Celebrating Lumina Learning Community Winners from the Association of Business Psychology 2024 Awards

Well that was a busy night for our wonderful clients and team at The Association for Business Psychology 2024 awards. Last night was a lovely evening of connection with tons of amazing people, organisations and friends at the heart of everything we strive for.

Of course, it’s even better when those around you come away with a whole range of awards too. And that’s exactly how the evening played out, which you can probably tell from all the big smiles and nice shiny awards!

Our commitment to innovation and excellence in psychometrics is something we never shy away from, but it’s always a work in progress. Nevertheless, experiencing our clients and team achieve remarkable milestones along the way make it even more so worth the journey.

This commitment was proudly recognised at the 2024 Awards of the Association of Business Psychology, where our efforts were celebrated alongside those of our distinguished community.

We’re so proud to collaborate with each and every one of our Lumina Learning Practitioner Community who bring our tools to life. With that said, let’s break down how the night played out with some fantastic examples of how our network and team have been getting on over the last year.

Cat-Thao Nguyen with Lumina Learning Vietnam: Excellence in Facilitating Inclusion

Inclusion is at the heart of a thriving workplace, and we are proud to celebrate Cat-Thao Nguyen’s win for Excellence in Inclusion. Her pioneering anti-racism solutions for a big4 consultancy have set a new standard in creating equitable and inclusive environments.

Cat-Thao’s work exemplifies the impact that dedicated professionals can have on creating more meaningful diversity and inclusion within organisations. Her recognition at the Association of Business Psychology 2024 awards highlights her forward thinking in the space and the critical importance of continuing to champion these values in all business practices.

Organisations worldwide face challenges related to underrepresentation and unconscious bias. Lumina Learning Vietnam tackled these issues by offering customised workshops that used Lumina Spark to give leaders an objective, practical and sensitive view of the biases within their organisations.

By highlighting these patterns through team dynamics, the programme encouraged empathy and inclusive leadership practices. Participants engaged significantly and real-time impact assessments allowed leaders to commit to actionable behavioural changes, leading to renewed client engagement and evidence of sustained improvements in workplace equity. Lumina Spark empowered leaders to recognise and address biases, transforming organisational cultures globally.

A few words from Cat-Thao on the night:

We are so honoured to win the Excellence in Facilitating Inclusion Award with Lumina Learning at the British Association of Business Psychology 2024 Awards in London. Creating and facilitating Inclusive Leader and Racial Justice programmes with close to 1000 participants worldwide has been challenging, inspiring and joyful.

Deeply grateful to our team, Vi-An Nguyen, Kumudika de Silva, Thu Tran, Huyen Ngo, Sertan Saral, Tyler Crane, and Huyen Nguyen, who have all contributed to delivering these transformational programmes. I’m extremely grateful to all the client organisations who have worked with us and who have demonstrated their commitment to justice.

Thank you for believing in me. Leaving a stable international corporate job several years ago to set up my own leadership development company was an inexplicable deep calling to become closer to myself. There’s so much more to learn and grow. I am so blessed to have Anthony Tran as a rock of support.

Dr Stewart Desson with Lumina Learning: Business Psychology Supplier of the Year

Our very own founder and CEO came away with Business Psychology Supplier of the Year award. This prestigious recognition is a testament to Dr Desson’s visionary leadership that has helped us create an innovative psychometric which we’ve been evolving for almost 15 years. Stew, you’re one of a kind and we wouldn’t change a thing, even when you do overextend! Lots of love from all of us.

Some words from Dr Stew – “Our vision for almost 15 years now has been to take two psychometric worlds that often feel a bit separate and bring the power of both together.

To create a more accurate and inclusive view of people’s individuality that gives them a more meaningful and fuller picture of their real potential. Yet weaved together with easily digestible and exciting learning experiences that make personal development a truly enjoyable and inspiring experience to grow from.

Still lots of work to do, but tonight gives me that extra push forward.”

Dr Stew was also one of three ABP recipients to receive honorary lifetime membership to the ABP for his contribution to the field. Given his love for everything the ABP does spreading the word for the need to embrace psychology in all workplaces, you can safely assume he was smiling like the Cheshire cat to receive this!

