Ben Meakins

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT BEN MEAKINS

The world is changing at an ever-increasing rate and HR/L&D must lead the way in what it means to navigate the uncertain world we work in. Organisational complexity, insufficient skills and people burnout are the challenges. There is a disconnect in that 74% of leaders think these challenges are being addressed and only 38% of employees agree. Therefore, I believe in the HR 3.0 manifesto, that HR/L&D must lead the way in being collaborative, agile and integrated into the organisation. I seek to realise this vision by being a partner with operational stakeholders, both in strategy and delivery.I lead with Design Thinking to reduce project timescales, reduce risk and increase personalisation for the learner experience, which leads to higher engagement. Using Design Thinking involves listening to the needs and expectations of how people want to learn. For this reason, I see commonalities but ultimately, I don’t state what the experiences should be. I listen to those that need it and seek to provide an agile response. When doing so there may be a huge shift of where learning gets done as stakeholders talk about the need to learn anywhere, or the need to build skills in the flow of work, or the need to feel safe to learn. The aim is to support a sustainable diverse and inclusive workforce which has space to learn and innovate.I’ve used this with great effect in a wide variety of scenarios to influence organisational performance. These are innovative digital solutions driven by data. A focus on performance and understanding of operational goals allow me to influence and through transparency gain trust with operational leadership. I believe in the limitless potential of human capability. I am passionate about exploring and achieving solutions that elevate the work and skills of people and return measurable results for learning’s transition to HR 3.0.