Michelle Ockers: Profiles in Knowledge

Originally published June 26, 2020

5 min readJun 27, 2020

This is the 57th article in the Profiles in Knowledge series featuring thought leaders in knowledge management. Michelle Ockers is a strategist, mentor, facilitator, trainer, and speaker who believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and perform at their best. She works with leaders who want learning to make a bigger impact in their organization. Her core expertise is organizational learning strategy, capability uplift for learning teams, and continuous learning skills and practices. Michelle is based in Brisbane, Australia.

Michelle introduced Communities of Practice for strategic capabilities at Coca-Cola Amatil, including supply planning, manufacturing, and engineering. She coached others, including business leaders and subject matter experts, to build and sustain effective communities. Michelle was an early proponent of Working Out Loud (WOL) in Australia. She established WOL Circles both inside organizations and across the learning profession.

Background

Selected Positions

michelleockers.com — Learning Strategy Expert & Learning Team Capability Builder
Australian Institute of Training & Development (AITD) — Divisional President
Qantas — Training Manager
Coca-Cola Amatil — National Supply Chain Technical Capability Manager, Technical Training Consultant
Andragogy — Learning Consultant

Honors and Awards

Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) — Dr. Alastair Rylatt L&D Professional of the Year 2019
Internet Time Alliance Jay Cross Memorial Award 2019 for outstanding contribution to the field of informal learning
Top 10 e-Learning Movers and Shakers — Asia-Pacific
AITD Excellence Awards — Best Use of Social/Collaborative Learning

Education

University of Southern Queensland — Bachelor of Business in Economics and Human Resource Management, 1987 with University Medal

Profiles

Content

Blog Categories

Blog Posts

Learning Uncut Blog

Articles

Articles by Others

Michelle Ockers Found a Voice for Her Business and Industry by Katie McMurray
How to Become a Learning Organization (An Interview with Michelle Ockers) by Jeffrey Dalto
The 4th Annual Internet Time Alliance Jay Cross Memorial Award goes to Michelle Ockers by Jane Hart

The Internet Time Alliance Award, in memory of Jay Cross, is presented to a workplace learning professional who has contributed in positive ways to the field of Informal Learning and is reflective of Jay’s lifetime of work.

Recipients champion workplace and social learning practices inside their organization and/or on the wider stage. They share their work in public and often challenge conventional wisdom. The Award is given to professionals who continuously welcome challenges at the cutting edge of their expertise and are convincing and effective advocates of a humanistic approach to workplace learning and performance.

Following his death in November 2015, the partners of the Internet Time Alliance (Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, Charles Jennings, Clark Quinn) resolved to continue Jay’s work. Jay Cross was a deep thinker and a man of many talents, never resting on his past accomplishments, and this award is one way to keep pushing our professional fields and industries to find new and better ways to learn and work.

The Internet Time Alliance Jay Cross Memorial Award for 2019 is presented to Michelle Ockers.

Michelle describes herself as “passionate about modernising learning in organizations”. She has experience supporting workplace learning inside large organizations as well as a freelance consultant. Michelle helps to inform the industry through her public speaking and workshops. She is not afraid to try new methods and get her hands dirty, as she did in promoting social learning at Coca Cola Amatil, trading in her sneakers for safety shoes to better understand the work environment. For the past year Michelle has been posting a monthly summary of “What I learned”, setting an example of continuous learning.

Here is Michelle in her own words

“The idea of a learning environment is that you’re reducing friction, to make it easier for people to learn, and in particular to learn while they work… So it’s about enabling people to learn continuously, to have a more fluid sharing of knowledge, to be able to access the resources they need, in the flow of work and to be able to do their job.”