My career: Steve’s story

At Carnival UK we’re a diverse bunch, we have a multitude of skills, knowledge, and experience between us. We love to share your career stories to showcase development opportunities and inspire one another.

Straight out of university after studying English Literature, having no idea about a career, Steve started a job in a call centre before taking on the role of technical support. From there he discovered his passion for training, starting off with new starter training and then branching into management training and training design. Steve joined Carnival UK in 2012 as HR Development Consultant and since 2023 has held the role of Learning Design Manager.

“I’m introverted by nature and was exceptionally shy when I was younger. I guess initially the bosses that thought I could stand up and deliver training – for whatever reason they did- encouraged me into something I’d never have considered myself. They helped me discover bits of my personality along the way as well as my interests and where I wanted my career to take me.

As well as having support from managers around me, a lot of shadowing, observation and feedback from people more experienced than myself went on behind the scenes and really helped to shape my development. 

In my career I’ve been lucky enough to get secondments that took me abroad to live and work. My first assignment was in Pune, India for 10 months and the second in Cape Town, South Africa for 8 months. In both locations we were setting up new contact centres so there was plenty to do to set up the physical locations, train all the local team to be self-sufficient and quality assess their performance. Being able to immerse myself completely in new cultures and experience new things was exciting and a real career highlight.

Today, whilst I’m not traveling the world, there are some pretty interesting parts of my job. I now focus on learning design, the psychology behind learning and the visual design elements. I get bored super-quickly and nothing pains me more than having to attend a workshop or complete eLearning that has zero relevance to me, so it’s essential to make learning as engaging as possible. I focus on making peoples’ work better, quicker, and easier with relevant content, that actually helps them to do something differently. 

My biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to develop would be to always ask questions, never accept what you are told at face value. While it can feel daunting to challenge the way things are done, it is often only through doing this and bringing fresh ideas to the table that we can make improvements – and make sure we’re working on the things that make the biggest difference. Also, you get to understand people more.

I believe it’s incredibly important to do your own research and form your own opinions. People often turn information into bite-sized nuggets and then regurgitate them. Make sure you read the source text or research yourself, find out some perspectives that state the opposite is true. Don’t be a sheep. 

My third piece of advice would be to spend your time wisely. By saying yes to one thing you are saying no to something else. Make those decisions conscious and really consider where the most value can be added.

Steve’s recommended resources:

All washed up. A very simple but engaging way to think about influence. Watch a 14-year-old crack the code to influencing behaviour, here.

Drive by Dan Pink. A solid idea on why you’re motivated to do some things but not others. Check it out on Good Practice.

The four premises of relationship awareness by Dr Porter. Psychometric tests measure a range of skills from cognitive abilities, knowledge to assessing personality. There are a lot of tests out there but this one I found most useful.

(Please note: both recommended resources below have strong language)

David Goggin’s on The Joe Rogan experience. David Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL and former USAF Tactical Air Control Party member who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, and world record holder for the most pull-ups done in 24 hours. I watched this is late 2022 and it gave me a kick on to make some changes. Watch here.

The subtle art of not giving a f*ck by Mark Manson. Mark Manson makes the argument, backed by academic research, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. I’ve just started this on Spotify, listen here.

Thanks, Steve, for sharing your career story.

As we’ve heard here, development can come in all forms, from shadowing to trying your hand at things outside of your comfort zone or tuning into a podcast or two. To find out more about resources and development opportunities at Carnival UK visit the performance and development pages on The Insider.