Welcome back to Ignite Technology’s People with Passion blog series where we’re featuring our team members from across North America who make an impact both at work, and in their lives within our communities. We’re a diverse team, all experts in our own fields, who share a mission to create better ways for people to work using technology. With our goal of Connecting People and Ideas through Technology, people are key.
Fauzia Moorani is a Technology Adoption Educator and leader at Ignite who has combined her passion for education with an unwavering dedication to service, making a difference for our customers and the utilization of their new or existing technology and systems.
Teams who need help navigating and communicating change, upgrading their competencies, or gaining buy-in from their users lean on Fauzia and team to deliver meaningful education and support that people will remember for all the right reasons.
New systems and tools can’t possibly improve organizational performance if they aren’t getting used by your team. That’s where Ignite’s Technology Adoption Educators come in.
Our adoption experts help transform user perception, bringing technology to a human level so that everyone can work with confidence using their new tools. To put it simply, adoption can make or break the experience each individual team member has with the technology, and their decision to accept and use what you’ve invested in.
“When a participant has an ah-ha moment in one of my sessions, it’s like food for the soul. It makes all the hard work and preparation for an education rollout worth it,” Fauzia says.
You’ve heard from Fauzia already if you tuned into our LEAP into the Hybrid Workplace series and read our blog article about cultivating a successful employee experience in the hybrid workplace.
Fauzia is a seasoned professional when it comes to stoking group engagement, capturing an audience (internal, external, digital or in-person), and taking a people-first approach to education. Let’s get started.
The Work/Life Basics:
Fauzia became an adult educator over 15 years ago after first teaching kids in Ottawa for a couple of years. She’s obsessed with learning and is always taking a new course or reading a book to refine her skills and expand her knowledge.
In 2019, she published her book, Crushing It On Stage, where she delivers clear, compelling advice (peppered with both humor and humility) for anyone looking to transform their training facilitation, public speaking, audience engagement planning, and so much more.
Fauzia lives in North York, Ontario – only a 20–30-minute commute from our Toronto office, (for the days where she isn’t working from home with one of her favourite co-workers, her family’s dog, Chewie) and joined the Ignite team almost three years ago.
Fauzia laughs and shares she’s truly got a full house – her husband, daughters Jenna, and Alysha, her mother-in-law … the list goes on. But she handles her busy life with agility and preparation, just as she does with her work.
“Sometimes the best thing you can do is laugh,” Fauzia says. “Humour is huge, in any kind of education session or speaking engagement for sure, because it lessens your anxiety but also puts your audience at ease.”
Leading with purpose: Being of service
While family is a big part of her life, community is very important to Fauzia and giving back is deeply woven into her practice.
Whether it’s in her work tuning folks into technology’s potential, or as a speaker, educator, author, a Mom, or an active part of the Ismaili Muslim community, Fauzia’s commitment to serving others is embedded throughout everything she does.
Fauzia says that for as long as she can remember, the learnings she’s had about her faith have spoken to the notion of service. As a young child she started volunteering at her house of prayer, and continues serving alongside other community members, teaching kids and adults. Seva (an act of compassion and care for others above oneself – aka: service to humanity over simply to oneself) is an intrinsic aspect of her life, instilled by her family and faith.
Consistently giving back to our company’s community internally, Fauzia’s led several initiatives in support of our growth, and influences the overall employee experience at Ignite.
“Our team is a collection of awesome people who are thought leaders or specialists in their field. Then, these great minds come together and collaborate. Fauzia brings an expert lens to education and adoption through her deep understanding of how people learn,” Valerie Knight, Ignite’s Manager of Adoption and Marketing shares.
Crushing It On Stage, in the boardroom, and beyond
“When I look at my book, it’s a testimony to the work I’ve done in my community, not to mention the students and participants who have given me their time. It’s a culmination of these experiences that’s made for my successful approach to engaging facilitation, and guiding others through technology in a way that’s meaningful for everyone,” Fauzia reflects.
She shares that anytime you’re speaking to a group of people, you could inspire them, and that’s a powerful thing. “People give you their time, and that’s a gift. You have a chance to impact others in a way that very few can when it’s your turn on stage.”
Have a presentation coming up? Here are three tips from Fauzia you can use right now:
Unlock value for your participants – Before you finalize your presentation material, have you asked yourself, “What’s in it for them?” If your audience members aren’t gaining value from the presentation you’re giving, what’s the point? Make sure you address content that’s going to be meaningful to them in their roles or lives.
Get in the right mindset – It’s not about you! Remember, you’re here to serve. Before you get on stage, get back into the right mindset. Ask yourself, “How can I best serve this audience?” You’re probably nervous (because you care), but take a moment to breathe and get grounded back in the present moment. When you do that, you make it about your audience and how they experience the content and your message.
Prepare all you can, and don’t forget immersive elements for enhanced engagement – I always like to prepare as much as I possibly can so that I feel good about my efforts and have my intention set. It’s also really important to include immersive elements – especially when you’ve got remote participants. At Ignite, we use the Webex Collaboration suite, and so I integrate Sli.do in many of my presentations and education sessions. You get real-time participation and feedback, which I find extremely valuable.
Dive into these topics and more: Crushing It On Stage is available on Amazon. Don’t forget to check out the website, www.CrushingItOnStage.com for book bonuses and more information.
Achieve ah-ha moments with Ignite Technology Adoption services and support
Work in synergy with your new tech tools and systems or revisit your existing workflows. Fauzia and our adoption education team support teams across North America with custom lesson plans, resources, and expert guidance.
Many organizations rely on their IT team to train on technology, but that’s not always the ideal experience for your audience when adoption is the objective. It can be very challenging for a technical mind to effectively communicate at the level of their audience.
Digital transformation is about so much more than just technology. When you change the way you approach technology in your business, people can take priority, and we’re here to help.
Technology Education for everyone, no matter their current competency level
Adopting technology is the desired outcome, but the journey? It’s about people. Having an adoption expert deliver education sessions and support your team through change can make an enormous difference in utilization rates and employee sentiment.
Fauzia and team are focused on the user experience and helping people move past any limiting perceptions they may have about learning a new system, building custom programs to support your team in unlocking the value of the technology you’ve invested in.
We work with you to thoughtfully engage with team members wherever they’re at, technically.
Connect with us today to learn more about what digital adoption could look like in your business, and make sure you’re following us on LinkedIn to stay in the loop on Ignite Technology news and upcoming events.
~Sarah Allen, Content Coordinator