In Conversation : five questions with Rosemary Hoskins

Nov 25, 2022 by Erin Becker

Rosemary Hoskins has built her second career around designing and delivering strategic change programs to improve organizational capability and change the way people work. Currently serving as global capability lead at AstraZeneca, she has previously worked in learning and development roles at Barclays, Citi, BP, UKTI, and PA Consulting.

Thank you to Rosemary for answering my questions on how she got started in the learning and development field and what she wishes people knew about the relationship between learning and strategic change. Read on to hear more about what Rosemary has to say about how enterprise-wide tech is creating new opportunities to scale data collection, how learning from experience is under-appreciated, and why you should never be afraid to ask questions.

This interview is part of a new Nomadic blog series featuring different perspectives on L&D, leadership, and how companies are transforming the way they do business, learn, and grow. If you're interested in these topics, you might also enjoy my earlier interview with our CEO and co-founder Matt Burr, where we talk about how learning can support business transformation.

In Conversation: five questions with Rosemary Hoskins

1. What brought you to this field?

I joined PA Consulting and was impressed by the quality of their T&D offer, especially as I had been an independent environmental consultant for the previous 20 years and had not had formal training opportunities. I accepted an internal job offer from Steve Craggs to cover Rachel Dale's maternity leave and found my second career niche.

2. What's a trend emerging in L&D that you find interesting right now?

The emerging focus on skills and careers, rather than jobs, is interesting. I am intrigued to see how organizations will use tech providers to support cultural change in this space. With enterprise-wide tech, there's the potential to collect org-scale data sets about behaviours and outcomes.

3. What is something you wish people understood about the relationship between learning and strategic change?

Well, intentional people development can facilitate strategic change, but perhaps people do understand that.

Generally, I think that learning from experience is under-appreciated, and change (strategic or otherwise) offers some of the best opportunities to learn from doing new things.

4. Any book, music, or movie recommendations you’ve been loving lately?

Redesigning Work by Lynda Gratton brings an evidence-based approach to post-pandemic ways of working.

5. What advice would you give to someone just starting their career in learning?

Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. And before you start work on any project, be sure to define meaningful measures of success.

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Thanks again to Rosemary for chatting with us! I love the reminder not to be afraid to ask questions––such an importnat one.

If you enjoyed this post, you might like:

• Our inaugural In Conversation post, an interview with Christopher Lind, VP and chief learning officer at ChenMed. Check out his thoughts on emerging trends in L&D, what he wishes more people understood about learning, and advice for people just starting their careers in L&D.
• My interview with Natalia Gonzalez Chavez about consultative L&D and how learning can better support the capabilities and skills most impactful to key business outcomes.
• Adam Bai's exploration of what learner engagement is and how we might redefine it for learning today, keeping in mind the organizational outcomes we're looking to achieve.
• A recent post from our Digital L&D Trends to Watch series, about why to build a digital academy and how academies are changing the enterprise approach to digital learning.

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