Industry Skills
Bridging the generation gap Dyan Crowther speaks about her role in increasing diversity and creating opportunities in the rail industry
D
yan Crowther, Chief Executive of HS1 Ltd, took up the role as the new Chair of the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR) in March 2020. Dyan’s senior industry experience, together with her commitment to skills and productivity make her the ideal leader to steer NSAR’s pivotal industry role into the future. NSAR’s function is one of co-ordination, to bring the rail family together before the industry implements change itself. NSAR provides best-in-class data that allows the Department for Transport, Network Rail, HS1 Ltd and others to make accurate predictions for the future, enabling workforce planning two decades in advance. NSAR also works with Network Rail as the industry’s independent assessor to ensure the quality of apprenticeships and training. Following Dyan’s appointment NSAR led the industry consortium announced as the preferred bidder for the National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure (NCATI), which is now being progressed by Birmingham University. NCATI will provide the higher-level training required to create HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and other rail projects, as well as supporting the skills demand from employers who are facing skills challenges such as digitalisation of the railway and an ageing workforce. In her words, Dyan is currently in “sponge mode” as she listens to NSAR colleagues and absorbs the organisation’s research and freshly developed strategy documents. She said: “The team has done some
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extraordinary work on NSAR’s strategy which I consider a gift in terms of setting our future direction. “The industry is really leaning in to NSAR and realising the active role that we play. We’re seeing the work and planning that NSAR has done come to fruition and a firm platform has been established that allows us to move forward. Our strategy looks at how we can best support the industry in terms of its workforce upskilling, promoting diversity and how we make rail an open and accessible career choice.” Dyan, who has been in rail for 34 years, wants everyone involved to play a part in promoting rail as a diverse and exciting industry. “We need to send out consistent messages about why this industry is so great to be a part of. Let’s not do it in a piecemeal way because we can be a lot more powerful if we do this together. This
is a fresh and young industry and is no longer just about hard hats and orange vests. We need to promote the diversity of opportunity that exists, and the opportunities to enter rail from the grass roots to graduate training schemes. There is a massive opportunity across the sector.” New horizons Two projects will play a major part in this consistent messaging. Launching in October, the new Routes into Rail website will help people navigate the complexities of entering and working in the industry and also increase the visibility of job opportunities, training on offer and increase the pool of diverse talent. Routes into Rail will promote the message that a career in the rail industry is exciting, challenging and rewarding. In addition, the action research project, the
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