MEGA Directors Breakfast: From Skill Shortage to Skills Advantage

Susan Hayes Culleton • November 12, 2026

I was MC for MEGA- Manufacturing & Engineering Growth & Advancement Directors Breakfast and here is a summary of insights:

"MEGA needs to listen, understand, act and measure", as per the new Executive Director Paul Carolan

"We need to focus on collaboration and resilience, while managing the challenges of higher cost of electricity, negotiating the funding envelope from the British government and restrictions on workers from the EU", Michelle O'Neill, First Minister of Northern Ireland

I spoke about the model we use for agentic AI ->
- what inputs do you need to give an agent?
- what action do you want it to take?
- what output do you want it to give you?
- where is the human check?
- what difference will it make it you or your team?

"The NI labour force used to grow by 90,000 per decade and from 2030, it's set to go into decline. Industry needs to collaborate more with universities to ensure curricula are ever more relevant and the perception of degree apprenticeships are changing", Gareth Hetherington MBE

"Make your workplace a place where apprentices (and other staff!) want to stay. Young people today have unique skills - it's up to senior leaders to adapt and absorb those. If you bring people with you on a LEAN journey and they're an owner of the process, it can be a transformational experience for culture", Alisha Quinn

"Do some training on agentic AI and get stuck in. Full time degrees are part time anyway and there is a premium placed on the degree apprenticeship now." Darragh Cullen

"We need to treat everybody in our workplace as equals. The challenges faced in NI when it comes to the labour force are shared by businesses all over Europe" Remco Valk

"CBAM offers an arbitrage opportunity in NI now, but ultimately leads to more cost for businesses. You need to know how to do the job before automating it. Specifically between 2019 and 2024, manufacturing has led to a £8.4 billion trade balance and the goods trade surplus with GB increased by 122%" Stephen Kelly

It has been really wonderful to work with Maria Curran in recent years on the Directors Breakfast and her colleague Elita Frid to create "Engineering Across the Border" with Active Peers AI. As Maria begins a new chapter and moves on to pastures new, I wish you sincerely all the very best and thank you for the opportunities to work with you in MEGA.

Disrupt by the Sea

By Susan Hayes Culleton • September 28, 2026
Can you answer these 14 questions about your business? In this video, I outline the fourteen categories of questions the four sharks asked at "Disrupt by the Sea" at Ramelton, Donegal!

Emotion Canvas

By Susan Hayes Culleton • September 23, 2026
Do you like to use strategic models in your business. I love a good model! I came across the “Emotion Canvas” recently when Jaap Wilms CCXP presented it to our Elevate participants during a sales cadence masterclass and here is my experience of it.