The Infrastructure Podcast: Episode 183

Guests: Adam Crossley, Vice President and Chief People Officer, Skanska UK

Unlocking human potential

In this episode we talk about how to unlock the human potential found – or indeed, waiting to be found – in the businesses across the UK infrastructure supply chain.

As we read and hear virtually every day, the sector faces huge challenges as it races to deliver the government's multi-billion pound investment pipeline to upgrade, expand and modernise the nation’s infrastructure and drive towards energy transition and a net zero future. 

Achieving these economic growth targets requires investment in more than just heavy machinery and concrete. It demands a profound change in the way the industry finds, recruits, trains, and retains its people.

My guest today is Adam Crossley, Vice President and Chief People Officer at contracting giant Skanska UK. Having worked in the business for close to two decades and spent seven years before that as an Officer in the British Army, he knows more that most about the need and ways to unlock that vital human potential needed to drive successful outcomes. 

Not least given the changes that we face in the sector. To boost productivity and meet these massive infrastructure goals, businesses like Skanska are rapidly integrating data analytics, digital systems and artificial intelligence. 

This technological shift means that leaders must bridge new skills gaps, attract digitally fluent talent from outside the sector, and reshape traditional and often entrenched organisational cultures. 

At the same time, the workforce must adapt to new demands around carbon literacy, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and delivering measurable social value as the sector moves towards more sustainable solutions and better outcomes for communities.

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