a person’s specific fault. And it is advisable to make sure that he considers the incident a mistake.
• Timely. The manager has a maximum week for feedback. Then it’s late.
• Constructive, suggest ways to solve the problem.
• With consequences. It is necessary to clearly explain to the person what will happen if he does not take into account the recommendations and does not correct mistakes in the future.

 

How much criticism is optimal?

The manager must determine the intensity of criticism depending on the personality type with whom he works.

For employees with developed self-criticism, one indication of a mistake is enough for a person to understand everything and try to improve.

For those whose superego dominates, few simple hints are not enough. They argue, prove their non-involvement in the incident, tend to shift the responsibility to everything and everyone. You should communicate with such people in a stricter tone and do not forget to indicate the consequences of repeated fuckups to them.

 

How not to criticize?

To discuss an employee’s mistakes in his absence.

To criticize in public.

To allow sarcasm, manipulation and ambiguity in statements. “Everyone says”, “they told me” and so on.

To get personal and cast doubt on a person’s expertise, after all, they did take him to this job.

And finally, to give vent to emotions. You need to criticize in a neutral tone, being in emotional stability.

 

In a word, “Give feedback as you would like to receive it yourself” is the unspoken principle of any good manager. The culture of business relations in the modern world is built on positive and mutual politeness, and “carpets” are gradually becoming a relic of the past.

Weekend is a time for creativity and strategic objectives.

Pre-holiday benefits from Olesia Ulianova:

Weekend is approaching, it’s time outside offices, formal meetings or university classrooms.

The brain is not overloaded with OS, and feels a “reboot”, sometimes it’s so useful for it.

How to spend this time profitably, so that later you don’t feel guilty for doing nothing?

Formulate a question, goal or problem.

To what have you been going for so long, but still can’t realize it? A new concept, a plan for self-realization, or maybe even an idea for a business? Which peak do you want to climb? Write it all down on paper.

Do a short research.

After you have outlined your desires, it’s time to google it. Who has already done this? What might be needed?

What have you got? The process has begun. From now on, your brain is working in the background to resolve the issue. You can calmly go to rest. Nature, friends, museums, theaters are the sources of new images, thanks to which new concepts are born.

Write down your ideas.

Grab a notepad and write down the thoughts that come to mind. Don’t leave for later – the moment will go away and everything will disappear.

Final stage: bring matters under control.

Before the working week, arrange the invented/compiled/written. It can make a great plan for action.

Have a good rest and reboot of the brain!

How to load yourself with work and be known as a confirmed workaholic?

Today, there’s a few people working under a stable schedule from 9 to 5, especially in IT. The boundaries between work and personal life are gradually merging, the industry requires us to be fully involved. Yes, we often don’t mind – we are fascinated with the dynamics, a variety of tasks. The image of a constantly busy person has now become so popular that many are eager to overload themselves.

How to allow overload and burnout in the shortest possible time?

Let the work eat all your time.

No going to the cinema, shop or for a delicious dinner in your favorite cafe. Entertainment is a lot of lazy people, and you need to work.

People don’t notice that they are stressed. While you can dilute your emotional state with shopping or going to the movies, everything is in order. But as soon as you begin to limit yourself to the simplest things, it’s time to think twice: something went wrong.

If you want to change it, take a timeout. Treat yourself to something nice, especially if you have managed to complete several important tasks before this. With renewed vigor, the brain will proceed to the following tasks more eagerly.

Prioritize and plan, do all the most important and urgent. Leave strategic things for later. More micromanagement.

In fact, this is the most widespread and ineffective time management technique.

We were all taught that we must first do urgent and important tasks, and only then move on to the rest. But if you want to really be surprised at your own successes, try to prioritize important, but not urgent matters. They usually form the basis of your personal career development strategy. You won’t go far on micromanagement.

Get a fat diary and dump all the tasks randomly there. Do not specify a runtime.

Why try to limit yourself to extra deadlines, which mean even more stress. Besides, you never know how long this or that work will continue. Even better is to fit on one page all the tasks that came to mind. And it doesn’t matter if you can manage to do them all in a day, or part of them will certainly be put off until tomorrow.

Minor tasks must be a priority. You need to start with them, even if they are insignificant.

But in 3 hours you will have half a page of crossed out points. This is wonderful – the brain is delighted with completed tasks. And it’s nothing that in the middle of the day a difficult task hangs over you like a hammer, requiring complete immersion and renunciation of all external stimuli. Just one point that can be put off until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow …

Experts say that procrastination is giving importance to unimportant things. For some, this is a way to catch a break, give the brain a discharge. Sometimes it’s really useful, especially when you have worked hard before. But for the most part, this is a way to postpone complex and difficult tasks. The brain is afraid of them and in every possible way tries to avoid. Therefore, if you want to be truly excited with achievements, plan a difficult or creative task for the period of greatest effectiveness – 2 hours after you finally woke up. If you have done it, you can proceed to the small tasks, and since you have already got into a rhythm, you will cope with them much faster. An oppressive feeling will no longer haunt you until the end of the day.

