If you're looking for honest lessons from the frontline of skills transformation, this episode is for you.

Picking up from last week’s strategic deep-dive with Ravin Jesuthasan and Brian Fisher at Mercer, this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast takes a practical turn, exploring what it really looks like to bring a skills-powered strategy to life inside a global organisation.

Joining host David Green is Amy Baxendale, Global Future of Workforce Director at Arcadis, who has spent the past three years leading a bold transformation to embed skills-based thinking across the company.

From reimagining workforce planning to enabling talent mobility and cultural change, Amy shares a rare, unfiltered view into the challenges and breakthroughs that define real progress.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• What triggered Arcadis' shift to a skills-first model, and how they got started

• How to navigate early implementation hurdles and complex change dynamics

• Approaches to gaining executive buy-in and aligning with business strategy

• Why governance and structure are key to sustainable transformation

• Ways to track progress - beyond ROI - to include engagement and agility

• Unexpected lessons and eye-opening moments from the journey

• What the future holds as skill demands continue to evolve rapidly

Whether you’re planning, piloting, or scaling a skills-based approach, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and grounded advice from someone who’s done the work.

This episode is sponsored by Mercer.

To thrive in an AI-augmented world, organisations must rethink how work gets done. Mercer’s Work Design solution uses AI to deconstruct jobs, redeploy tasks, and redesign work for greater agility, productivity, and impact.

Unlock your team’s full potential. Learn more at mercer.com/wfdemo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is your workforce strategy stuck in the past?

As AI accelerates and traditional job structures show their age, more companies are asking a fundamental question: Are we organising work the right way? Which is why, in this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, David and his guests explore why skills-based workforce planning has surged to the top of the HR agenda - and what leading companies are doing to turn intent into action.

Joining David are Ravin Jesuthasan, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer, and co-author of The Skills-Powered Organization, and Brian Fisher, Global Solutions Lead for Skills, Jobs and Careers at Mercer, and co-author of Mercer’s Skills Snapshot Survey.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why jobs are no longer the ideal unit for workforce planning, and why skills are taking centre stage

• How to align mindset, skillset and toolset to drive lasting transformation

• The role of pilots and internal marketplaces in delivering measurable business impact

• What AI is changing about the definition, demand and shelf life of skills

• The three core capabilities every organisation must build to sustain a skills-powered strategy

• How leading companies are connecting skills to ROI, workforce agility, and employee growth

This episode is sponsored by Mercer.

To thrive in an AI-augmented world, organisations must rethink how work gets done. Mercer’s Work Design solution uses AI to deconstruct jobs, redeploy tasks, and redesign work for greater agility, productivity, and impact.

Unlock your team’s full potential. Learn more at mercer.com/wfdemo

Links to resources discussed in the episode:

• Work Without Jobs
• The Skills-Powered Organisation
• The Global Skills Technology and Adoption Survey Report
• The 2024/2025 Skills Snapshot Survey report

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the chaos around us isn’t a threat, but your organisation’s greatest advantage?

In this thought-provoking episode, futurist and innovation expert Peter Hinssen returns to the Digital HR Leaders podcast to join host David Green in an exploration of why uncertainty is no longer the exception but the new normal, and how HR can lead the way in turning disruption into momentum.

Based on insights from his new book The Uncertainty Principle, Peter challenges traditional thinking and shares a bold vision for how organisations - and their people leaders - can thrive in the “never-normal.”

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why uncertainty is the new strategic advantage, and how to “weaponise” it

• The biggest myth HR believes about change, and why it’s holding us back

• AI’s promise vs. reality and why early adoption often falls short

• How to unlock HR’s most underutilised asset: unstructured data

• Real-world phoenixes - organisations rising stronger through disruption

• The new HR mindset and how it’s redefining talent, leadership, and foresight

Link to purchase Peter's book on The Uncertainty Principle

This episode is sponsored by Mercer.

To thrive in an AI-augmented world, organisations must rethink how work gets done. Mercer’s Work Design solution uses AI to deconstruct jobs, redeploy tasks, and redesign work for greater agility, productivity, and impact.

Unlock your team’s full potential. Learn more at mercer.com/wfdemo.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.