Marie Blakey

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MARIE BLAKEY

A highly effective and motivated OD & People professional, coach and mentor, with a unique blend of skills having worked in both strategic and operational roles in the UK and Globally. My strength is in driving continuous improvement, balancing strategic business needs with developing cultures where people can really thrive. I have extensive experience operating at all levels in both corporate and not-for-profit from Board and Directors to front-line. Positive and high energy, I’m pragmatic in approach and believe unequivocally that People are central to all organisations and integral to business success, which is why I made the career move to the People and OD arena.Until 2017, my career had been focussed on business development, change, stakeholder/relationship management, strategy and commercial aspects of business. However, I became acutely aware of the importance of People in achieving business success, and the difficulty of achieving a strategy without engaged people. I seized the opportunity to talk to the Corporate Services Director about my aspirations, and Independent Age saw the strategic value of having a leader in People and OD who had the commercial and operational knowledge of the organisation coupled with significant experience of leading and developing people. I moved into a newly created role and IA sponsored my part-time MSC in Human Resource Management and Strategic Leadership.I brought a range of skills with me that enhanced the team significantly, including robust project management, process improvement and strategic thought-processes which were enhanced by the theoretical knowledge of the MSC. During the three year MSC programme, my role was continually shaped so I could put theory into practice and bring tangible value to the organisation. My dissertation “Appreciative Inquiry as a tool for change” brought incredible insight into how change programmes can benefit significantly when focussed on positives with involvement for all.During the MSc and the past three years I have developed skills and strengths in both organisational design/development and generalist HR:Strategic Change & transformationStakeholder managementStrategic planningReward and recognitionEmployee EngagementLeadershipCoaching & developmentPayroll & PensionsHRISRecruitment and onboardingPerformance managementPolicy developmentEmployee relationsProcess re-engineering.