Philwesty21

Hourly rate: members only

Availability: members only

Willingness to travel: Nearby (100 km)

Professional status: Freelancer

Last updated: 18 Oct 2023

Total work experience:

Language skills: English,

Personal summary

I have extensive experience in L&D and managing change programmes working at board level. I consider myself to have leading-edge knowledge and expertise in the L&D arena across physical and digital training modes. My most recent role at London Fire Brigade included developing a Portfolio Management approach for over 50 key projects across the brigade which included the organisational learning model for which I became an SME and worked closely with Operations and Babcock to develop new ways of delivering content. I worked with Unilever on pioneering learning change programmes introducing skill acquisition/sharing, talent development as well as implementing a new Learning Experience Platform. I managed course design and production through suppliers as well rationalising content and across a global workforce of over 60,000 people on all topics from Leadership to Supply Chain functions. I was personally responsible for managing the sourcing all the suppliers and managing contracts. I worked closely with global teams on demand planning and ensuring supply of adequate training resources. A main focus of this work was to bring savings through moving toward digital learning adoption. I saved around 30% through better management of demand and provision of digital resources. I began my career in HR at ground level running induction training courses. I learned the art of finding ways to engage with learners face to face and carried this experience with me when thinking about change programmes and new system integrations. My experience gives me a clear insight to what actually works on the ground, and how change must tie into a business’s objectives and goals at a strategic level as well as enable people to change smoothly to new ways of working. My Masters dissertation focused on making strategic change count at ground level in organisations. I am by nature a problem solver. I am most at home with programmes of change, so much of my career has been dedicated to finding innovative solutions to organisational problems. I have been lucky enough to work on major IT related programmes where my focus was always on people change from an L&D perspective. These roles have often been related to the need to improve process or the implement new technologies including AI and AR solutions. I have set up and run my own training business where I managed every aspect of the training business from finance to hiring. I have won major training contracts with FireControl, British Airways, Met Police, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and numerous others. I formed a partnership with a recruitment company that transformed the business into a great success through recruiting and training graduates for IT roles in the city. This became a global business under my watch and I opened training centres in Germany, USA, Hong Kong and Ireland. FireControl was a government led initiative to combine 46 emergency controls into 9 centres. Whilst ultimately flawed, I was responsible for design and delivery of all training, both skills and technical. Some of those new technologies are still used in the Fire and Rescue Service today. My greatest asset is my experience in a variety of businesses in both private and public sectors, so I do not arrive with an entrenched view of how to do things. I approach problem solving with an owners’ mindset so I am well versed in building success without spending a fortune to do it.

Skills