Human on the Inside with Google’s Claire Bloom
Maxme: We’re big believers in the power of human skills. But don’t just take our word for it - the evidence for excellence powered by human (‘soft’) skills is everywhere! In this engaging, ever-enlightening series, we speak with industry leaders, innovators and game-changers to learn a little about their personal career journeys, and how human-led strategies, philosophies and cultures are proving a force for good in their working worlds …
Welcome Claire and thanks for stepping into the #SuccessIsHuman spotlight! You’re Training & Advocacy Manager for Google.
In 1 sentence (ok, we’ll give you 3), what does your role entail?
Claire Bloom: I’m responsible for delivering energising training and advocacy within the extended Google workforce. This includes a cross functional strategy in order to make key launch moments matter. Much of my role is to ensure helpfulness, reliability and very importantly, FUN is baked into all aspects of delivery. Humanising technical information is a large part of my overall remit - in order to truly connect with our customer, we must be easy to understand, relatable, and benefit-driven.
M: You’ve been with Google for a little over two years now, but your career in training & human development is of course much deeper.
In early 2010 you kicked things off with Lorna Jane - initially in store as a Sales Assistant, but moved quickly through the business - 18 months later you were State Trainer for VIC & ACT. Your next big role was National Trainer for Australian fitness label, 2XU (almost 3yrs), before moving into wearable tech with Fitbit. Once again, you progressed quickly through the business; holding 4 roles in 4 1/2 years - the final one being Head of Training & Retail Ops (international) - bravo! With Fitbit acquired by Google in early 2021, you retained this role, & only recently moved into your current role as Training & Advocacy Manager.
In parallel to all of this, you also managed to welcome your first child into the world ~15 months ago. Congrats!
How does all this work speak to your personal purpose and what drives you as an individual?
CB: I’ve never really had a long term plan, rather focussed on surrounding myself with people who were far more interesting, smarter and driven than me. That focus has enabled me to learn from almost everyone I’ve interacted with, collecting nuggets to improve myself, which likely improved them too.
I’ve always been rather introverted (or an extroverted introvert), and thrived in connections where I could lean on a common thread to reduce the synaptic gap between myself and others.
From my early years at Lorna Jane, I was privileged to work with some of the most dynamic and creative women in the industry who not only taught, but showed me the impact of active listening, obsessing over customer behaviour, and the impact of a true end to end customer experience.
I’ve been humbled and lucky to experience the diverse learnings of working in retail.
Lorna Jane demonstrated to me that I could build true human connections through a common (literal) thread. I found myself forging deeply meaningful friendships with women I would meet once, and others who became loyal customers - often returning to the store for the sense of connection and ‘home’ we provided them. Many of my customers trusted me with their stories, vulnerabilities and goals. This helped me to understand that the colourful, well shaped and well fitted sports bra they were buying was more than that - they were investments in a vision of themselves. This ‘home’ was also very profitable, and out of obsession to recreate this, we built one of the most profitable stores across Australia, with high staff retention and a very loyal customer base.
As an analytical mind and a serial organiser, I wanted to move swiftly into recreating this success and sharing the knowledge with peers in other locations. And there began my journey and love for training. I detailed what I wanted to create, then strategically broke it down into bite size, repeatable chunks that others elsewhere could practise. In essence, I wrote a blueprint for how they could experience the same sense of ‘belonging’ and profitability.
This sense of being is something I wished to continue to create in the future roles through 2XU and Fitbit. Training and Advocacy always gave me this space. How we learn, and in turn, teach others to learn is a well balanced, and somewhat intricate undertaking. We need to acknowledge that by building meaningful (key word) human connections, enable a deep rooted engagement with topics. I’ve always focussed on 3 key words; Helpfulness, Reliability and Fun. These 3 words have shaped how I approach content development, delivery and how I hold myself within teams and to stakeholders.
In recent years, I’ve been driven by measuring impact, discovering new business opportunities and broadening the traditional lens of sales training and advocacy to encompass a more holistic view on user satisfaction.
I’m not even sure that this answers the question, but maybe it paints a picture of who I am and the values which have driven my growth.
M: Tell us a little about your personal education pathway/s - what led you to where you are now? How closely do your formal qualifications match your current career?