Empowering Refugees with ACEIL and Dr Abeer Pharaon: Highly Commended for Employee Empowerment

Refugee communities often face systemic barriers to education, employment, and personal development, which are further exacerbated by trauma and limited resources. To address these challenges, Dr Abeer Pharaon founded ACEIL, an organisation dedicated to providing well-being and personal development training. Utilising innovative tools such as Lumina Spark and Lego Serious Play, ACEIL conducted programmes both in refugee camps and remotely. These initiatives allowed participants to delve into their personalities, build resilience, and cultivate leadership skills.

As a result of these efforts, participants gained confidence and developed actionable plans for their personal and professional growth. Many refugees went on to start entrepreneurial ventures or increased their involvement within their communities. The initiative also expanded to include facilitator training, ensuring a sustainable and scalable impact over time. Lumina Spark played a crucial role in fostering self-awareness and empowerment, driving transformative change even in the most challenging environments.

Preserving Heritage and Leadership at City & Country with Jane Armytage: Highly Commended for Employee Empowerment

City & Country, a family-owned housebuilder, encountered a leadership gap when the founders decided to step back from their roles. With huge commercial growth occurring for the organisation, they wanted to help their leaders prepare to take up the opportunity in this transition period, which led to the development of a customised programme incorporating Lumina Spark, action learning, and emotional agility assessments.

We designed a leadership programme using almost every tool we offer, each playing a crucial role by providing a framework for experiential learning around the core pillars of leadership. This programme significantly enhanced leadership effectiveness by improving team dynamics, collaboration, communication, responses to challenges, recruitment processes, and overall team alignment. It empowered the leaders to skilfully balance the company’s rich heritage with the need for innovation, ensuring a smooth transition and continued success.

Advancing Women’s Careers with Patti Clarke & Havas’ Femmes Forward Program: Highly Commended for Employee Empowerment

Havas wanted to ensure women within the organisation received the support they deserve to grow in their careers without barriers of gender based bias. To address this, the Femmes Forward program was introduced, integrating Lumina Spark with workshops, peer coaching, and inspirational storytelling. This innovative approach offered a flexible, blended learning model that catered to diverse cultural and personal needs. Lumina Spark played a pivotal role in this programme, empowering women to envision and achieve their career goals by enhancing self-awareness and confidence. The tool’s effectiveness was evident as it helped create a supportive community where women could thrive and grow professionally.

The outcomes of incorporating Lumina Spark were remarkable. Within two years, 60% of the programme’s participants received promotions, and 74% remained with Havas, a notable achievement in the high-turnover advertising industry. The success of the programme led to the development of spin-off initiatives for early-career and creative women leaders, further enhancing leadership diversity and organisational performance at Havas. Lumina Spark proved to be an essential component in these achievements, demonstrating its value in fostering leadership development and supporting women in overcoming barriers to career advancement.

Joy Maitland MBE with Inemmo – Lifetime Honorary Membership for contributions to the business psychology profession

Joy is a long time friend, Lumina Learning Practitioner and official distributor of our tools. We were delighted that Joy’s years of hard work and passion delivering personal development solutions using our psychometrics was globally recognised with the ABP’s highly selective award that gives a nod to valuing her as a leader in her space. Gaining this award only comes by driving the highest quality of thought leadership and change to the profession. Congratulations, Joy!

Jonathan Cannon with Lumina Learning: Highly Commended for Business Psychologist of the Year

Jonathan Cannon was highly commended for his exceptional work as a business psychologist for customised behavioural mapping and leading the charge on our #WorkBetterTogether focus with thousands of you joining to explore and handle the challenges related to resilience, feedback, conflict and bullying, as well as AI, women’s leadership and neurodivergence too.  His contributions exemplify the significant influence that committed business psychologists can exert on organisational well-being and achievement.

A lovely way to wrap up a huge year for our community

With over 100,000 people experiencing Lumina Spark and other tools beyond in 2024, finishing on a high has been an absolute delight. From corporate boardrooms to supporting those in need, we are so proud to see how we are driving profound personal and organisational transformations. These stories remind us of the power of evidence-based psychology to create inclusive, resilient, and visionary leaders. In Dr Stew’s words, onwards and upwards.

Want to learn more about joining the personal development revolution that our Practitioner community is leading through better psychometrics? We’d love to get to know your opportunities to create outstanding transformation with our tools. Let’s get in touch.