Do more things at the same time.

Develop a concept for a new project, simultaneously correspond with colleagues and listen to the new album of your favorite band. In the end, you will get a gift set of an unfulfilled important task, decorated with self-discontent at the end of the day.

Things are piling up, and will be moved the next day. The result is low productivity, stress, and so on.

Multitasking or switch cost consumes up to 40% of the working time. If you have them – OK. If not, here is the solution: order and prioritization.

• Determine in advance what is routine and what requires mental effort.
• Detail cognitive and creative tasks and do separately from each other.
• When you are tired, go on to the routine.

In a word, if any of these points has become your usual behavior, you should think about it and do the opposite.

Time management is not about restrictions and not about constant rush. This is about the optimal distribution of time. Learn to value and feel your time. After all, this is the most valuable resource.

The main educational event of the month is the International Education Forum NewEdu: Tech in Focus which didn´t go right past us.

Outcome: a lot of positive impressions, acquaintances and a fascinating topic from Olesia Ulianova – gamification.

Games during training: the need or challenge of time.

How to make a lesson or training a productive game?

Interestingly, these principles apply to both children and adults. The only difference is the complexity of the game.

So:

 

Stage 1: Work out the plot.

You need to turn on imagination and make up a plot in order that a lesson will become a game. All other elements are strung on it. It can be a fascinating story, a world, or even a quest.

 

Stage 2: Define the goals.

Modern children constantly ask adults the question: “Why should I do this?”. Participants must clearly understand why they should do what is proposed within the game.

 

Stage 3: Distribute the roles among the participants.

Moreover, the team should consist of different people. If these are children, “A” students and “B” students should work together. There have been many cases where students in the game open themselves up from a completely unexpected side, and this may predetermine their choice of a future profession. But not only children, but also adults can see new opportunities in themselves, trying on themselves a new role for at least an hour.

Anyway, don’t be afraid to experiment.

 

Stage 4: Make up the rules, the challenges in the game.

The main thing is a fascinating context, it can be modern, historical and even fictional. Each challenge must become a condition for moving forward, and this can be any math problem, experiment in chemistry, rebus, charade or language anagram.

Hunter Davies is a well-known educator, who pleases children with his classroom games based on different plots, for example, to calculate a safe route, to leave the epicenter of zombies, and not to become a prey.

 

Stage 5: Use the device capabilities.

A mobile phone is an excellent tool for quickly finding information, as well as a tool for completing quests. QR codes, maps, routes – a million possibilities.

 

Step 6: Check the game mechanics.

If some participants quickly get levels or overcome stages, others find themselves in outsiders, it means the game world is somewhere incomplete. The facilitator needs to follow the balance.

In a word, games in education are exciting and useful. A person remembers best of all what caused his emotions, and any strong impression will forever remain in our memory.

The main thing is not to play too long. It is worth remembering that study is work, and game is a sweet dessert that you can’t overdo.

The end of program Mentoring for the company Intetics Inc. It was a productive month, there were ups and downs, successes and disappointments. Now ten (10!) motivated and trained mentors have entered the world.

At a series of trainings, new mentors:

• learnt about algorithms for knowledge transmission
• got to know about active listening technology
• acquired skills in building training systems taking into account personality types
• developed the skill of feedback and goal setting.

The results of productive work were methods of training their colleagues in a strictly limited framework (10 minutes). Of course, it was not without a fan. Emotions and positive attitude made our teamwork unforgettable! See you soon, my new colleagues!

We’ve already begun a series of corporate trainings, and the company Intetics became our first stop.

The program is extremely busy, but the colleagues expected only this.

5 topics, 5 exercises and activities, the result is 5 more steps closer to perfection. 

We are already past a halfway, but a second no less exciting part awaits the colleagues.

Eternal themes are:

• Mentoring or how to lead people. Who are these “pink unicorns”, good mentors? How to become one of them and can you learn this?
• Communications and clear tasking. The stages of information perception and methods of dealing with various levels of misunderstanding.
• Active listening and personality traits. Persuasion techniques and confident behavior. Techniques and rules for working with various personality types.
• Criticism and feedback. How to give developing feedback and constructive criticism.
• Making development plans for juniors. The balance of theory and practice, as well as effective case-study methods.

In general, the training lasts a month.

Now we go on and wait for the results.