CB: In an effort to reduce a preamble, I don’t have any formal qualifications. I deferred University and never went back! I loved school and love learning, but for one reason or another, University wasn’t for me and my Bachelor of Science, albeit interesting, didn’t stick.
I like to say that retail was my personal tertiary education or university, if you wish. The hands-on nature and everyday challenges diversified my ideas on what a career could be, and I fell in love with the beautiful chaos of Chadstone Shopping Centre.
I suppose my education and interest in science and mathematics, merged with my enjoyment of fashion and newfound sociability paved out a career in sports apparel technology, into wearable technology and now in consumer hardware.
Imposter syndrome followed me during my early career and continues to rear its head from time to time. I know it’s connected to my insecurities associated with a lack of official ‘training’ … that perhaps I shouldn’t be where I am today. A saying which has stuck with me is; Don’t fake it ‘til you make it, fake it ‘til you become it. Well I became it - now I don’t need to fake it!
M: If you could share one piece of career advice to your 21 year old self it would be ...
CB: Enjoy being 21 ;)
M: Maximising the potential of individuals, communities and businesses through the power of human skills is the reason Maxme exists. Can you tell us a little about the role and / or value of human skills in your workplace or industry right now?
CB: The overlap of tech and human is more prominent than ever. With the incredible advances in AI, there’s a relentless mission to make technology more inclusive and helpful whilst holding firm on being responsible.
Although it seems that AI is driving us further away from the human element, it likely increases and improves the overlap as it continues to better integrate and become more 'human' in its own right.
In training and advocacy this translates into a discussion on why AI matters, how it will improve my life and how I maximise my human potential by leaning into this wondrous innovation. AI is personalised intelligence. The stronger it gets, the more personal, intrinsic and human it becomes.
Working with cross functional teams, across varying countries and locations has taught me the importance of *really* listening and connecting on a human level, which ultimately simplifies the working relationship and gives space for creativity, confidence in risk taking, and an improved sense of belonging. Everybody can teach you something, and you can teach everybody something…if you let them.
M: Self awareness sets the critical foundation for all Maxme learning experiences. What’s your strongest trait / personal super power?
CB: I always find these questions hard. I’ve come back here time and time again. It’s something which sung strong through early months of motherhood and my super power i's my intuition. Gut feel is a feeling or intuition that you have about something, even if you can't explain why you feel that way. It can be a powerful tool for making decisions, but it's important to remember that gut feel is not always accurate. It's always a good idea to weigh your gut feel against other factors, such as logic and evidence, before making a decision.
M: And on the flip side, what’s one human / ‘soft’ skill you’ve had to really work on improving over the course of your career?
CB: Brené Brown describes stories as ‘data with a soul’. When we connect with co-workers, stakeholders and customers, we should recognise that the stories they share with us provide us valuable data about who they are, how they work and why they do what they do. When we can acknowledge that data can occur in many shapes and sizes, it enables us to analyse situations, provide insights and take action to improve outcomes. I’ve always appreciated the stories, but I had to work hard on how to confidently translate sentiment into measurable data to ensure it held its weight in key decision making.
M: If you could share one piece of career advice with recent Uni graduates or candidates keen to work in a field like training, advocacy & human development, what would it be?
CB: The driving force is vulnerability. Own what you’re good at and where you need support to encourage others to do the same. Being a leader in this field requires technical excellence in product, rich in context and depth, knowing that how you organise and disseminate information will ultimately impact its absorption and regurgitation. It also requires human connection, which is almost certainly the #1 driver in success. Seeing the growth of those I train and witnessing their "click" moments provides me with an exemplary boost of motivation and validation that the content and delivery is hitting home. If you don’t care, why should they? It’s critical to deeply understand the as-is before reinventing the wheel.
M: You’ve been granted approval to add one Uni graduate to your business, but have 100 applicants, all with outstanding academic results. How do you find your perfect candidate - what are you looking for?
CB: For me, the key differentiator is the way a candidate makes you feel. It’s a certain factor which comes with someone who is their authentic self, confident in their ability, and of course culture suitability. In short, it’s the strength of their ‘soft’ (human) skills.
M: What’s next on your #learning agenda?
CB: After 12 months away from my career, it gave me some time to reflect on the race we typically get stuck running. It prompted me to rethink how important it is to excel in the foundations. It’s back to basics for me. My favourite place to start and finish.
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